Drai Shon Archipelago

Overview

Think strange mountain in the middle of a deep ocean, think Caribbean Islands, Street Paved with Gold, aggressive local tribes, and ‘civilised’ opposition who also want to settle / control the Archipelago. In this case, an Oriental, xenophobic, society and the lackadaisical (long-term) enemies from Sakhar, vie for control with settlers from The Hann Empire. And the party are there to get what they can for themselves. Is there a missionary, who wants to convert the natives? An explorer who wants to see the biggest known volcano in the world? A peacemaker, who thinks we should all live together peacefully - or be eliminated? Or just the normal get-rich-quick and spend-it-all adventurers?

Think mayhem, think pirates, think land raids, think colonisation, think fame and fortune – think rip roaring ADVENTURE!

Description

This large island, with a massive central mountain, is surrounded by rings of smaller islands, far from settled lands, the islands have been known about for many years, but the distance and resistance from local tribes, made exploration difficult and expensive. However, sages have been studying the islands from afar, and have developed a number of theories, which have sparked the interest of people from all around the world. Whatever the truth, it has attracted interest from three different continents, and the locals are resisting stubbornly.

The Colonists

The Hann Empire have sent a colonization force, and a fleet of freebooting buccaneers.
Sakar have sent a colonization force, and a fleet of freebooting buccaneers.
Sinon have sent a colonization force, and a fleet of freebooting buccaneers, and built a colony called Shangkong

The Locals

The Natives
- Central Dominions - Hobgoblin military dictatorship led by a Junta. They use Flottahs a type of light Galleys to raid and patrol their waters.
- The outer islands - Very disorganized, no central organization BUT Fjord Orc raiders
- Paria - An 'Open Port' at the mouth of river, below a Dwarf minehold. It is multi-racial and in the middle of all this mess. Politics are a disjointed, but somehow it all hangs together. As an open port, ships from all nations are free to enter the port and trade - and Paria is the middle man for trade and the ransom/exchange of prisoners. Ships that don't follow the rules are banned from the port and may be attacked on sight.
  It is, potentially, the base for a mixed race adventuring group. For alignment think TN - but only because that is where CN and LN meet and where LE can live with CG -(there are probably slight LE overtones but …)

The Exchange Protocol - With pirating, raiding and other similar activities, if finished up that quite a lot of wealthy people / Leaders were killed, taken prisoner or kidnapped - which meant there was an impetus to agree some 'rules of exchange'. Weapons, Armour, Magic items are seen as legitimate loot - but otherwise, Captains, Officers, Passengers (and anyone else who can convince their captors that someone will pay up) are allowed to keep their mundane possessions, but are sent for ransom / exchange via the monastic house at Paria. All the Human nations follow those rules, as do the people of Paria, most of the time. Some orcs follow the rules - occasionally, and when it suits them.