Salt Island - Default Area

[Sean_RDP]

So this thread is going to be about the default "play" area for Skaerune'. In the main rule book there will be a small description and adventure that I hope will introduce people to the setting in an adequate way. It will also be the first supplement for Skaerune'. After that I will gauge interest from players to see what they want.

So a little about Salt Island:

Sitting in the middle of the Sea of Woes, Salt Island is famous for being famous. Since the time of the First City, Salt Island has been a battle ground because of it's resources. One of those is the large amount of salt found beneath its dusty surface. Another is the plentiful dark red and orange fruit orchards that dot the island's more hospitable regions. Salt Island has always been a source of great wealth and whoever controlled it held advantage over its rivals.

Now the Rakshasa rule the island and the power of the Fourth City has settled here. The salt mines run day and night with both slaves and paid labor. For a slave, the Salt Mines are a death sentence either from exhaustion or the hand of an overseer. Things are not much better for those who are paid to enter the mines because the contracts offered by the Rakshasa Salt Barons do not benefit those who labor. Yet many of those who have been dispossessed by the Glorious Empire have no real choice but to brave the mines. The lucky few who survive are never quite the same.

Out in the “Hinters” or Hinterland of the island, the ruins of three other settlements dot the land. They are home to scavengers, cannibals, and dangerous beasts. Worse, they are home to several demon cults who don't give a damn where the Rakshasa come from or their status as “Lords”. Beyond the old settlements are the caves, the flats, and the swamp. Each is deadly in its own way, though it is only beyond these that one finds the most dangerous and fascinating place on the island: Nameless Rock. Touched by those who lived here before the First City, it is a labyrinth of ancient design and sinister intent. Most who brave its dark passages never return, though a few who have returned talk about meeting the Mistress of the Maze. Most think these people are crazy.

[Trifletraxor]

I'd know my players immediately would want to go dungeon crawling after hearing that description! ;)

[Sean_RDP]

9 minutes ago, Trifletraxor said:

I'd know my players immediately would want to go dungeon crawling after hearing that description! ;)

And if they survive, they may learn something of the Zero People*, those that lived on Skaerune' before the coming of the First City. 

*Zero People is kind of a place holder for now. 

[Sean_RDP]

So the first location description for Salt Island is done. It will need some cleaning up, but overall I like it.  It shows off a few elements of the world.

Eastern Ranches (The Eastern Plains)

On the eastern side of the Dust Mountains is a large plane of high grasses and sparse trees. The region is protected on the west by the mountains and the north by Blackfish Bay. With a favorable climate and stable temperatures the region is the most pleasant on the island. Before the coming of the Fourth City, the wealthiest citizens of the Third City had their plantations here, growing grey poppies and chraffa beans. Even with over two hundred such plantations there was still plenty of unused land. Once the Rakshasa took control of the island, they claimed the unused land and have been systematically expelling Nuroni families. Very few of the Third City noble families are left.

In the place of the previous plantations are broad ranches, each owned by a Rakshasa and raising herds of oxen or groats. Although the Rakshasa use slaves in other endeavors, they feel slaves make poor ranch hands and herdsmen. They have imported several families of centaurs from the Northern Wastes as well as more than a few groatsmen from the Windland Isles. The Rakshasa land owners pay their herdsmen well and provide to them the best equipment and supplies. Even many of the Nuroni left are treated well with their children hired (once they reach sixteen years) to tend ranch gardens and continue some chraffa and poppy fields.

Although there are few relics of previous ages here, the Eastern Plains are still dangerous for the unwary. There are many dangerous snakes on this side of the island, acclimated to a dryer land with little temperature variation. It is easy to come across a poisonous ring viper or red tomb snake in the high grass if you are not careful. Closer to mountains in some of the gentle hills and played out eastern mines a group of Bokemono have moved in. These pests have been here since the last days of the Second City, though no one is sure where they come from. Bokemono do not come from the myths of either the Second or Third Cities. At night Bokemono raiding parties sneak out of deep dens and raid herds, making the life of herdsmen dangerous indeed.

Two areas even the Bokemono stay away from are Ostrich Grove and the unfinished Temple of the Sisters. Ostrich Grove is a grove of low trees that bear a strange green fruit. It is the province of the Heathen God Goromontu, a large and powerful Ostrich who protects his flocks and travels mostly unseen across the Eastern Plains. They say the best way to meet Goromontu is to try not to meet him as he is something of a trickster and knows when someone is actively avoiding him. Another sure way to meet him is to hunt ostrich or ostrich eggs. Goromontu will often show up to teach such poachers and thieves a lesson.

Before the fall of the Third City, a small cult of rich Nuroni were building a moon temple here. Although a minor cult in the pantheon of the Third City, it did include many rich nobles both within the ranks of the Nuroni and without. The cult members were the last military hold outs on the island, but the Rakshasa and their berserker army overwhelmed the cult and their temple defenses. The unfinished temple was burned and looted and the bodies of the cultists left unburied. This had lead to a cursed feeling to all those who walk in the temple area and a number of undead creatures reported.

Ruled over by kh'Raaja Armuark from the fortified town of South Falls, the Eastern Plains are among the wealthiest province in the Glorious Empire and one of the smallest. They are also the most peaceful and pleasant. South Falls is the only settlement aside from the odd village of poor Nuroni or pacified Bokemono “workers”.