Hokkaido, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is the second largest island of the nation of Japan. It also hides the Third Vertex.
Fictional History[]
Early History[]
A long time ago, a race of super-ancient beings built the Third Vertex of the Machine beneath what would one day become a part part of the north-west the coast of Hokkaido (the exact geological status of it at the time is unclear, though the data from the Altar Stone showing upon the trilithons indicates the area was land-locked at the time).
The Hokkaido Vertex was discovered around the time that Genghis Khan first arrived in Japan, around 1220 AD, and gifted Shogun Hojo Yoshitoki with the Third Pillar. The Japanese emperors and Shoguns would subsequently revere the Vertex as one of their most sacred shrines and pass down the knowledge of its locations for several generations.
After Genghis left, the Shogun set to work creating a trap system to protect the Pillar within the Vertex, one which would allow on the worthy to be able to take the Pillar and place it when the time came. The Pillar's maze was completed nine years later, and during the course of the construction the Japanese discovered a petrified dinosaur egg with images of all of the vertices painted upon it. Yoshitoki would later send a messenger to inform Genghis of the developments of the Hokkaido Vertex and the "Dragon's Egg" as a gift, however by then Genghis had died and his son Ogedei had taken over.
When Genghis's grandson, Kublai Khan, rose to power and heard of the Pillar being hidden within the Vertex, he twice attempted to lead an invasion on Hokkaido in an attempt to take the Pillar back. However, owing to the high cliffs and violent storms around the Hokkaido coastline, Kublai Khan failed both times.
At some point during or prior to World War II, the Americans discovered the existence of the Machine and its Pillars and Vertices, and so during the war they attempted to take the Pillar from the Imperial Royal family. Though they spent some time search Japan for it, they remained unaware of its location within Hokkaido, and would eventually give up. Unfortunately, the Americans' humiliation of the Japanese caused them to feel greatly dishonoured and sought to redeem themselves by not allowing the Machine to be restored, even knowing this would destroy the entire Earth. Over the next several decades, the Hokkaido coastline was guarded and part of the seabed around the Vertex entrance modified into sharp rocks that could sink ships, so as to prevent anyone from gaining entrance to the Vertex.
The Five Greatest Warriors[]
As the time approached for the Third Pillar to be set within the Third Vertex, the Japanese, spearheaded by the Royal family and the Blood Brotherhood that made it their mission to ensure the Machine would not be completed, used their resources to arrange for a naval blockade to be set around the Hokkaido Vertex entrance to prevent their adversaries from getting inside.
In the Coalition of Minnows' period of research on the remaining Pillars and Vertices, Lachlan and Julius Adamson were able to uncover evidence that allowed them to determine that the Third Vertex was situated on the Hokkaido coastline.
Two days before the Pillar had to be placed, knowing of the opposition from the Blood Brotherhood and suspecting of the difficulties of the maze within the Vertex, Wolf and the Commander-in-Chief's In Extremis Force prepared an invasion force on the north-west portion of the Hokkaido coast containing the Vertex. However, the CIEF had failed to realise the full scope of the opposition coming from the Japanese Navy or the defence forces on the cliff tops, and despite their perfect timing for landing on the seabed as the tsunami drew the water away, many of their members were pinned down away from the entrance, including the Philosopher's Stone-carrying Rapier.
Luckily for Rapier, Jack West Jr, Zoe Kissane and Lily West arrived near him in the Black Bee and used their Warblers to deflect the bullets being fired at them, allowing themselves and Wolf's CIEF time the chance to make their way into the Hokkaido Vertex. As they were making their way inside, the tsunami impacted upon the Hokkaido coast, and some of the rushing water forced a supertanker all the way through into the Vertex, while also triggering the first of the fire maze's traps.
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After the final Pillar was placed at the Sixth Vertex beeath Easter Island, the Third Vertex beneath Hokkaido activated once again. This time, as the beam of light it emitted struck the Earth's iron core, it was accompanied by the light beam ignited from the other five Vertices, causing a series of harmonic waves that repelled the Dark Sun.
Features[]
The Third Vertex[]
The Third Corner of the Machine, the Fire Maze, is located beneath Table Mountain. Like every other Vertex, there is the inverted pyramid of the Machine, which is set above a seemingly bottomless chasm. The inverted pyramid itself can only be reached by a river of lava from a kind of dock using boats made out of an unknown stone that doesn't melt into the magma, and whoever places the Pillar is expected to fall off the end of the bridge and into the abyss.
Throughout the Vertex is a maze suspended over a lake of molten magma stretching all the way to the entrance, and the creators of the Machine built bridges out of the same unmelting stone. These bridges are set in rows of three with only one safe bridge extending to the cavern containing the Pillar, and the safe route was transcribed onto the plaque describing each Vertex.
During the 13th century, the Japanese Shogun, already possessing the Third Pillar, had an elaborate trap built within the maze to contain the Pillar until someone worthy came to place it.
Trivia[]
- Because the tsunami that impacted on the Hokkaido Vertex entrance was a planned trial to make it within the Vertex, and remembering that the Stonehenge location data had had no Sea of Japan upon it showing upon it, it may be that the Super-Ancient Beings were able to predict the flooding of the region around the Vertex long before it actually happened.