The Lost Islands of Dioz

Most visitors to the Lost Islands of Dioz will make their first landfall at Kostalya, one of the few settlements on the southern island of Odelinov. Odelinov is noted for the Mandrake Desert, home to the infamous shrieking, carnivorous Manticore Cactus. It is said that the Manticore Cactus are somehow moving over the dunes, massing near Kostalya, and that they will eventually descend upon the port and suck every inhabitant dry. Mostly, this is said in order to frighten newcomers, but the League of Topiatic Adventurers is always seeking new members for their forays into the desert to pluck the bloodthirsty plants.

Dioz, the largest settlement among the Lost Islands of Dioz, is a good-sized city of several thousand souls, built on a small rocky island that commands most of the trade routes here. The Countess Orczaza, a pirate captain who settled herself here with her fleet years ago, accepts tribute from most of the other settlements. Her navy, consisting of a dozen or so ships of the line and an array of frigates and sloops, is by far the most powerful force with the Lost Islands, and her will prevails.

The city of Dioz houses about a thousand souls. It’s not a big place, but it does pretty well. The little island it’s situated on suffers no monstrous predators, and makes for good farmland. There are sufficient landing places elsewhere on the island that the Countess Orczaza had a wall built. She’s a cautious lady. There’s plenty of trade, as the Countess has a reputation as a wealthy and fair dealer, and so cargo comes swarming in, seeking the famous Dioz gold. Local industry produces notable goods, mostly silk, and some of the tradesmen here make well-known finished products.

Hachitoro is a blacksmith known for his fine craftsmanship. He produces high-quality muskets and pistols, most of which the Countess purchases to equip her crews.

A collection of silk farms provides a portion of the wealth of Tan Zu Hsia, an aging widow who rules the underside of Dioz City with a jewel-bedecked fist. While she is constantly on the alert for weakness in the Countess, and savage in her criticisms of Orcaza’s rule, she is one of the most loyal supporters of the Countess. She is also the owner of the Nugget, the most infamous of taverns in Dioz. Widow Tan makes as much money running prostitutes and dice games as she does producing silk, and many shipments bring a few new slaves for her to train.

Fallrin the brewer is a native from Kostalya who learned beer making from an old pirate hand long ago. A massive black man with a deep gravelly voice, Fallrin is a keen scientist and constantly looking to improve his brewing systems. He has assembled a great workshop where fine valves and other products are made, working in concert with Hachitoro. The Fallrin Brewery is a maze of pipes and tubes and pumping fluids of every description.

The shrine of Agwë is run by a former pirate named Hillrose. He was a topman in one of the Countess’ ships when he experienced a vision of the sea as a living thing, and has since devoted his life to praising and placating the waves. The shrine has a pool out front which Hillrose fills every morning with seawater lugged up from the shore bucket by bucket.

Fan Liu is an astrologer/sorcerer who built a huge tower, the tallest structure in town, promising the Countess he would be able to foretell significant events for her. He did famously foretell the destruction of Sanzorec, but as per usual no one heeded his words.

The Dragon Eye Clan is housed in a large complex built on the hill in the west end of town. Beneath their fortified quarter lie the city catacombs, long labyrinthine tunnels where the citizens of Dioz have interred their dead for decades. Few will venture within, and fewer still at night, but many claim that within the catacombs lie passages out to sea, up into the ninja headquarters, and to many other parts of town as well. It’s possible that the Widow Tan uses some of these passages for her nefarious purposes, but it’s also likely that many remain undiscovered, haunted only by the dead…

(Note: map from Fantastic Maps released under a CC-BY-NC-SA License )

The Dragon Eye Clan make their home in Dioz City, where they work with the local ruler, Countess Orczaza, to keep order and to defend the town from any external threats.

Led by aging Master Nobitsuna, the Dragon Eye Clan number several hundred, and excel in stealth, assassination and other classic ninja skills. Their headquarters is well-defended, and the clan members practice daily in their deadly arts.

It is said that the clan was once close to the Jade Family, and that the Dragon Eye itself is a precious relic from the Empire, one related perhaps to the legends of the Jade Dragon that once protected the holy palaces. Whispers tell that whoever possesses the Dragon Eye possesses the power of the Jade Dragon.

Which is probably quite a bit, but nobody knows for certain.

Despite the dangerous creatures who live there, the uplands of Imbradur contain such rich deposits of gold that Fort Imbra has been maintained with the heaviest of armaments and defenses designed to keep mighty predators at bay. Countess Orczaza keeps the Fort manned from her crews, and the convoys that take the gold first to Dioz and then to ports beyond the Lost Islands of Dioz are heavily-guarded.

The Fort itself is built along a narrow river canyon, and has gotten steadily bigger over the years as the richest veins of gold continue to open up further and further upstream. The main settlement is now a small town, and spur walls extend up the canyon, guarded by watchful crews armed with swivel guns and heavy cannon to discourage the mammoth beasts who lurk nearby and have learned that often a quick charge out of the forest will snatch up a few unwary humans.

Unwary humans have become scarce, but the creatures continue to make forays against the Fort. Almost as though someone were controlling them. Countess Orczaza would love to find out if the uncharacteristic determination of the monsters is due to some intelligent plan, but she cannot risk her own crews in such a desperate venture.

To the north of the Lost Islands of Dioz, the Ghost Shadow Clan has made a home on the large island of Senysoka, building a great complex known as Kimurachi Temple. Visitors are permitted, although they must remain within the District of Impurity so as not to disturb the array of ancestral spirits the clan brought with them from their Imperial headquarters. Nearly every day is a holy day of some sort amongst the Ghost Shadow Clan, who remain in close contact with long-dead spirits, propitiating and cajoling them with rituals and sheer force of will. The clan is massive, with thousands of members forming a small city around the temple. They are organized into a multitude of ritual cadres, all with very specific responsibilities on each of the clan’s holy days. To an outsider, their activities seem senseless, almost random, but there is no denying that anyone who interferes in the clan’s business soon finds themselves beset with problems — bad weather, insanity, poison, angry dinosaurs and rebellious crews are only some of the terrors that have been laid at the feet of the clan’s vengeance on those who offend them. The clan, of course, says nothing about the misfortunes of those who try their patience. And yet, the persistent rumours of the clan’s vast wealth continues to tempt the foolhardy. Kimurachi Temple is one of the few settlements in the Lost Islands that does not pay tribute to Countess Orczaza of Dioz, but the Countess has never pressed the issue.

Perhaps the most terrifying example of the Ghost Shadow Clan 's vengeance is the town of Sanzorec, on the south coast of Senysoka. Akila Ravencat, another pirate captain looking to settle down, made himself “Lord Mayor” of Sanzorec three years ago, and noting that Kimurachi Temple did not pay the Countess of Dioz, decided perhaps they would pay him. Receiving a terse refusal, the Lord Mayor assembled his fleet and attempted to storm the Temple.

No one who was not there knows what in fact happened, but Ravencat’s fleet returned home on an unstoppable wind, and upon arrival in Sanzorec, disembarked a crew that no longer seemed alive. Walking corpses came ashore and tore into the town. The few escapees sailed from the harbour, leaving behind screams and unheeded pleas for mercy. The dead still walk the streets of Sanzorec, and no one as yet has had the courage to brave the shambling masses in search of the treasures Ravencat is rumoured to have brought with him. The people of the Lost Islands of Dioz live in terror of Dead Pirate Ravencat and his unholy crew, but then they remember that this was wrought by the ninja priests of the Ghost Shadow Clan, and then it’s hard to decide which to live in terror of.