Redwall Geography: The Isle of Sampetra
“Far across the heaving deeps of restless ocean, some say even beyond the place where the sun sinks in the west, there lies the Isle of Sampetra. At first sight, it’s a lush tropical jewel, set in turquoise waters where seasons never change from eternal summer. [...] No trees grow upon the island, but Ublaz has a vast timber stock in his courtyard. Wood for ship repairs is given only to those who pay him heavy tribute. The island is a good place for vermin from the seas to rest and roister: there are taverns dotted about the harbor area.”
- from Chapter 2 of Pearls of Lutra
The ancestral home of Ublaz’s Monitor lizards and a tropical getaway spoken of with both trepidation and envy in sea-going vermin circles, the Isle of Sampetra is one of the most mysterious locations of the Redwallverse. Oddly, no timber trees grow on the island; it is highly likely this is because Ublaz harvested them, possibly causing deforestation on some parts of the island. However, we know that varieties of tropical fruit do grow on the island (these may include coconuts, mangoes, papayas, passion fruit, guavas, etc.). We also know that grass and reeds are found on Sampetra, as these materials were used by Ublaz’s troops to create fire bales.
The terrain of Sampetra is quite hilly, a feature that gave rebelling vermin corsairs ample opportunity to hide from Ublaz’s trident rat forces. Ublaz chose to build his palace upon an escarpment on the southern end of the island; this convenient and abrupt change in the land’s elevation would offer the pine marten a natural defensive edge as well as give him the ability to survey the areas surrounding his palace with relative ease. Sampetra’s single harbor was erected on the eastern coast, most likely because this may be the flattest stretch of land on the isle. A small cove lies on the island’s northeastern side (see top right photograph above). The cove offered Martin II and company a safe place to hide from Ublaz’s forces as they planned their attack on his palace.
