Reiskar Thalorën · founded 14 March 1891

About the authority

Thalora / Thalorën is the harbour city of the Glasswake Isles / Vellskarn, a volcanic chain in the Aurel Sea. The authority runs the metro, the shore tram, and the two island ferries.

The islands

The main island is a north–south ridge of basalt, cliffs to the west, a deep harbour to the east. Morning mist sits in Fog Basin until the wind lifts it. In the evening the harbour chop takes the lantern light and holds it — glasswake, the thing visitors come to see and residents stop mentioning.

Nerith is the smaller inhabited island to the north-east, a fishing harbour and a lamp-wicking village. Cairnmoor / Kaernmør lies south-east, lower, windier, with a stone cairn on the hill and a timber wharf. Outer Stack and Low Reef are working landings, not towns.

The climate is wet and mild. West winds for eight months. Rain from Veith through the long winter. Summers are bright and cool. The ridge holds volcanic springs at Wellspring / Keldara.

The basalt citadel on the ridge above the stepped harbour city.
Citadel / Borghäll, above the Spine tunnels.

How we speak

The island language is Veyric / Veyrik. It is used on every platform sign, every ticket, and every public notice. This website is in English because that is the second official language of the Island Assembly; every station and line is named in both, in that order, everywhere it appears. Veyric is not a dialect of anywhere else. It is the language of the glass-sand yards and the boats.

Our motto is painted in the Havenstep booking hall: Skarn na vell, ora na thal. — From the rock to the wake. From the harbour to the light.

The authority

Steam ferries between Thalora and Nerith began under the Harbour Steam Ferry Board on 14 March 1891. The Spine tunnels opened in 1964 and the Board was reconstituted as the Thalora Transit Authority on 1 June 1964. The Harbor Line followed under Highmarket in 1978. The Shore Tram replaced the old quay horses in 1987. Cairnmoor had always had a boat; we took the run in 1994 when the private skipper retired.

Reiskar House on Lantern Row, a basalt and limestone civic building on wet cobbles at evening.
Reiskar House, 14 Lantern Row, Highmarket.
Municipal stone basins of volcanic spring water on a terrace, with a teal metro entrance beyond.
Wellspring / Keldara, Zone B, Spine Line.
Basalt cliffs at North Head, with a pale metro ventilation house on the headland.
North Head / Nordkapp, northern terminus of the Spine and the Shore Tram.
Historic glassworks sheds and a yard of pale green cullet opening toward the harbour.
Glassworks / Vellglær, Zone A, Spine Line.
Timber ferry wharf on Cairnmoor with a crimson-trimmed municipal ferry alongside.
Cairnmoor Wharf / Kaernmør Bryggja, southern end of the Cairnmoor Run.

Access on the network

Metro stations are step-free from street to train except Quarry Lane / Brottstig, which has stairs from Brottstig itself; a lift is funded for 2027. Highmarket and Havenstep have staffed lifts and tactile platform edges. Audio and visual next-train signs run on both metro lines and the tram.

All Shore Tram stops are level boarding. Ferries use ramped gangways at Havenstep, Nerith Harbour, and Cairnmoor Wharf. Outer Stack and Low Reef are stepped pontoons. If you need the gangway manned at those landings, telephone +838 21 440 170 at least two hours before sailing.

Assistance dogs travel free. Priority spaces are marked on metro cars 2 and 5, every tram, and the lower saloon of both boats. The duty supervisor at Havenstep holds a manual boarding bridge.

Lost property

Report at the Havenstep window the same day if you can, or file on the enquiry form. Items are held 28 days at Havenstep, then 60 days at Reiskar House. Bring photo identification to collect. We do not post items off the islands. Unclaimed property is offered to the Island Assembly stores after 88 days.