Shorebreak Island
Shorebreak Island
A sliver of land off the coast, Shorebreak island’s jagged peaks rise high above the waters even as rolling seas crash against their base. Mountains extend along the islands eastern coast from north to south, forming a great border that protects the warm western lands from the frigid sea air.
Civilisation then upon the east is nestled against the mountains, there being scarcely any land between the foot of the mountains and the roaring waters below.
At their south lies the city of Holdfast. Initially a human colony sent to mine the mountains for valuable metals and stone, it has grown slowly, steadily, and independently from the rest of the continent into the tiered city one finds today. Many of other species and skills have made this their home on the years since it’s establishment, though few live lives of luxury or security here.
Approaching Holdfast from the water, one would spy the slums and shipping stores of The Scramble, the city's lowest rung. Here the majority of people live, harsh lives against a harsh climate where waterlogged streets give way to eternally cold homes where the wind always seems to find its way inside. Such are the masses of poor, the workers, fishers, and miners that survive here. Taverns, such as the Broken Turtle, offer scant respite from the day's labours. Though on offer at all is the ‘Bastard’s Brew’, a local beer of some renown and storied history.
Perhaps a set of locals seeks a great catch of the coast, a legend of a sea beast beyond reckoning, and they need some assistance?
Whispers of frustration have gathered to the tune of rebellion, workers organising to demand a better life from those on high. Will you help them? Hinder them? And who is sponsoring this little coup?
An enterprising brewer has discovered more than he bargained for, a liquor that fortifies more than just the spirit, and needs your help to test it effectiveness and spread the word.
Above are the three ‘Hooks’ of the city, way stations built into the side of the mountain upon the way up to the peaks. Filled with merchants, craftsmen, food, and drink can all be found, and residences of the few petty bourgeois whose wealth has let them sit above the rest, no matter how cruelly it was acquired.
Petty merchants plot against one another, and some are up for a spot of corporate espionage. Spy for Lady Dagatha of ‘The Harpy’s Card’ on her business competitors.
In front of the Hook stores are small walkways, beyond which is a clear drop to the mountains foot. Exiting a store the party spies someone being thrown to their death from it. Can they catch the killer and discovers their plans?
The Watch, the highest level of the city. Home to the wealthiest of mine and business owners, or continental nobles who sought the privacy of life out in the wilds of the world, for whatever reasons they might have, such as the Dalaigh family. Here too are the halls of the city’s lord, the base of the city guard and court of Baan Harlow, current heir-less lord of the rocky coastal port. Here too a traveller might find the College of Acuity, the few scholars retained by the lord who act both to certify the materials mined, and pursue their own research of the island when able (of which the natives beyond the mountains are of particular note). While the poorer of Holdfast do not seem to care so much, in the cities elite a great fear of magic has taken hold in the culture there.
The city guard have word on an attempt on Baan Harlow’s life, and it may be one of their own. Investigate the guard and follows the leads to unravel the conspiracy.
Baan is supposedly without heir. But when one woman appears claiming to be his daughter, the truth have to be discovered.
The child of House Dalaigh has been having dark dreams of late, and strange marks are appearing in their room. One morning they have disappeared from their room. Is it magic? Monsters? Demons? One of Dalaighs workers out for revenge? The party must find the child, and the source of their troubles.
The college of Acuity needs good materials to continue their work, go into the mines in search of their requirements.
Special delivery. The College of Acuity has heard tell of a priceless artifact of the natives has been discovered, they want it for study.
All such external parts of the city are connected by the Free Stair, chain pulled cable cars that transport goods and people slowly up and down the cities exterior from Scramble, rings, to Watch.
Inside the mountain lies the rest of the city, the Wearied Stair, the grinding harsh stone stairs that lead up the inside of the mountain to its top, taken by all those who cannot afford fair on the Free Stair. Scores of homes have been cut into the mountain, safer than those against the water, but dark eternally, lit only by lamplight like the mines of those who make their home there. Conditions are brutal, gruelling, and many long for the day they might improve, some with plans to make that happen.
Within the darkness, miners took day in and day out, but some have dug too greedily and too deep, and the party are required to deal with whatever it is they have uncovered.
A temperance movement has begun against the ale swilling habits of the workers, but is there something secret afoot in their intentions?
The Wearied Stair is no longer safe, but how have the creatures managed to find a way in? The party must clear it out and find the source.
While it’s limited prosperity and distance has made it low on the priority list of those continental empires, and a place for those fearful of said regimes to flee, already incursions have begun to secure it. Though one attempted coup was already stopped, it is only a question of when they will try again.
Amidst the peaks to the north of Holdfast is the holdout of Arrimus’ Rest. Many folks for whom magic runs in the blood fled the rising resentment among the city, along with any others who wish to use their skills away from the cities watchful eyes packed up with Arrimus only a few years ago to make a new life there. They eek out a living on the peaks, their magic providing the basics, and scattered trade with the natives, Holdfast, and the northern dwarves at Gundzahar has kept their carved mountainous residence continuing.
The people of Arrimus’ Rest are often tired and inexperienced, they have asked the party to help them train. But why is it they seek combat skills at this moment?
A relic of the Natives has passed into the hands of those at Arrimus’ Rest. They have sent word to the College of Acuity that they are willing to trade. The party is the go between a and must brace the dangerous mountain pass to acquire the object. But the native peoples do not take kindly to having their relics stolen. Will the party side with profit? Or return it to its rightful owners?
Far to the north is the dwarf hold of Gundzahar (‘The Empty Halls’). The final fate of a dwarven Hearthship (an enormous junk like refugee ship powered by Magic’s long forgotten) launched during the Forge Wars, it crashed upon the rocky coast, leaving its refugee passengers stranded. It’s crew, industrious as ever, took to the stone and carved themselves a home, extending the natural caves into a place where they might live. Though they sought to mine deeper, the stone was effectively bare, giving the place its current name. Though rumours of something beneath even their deepest excavations runs through all, even down the coast to Holdfast. The Baan is wary, fearing that such a discovery would leave Holdfast high and dry for trade, should the dwarves find what they seek. The Hearthship itself was dragged inside the caves, and now forms the core of their city. Many stories high, crafted of wood and steel, the ship rots and rusts around them even as they try to cut the stone into a home comparable. Should they find the power to do so, many lost functions of the Hearthship might be restored, though few craftsmen know the secrets it contains now that might lift them from their struggle, or how to activate it if they did.
The dwarves have found what they sought, and it is terrible. Gundzahar may fall if it is not contained. The party must brave the mines and stop it.
The Hearthship must be restored to power to allow the dwarves to thrive in this new colony. But deciphering its instructions and acquiring the magical materials to reinvigorate it is beyond them. That’s where you come in.
Beyond the mountain range lies a fertile land of warmth, clean water rushes from the mountaintops and jungles teem with life, while golden beaches mark the western coast to the outer oceans.
Sign on for a trip to the new world, dangerous sea journeys abound, but for the willing adventurer there may be great reward.
The natives of Shorebreak are tall blue skinned peoples, with an aptitude for technology and magic. The great temple of their capital houses the source of power for their domain, though no one from beyond their borders has ever seen it to know what it is that powers their marvels. Riding panther-like stone walkers, and flying machines of similar craft, they live within their world so completely they are rarely spotted. What little is known is that they refer to themselves as the ‘Five-Thousand’, and have no personal pronoun (such as ‘I’) or naming conventions. All are ‘Of The Five-Thousand’, and the reality of their numbers is also unknown, whether it is symbolic or literal, and what it would mean either way.
The Five Thousand are not brutes or savages as much as the colonists May wish they were. Help establish cooperation between them. An overarching campaign goal.
Flying machines and stone mounts are wondrous creations, and the College of Acuity will pay greatly for the secret. Though revealing it or achieving it may cause a high cost to the Five Thousand, what will the party do?
However, new information may surface soon. In the shadow of the wreck of the ship ‘Contessa’ not long set off from Holdfast in search of riches in the islands west, has begun to construct itself into an outpost of sorts. The ships hold has been deconstructed to create a makeshift settlement as the survivors accept life in this new world. Whether the venture will bring cooperation or nascent colonialism from the colonists remains to be seen.
Help establish the colony, and make war or peace with the Five Thousand who love their already. Though the customs of both may be strange to one another. An overarching campaign goal.
To the north of the jungle lay the ‘Footfalls of the Gods’ enormous caverns that open clear to the sky, which none know what is at the bottom. Waterfalls flow across their edges, extending them slowly through erosion. Whether they pool at the bottom, or the forest extends even there, none can say. But the Five Thousand venerate their presence, and dare not go near. Foreigners say that they send their worst to be executed there, thrown into the seemingly bottomless pits, though none have any evidence to the truth of this.
Explore the long dark, swelter in their heat, and see what secrets truly lay at their bottom.
Still uncertain though is what made such holes in the first place. If they were merely natural, or something stranger manifested them from the beginning. For folk the island over speak of a power that manifested itself across it, a spirit or spell caster of great strength none can say. But whispers of people doing its bidding, of contracts made and dealt by its hand linger. What it’s purpose is is unknown, if it would be friend or foe if it came to it. And woe betide those who would discover.
Visions, a quest, a purpose beyond their reckoning, will the party do as asked? Who does it support, if anyone? A longer goal that may play beneath multiple other quests. An overarching campaign goal.
It is not the only magical presence on Shorebreak. People across its length seem to be discovering strange abilities, Magics beyond their command. Only scarce cases have appeared at present, but the College of Acuity notes that it has begun accelerating, to an uncertain end.
Why are the children gaining magic, how will this effect the anti-magic beliefs of the Holdfast elite? A longer goal that may play beneath multiple other quests, an overarching campaign goal.
