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Southern Isles
Capital: Tonate
Ruling House: House Maith
Located just to the southeast of Marin sits the Southern Isles, an archipelago of tropical islands varying in size from large isles to tiny cays. It marks the halfway point between the continents of Marin and Amoroth. The weather is separated into two clear seasons: Wet and Dry. It is rarely a question of whether or not it will rain in the Isles; the question is often how long and how strong the downpour will be. With the rainfall and healthy volcanic dirt, the Isles are full of natural bounty. Sugar, cotton, tobacco, pineapples, mangoes, and any variety of spices have always been exports of the Isles. More recently, however, the Isles have been graced with the spoils of commerce.
The creation of the Honorable Bradai Maith Trading Company (The BMTC), the headquarters of which can be found in Tonate Proper, has officiated the majority of trade across the two continents it lays between, the first of its kind to keep the plague of piracy at bay.
GEOGRAPHY
Cloverhold Isle
The northernmost island has a climate more similar to that of Araedia than the Southern Isles. It produces a significant amount of grain and livestock and usually trades its harvests with other islands for better political positions. The islanders are very loyal to House Maith and rely on the navy to defend against foreign Marinese invaders. House Scuid rules the island from their seat at Wellspring, and it was one of the first islands to join House Maith in the Great Isles War.
Tonate Isle
The largest and most profitable island in the Island Chain is Tonate. Its climate is wild and varied, ranging from the Spine, the mountain ridge that spreads across most of Tonate’s northern border, to the lowlands in the North, known for its lush rice paddies and floating villages, to the urban sprawl of the capital, Tonate Proper. The capital is the seat of House Maith, while the BMTC patrols the rest of the island. Numerous towns are scattered across the countryside, with autonomous towns and minor cities. The southern border is mostly comprised of white, sandy beaches. Governors oversee these districts and villages, acting on behalf of the King’s demands. The majority of the navy is stationed at Tonate Proper.
Tardide Isles
Tardide Isle is, and always has been, surrounded by shipwrecks. The capital city, Windrip, is known to take in some hundred or so new additions to their collection every time a decade-defining storm comes along. Through Islander history, it was the sight of many last stands against foreign Marinese invaders, whose navies ran aground against the treacherous and irregular coastlines. The fact that they defaulted to House Maith during the Great Isles War was not only a great blessing, but a notable turning point. House Klodig rules there, and now takes care of most naval repairs, as spare parts are almost always in abundance.
The Karsts
The Karsts is a group of islands located to the south of Tonate, and it serves as a good representation of what the Isles were like in peacetime long before the Great Isles War. The area is known for its tranquil sailing waters and natural beauty. Life has remained largely unchanged for generations, with clusters of houseboats moored against tall, rugged rocks forming mobile villages. The inhabitants engage in sailing, squid fishing, pearl harvesting, and crafting traditional trinkets that fetch good prices on the mainland. The presence of House Maith has greatly benefited the area, as it is now closely protected, allowing only House Maith ships to pass through. In return, the navy enforces the area as off-limits to most foreign ships. The Karsts are governed by a small council of Islander Clans, who have elected House Oighear of Rossa Isle (the largest of the islands in the Karsts) to represent them in dealings with House Maith. This area was the first conquered by Bradai in the Great Isles War.
Zulprisa Isle
The Isle of Zulprisa is the first island on the Pearl Chain. It is known for its particularly bustling nightlife and large supply of taverns. As you get farther up into the northern portions of the island, dense fields of sugarcane cover the fertile land. This is typically fashioned into rum in the large breweries in most of the residential areas. Despite its reputation as an island for drunkards, ran by drunkards, Zulprisa actually manages to come by a significant amount of wealth through its almost monopolistic sale of quality rum.
Alderport Isle
Alderport Isle is a fairly strong island that sports a good amount of the House Maith Navy. Both of the islands to the left and right of them are large farms largely controlled by the Bradai Maith Trading Company for poppy production. Surprisingly enough, these farms had existed for some time before Maith occupation. House Alder was once a stark defiant of House Maith, but when their elderly patriarch suspiciously died of "old age" in the Great Isles War, they quickly came to heel.
CULTURE
Privs and Scags
The creation of the Black Covenant brought many changes to the dichotomy between pirates and the Clans of the Isles. Today, there are two main groups of pirates that remain: Priv (short for Privateers) and Scags (Short for Scallywags).
PRIVS
Privs are pirates that defaulted to Bradai Maith's rule during the Great Isles War, or sometime after, signed onto the Black Covenant. They are the seafaring Gold Guard of House Maith, still allowed to pillage any enemies of House Maith overseas. They are tasked with any number of jobs, from rooting out Scags in the southernmost islands to escorting ships of the BMTC. They are known for their signature black trench coats and House Maith sigils. They remain loyal to the King and the rules of the Covenant, provide him a slight cut of any potential finds they receive, finding in return political asylum, free ship repairs and a comparably honest lifestyle. This is not to say that the Privateers of House Maith do not find themselves doing almost constantly questionable things, from arresting a nondescript person in the middle of the night, to setting their feet in cement and tossing them into the ocean. High ranking Privateer captains can negotiate their wages with an official of House Maith. They hate Scags, seeing them as not only unintelligent, but traitors to the new Southern Federation.
SCAGS
Scallywags are the pirates that remain, living by a code they call the "Old Ways". They pillage, plunder, rape, and murder all across the Southern Seas. They are seafaring marauders, bandits of the waters. They exist in small pocketed communities in the Southern Isles, and are often the thorn in the side of both House Maith and the BMTC. They are disgusted by the Privateers, convinced that they are betraying their ancestors and the Old Ways of the Isles.
HISTORY
For most of its history, the Isles have been an unorganized rabble of warring families, known as the Clans. Uneasy half decades of peace would devolve into warfare, desperation brought on by failed crops or pirate raids. For that reason, families in the Isles are typically large. Hands were always required, and with food relatively plentiful, it became the goal of a generation to outbreed their competition, marrying off sons or daughters until they could conceivably control the entire island chain. While the Isles often bickered among themselves, they historically have bound together to repel invading forces from both Marin and Amoroth. Clansmen would work together to form massive navies, leading ships of invading forces to run aground, give up islands to strategically close in entire armies, kidnap military captains and maroon them on uncharted, and often panther filled, islands; which is exactly why the Clans were taken by surprise when an Islander consolidated the Isles into a proper Kingdom fifteen years ago.
The Pirate King Bradai Maith, then just a Pirate Captain in Southern Feyshore, had been planning the assault for years before ever stepping foot back in his homeland. At this point, he was consumed with the cost of his burgeoning shipping company, sending supplies and money back to his ancestral home in the Isles. It was only after the Siege of Feyshore, in which Bradai drained the entirety of the Ramsalot treasury, that he would visit his masterwork for the first time. A once small but strategically placed town, known as Tonate, had been receiving funds for years, and the citizens could finally see who had been managing them. What had once been a podunk trading port was becoming a full-blown city, with paved roads and a standing city guard. Businessmen had begun moving in on the area, chasing the curious economic opportunities. The citizens of Tonate could finally see the man responsible for the newfound wealth, and named him the Patriarch of the Maith Clan.
With the money of the Ramsalot treasury and a town of supportive citizens at his back, the Patriarch of Tonate only required just one thing more to solidify his status as a ruler: an army. Bradai Maith paid off a great majority of pirates, including those in his own family, to work for him. In exchange for their loyalty, they would receive a full pardon for whatever crimes they had previously committed, safe harbour at Tonate and any other city that fell under his domain, and the honor, he assured them, of flying the flag of the Maith Clan. A surprising majority of them, beleaguered of the old lifestyle, agreed on forming an alliance that has remained steadfast to this day. They would become Privateers of House Maith, later known as Privs. Those that would defect were branded Scallywags, or Scags. The creation of the Pirate Covenant would earn Bradai the title of Pirate Lord, an originally derisive name, but one he would come to wear proudly.
He quickly forged deals with a number of Clans, promising them protection from the pirates. Few would agree, but nevertheless lent their arms to settle whatever scores they had against old rivals. The rest of the campaign was known for its quickness. Brutally islands would fall, ending in the old Patriarch swearing fealty, or quickly being replaced with a family that would. The longest battle in Great Isles War would last fourteen hours, the same amount of time it took for the Kipp Clan Hall to burn to the ground.
In the fourteen years since, the Isles have faced few hardships and great prosperity. Political dealings have earned the Pirate King land beyond the Isles, generating a cultural dominance that has surpassed even his original expectations. The BMTC has found ports all along the southern coast of Marin and the northern coast of Amoroth, keeping the flow of gold into the capital of Tonate Proper steady.