The Gape at Ostholm

The Gape at Ostholm
The Gape at Ostholm as seen from the village boundary in 2059
Location	Off the coast of Ostholm, Ulmarka
Type	Sea ice fissure
Named after	The 1899 disappearance incident
Discovery date	Pre-1899 (natural formation)
Notable event	Winter of 1899 children's disappearance
Investigation year	1900
Current status	Pilgrimage site and controversy point
Associated organization	Hand Physicians (cult)
Nearby settlement	Ostholm
Coordinates	62°14′N 19°08′E

The Gape at Ostholm is a frozen fissure in the sea ice off the coast of Ulmarka, near the village of Ostholm. Local oral tradition holds that during the winter of 1899, a group of orphan children vanishing into the ice were heard calling from beneath the snow by Eskil Brenndal before their sleds broke and they disappeared. While official records of the era dismissed the incident as mass hypothermia caused by extreme cold, the event remains a foundational myth for the breakaway Landonite faction known as the Hand Physicians. The site is now a pilgrimage point for survivors of later experiments, though it remains a point of contention between the local community and the Church of Mark, which views the location as irrelevant to its crusade. The official investigation commissioned by the municipal council in 1900 concluded that no children were found, citing the lack of footprints in drift-snow and the immediate onset of fatal frostbite in exposed subjects. However, accounts from witnesses in Ostholm describe Eskil Brenndal hearing cries for help persisting for hours beneath the crust. Following this incident, Eskil founded the Hand Physicians, an organization dedicated to treating injuries of the hand and arm. Decades later, the story of the children calling from the ice became central to the theology of the Landonite movement, which split from the mainstream faith in 2034.

The winter of 1899 was exceptionally harsh across Ulmarka. In early February, a caravan of orphaned children traveling from the mainland reached the edge of Ostholm, seeking refuge in a makeshift shelter near the village boundary. A severe blizzard struck shortly after arrival, and several sleds broke under the weight of fresh drift-snow. The children who fell into the fissure formed by shifting ice were never recovered. Eskil Brenndal was a local fisherman and healer living in Ostholm at the time. According to family oral histories preserved in 2059, he heard faint voices emanating from under the snowdrifts for three days before the storm broke. He spent his savings attempting to dig out the children but was unsuccessful against the freezing conditions. The incident faded from public memory until the 1930s, when Eskil's journals were discovered in the archives of the Cohesive Global Concord. These documents provided the first detailed account of the "voices beneath the snow," which inspired the Landonite sect's emphasis on listening to the marginalized. In 2034, a faction of former followers of Landon broke away from the mainstream movement and established the Hand Physicians. They adopted the legend of the vanished children as their primary narrative, claiming that the ice had swallowed them not by accident, but by design, echoing the secret experiments that would follow. This event marked the beginning of a dark chapter in Ulmarkan history, preceding the outbreak of the Protectorate Wars and the subsequent discovery of the Ostholm experiments.

Starting in 2034, following the legalisation of matches to the death under the new Arena Law, the Hand Physicians began secret human experiments on the island of Ostholm. The facility was constructed within a repurposed lighthouse and a series of ice-caves near the gape. The goal, according to recovered logs from 2037, was to develop subjects capable of surviving extreme cold and high-pressure environments, ostensibly for medical research but increasingly for military applications in the ongoing Protectorate Wars. The experiments involved subjecting human volunteers to freezing temperatures, simulated deep-sea pressure, and psychological isolation. By 2038, conditions on the island had deteriorated into a death camp scenario. The only known survivor of this period was Casey, who managed to escape by boat in late 2038, reaching the islet of Skarnes. His survival allowed him to flee the immediate control of the Hand Physicians and eventually establish himself as the self-proclaimed King of Skarnes. In January 2039, units of the Ring Guard, investigating reports of illegal activity on Ulmarkan territory, raided the Ostholm facility. They discovered seven survivors who had been subjected to prolonged exposure and torture before escaping or being hidden by local fishermen. The raid confirmed that the Ulmarkan Empire, under ███████ ███████ (Heir of Colby), was not involved in the experiments; the perpetrators were solely the breakaway Hand Physicians. The discovery sparked international outrage and led to the first Hand Trials, where captured subjects were subjected to further testing in the Great Arena of Vharnhold.

Following his escape, Casey settled on the small islet of Skarnes, where he claimed sovereignty over the territory. In 2045, he formally proclaimed himself King of Skarnes, establishing a micronation that serves as a refuge for those fleeing the Cult of Landon and other authoritarian regimes. The ███████████████████████████████, formed in 2049 by the seven survivors found in 2039, has maintained a presence on Skarnes, documenting the atrocities committed during the experiments and lobbying for recognition as victims of state-sanctioned neglect. Controversy surrounding the legacy of Ostholm intensified in the mid-2050s following the release of the ██████ memo in 2056. This leaked document appeared to link ██████████████ to the subject files of the experiments. █████, founder of ██████████████, has consistently denied any connection, holding a standing Letter of Remission that covers his past and future actions. Critics note that while █████ insists the company is unrelated, the timing of his rise to prominence coincides with the sanitization of the Ostholm narrative. The Church of Mark has also sought to distance itself from the cults associated with the events, though its own exploitation of non-human attendants draws similar parallels from human rights advocates.

As of 2061, the physical scar left by the gape remains visible as a dark fissure in the ice near Ostholm village. It is frequently frozen over but occasionally opens during

• Ostholm
• Hand Physicians
• Protectorate Wars
• Church of Mark