The Minor Islands of the Sea of Dread

The Sea of Dread is the wide expanse of water found south of the Known World. It is surrounded by the Known World and the southern coast of the Great Waste to the north, and by the Serpent Peninsula to the west, but geographers and navigators don’t agree on which its other limits are. In its larger definition, the Sea of Dread stretches up to the northern coast of Davania and the island of Ochalea to the south, and up to the western coast of the Isle of Dawn to the east, ending on the ideal line connecting Cape Gabrionius (Province of Septentriona, on the Isle of Dawn) to the town of Dawnpoint (Tel Akbir Peninsula, Thyatis), giving way to the Western Sea of Dawn to the north. In its smaller definition, the Sea of Dread is limited to the south by the Western and Eastern Thanegioth Archipelagos – giving way south of them to the Davanian Shallows – and to the east by a line connecting the Verdant Isles, the Burning Mountain, and the easternmost island of the Eastern Thanegioth Archipelago – east of which the Western Sea of Dawn begins.

According to the legends, the inauspicious name of this sea was given to it by the Thyatian, Kerendan, and Hattian peoples who migrated to the Known World in BC 600. Their migration turned to be a dreadful passage through waters as stormy as they never remembered to have seen; many of their numbers died, but when Protius’ wrath was appeased, they reached the northern land, thanking the Immortals and assigning the enemy sea the name it deserved. While this is the most commonly accepted origin of the Sea of Dread’s name, fact is that the elves of Alfeisle, in Minrothad, tell that their ancestors began calling it “Sea of Dread” in their language much before the Thyatians arrived in the Known World, during the age of seismic upheavals before BC 1700 which ravaged and changed the whole southern coast of the mainland (even if some theories give the name a more sinister origin – take a look to Darkness Beneath, by F. Defferrari, in this issue of Threshold, to know more).

Whatever the origins of its name, the Sea of Dread is filled with a vast number of large, small, and tiny islands. The educated common man only knows the largest or more important islands and archipelagos – the Ierendi and Minrothad chains, the great island of Hattias and the Thyatian islands east of its, the faraway and savage Thanegioth Archipelago. Only a few people, apart from most experienced seamen, will be able to name even one of the minor islands, but neither they could keep count of all the lonely atolls, keys, and islets scattered through the sea.

Well, if you are not an ever-travelling seawolf, and more akin to watch the sea through the window of your home, or through the pages of a book, then follow us and we will bring you in a short tour of the smaller islands of the Sea of Dread.

Sidebar 1 Dread, Colony, or What?

The Minrothad island chain, made up by seven islands (Trader’s Isle and Alfeisle, the largest; then Open Isle, and Fortress, Blackrock, North, and Fire islands) – eight if you add Terentias, under Thyatian control – have been called with a variety of names during their history. The archipelago’s first name was given to it by the Meditor and Verdier elves, who called it Isles of Dread due to the decades of seismic and volcanic instability which had sunk into the water most of the lands where they lived, leaving only Alfeisle, around BC 1750. Obviously, these Isles of Dread have nothing in common with the Isle of Dread which is found in the Eastern Thanegioth Archipelago.

Later (BC 1100), they were the Nithians which gave the archipelago the name with which sometimes it is still called today, that is Colony Islands. After the formation of the Minrothad Guilds (AC 691), the chain is usually called Minrothad islands or archipelago, but “Colony Islands” is geographically more correct when one intends to refer to the whole island chain, Terentias included.

A Tour of the Sea of Dread

This article will shortly describe a number of minor islands which dot the Sea of Dread – basically the ones included between the Ierendi and Minrothad chains and the Eastern Thanegioth Archipelago – leaving out the larger and already known ones. Among them one archipelago, that of the Verdant Isles, is usually recognized. The others are treated individually.¹

Verdant Isles

The archipelago of tiny islands known as the Verdant Isles owes its name to the lush vegetation and jungles which cover the greater part of these five islands – East Key, Magedoom Isle, Green Reavers’ Island, Sea Demon’s Fang, and Zephyr’s Curse. Despite their plentiful resources, the archipelago’s islands are very dangerous places for a number of reasons.

The first is represented by the dreaded “ship-bane”, a vicious mist which ravages ships passing nearby these islands (actually the mist is generated by baleful creatures of the Elemental Plane of Air, called “kal-murus” by the kara-kara).

The second is the fact that the islands are inhabited by a race of aggressive, green-skinned, orc-like humanoids, called “kara-kara”. The kara-kara have their own unique culture, centered on the worship of a “pig-god” (likely Orcus), rule by “manwu-papas” (witch-doctors), and sailing on large canoes. They survive through hunting, fishing, and raiding of small ships and nearby nations’ coasts, which they perform swiftly, retreating in their islands afterwards. Sometimes their canoes are encountered at sea, even at some distance from the Verdant Isles.

Despite their fierceness and the fact that the Verdant Isles are accessible only with difficulty, the kara-kara have been occasionally known to trade with merchants landing in their archipelago, being more than happy to put their hands of foreign metal weapons and tools.

East Key

This subtropical island is plain and partially covered by vegetation and jungle, with abundant freshwater. It is inhabited by only a few tribes of kara-kara, who came from the Green Reapers’ Island, to the northeast. Moreover, the “ship-bane” is rarely found there. The island’s plentiful resources make it an advantageous stop for ships braving the Sea of Dread, good enough even to risk attacks by the kara-kara natives. Source: XSOLO Lathan’s Gold.

Green Reapers’ Island (Teki-nura-ria)

This small, jungle-covered island ages ago hosted some sort of ancient and advanced civilization, as ruins and archeological remains testify. Nothing is left of the ancient dwellers of this place, as since a long time the island is the home of the kara-kara, whose presence here is greater than in nearby islands. The kara-kara call this island “Teki-nura-ria”, which means “mountain of death” in their tongue. Besides the aggressive kara-kara, the island is made dangerous by the stormy waters around it, and by the ever present “ship-bane” mist. Source: X8 Drums of Fire Mountain.

Magedoom Isle, Sea Demon’s Fang, and Zephyr’s Curse

These three tiny islands complete the Verdant Isle archipelago. They are all covered in thick jungle, inhabited by tribes of kara-kara, and infested by the “ship-bane” mist, just like the Green Reapers’ Island. Magedoom is known among wizards because the island harbor a vast number of plant species useful for alchemical and arcane procedures; wizards from Sclaras and elsewhere occasionally foray there – unfortunately, not all of them came back alive from those tours in the kara-kara territory. Sea Demon’s Fang and Zephyr’s Curse are more like the tops of two submerged mountains; the former has a rocky peak at its center, while the latter’s top is rounder, but the coasts of both are rugged and filled with creeks and shallow reefs. Sources: X8 Drums on Fire Mountain (featured on general area map; the islands’ names were created by the author).

Sidebar 2 The Island of Mardius and Thyralax

The adventure Thyralax and the Ruby Amulet, included in AC10 Bestiary of Dragons and Giants, describes a savage volcanic area of swamps and hills, bordered by high stone mountains to the north, which is found «about 20 miles north of the nearest civilized area». This area is the domain of the ruby dragon Thyralax, while to the north dwells the old nemesis of him, the brown dragon Mardius; the two dragons have a long-lasting feud which results in constant struggle. The domain of Thyralax, which is the area detailed in the adventure, is about the size of a single 8-miles hex. Besides its draconic master, the land hosts gatormen and koprus.

The presence of the koprus would make it ideal to set the adventure on one of the islands of the Eastern Thanegioth Archipelago. The adventure needs an area with a north-south extension of about one and a half 24-miles hexes, so the most suitable islands of the archipelago seem to be large island to the west of the Isle of Dread (Karawa Island), or even better the second slightly smaller one found to the east of it (Nogoro Island). The “nearest civilized area” could be a trading post or colony belonging to one of the Known World’s sea powers, or even a native village (like the ones found in the Isle of Dread’s southeastern peninsula).

The presence of gatormen (who are the same humanoids as the Gurrash of the western Savage Coast), might seem problematic, as according to the Voyage of the Princess Ark series, they were created by Herathian wizards some centuries ago. However, we should consider that a race of crocodile-men already existed during Blackmoor’s times, as proved by their first appearance in module DA4 The Duchy of Ten; even then, their existence was due to an «evil wizard’s experiment», after which their «numbers grew dramatically». In the thousand years intervened between the setting of DA4 (BC 4000) and the Great Rain of Fire (BC 3000), almost everything may have happened to explain the gatormen’s presence in the Thanegioth area. Nevertheless, it seems that the Herathian wizards rediscovered some ancient Thonian ritual to create the gatormen. Today, these and other sparse groups of gatormen (besides those of the Bayou) would be the last remnants of the Thonian experiments. In turn, all these magical experiments aimed at the creation of reptilian races could likely be the result of rediscovered lore from the Carnifex, an advanced reptilian race which dominated the Outer World several thousands of years ago.

Other Scattered, Lonely Isles

This group included all other islands of the Sea of Dread which do not form archipelagos or island chains. Some of these islands are indeed uninhabited, some other are simply the barren top of underwater mountains and volcanoes; some other, instead, are large and pleasant enough to have become the home – already in ancient times – of Makai and Tanagoro tribesmen, coming from the Davanian coast or from the Serpent Peninsula. Where still present today, these natives continue to lead a simple lifestyle based on fishing and gathering.

Aleea Keys

This series of five small islands is found south of a vast and dangerous area of shallow reefs known as the Aleea Reefs, which only the few Makai natives living in the keys know how to navigate. The islands, from northwest to southeast, are known by their Makai names as Miwoa, Natula, Tiruka, Lawana, and Okea. The islands offer few in terms of resources, but the area around them is quite good for fishing, especially mollusks dwelling in the shallows. Source: PC3 The Sea People (featured on the poster map; the islands’ names were invented by the author).

Calitha’s Tears

A couple of islands which owe their name to an elven legend in which the Immortal Calitha mourns one of her beloved mortal champions, shedding tears which come up from the sea bed and formed these islands when they arrived in contact with the air of the surface. Be it for Calitha’s blessing or not, the two islets are noted for the beautiful and unusual fields of white, yellow, and pink-colored flowers which grow on them. Enterprising elven lovers sometimes bring their would-be spouses there to utter their love declarations. Touristic guides from Ierendi have been known to organize visits on this island. Source: PC3 The Sea People (featured on the poster map; the island’s name was invented by the author).

Burning Mountain

The main feature of this island is a tall volcanic mountain found in its middle, which releases poisonous gases. Because of the toxic substances which come out from the volcanic openings, the island’s uplands are barren – nothing grows here. The surrounding area, instead, is covered by lush tropical vegetation and is inhabited by Makai tribes. Navigation in the vicinities of the island is made dangerous by the sudden changes in wind direction, which may move in an unpredictable way the vapors coming out of the volcano. Occasionally, the lava flows expelled by the volcano carry large quantities of melted gold, which then solidifies into large lumps – a phenomenon that has fed the legends about the “gold mountain”. Source: XSOLO Lathan’s Gold.

Sidebar 3 The Floating Islands of the Lizardmen

The existance of these islands is known only thanks to occasional alleged sightings, and maybe only the product of misinterpretations, blunders, or simple rumors. Nevertheless it is worth mentioning, becouse such sightings have become a relevant number. Reference to these islands can be found in GAZ4 The Kingdom of Ierendi and in Joshuan’s Almanac & Book of Facts.

These are strange islands – little more than massive, bare rock fragments – which float a little above the water’s surface, and move above sea level through unknown means. They seem to appear from time to time near some of the coastal lands surrounding the Sea of Dread. The islands, which in many tales are described harboring alien buildings, are inhabited by warlike groups of lizardmen, who use them to move across the sea to attack and plunder isolated and undefended settlements. Even if the lizardmen’s number is not so high (rumors say some hundred warriors), they are well equipped, both in the ways of war and magic.

Some speculate that the islands are ancient artifacts of the lizardmen whose origins can be traced back to the prehistoric age; according to this theory the lizardmen would still use them as transportation and communication means between their communities scattered from the Ierendi Islands to the Thanegioth Archipelago across the Sea of Dread, and maybe even beyond.

Clesius’ Reef

A rocky and barren island which was discovered when a Thyatian seaman, Rutilius Clesius, was found near-mad and starving there, two years after the Battle of Midpoint (AC 713) in which the Ierendian navy destroyed a Thyatian fleet. Clesius was missing since the battle and believed dead at sea; no one figured out how he could have survived two years alone on this island. Back in Thyatis, he lived another three years in a religious hospice before dying. Source: PC3 The Sea People (featured on the poster map; the island’s name was invented by the author).

Good Omen Isle

According to the legend, this small island (and the two tiny reefs northeast of it) was the first land sighted by the Thyatian, Kerendan, and Hattian ships which had taken the long journey through the Sea of Dread to migrate from Davania to the Known World. Thyatians landed on the island and sacrificed to the Immortals, thanking them for their benevolence. The island is plain and pleasant, covered in vegetation and small copses. Thyatian faithful occasionally make pilgrimages there, and Thyatian priests have built a small altar and statue to honor the Immortals in the location of the coast in which it is believed that the Thyatians first landed. Source: PC3 The Sea People (featured on the poster map; the island’s name was invented by the author).

Insect Island

A subtropical island covered in forests and vegetation, with few Makai natives. The islands has plenty of water and food, and would be a great stop for ships – if it was not for the fact that hundreds of species of insects (especially beetles) and worms haunt it. The Makai natives even use some of these vermins as food, but sometimes they have problems with them. It is likely that any type of supply brought on board of a ship from the island’s interior is filled with the eggs and tiny larvae of the vermins which infest it; if this is the case, the food and water will be spoiled soon, once the eggs hatch. Source: XSOLO Lathan’s Gold.

Maiden, The

A plain island inhabited by a scattering of Makai natives, owes its name to an ancient legend of a Traldadaran princess who had been left here awaiting the return of her hero, which however died tragically and never came back to her. The legend says that the princess’ ghost still haunts the beach, longing for the return of her beloved one. Of course, the local Makai have never seen such a spirit. Source: PC3 The Sea People (featured on the poster map; the island’s name was invented by the author).

No Name Island

This flat island is little more than a large cay, with some water but where very few edible plants grow. Much time ago this island was recorded as being inhabited by Makai natives, but today it is uninhabited, and while in the past it was occasionally used as a haven by pirates, today it is not anymore. It is unknown to the Known World folk that this island is actually a shark-kin sacred ground; they call it the “Island of Dried Skins” and are the reason for which even the pirates keep at bay from it. Source: XSOLO Lathan’s Gold (the island featured in the adventure has been identified with the “Island of Dried Skins” from PC3 The Sea People, whose location was not indicated in the module).

Pirate Rock

This inhospitable island has very few resources and offers nothing in terms of supplies; no one has really a reason to dock here – and this is why a lot of pirate crews used to bury their loot and treasures in this island. In old times, the island was inhabited by Tanagoro natives, most of whom have been carried away as slaves during the course of the centuries; only a very few of them remain. Even pirates do not seem to be a stable presence in this area anymore – at least, this is what most Known World folks believe – in truth, the island is a quite alive spot of the Sea of Dread, inhabited by some ancient cultures and races, still a major pirate hideout, and within the reach of the powerful Twaelar Kingdom from the southern waters. It is worth noting that due to past and present pirate activity on the island, various chests filled with gold still await to be digged out of the earth, their owners executed by the law of the civilized countries or gone missing after sea storms. Source: XSOLO Lathan’s Gold. [A much deeper insight about Pirate Rock will be included in the Three Starflowers adventure by F. Defferrari, which you will find in the upcoming issue #4 of Threshold.]

Sidebar 4 Morgana’s Island

The woman called Morgana is a young, raven-haired beauty with violet eyes and copper complexion. This character was first introduced as one of the pregenerated PCs of adventure module M3 Twilight Calling, and had a Neutral alignment.

Her past is shrouded in mystery, but she likely has Common Alphatian origin, while her name seems a Thyatianization of a common name used by some peoples of the Isle of Dawn (Morrigan). In truth, Morgana is quite old (she preserves her youthful appearance at 25 years old through magic longevity potions) and one of the most powerful magic-users of the Known World (around AC 1000 she should have reached 33^rd level in the Magic-User class under BECMI rules terms). She undertook many adventures during her past, at one time also becoming the ruler of the undeground city of Cynidicea (see adventure module B4 The Lost City) for a while. After that, she married one of her adventuring companions, the fighter Taran, had two children from him, and sat together with him on the throne of Ierendi for a couple of years after their victory in the local Royal Tournament of Adventurers.

After separating from Taran, she created a tiny, magical floating island not far from the coasts of one of Ierendi’s isles. Today, Morgana lives there, paying occasional visits to her old adventuring companions (Taran included) and to her children, both of whom also have won the Ierendian crown on some years in the past. Morgana’s isle cannot move in the air, and is found many hundred feets above the sea level, even if the wizardess has enchanted it with the power to float downward into the sea, to appear as a true island. The island is surrounded by a powerful dispel magic effect (cast at the 33^rd level of power), which makes reaching it through fly spells and the like quite hazardous, and requires the use of magic items such as flying carpets and flying boats. The island is about 1000’ across; its terrain is mostly rocky, with spurs and crags, but also sports short grasses and alpine-like vegetation, albeit with very few and short trees. In its center lies Morgana’s mansion, a small half-wizardly tower and half-mountain cottage building, where the wizardess conducts her experiments, studies, and researches about the Path to Immortality.

Roc’s Island

This tiny island (and the smaller just north of it) is just a barren crag protruding out of the sea, rocky and barren, with only sparse vegetation and often surrounded by mists. The larger islands is actually the cone of a dormant volcano. Rocs are known to nest on these islands. Source: PC3 The Sea People, and X10 Red Arrow, Black Shield (the island is featured on PC3 poster map, and has been identified with the island of the same name mentioned, but not given a position, in X10).

Sea Nuggets, The

Both of these islands have a shape which remembers a couple of jagged lumps, with many crags, reefs, and cliffs. The top and center of the islands are covered in low vegetation. The name of these islands come from the traces of gold veins exposed by water erosion on the islands’ cliffs. However, before claiming the islands to mine them, the Ierendian and Minrothaddan governments – both of which covet the Nuggets – have still to figure out how to dispose of the greater sea serpents which dwell in the islands’ underwater caves. Source: PC3 The Sea People (featured on the poster map; the island’s name was invented by the author).

Skeleton Key

This island is found just west of a long coral reef running in northwest-southeast direction from this key to the Three Sisters Keys to the northwest, called the Dragon’s Teeth Reefs. In the past this isle was inhabited by Tanagoro tribes, but then it became a battlefield in the Aquapopulus War between humans and merrows (see the sidebar), one of the most tragic battles of which was fought on this island. The few natives died in that occasion or migrated away afterwards. Today, the heart of the island is covered with the bones and the weapons of the soldiers who died fighting in that grim day. No one has settled this island since then. Source: XSOLO Lathan’s Gold.

Sidebar 5 A Little Known Story: Thyatian Westward Expansion

The fact that the Ispans, a cultural subgroup of mainland Thyatis, were sent to colonize the eastern Savage Coast in a sort of “forced” migration is quite well known. What is not known as well is that Thyatian expansion in the western seas could have had some precedents. In fact, a couple of canon sources hint at this expansion. The second volume of the Poor Wizard’s Almanac, under the “Davania” entry, says that the region of Davania stretching from the Adakkian Sound to the Hinterlands hosts «forgotten colonies from other nations»; while the Explorer’s Manual in Champions of Mystara is even more explicit, saying that «the stretch of Davania’s coast closest to Yavdlom is inhabited by scattered city-states, the remnants of Thyatian and other nations’ colonies that have since lost ties with their mother countries». This, coupled with references to the “Aquapopulus War” in XSOLO Lathan’s Gold, could make the basis for an interesting story about Thyatis’ attempt to expand and control trade routes in the western Sea of Dread.

When did the Empire establish colonies in the Green Coast? What so valuable did the Thyatians find there? Were the merrows of the Twaelar Kingdom responsible for the Empire’s abandonment of its colonies in Davania? So is this struggle between Thyatis and the Twaelar Kingdom what is known as the “Aquapopulus War”?

Another intriguing Mystaran history dilemma, which maybe will be further explored in one of the future issues of Threshold!

Spider Isle

This southern island is partially forested, and is inhabited by some tribes of Tanagoro ethnicity. Rumors hold that at the heart of the island is found the so-called Lost Temple of Araknee, an ancient stone building with a spider-shaped plan. Known World archaeologists speculate that the temple may have been built in ancient times by the Tanagoro to honor their spider-like Immortal, Korotiku, during the golden age of the human cultures of the Thanegioth Archipelago. Still today, missionaries from Thyatis and the Pearl Islands set on voyages toward this island to find this lost relic of their Immortal patron. Actually, the Lost Temple could be even more ancient than that, its original builders having been the aranea – some of which may actually still hide in disguise among the island’s human population, Source: XSOLO Lathan’s Gold.

Termite Atoll

A lonely island inhabited by friendly Makai tribes, who are usually willing to resupply ships from the Known World which stop there in exchange for tools and trinkets. Its names is due to the voracious giant salt-water termites which infest the sea around the island, attacking all ships trying to dock near it. Source: XSOLO Lathan’s Gold.

Sidebar 6 Kythria’s Pleasure Island

Not all the islands of the Sea of Dread live up to their host’s name. Legends tell of a mysterious island, located somewhere in the huge expanse of this sea, where worthy mortal heroes can find solace from the life’s trouble, enjoying for a while the most joyful pleasures in the company of beautiful nymphs and faeries, and where the Immortals themselves and some of their exalted servants sometimes come to remember the feelings of their life on Mystara. The story that follows was first devised in [http ://pandius .com /Codex 1 e .pdf, Codex Immortalis, Book I: Guide to the Immortals (by M. Dalmonte)].

Kythria’s Deeds as a Mortal

Kythria was a very successful Ierendian adventurer of Makai origins; besides undertaking memorable feats, she was gifted with great beauty and charm. Kythria became in a short time a person of renown in Ierendi; it was hers the idea to select the Kingdom’s monarchs through the Royal Tournament of Adventurers – and this gained her a place of honor among the country’s celebrated historical figures. Eventually she undertook the path toward Immortality under the patronage of Eiryndul. She is still today worshipped by minor cults in various countries as the patroness of lust, sensuality, and pleasure, and in Ierendi as a national heroine.

As her last feat and testimony to achieve Immortality, Kythria created her Pleasure Island. The island is small (about 4 miles across), mostly plains and rolling hills, filled with flowering meadows, groves, springs and ponds of sweet waters, bountiful trees, flourishing orchards, beautiful cliffs, lagoons, underwater caves, and small falls. Fruits and water are always available on Pleasure Island. Small animals – singing birds, peacocks, squirrels, mouses, and the like – are found on the island. It hosts no artificial buildings besides a sensuous statue of a scantly-clad woman, representing Kythria, in everchanging hues, located at the very center of it; the statue is actually an artifact created by the Immortal.

Your Wishes Coming True...

Besides this, what else is found on Pleasure Island depend on its occupants – this is the power of Kythria’s artifact. Whenever one lands on the island, the artifact will automatically read the newcomer’s hidden wishes and lusts and react to them, subtly summoning, creating, or making them appear. Their appearance is not sudden, and things appear to the visitor as if they had always been there. This means that as the island’s occupants change, so does what is found on it – people, animals, buildings, features – even if the elements which have been described above are always present. When people leave the island, the features and companions they had wished for slowly disappear, leaving room for the next comer’s wishes. Nevertheless the hidden wishes given life by the artifact are not illusions, they are real, albeit temporarily. On the island one can encounter other peoples who are visiting the island and their own fulfilled wishes; in fact, multiple visitors are satisfied by the artifact at the same time.

Obviously, the artifact can’t satisfy just any type of wishes, but only those in line with Kythria’s sphere of interest. A visitor looking for sensual or romantic fulfilment of any type (and in any surrounding) will almost always be satisfied, but one wishing to sit on a mountain glacier at dawn will not. Moreover, Kythria does not allow the artifact to satisfy outright cruel, excessively painful or destructive wishes – people harboring such feelings are anyway unlikely to be allowed by the Immortal to find her island.

At any time, besides his own fulfilled wishes, a visitor on Pleasure Island will find merrows playing around its waters; nymphs bathing on the beaches; beautiful males and females of various races, ready to satisfy the visitor’s wishes; cooked meals and fresh drinks for any taste; cozy cottages, romantic leisures, luxurious villas scattered here and there; wandering musicians, poets, and artists; and much much stranger, extravagant, lewd, and shocking things. Usually one or more powerful servants of Kythria (high-level clerics or even exalted beings) are present on the island to ensure that nothing endangers visitors of the island or the place itself.

Occasionally, Kythria herself comes here in mortal form together with one of her Immortal or mortal lovers; Immortals such as Palson, Harrow, Bastet, and Eiryndul have been known to spend some time on the island in mortal form.

… and Their Side Effect

The artifact also has a side effect on those who subjected to the island’s pleasures: when they leave the island, a feeling of lack slowly pervades them, causing nostalgia for the happiness they experienced, and a sense of longing for them; after having been on the island, everything else will seem dull, boring, and ordinary. This feeling usually last for some weeks, but will never truly abandon again the one who has been on Pleasure Island, and the time passed there will be remembered by him or her as one of the happiest and most extraordinary times of all his life.

Finding the Island

The location of Pleasure Island is unknown to all, and can be placed anywhere in the Sea of Dread, more likely in high sea than near any of the surrounding continents or islands. The power of the artifact conceals the island with mists, illusions, and the like to most of those that Kythria would not allow on the island, which are then unable to see it. These are artifact-level powers, difficult to dispel or see through.

Kythria usually directs here her most devout servants and worthy clerics, but also heroic adventurers, other people she has taken some interest in, and even casual travelers. She also loves to bring on Pleasure Island some bigot or fanatic of some other cult – especially those of grave Immortals such as Tarastia, Khoronus, Koryis, Ilsundal, Halav, Petra – and see how they behave, usually with amusing results.

People are usually allowed to stay on the island for some weeks at most, then their fulfilled wishes start to vanish and new wishes are not satisfied anymore. People trying to stay on the island any longer usually get up one morning sitting on a barren, rocky island in the middle of the sea, alone with their possessions (and with their ship, if they had one), the people they came with, and the feeliing to having dreamed everything they experimented. Nevertheless, staying on the island is always a one-time experience in one’s life; Kythria usually does not allow people to visit two times her Pleasure Island.

Three Sisters Keys

This small archipelago of three tiny islets is separated from the eastern Sea of Dread by the Dragon’s Teeth Reefs, a long coral reef running in northwest-southeast direction, which crosses the sea just east of the Three Sisters Keys and the southern Skeleton Key. These islands centuries ago were inhabited by Tanagoro tribesmen, but the humans have slowly disappeared and the keys have become the residence of the three Sisters of the Sea – Silera, Krimera, and Desimera, who give the three islands’ their names. These mysterious beings – each of whom is supposed to dwell on one of the three keys – have never been seen; they make their presence known by taking control of other creatures and speaking through them. The Sisters are known to seamen since a long time; they don’t like prolonged stays in their islands, and have been known to offer teleport anywhere else on Mystara to seamen who were victims of shipwrecks near the keys – a reward for the sacrifice of their ship against the Dragon’s Teeth Reefs. No one knows what kind of beings the Three Sisters might be – unusual sea fairies, benevolent sirens, elemental beings, reclusive sorceresses, or what else. It may even be that the islands are much more inhabited by fairy occupants than mortal eyes could tell. Source: XSOLO Lathan’s Gold (the names of the three islands were invented by the author).

Typhoons Island

This wide volcanic islet has been avoided by sailors since some decades ago because of the dangerous typhoons and hurricanes which often hit the waters around it; any ship unfortunate enough to meet one of these phenomena is likely to sink below the waves. It’s a pity that the island is found on the very route used by Minrothaddan ships to reach the Thanegioth Archipelago. No one has ever landed on the island and came back to tell what is found in the volcano’s forested slopes. The truth is that the island’s interior is inhabited by several cyclops and it’s also the home of Jord, a powerful storm giant. Source: AC10 Bestiary of Dragons and Giants (the island’s location was not exactly given in the module).

Volcanic Tops

A few islands are actually volcanic cones or mouths which emerge to some extent from the sea. These places are barren and uninhabited without exception – unless you take into account some fire creature dwelling into the volcanic cone. Examples of these islands are Devil’s Glow and Dragon’s Glare, south of the Ierendi Islands, and Coral Fire and Fireswell, south of Utter Island and Fortress Island, respectively. Source: PC3 The Sea People.

Trade in the Sea of Dread

Since a long time ago, the Sea of Dread has been the crossroads of trade and migrations of people, through which cultures have come in contact, blended and clashed. From the Known World to Davania, from Ochalea and the Isle of Dawn to the Serpent Peninsula – passing through the Eastern Thanegioth Archipelago and the other smaller, scattered islands – despite its name the Sea of Dread has always been a bridge between different places and cultures. A role it continues to play today.

After the Thyatian migration toward Brun and the fall of Nithia (BC 600-500), the greater expanse of the Sea of Dread, which had seen many migrations passing through it in the preceeding centuries, temporarily ceased to be crossed by ships, merchants, and explorers. For some centuries, shipping was limited to the northern archipelagos of Ierendi and the Colony Islands, to the Thyatian mainland and isles, and to the western Isle of Dawn down to Ochalea.

Apart from attempts to consolidate a Thyatian trading empire in the western Sea of Dread (see the previous sidebar “A Little Known Story: Thyatian Westward Expansion”), the emerging sea powers of Minrothad and Ierendi, still in the 9^th century AC, continued to favor the route along the Great Waste’s and the Serpent Peninsula’s coasts to reach the Gulf of Hule or the Davanian Green Coast. The many islands which dotted the Sea of Dread continued to be unknown, unexplored, or uninteresting for them, as it was the Eastern Thanegioth Archipelago, whose seas were dominated by the proud and territorial Twaelar Kingdom of the merrows.

The latter half of the 10^th century AC, however, saw a renewed interest in the Sea of Dread. Between 960 and 970 AC the Eastern Thanegioth Archipelago was again reached by Known World’s ships, and its islands were gradually charted. The main explorer of this age was indeed the Ierendian Rory Barbarosa, who was the first to map the coastlines of the Isle of Dread. In fact, the Thanegioth islands were already known to be rich in exploitable resources – like precious gems and metals in possession of the natives or to be mined, unique spices, and other valuable goods. Trade in the archipelago had always been difficult due to resistance from the Twaelar Kingdom, but opposition from the merrows was lower in those decades; quite the contrary, the merrows took the opportunity to trade with Known World explorers and merchants, while keeping an eye on the increase of the northern realms presence into the region they controlled, and barring any incursion in the Davanian Shallows to the south.

Nevertheless, in the last three decades, the Eastern Thanegioth saw an increasing presence of merchantmen – and, consequently, of pirate ships – in the archipelago. Most ships came from Ierendi and Minrothad, but ships from other sea countries were not unknown. The two island realm, however, managed to monopolize the two main trade routes – from Ierendi Island and from Trader’s Isle straight south to two different point of the archipelago – and quickly discouraged all ships of other countries to trade along them.

The only other power who managed to penetrate the archipelago was the Thyatian Empire, which at the same time was initiating the conquest of the Davanian Hinterlands. Thyatians came to Thanegioth from a route going south from Hattias and passing from the Burning Mountain, or from one going northwest from Ochalea. The Twaelar merrows did not take any immediate action against the Thyatian expansion into northern Davania, perhaps because they felt the area was to the southeast of their kingdom proper, or because they did not feel threatened at all by Thyatian land grabbing.

Small outposts and coastal forts may also have been – and are being – built by these three sea powers in the most strategic locations of the archipelago, to ensure for themselves control of trade routes and resources. The Known World powers have also begun to value the strategic position of some of the minor islands of the Sea of Dread, and may soon claim possession of some of them.

In AC 1000, the archipelago is an important trade hub, with still many interior areas unexplored, where ships from Ierendi, Minrothad, and Thyatis trade and compete, where pirate havens are increasingly numerous, where the humans meet with the Twaelar merrows to trade, where the clash of interests could soon lead to a war among the powers of the Known World to decide who will keep control of the archipelago’s resources, or between them and the Twaelar Kingdom, which may again be persuaded that the human presence in the archipelago is becoming too thorough and dangerous.

References

Deborah Christian and Kim Eastland, GAZ9 The Minrothad Guilds, TSR, 1988

Aaron Allston, Dawn of the Emperors - Thyatis and Alphatia, TSR, 1989

Ann Dupuis, Poor Wizard’s Almanac II & Book of Facts - Edition for AC 1011, TSR, 1993

Ann Dupuis, Poor Wizard’s Almanac III & Book of Facys - Edition for AC 1012, TSR, 1994

Ann Dupuis and Elizabeth Tornabene, Joshuan’s Almanac & Book of Facts, TSR, 1995

Savage Tide Adventure Path, in “Dungeon Magazine” issues 139--150, Paizo Publishing, 2006-2007

Simone Neri, Demografia Mystarana, Volume I - Compendio storico sociale del Mondo Conosciuto, 2007

Marco Dalmonte, Codex Immortalis (3 ^rd ed .), English translation by Gary Davies, Vaults of Pandius, 2010-2011

1 On the accompanying map, several islands’ names come from canon sources (GAZ4, GAZ8, GAZ9, GAZ14, DotE, PC3, TM1, TM2, X1, X8, XSOLO). Some names were borrowed from fan works (in particular those of F. Defferrari, A. Francolini, and G. Gander), while names for some of the islets surrounding the Isle of Dread were borrowed from the Savage Tide adventure path (found in Paizo’s “Dungeon Magazine” nos. from 139 to 150). All others were created by the author.