Veil

Many think of [the veil] as what keeps us and the world apart. I think of it as what keeps us and the world together.

– Hilperich Xiang

The veil is a term of art in the Federation of Phantom Islands referring to the separation between the phantom islands and the outside world. This use of the term originates from the world of parapsychology, where the veil refers to the separation between the living world and the spirit world. The world of phantom islands functions similarly to the spirit world; it is seemingly only accessible to those who have the right equipment, technology, mindset, or merely being in the right place at the right time. The act of moving from the world of phantom islands to the world without them is called veilbreaking, or Zegrusing, after the story of John Zegrus.

The study of the veil is known as velumology. The most notable velumologist is Magnus Sothea of Ouro, who formulated the Magnean theory. (Sothea is her given name, in accordance with the Khmer naming conventions.) It postulates that the world of phantom islands is a parallel world running concurrently alongside the islandless world. An opposing theory was proposed by Erdem Nacar, who said that phantom islands are made of a distinct type of matter. Most velumologists are Magneanists, because the particles of phantom islands appear to behave exactly like those of normal matter.

Travel Advice

If you’re an outsider, crossing the veil into a phantom island is much more difficult than the reverse. If you would like to do so, here are 5 pieces of advice:

• Have a connection to someone or something on the island. You’re already doing a good job at this if you’ve visited this website! Remember that Mr. Untel only got to Antillia because he went into correspondence with Allariks Ranamers.
• Mentally connect yourself. Visualizing the islands itself helps. For the more spiritual, praying or meditation is a good way to establish a mental connection.
• Use technologies and customs reminiscent of the age of seafaring in which the island was discovered, e.g. sextants and sea shanties.
• Become tired. The liminality between the waking and sleeping world resembles the liminality between the phantom island and the world around it. Thus, instigating one may draw forth another.
• Above all else, you must be patient. You cannot just say “take me there!” and it will happen. Like the ocean water, you must travel with the waves.