Tsalal is equivalent to the Grande Terre of the Kerguelens, also known as Desolation Island. Located in the Southern Indian Ocean, Grande Terre, not to be confused with the similarly named island of New Caledonia, is an important nesting ground for many seabirds, penguins, and pinnipeds. The island itself, however, is desolate. In our world, human interference introduced animals ranging from rats to reindeer, which dramatically altered the island ecosystem. Of course, this was never the case for Gigas.
A large, remote island, Tsalal has a range of different environments that include secluded coves, open beaches, marshes, grasslands, and two large mountains, one covered with a major glacier. However, Tsalal is entirely devoid of trees or true shrubs. Instead, Azorella covers lowlands, forming layers that remain consistently almost a meter deep, while grasses and cabbage cover slopes, punctuated by large Lyallia, and mosses coat streams and stagnant pools. While the land area of Tsalal somewhat shields its inhabitants from the Kerguelen-style constant wind, Tsalal is still characterized by strong winds. The lack of any true forests only exacerbates this. This does not impede many avians from calling the island home, however.
The utter isolation of the Kerguelen Islands prior to Gigas has led to some unusual ommissions within the terrestrial ecosystem when compared to a typical one of both Earth and Gigas. The island megafauna consists almost entirely of birds, with several lineages becoming flightless. The bounding seals are the island's only lineage of terrestrial mammals. Lacking any small terrestrial tetrapod, the island's insect population also had room to grow, both in size and into different niches. However, one common insectoid trait is absent among all native Magallanic insects: wings. On the Kerguelens, the ever-present wind selected for brachyptery, any insects attempting to take flight would be blown out into the unforgiving sea. While wind at Tsalal has been somewhat reduced the descendants of the flies and the Kerguelen Moth Embryonopsis halticella have lost the ability to fly and their wings entirely. Similarly, the island's large aquatic beetles have returned to land.
Tsalal's oceanic environment is less altered from the Earth-norm. Enormous kelp forests crowd the coast, with the algae cresting the ocean and forming floaters that can serve as food sources for flying seabirds. Within the forests are a variety of fish and innumerable colorful invertebrates. Penguins and seals dominate the highest points within the food web of the forests, with whale descendants largely absent, except for the false penguin. Benthic waters are dominated by bioluminescent lanternfish.
There is no evidence to suggest that native humans or hominenes have ever reached the Magallanic Islands.
The Oceans of Tartaros
Tsalal, Magallanic Islands - (Grande Terre, Kerguelen Islands)