Kestrel Isles

The Kestrel Isles (Burgoignesc: Les Crecerelles, East Gothic: Die Falkländer, Fhasen: Eileann Bacain, Hendalarskisch: Dí Ostinselen, Pentapolitan Argot: Die Wershinsel), also known as the Barrier Isles, are an archipelago of eleven major islands and several hundred smaller ones, located in the central Vandarch in northwestern Levantia. Divided between Hendalarsk (the Pentapolis), Faneria and Yonderre, the islands have functioned as a vital crossroads between the Gothic and Gaelic worlds for centuries and also serve as an important stopping-point between the Grand Vandarch Canal in the northwest and the Carolina-Grand Canal in the southeast. The archipelago additionally serves a profoundly important ecological role; its rocks and waters provide shelter and unique habitats for a wide array of terrestrial, marine and airborne species (including the Vandarch kestrels from which the archipelago takes its name), as well as many forms of plant life which have adapted to the sea's changing conditions over millennia.