Miyaki Island

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Miyaki Island in the Manga

Miyaki-shima (巳焼島), also known as Miyaki Island is a volcano island that was initially used as a military base then converted to a military prison and eventually became a base of operations of the Yotsuba Clan.

Geography

Miyaki Island is located 50 km east of Miyake-jima and the area made by lava is about eight square kilometers. It is approximately ninety kilometers above sea level, south of the Boso Peninsula.

Background

In 2001, Miyaki Island was formed in the east of Miyake-jima (三宅島) by undersea volcanic activity hence the name of the island being formed in the year of the snake. It was also sometimes called the "New Island of the 21st Century," because it appeared in the first year of the 21st century. At the time of World War Three, the National Defense Force built a supply base on the island for the navy, but it was abandoned due to repeated eruptions in the 2050’s.

Plot

Magician Prison

After World War Three, the military facilities are converted to imprison criminal magicians at the western end of the island. Miyaki Island prison was secretly authorized by the military for the Yotsuba to isolate dangerous magicians. Using backdoor deals from Toudou Aoba, it essentially became the Yotsuba Clan's private territory.

The magicians sent to this island have powerful abilities who must be isolated from civilians with the barrier of the ocean. To prevent them from escaping and to suppress those who resist, the guards must also be sufficiently skilled. This is one of the reasons that the Defense Forces struck a deal with the Yotsuba who are peerless and capable of controlling these kinds of criminal magicians .

Even though this prison is officially under the jurisdiction of the National Defense Forces, it is a remnant of the era where magicians are treated as weapons, there are also certain circumstances that have led to a large number of foreign operatives to be sent here. These foreign operatives are illegal agents that aren’t protected by the law and therefore pretty much don’t exist. If they are killed nobody can complain about it, due to this fact the prisoners are always looking for a way to escape.

As such, this was the place that had been chosen as a practice range for Miyuki's Niflheim because this island is the private property of the Yotsuba and the continuous underwater volcanic activity increased the area of the island which is ideal for practicing cooling magic over the wide area. In name, the Defense Forces are responsible for the management of the magician prison but in actuality it is entrusted to the Yotsuba Clan and Yotsuba Maya can freely access to data about prisoners sent there. This is not a known fact among the Ten Master Clans.

On the Yotsuba side, dealing with criminal magicians who try to escape is valuable practice for their combat training.

In January of 2093, an eruption on the eastern side of the island, the opposite side of the prison caused the relocation of the prison to be considered and by 2095 the new location is decided. In May of 2097, the new secret prison was completed and all the prisoner are relocated and about half of the management staff left the island like the guards are transferred to the new prison site. The facility's required management personnel remained in its entirety while the residences were maintained in a state where they could move in immediately.

ESCAPES Project

“	"...I was thinking of partially changing this plan to attract attention to the plant from your project. I also discussed it with Hayama. I think this is the best place for Tatsuya's project."	”
—Maya to Tatsuya

When Tatsuya is announced to the magic community to be Miyuki's fiance and the son of Maya, Tatsuya's ESCAPES Project also became part of the Yotsuba business venture after being approved by Sponsor Aoba who also asked Japan's most influential member of the business sector like Kitayama Ushio to support the project. Since the main requirement for the stellar furnace is to be located either on a remote island or near the sea, Miyaki Island is having all of it's facilities upgraded from a military prison and it will be the first site where Tatsuya's ESCAPES project is to be constructed that started in April, 2097.

Magian Company

In 2100, The construction of the Stellar Furnace Plant is is complete and Miyaki Island has now been divided into four areas for convenience. The northeast area is where the Stellar Generator facility is at. The southeast area is where the airport is located. The northwest area is where the Yotsuba Family facilities are located. The southwest area is where the Yotsuba Family’s secret laboratory is at, it contains the “virtual satellite elevator” that is connected to Spaceship Takachiho where Kudou Minoru and Sakurai Minami resides. The western portion of the island is off limits to all those that aren’t related to the Yotsuba Family. Seventy percent of the island is used for the eastern portion and thirty percent is used for the Yotsuba family, even with this portion blocked off it doesn’t inconvenience the inhabitants on the eastern side.

Ownership

National Defense Force

During World War III, Miyaki Island is under the control of the National Defense Forces until it was abandoned due to volcanic activity. On July 27, 2097, Kuroba Mitsugu reports to Maya that Major General Saeki Hiromi plans to place a military garrison on Miyaki Island under the guise of defending the island from a possible attack of Edward Clark but Maya sees through their intentions of trying to confiscate the facilities and makes her own preparations.

Yotsuba Clan

When Miyaki Island became a magician prison, the Mashiba are in charge of the defense and security of the island because this branch of the Yotsuba Clan specializes in observing and searching with mental interference magic that is more suitable for monitoring inmates.

When the high-rise buildings and living quarters were built, the defense and security of the island is transferred to the Shibata Family with Shibata Katsushige as the administrator since this branch of the Yotsuba family are more suitable in combat for defending the island against invaders in contrast to the Mashiba.

Notable Areas

“	"It looks pretty spacious. The infrastructure looks surprisingly prepared. "	”
—Angelina Kudou Shields

During Miyuki's Niflheim training in 2093, there were only prison facilities on the coastal area on the west side and Miyaki Island had a dreary appearance, with mostly dark rocks and sandy lava fields. But four years later, an airfield with a short runway and several new facilities are already built such as a large-scale computing center, a geothermal power plant on the foot of the volcano and right next to it is a desalination facility.

In addition, at least ten large buildings stood in a line on the eastern part which shows the Yotsuba Clan's seriousness on the development of Miyaki Island. Although Maya did not inform Tatsuya, his inspection of the facilities that are being constructed on the island made him realize that the island is being built as a new headquarters of the Yotsuba like the Yotsuba Village but is closer to Tokyo.

Miyaki Island Administration Building

The Miyaki Island Administration Building is one of the twin eight-story building which was remodeled from the prison administration facilities when the island was a magician prison. The top floor of this administration building's ceiling and walls form a dome-shaped display similar to a planetarium which was originally used as a recreational facility to enjoy virtual sightseeing trips but now converted to a targeting monitor similar to the command room on the first floor of the same building.

The command room on the first floor also has the commander's seat equipped with a special CAD for Miyuki to use similar to Igor Andreevich Bezobrazov's "throne" CAD to activate Glacial Age that is linked to a handgun-shaped CAD for aim-assistance extension to view any area in a fifty kilometer radius of the island where the handgun points at just like Elemental Sight. The image is then projected in the monitors of the command room provided via satellite imaging then upon pulling of the trigger, the special CAD will activate Glacial Age on the target aimed by the handgun.

Miyaki Island No. 4 Building

The Miyaki Island No. 4 Building is the adjoining building of the administration building that previously served as the prison administrator's residence and now the residing quarters of the Yotsuba Clan staying in the island. The Administration Building and No. 4 Building is often referred to as the "Miyaki Island Branch" within the Yotsuba Clan. However, the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 buildings does not exist which implies that the building's namesake matches the number in the Yotsuba name. The top floor is a 4LDK apartment (short for four bedrooms, living room, dining room and kitchen layouts for properties in Japan) which serves as a secondary residence for Tatsuya, Miyuki and Lina who stays in the room previously occupied by Sakurai Minami and there is also a room for Maya on this floor when she visits the island.

During Lina's first stay on the island, her room is also on this building and she is provided a golden smart card for her room and also allows her to use any of the facilities on the island including stores that sell household goods and food, practice rooms and recreation rooms which requires an identity check if the card is lost and needs to be replaced. Since becoming the manager of the island, Katsushige lives on the first floor of the building together with his guardians. Despite being recommended by the main family to stay on the seventh floor, Katsushige choses the first floor to prioritize being able to respond immediately on any emergency situation and its closer to the administration building's command control room.

Stellar Furnace Plant

Miyaki Island is the first site where the Stellar Furnaces is being built and has partnership with Ushio's company Stellar Inc. where Tatsuya is also a developer. By the time the Magian Company is established there are already six stellar furnaces that are working and eighteen more stellar furnaces are being constructed. The Stellar Furnace Plant also has a direct transport to and from the Magian Academy via ground-effect vehicles which is initially being used transport cargo but once the academy opens, the ground-effect vehicles will be used to also transport students who achieved a certain level of academic performance to receive hands on training at the Stellar Furnace and the selling point of the Academy.

A Stellar Reactor needs six magic to operate: two sets of Gravity Control, Plasma Transition, Neutron Barrier, Gamma Ray Filter and Coulomb Force Control. Each Stellar Reactor needs twelve Magistore - two for each spell. As of May, 2100 six Stellar Reactors are in operation and an additional eighteen is under construction which makes the total needed Magistore to two hundred eighty-eight.

Research Facility

Located next to the Stellar Furnace Plant is a closed research facility whose installations distinctly resembles Four Leaves Technology's research laboratory. Maya and the Yotsuba Clan built the Research Facility and the Stellar Furnace Plant next to each other with the likely plan that from the gathered researchers for the ESCAPES Project, those that are particularly great should join the Yotsuba Clan for the sake of advancing magic techniques to even higher heights.

Ever since the development of Miyaki Island, the Research Facility has become Tatsuya's place to develop Strategic-Class Magic such as Ocean Blast and Glacial Age. During her stay in the island, Lina would also frequently visit the Research Facility especially the CAD Development Center during her free time even when the researchers have not made a request for her to visit and since she is a world-class magician, her skills are extremely valuable for CAD developers.

Developed Technologies

In addition to Magic, numerous state of the art technology is developed by the Research Facility that makes this base of the Yotsuba less reliant on outside supply lines and be self sufficient on defending itself.

• Silver Torus - A Thought-controlled CAD that Lina uses during her stay on Miyaki Island.
• Weapon-Shaped CADs - Many weapons are also developed in this facility such as a charged particle rifle but not as powerful as the Brionac and Lina believes the team of scientist here can replicate her beloved weapon.
• Air-Car - a self-driving electric car that can fly that has the form of an SUV and also uses an artificial Relic.
• Freed Suit - a mobile suit armor based from the design of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion's mobile suit. During the Miyaki Island Incident, the defenders of the island uses an equivalent armor while Tatsuya uses a "soldier" version of the Freed Suit.
• Third Eye II - A personal CAD optimized for Tatsuya's Material Burst like the 101 IMEB's Third Eye that is designed independently by the Yotsuba Clan after Tatsuya leaves the battalion.
• Magistore - An artificial Relic successfully replicated by Tatsuya in 2098 and continuously being developed by Tatsuya to increase its duration to function from 6 hours to 12 hours.

Induction Stone Refinery

An Induction Stone Refinery is also built on Miyaki Island for the Yotsuba Clan to develop and create their own Casting Assistant Device (CAD) in addition to advancing their magic techniques. While CAD development techniques are military technology are not protected by patent and also open to the public, it process became well known due to the technology being leaked to allied countries and spy battles, making it nowadays all the significance of keeping it a secret was lost. The Induction Stone which is the heart of a CAD is among these technology.

Residential Housing

Currently there are two residential housing in Miyaki Island where one of them is located at the west, close to where the Yotsuba facilities are concentrated and the east for the employees of the Stellar Furnace Plant.

West Housing

The company housing in the west is an apartment in the staff building next to the Miyaki Island No. 4 Building. Although the apartment is for the staff, it did not mean that the building and the interior were cheap and Fujibayashi Kyouko who Tatsuya personally offered to live here is among the known residents. A roundtrip of VTOL's is also provided from Miyaki Island and Machida, the city where the Magian Company Headquarters is located everyday on 8:00 am, 11:00 am, 3:00 pm, and 5:00 pm even on holidays.

Kuroba Ayako and Kuroba Fumiya also lives in a mid-rise apartment building which is one block away from the Miyaki Island No. 4 building and is also owned by the Yotsuba Clan but the Kuroba Twins barely see Tatsuya, Miyuki and Lina unless its work related. Despite living near each other that is considered risk of distribution and was previously addressed by having the Kuroba Twins enroll at Fourth High School, the Yotsuba's priority on the island is focused on convenience over risk.

East Housing

The East Housing is a three-story residential apartment that is available on a daily basis with no lobby or front desk which is located right across the street from the Stellar Furnace Plant dedicated for employees working there. Employees are able to enter and leave as desired and other than security cameras, there are no security devices.

Airports

When the facilities are being renovated, Miyaki Island had a small airfield with helipads for small VTOL's located at the northern part of the island but the runway is not long enough for large aircrafts to take off and land. When the Magian Company is established, a new giant mega-float airport is constructed at the southeastern part of the island called the "Western Pacific Ocean Airport" that is near the hotels for the media and other outside visitors.

Since Miyaki Island itself is a private property, only the Western Pacific Ocean Airport has a fence built in its perimeter but it is not equipped with barbed wire nor high voltage electric current. Since the airport is built in the southeastern part of the island, almost no one goes to the island by sea anymore with the exception of cargo ships like the ships that transport hydrogen generated by the Stellar Furnace to a plant in Honshu to be processed into a more manageable fuel.

The small airfield located at the north is still active and is mostly used by the Yotsuba Clan as an additional means of transportation aside from the staff's VTOL to the Magian Company Headquarters in Machida and is connected to the Yotsuba's heliport under their legal name, a short distance away from the Kobuchizawa Station in the former Yamanashi Prefecture, which they often used to get to Miyaki Island from the Yotsuba Main House.

Underground Port

The Underground Port is a secret area near Miyaki Island that allows passage beneath the sea undetected by reconnaissance satellites and stratospheric surveillance systems that Tatsuya uses to fly the Air-Car to his mission to the USNA Carrier Virginia, the staging point of his mission to rescue Benjamin Canopus and Minami. The underground port is later used by Tatsuya and Miyuki to send Lina off via Air-Car back to the Virginia where she returns to the USNA to assist Canopus confront the perpetrators of the Stars Rebellion.

Miyaki Hospital

Miyaki Hospital is located in the eastern part of the island and equipped with ICU facilities for emergencies and accidents. The hospital walls are also made of materials that can block electromagnetic waves to prevent outgoing or incoming communications in its corridors unless it passes through a wireless repeater present only in observation rooms. This is also the hospital where Tatsuya's "body" lies while doing his rescue mission in Midway Prison.

Virtual Satellite Elevator

The southwest of Miyaki Island is an off limits area because it is the site of the Virtual Satellite Elevator which is linked to Spaceship Takachiho at 6,400 kilometers above the earth and where Tatsuya sends supplies to Minami and Minoru. The Virtual Satellite Elevator is engraved with a magic circle for Mock Teleportation that is 100 meters in diameter that is activated by sending psions to the magic circle and and once Mock Teleportation is activated, it takes around ten seconds for an object or even a person to be sent to space near Takachiho.

Defenses

In addition to being another base of the Yotsuba Clan near Tokyo and the weapons, CAD and Magic provided by the Research Facility, Miyaki Island also have dissipating shields to protect the north and east coast from the Pacific Ocean waves while it can delay the landing of military boats due to the extra effort they need to break through but not fully obstruct them. Coast Fences that are on par with national border fence walls can also be built by magic in a couple of hours incase of an enemy attack like the Miyaki Island Incident.

Miyaki Island is also protected by a small detachment of maritime police who are supported by the Yotsuba. The maritime police cannot take any measures besides inspecting suspicious vessels approaching the island. But if the suspicious vessel is deemed hostile like a military boat, the maritime police boat is not even deployed since the approaching police boat could result in its destruction and the death of operators so the defense squad magicians will be deployed and ready to activate barrier magic.

Miyaki Island is also equipped with experimental psion radars to detect Paranormal Parasite activities developed by Kurebayashi. Cameras are also placed throughout Miyaki Island that can view the coastline up to 8 kilometers from the coastline and at 5 meters above sea level. The images from the camera can be viewed either from the command room of the administration building or the VIP shelter room reserved for the heads of the Yotsuba clan.

Trivia

• The kanji for the Miyaki name means the following: 巳 means "snake" while 焼 means "burn".