Saint Lyaos has been continuously inhabited by the Liyayosim for about 8,000 years. The first Liyayos, who would have at that point considered herself simply a member of the [Glacine] people, set foot on the island at the end of a period of historic cooling, which had allowed safe over-ice passage to new regions in the northern Plassedi Ocean. This historic cold 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 little ice age, the Glacine region experienced a rapid and extremely long period of warming, lasting over 800 years, with the highest estimates claiming that the period lasted a full 1000 years. During this period, the ice which had once been crucial for travel melted away, preventing substantive travel across the region, and thus beginning the isolation of the Glacine peoples and, naturally, of Liyayosim. Although today the climate is cooler than it was during that warm period, much of waters between the various Glacine-inhabited territories is clear of ice for most of the year, except in particularly cold winters.