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"Kyril Island was an egg-shaped lump about seventy kilometers wide and 160 kilometers long, and over five hundred kilometers from the next land of any description. Lumpy and brown described most of it, both base and island. The majority of the nearby buildings, including Miles's officers' barracks, were dug in, topped with native turf. Nobody had bothered with agricultural terraforming here. The island retained its original Barrayaran ecology, scarred by use and abuse. Long fat rolls of turf covered the barracks for the winter infantry trainees, now empty and silent. Muddy water-filled ruts fanned out to deserted marksmanship ranges, obstacle courses, and pocked live-ammo practice areas."
―A description of Kyril Island[src]

Kyril Island (KIH-rihl) was an island up near the arctic circle on the planet Barrayar. Lazkowski Base, sometimes called Camp Permafrost, was a winter training base for infantry on the island. A posting there was generally given as punishment; it was the least-desirable place to work on all of Barrayar.

Terrible wind storms, wah-wahs, would come up very suddenly from time to time; ropes were strung between buildings so that someone caught outside could grab one and haul themselves indoors to safety. People traveled around on the island by using scat-cats, powerful and heavy vehicles that tore up the tundra but would not blow away during one of these storms. Eleven weather stations were placed around the island to help predict these storms; six were near the base and five were remote.

Permafrost Inversion Zones[]

These were essentially frozen mud-lakes; warmth, such as the engine heat of a scat-cat, would cause the mud to thaw, leading to the scat-cat sinking into the ground.

Alcohol abuse was rampant on the island.

"You don't understand. Kyril Island—they call it Camp Permafrost—is the worst military post in the Empire. Winter training base... I spent an eternity there, a few months once. The trainees, they come and go, but the permanent staff is stuck."
―Miles explains the charms of Lazkowski base to Ekaterin[src]

People who spent time on Kyril Island[]

References[]

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