Saint Lyaos has been continuously inhabited by the Liyayosim, a once sea-faring people, for about 8,000 years. The first Liyayos, who would have at that point would have considered himself simply a member of the [Glacine] people, set foot on the island at the beginning of a period of historic warming, allowing safe ocean passage to new regions in the northern Plassedi Ocean. This historic warm period lasted about 600 years, and was followed by approximately 7,000 years of relatively stable climates, with shorter, less dramatic periods of minor warming or cooling. Following this stable period, the Glacine region experienced a rapid and extremely long period of cooling, lasting over 800 years, with the highest estimates claiming that the period lasted a full 1000 years. During this period, much of the surrounding seas were frozen for large parts of the years, preventing substantive travel across the ocean, and thus beginning the isolation of the [Glacine] peoples and, naturally, of Liyayosim. This isolation ended only as the sea thawed once again about 350 years ago.