Hy-Brasil, Vanishing Isle
Map-makers once drew Hy-Brasil west of Ireland: a perfect circle isle that appears one day every seven years. Those who reach it find wonders—or wake with treasure and no memory.
Story beats
- 1) Mist parts to reveal the isle; golden towers, singing animals, or druids greet the bold.
- 2) Some visitors vanish; others return with knowledge or wealth they cannot explain.
- 3) Sailors chart Hy-Brasil; maps disagree and move the circle around the Atlantic.
- 4) Eventually the island disappears from charts, lingering only in tales of rare sightings.
Context & symbolism
Hy-Brasil fuses cartographic error with Celtic otherworld themes: a paradise close enough to tempt but ruled by its own time. The seven-year rhythm evokes fate and patience.
Its circular shape hints at perfection and enclosure—a world apart.
Motifs
- Mirage islands
- Otherworld time slips
- Treasure with amnesia
- Shifting maps
Use it in play
- Race rivals to reach the isle on its single day of visibility.
- Wake with Hy-Brasil artifacts and missing hours; retrace how you got them.
- Convince a cartographer to update charts with a moving circle.
- Ask druids on the isle for help—but accept that a year may pass in an hour.
Comparative threads
- Phantom lands: Atlantis echoes, St. Brendan’s Isle.
- Time-slip realms: Tír na nÓg, fairy mounds.
Hooks and campaign seeds
- A lighthouse keeper sees the isle in fog—guide the way or keep it secret.
- Treasure from Hy-Brasil crumbles unless returned; why?
- The island wants a new guardian; will you stay when it vanishes?