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Valuatana
Updated: Sept. 18, 9:04 p.m.
This island is a canonical part of the DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND setting. You can still edit it, but aware that the admins may revert your changes if they don't align with the overall vision of the setting.
Summary
A sparsely inhabited island noted for the presence of pirate queens, ancient ruins and fierce dinosaurs!
Population: Not very many — the aforementioned pirate queen and her minions, and perhaps some small native bands.
Size: Not very big
Hooks:
- Somebody needs to take a message to Jihanna the Demon — who’s known for beheading messengers!
- Rumours of ancient treasure become too rich to believe — or ignore.
- A map shows a secret harbour on the island, away from the pirate queen’s anchorage. Maybe this is the route to treasure and fame!
Components in this Island
Place
NPC
Valuatana is largely shunned, and with good reason: this island is best known as the home of the much-feared pirate queen, Jihanna the Demon. Suffice to say that Jihanna lives up to her name, and thus few seek out the place where she keeps her forces at anchor.
The Demon’s fleet is normally found (when not out chasing down Imperial cargo ships) at rest in a sandy bar on the east side of the island. There are few other anchorages around the island, and the local fauna is legendarily large and bad-tempered, so rare is the ship that will seek water or provisions here.
Valuatana is off the main trading lanes, and much of the island is surrounded by treacherous reefs. Volcanos smoke and belch flame in the island’s interior, surrounded by jungle-covered hills and low-lying swamps. The island is reported to be home to some destitute native tribes, although nobody can say for certain. Life must be precarious within Valuatana’s steaming jungles, for they abound in massive prehistoric predators. Tyrant lizards and raptors lurk amidst the trees and undergrowth, and great pterodactyls wheel about in the skies overhead, waiting to dive on the unwary.
If that weren’t enough, it rains all the time.
Occasionally treasure-seekers are drawn to this island, and expeditions mounted to the fabled ruins that lie amidst the highlands in the center of the island, shrouded in jungle. There have been few survivors of such expeditions, but those that remained at all coherent spoke of terrible guardians, vast empty buildings, and a complete lack of booty, treasure or loot, so of late these expeditions have largely ceased.
The Firespray
Owner: barsoomcore
Firespray is the flagship of Jihanna the Demon 's pirate fleet. It is a large sloop, two-masted, fast and maneuverable. Jihanna has fitted it with powerful cannons and reinforced plates, so it is more dangerous than it appears.
Firespray
Size: Gargantuan
Speed: 45
Defense: 10 (10 base, -4 Size, +1 Crew, +3 Commander)
Toughness: +15 (+11 base, +2 hull thickness, +3 armor)
Maneuver: 6Attack:
Fore: +5 (+1 guns, +1 Crew, +3 Commander)
Aft: None
Broadside: +9 (+5 guns, +1 Crew, +3 Commander)
Crew: 40 (Superior)
Jihanna the Demon
Owner: barsoomcore
A much-feared pirate queen, Jihanna largely shuns the society of her piratical peers. She makes her home on the shore of Valuatana, taking up the only major anchorage on the island.
Her fleet numbers some five or six ships, the largest being her flagship, The Firespray. She is known for dressing in wildly colourful outfits, seeking to draw attention to herself in the midst of combat and thus (some say) spare her crew the worst of the enemy’s attacks. Her crews are known to be fanatically loyal to her.
Her most famous escapade is undoubtedly her sinking of two Imperial Navy vessels, that had disguised themselves as merchant ships to draw her in. Despite being caught by surprise, and seriously outgunned, the Demon refused to surrender, and when her ship was sunk beneath her, managed to get aboard one of the Imperial ships, take command and use it to sink the other. Infuriated that the Imperials had so tricked her, she then sank the ship she’d captured with the crew still on board, returning to Valuatana in one of her smaller ships. Her career is full of such exploits — she may be hotheaded and quick to anger, but she never seems to lose her ability to out-think her opponents.
Jihanna is respected by the other pirate captains of the islands, but for the most part given a wide berth. Even among pirates, she has a reputation for unpredictable violence and savagery.
The City of Refuge
Owner: barsoomcore
Somewhere in the dark heart of Valuatana lurks an ancient ruin known to the local natives as the City of Refuge.
This place, high up in the central hills of the island, lies amidst vines and thick undergrowth. Whatever civilization built these mighty structures is long lost to history.
Great pyramids loom over the jungle, and lower buildings emerge from the undergrowth only as the explorer draws near. Weird beasts cry out on all sides, as if warning intruders to stay clear. Cyclopean blocks lie amidst ferns and creepers, some carved in recognizable human forms, others less… identifiable. Everywhere the sense of former greatness clashes with an empty desolation as the jungle steadily reclaims its dominion.
Legend among the natives of this island claims that any one of them who can stay overnight within the taboo precincts of these ruins is innocent of any crimes they may have been guilty of. It is a mark of the terror the natives hold for this place that virtually no one ever attempts to spend a night in this deserted place.
