Tambora Islandby Anonymous

VERSION 0.03 FROM 10-10-2019

An isolated jungle island with a huge volcano.Stone-age halflings with poison blowguns.Stone-age frogmen, ratmen, leopardfolk.Deadly beasts.

TAMBORA ISLAND

Tambora Island

Roughly 1,000 miles by 1,500 miles, mainly jungle biome.The most dominant landmark is a huge, 9,000’ tall volcanothat regularily erupts spewing fiery lava. The island hasrich, largely untapped mineral and ore deposits, but alsodeadly monsters and mutated, often sentient creatures.Natives are stone-age halflings, leopardfolk, frog-folk, andother animal-men. The island was discovered 300 yearsago by European-like humans and dwarves, who exploredit and established several colonies.

Timeline

• 3000 years ago, an eruption scattered tons of Jadiumcrystals over the countryside. Local wildlife mutatedrapidly. The Snakemen enslaved the giants and builthuge stone fortresses and endless labyrinths. Theirculture ended suddenly about 2000 years ago. Only afew small tribes still survive living underground.

• About 1500 years ago, the Island Halflings arrived andsettled down. They were a Polynesian-type of islandhopping culture.

• 300 years ago, Tambora Island is discovered by explor-ers from the mainland. A major wave of explorationand settlement followed, during which several dozenoutposts and towns were built, and the island wassomewhat tamed.

• About 250 years ago, the Principality of Latrelle in theSouth and the Kingdom of Ekonia in the North werefounded. The trade route between the two capitols wasestablished and improved.

• About 200 years ago, Bardoz starts the mining colony.Dwarves improve the mountain pass route from theHalls to the town of Belle to allow heavy wagon traffic.

• Around 140 years ago, the colony was destroyed bya calamity. Many of the surviving dwarves went toChaux, an independent city. There are no dwarves stillalive that escaped the Calamity, there should be, butthey all died young. The legends are more well known

there, and there is a small population of devotees whothink of him as a true champion of dwarves. not somuch for his creations and the great wealth he earned,but because he put so much effort into helping otherdwarves. His heroic and tragic death was a sacrifice tosave the entire colony.

NATIVE PEOPLES

Halflings, numerous Animal-men, Kobolds, Ogres, Giants,Swamp Trolls, and Poison Apes. Many are still on a stone-age level and don’t use fire. There are no native humans,dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, or bugbears.

Yorban Hin. The Yorban Hin are halflings, but they arecompletely unlike the soft, doughy creatures most peo-ple think of when thinking of halflings.

Averaging 36" in height, the Yorban Hin are lithe andwiry, with dark red skin and black hair, usually wornin a crude bowl cut. They typically wear a loinclothand little else, though some Yorban Hin tie bands ofknotted rope decorated with beads around their bicepsand thighs.

Yorban warriors paint their bodies with thick blackpaste that dries into a flexible, rubbery second skin.Each tribe has their own distinct pattern of body paint,all of which are inspired by the body markings of thepoison dart frogs that are ubiquitous throughout thevalley. The Yorban harvest these frogs and used theirsecretions to coat their blowgun darts. They also makeextensive use of traps, building snares and pitfalls tocatch large prey.

The Yorban halflings peacefully co-exist with manysmaller tribes of Grippli. The Grippli live and hunt inthe high canopy of the forest, while the Yorban hunt inthe undergrowth at the forest floor, thus the two tribesdo not compete.

Ogres and Hill Giants. These creatures are mutated fromnormal apes.

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Poison Apes. Stealth ninja blowgun poison-shooting treemonkeys. Believe me, you don’t want to get caught inone of the ‘Bad Monkey’ traps.

Swamp Trolls. 7’ to 10’ tall hairy cavemen. They have acomplex culture and advanced stone-age techniques.Some are sorcerers, rangers, or druids. They don’t re-generate. They also like to eat people. Very few of themare nice to non-trolls.

Big Frog Folk, ‘Bullywugs’. Generally nasty and xeno-phobic.

Small Frog Folk, ‘Grippli’. I am convinced that theyspawn offspring if you startle them.

Jaguarmen. Totally cool. And deadly, of course.

Lizardmen. Savage swamp dwellers. They throw rocksthen use teeth and claws.

Rat Folk. Some are shape shifters, most are just ratfolk.Not very nice people either.

Snakemen. One of the first intelligent people of the island,a thriving culture that suddenly ended 2000 years ago.Only a few small tribes still live deep underground.One of them is led by one of the two liches of the is-land.

Tigermen. They are very rare and very bad news.

CRITTERS

Apes, Smart apes, Awakened Tree, Bats, Boar, Baboons,Smart Baboons, Carnivorous Plants, Crocodile, Small di-nosaurs, Giant Bat, Giant Boar, Giant Gorilla, Giant FireBeetle, Giant Frog, Giant Spiders, Jaguar, Panther, Piran-has, Sabertooth Cats, Snakes, Swamp things, Swarms ofInsects, Tiger, Treant.

MAJOR CRITTERS

Axebeak, Baluchitherium, Basilisk, Cave Bear, Chimera,Cockatrice, Elephant, Fey, Fire Titan (came here throughan elemental portal), Froghemoth, Gorilla Bear, Manticore,Outsiders, Purple Worm, Rhinoceros, Stegocentipede, Ti-tanothere, Umber Hulk, Undead (most all of them, but only2 Liches).

ABSENT CRITTERS

Big Dinosaurs (over 15 lbs), Giant Owls, Griffons, Hip-pogrifs, Pegasus, Roc, Sphinx, Tritons and Merfolk (theydon’t bother with the frog infested island shores, but canstill be encountered in the deep sea, far away from the is-land), Trolls (except Swamp Trolls), Wyverns.

DINOSAURS

The only dinosaurs on the island are flightless bipedsweighting 5–15 lbs (similar in size to chicken and geese).They are all very fast and very tasty, and taste even betterif properly coocked. Their days as scary predators are over.Three different species live here:

Bandits. Dark scaly nocturnal magpie raiders. There isa 10% chance that their nests contain shiny objects,like shiny shells, volcanic glass, gold nuggets, Jadium“eggs”, or some human-made items. Tastes lizardy.

Flappers. Cowardly colorful feathered omnivores that livein big flocks. Tastes chickeny.

Nippers. Dark feathers, larger, toothier, solitary, stalksprey (like rats). Tastes horsey.

DRAGONS

There are four dragons of note, and over a dozenyounglings. In order of size and prowess:

1. ANDRAZZAGAR, male red

2. VESPERTILLIAN, male green

3. MS. SCARLET, female red

4. LUDMIZTLPK, female red

Drakes are lesser dragons with animal intelligence.

Green Land Drake. A 300lb wingless green dragon. Mod-est breath weapon but no speech or spells. Travels inpacks.

UNDEAD

Although there is a vast number of undeads on the island,there are only two liches.

Sarelzza the Snake Wizardess. The oldest thing with amemory on the island. She is focused on research toachieve Arch-Lichdom.

A far younger lich that is a refugee from the mainland. Itis hiding in the civilized colonies, gathering info andcontacts as a travelling priest who sells healing po-tions and performs small miracles. He is plotting aboutthings in a long way. He might become problematic ifexposed, otherwise he will try to usurp Latrelle in 2d50years.

Alternative: A lich who was recently slain by a group ofgood adventurers and it is slowly regenerating in itshideout, plotting revenge. He might be searching fornew gear—and be willing to check out Bardoz at sometime as well.

The wizard Lord Lart von Klauffextor from the town Bellemight or might not making slow progress towards lichdom.

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PRINCIPALITY OF LATRELLE

The Principality of Latrelle was founded 250years ago by the Kingdom of Handrall. Af-ter 250 years of independent rule, Latrelle’sreigning house was wiped out in an acci-dent. The new ruler became the inexpe-rienced Princess Latania VII, youngest of 8heirs to the throne of Handrall.

Capitol: ARZONPop. 13,000 (91% Human, 6% Dwarf, 1% Elf, 2% Other)Prosperous walled city with a good harbor, with long dis-tance trade back to the homeland.

HISTORY

The Principality of Latrelle was founded 250 years ago,50 years after the discovery of the island of Tambora, byRENON IV, King of Handrall. Recognizing that the is-land was too distant to be ruled directly from Handralland would inevitably rebel, Renon IV installed his cousinTanard Kartharian, First Lord of Rennehold, granting himthe title PRINCE TANARD I. Renon IV believed that if La-trelle was self-ruled, this would prevent rebellion and thathe could be assured of future loyalty by the blood connec-tion.

Over the next 250 years of the island nation’s existence,Latrelle developed into a very important port for Handral-lian merchants plying the high seas, and the future kingsof Handrall used significant political marriages to keep thethrone of Latrelle ever tied to the throne of Handrall.

This strong connection between the two royal houses be-came of great importance three years ago when the entiretyof House Kartharian was killed in a single tragic misfor-tune. Every year the island nation is lashed by terrific hur-ricanes, and this year was no different. Every living mem-ber of House Kartharian had gathered at the Royal Palaceto weather out the storm as they had for hundreds of years.This year however a faultline in the large hill upon whichthe palace sat began to give way, triggering a massive mud-slide that carried the entire palace — and the Karthariansinside — into the sea, where none survived.

After much research and consultation, it was determinedthat the closest heir to the throne of Latrelle was, in fact,the King of Handrall, RENON XVI. Rather than take thethrone himself, the king gave it to the youngest of his eightchildren, the PRINCESS LATANIA VII, only 13 at the time.Renon XVI had feared he would find it hard to marry offa daughter with no significant inheritance, and by grant-ing her the throne of Latrelle he significantly increased thequality of suitors she would attract. However, it was clearthat Latania was unprepared to rule, and so Renon XVIsent his brother, the DUKE LETHAN III, to serve as Lata-nia’s Regent and, when she comes of age, her chief adviser.

POLITICS

The current political situation in Latrelle is this: PrincessLatania rules chiefly as a figurehead, with the day to daydecision making handled by her capable if scheming uncle,the Regent. Latania is unpopular with the people, who seeher as an outsider who doesn’t understand her people orher new realm, but their reaction is mostly informed by theRegent’s policies, over which she has little to no control.The Regent also works to keep her penned up in the newpalace and away from her people — if they could get to know

her, their sentiments towards her would likely change, asLatania is a kind and generous soul possessed of great wis-dom and patience, if not a strong will or personality.

The Regent for his part feels Latrelle has been too kindto merchants of too many nations, and has imposed harshtariffs on non-Handrallian merchants who make use of theport. This has agitated many of the local traders, partic-ularly the large contingent of Nordellan dwarves who havesettled the island and set up mining operations. Being ofNordel, these dwarves feel little loyalty to Handrall and areirked that the Regent has chased off many potential cus-tomers and left the dwarves vulnerable to price fixing byHandrallian merchant cartels. Many of the local humanfarmers and tradesmen share the dwarves frustration, andthey have all largely fallen behind GORIN TALLSHANKS, adwarf trader who owns several mining operations on the is-land. Gorin is a frequent guest of the court, where he isnone too shy of making his displeasure known.

Other significant figures often found at the palace in-clude:

• LORD CAPTAIN JUJEN MARLOTT, a human merchantof Handrall. Marlott speaks for a large cartel of Han-drallian merchants who strongly support the Regent’spolicies. He is Gorin’s counterpart. A smooth talkerwith a silver tongue, Marlott is exceptionally skilledat provoking angry outbursts from the short-tempereddwarf, but does not realize the young princess seesthrough his manipulations.

• THE COUNTESS KAREEN ITHAR, wife of Count Ithar,who is the mayor of Arzon and commands the cityguard. Kareen is in her mid-twenties, married to amuch older man. While she adores her husband, theyhave little in common and the countess is starved forcompany. She has befriended the princess and becomeher mentor, helping her learn how to play the game ofpolitics.

• ADMIRAL NATHEEN SHELLSHONEN, a half-elven (seaelf) captain who leads the Latrellian Navy. Natheencares little about trade, being more concerned with thepirates who prey of trade ships. His primary concernis hiring more men and building more ships so that hecan more effectively patrol the local seas.

• FATHER CARDOM YOST, a halfling priest who servesthe largest church in Latrelle. His primary concern, tothe point of obsession, is the spiritual welfare of theisland’s halfling natives. Despite warnings from hisBishop, the idealistic father is constantly pestering theRegent to be more concerned about the issue. The Fa-ther may be a valuable ally for PCs, as he is relativelyeasy to access and quite modest, but also has the earof the Princess, who shares his concern over the islandhalfling’s welfare.

• NYGA TON TIKI, a leopardman warrior hero, is one ofthe few leopardmen to make routine contact with thehumans of Latrelle. A quiet and stoic warrior, Nygaseems primarily interested in keeping an eye on thehumans, but also serves as a go-between for the hu-mans and various leopardman tribes.

Alternative: The Princess understands the political situ-ation, and is carefully playing the young royal who is de-pendable and will grow into her station, but is still ‘girly’.Her requests for a flock of flappers and a very large yacht forsocial parties were seen by the regent as usefully distract-ing pastimes. Actually, she is slowly building loyal elite

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military forces in case the regent needs a tragic accidentto befall him. She has limited influence now, but she ismoving the pieces into place.

Alternative: The Princess has access to an astonishingamount of gold that no one knows about. She discoveredit when she moved in. Her bardic training has helped herpose as a master rogue named ‘Scaramonde’ and she hasset her other self up as the mysterious head of the firstproper thief’s guild in the Principality. This way, she canrob herself and look heroic doing it. Any newcomers (thePCs) that try to get involved in the local underworld get aninterview with her.

BELLE

Pop. 1,700 (87% Human, 12% Dwarf, 1% Other)Walled border mining town, about 200 buildings. A boomtown that sprung up on the entrance to a silver mine. Italso caters to explorers and mining expeditions that headinto the interior of the island.

The stone walls are 15 feet high, with 25 feet tall towers.The North Gate is made from white stones and also calledWhitegate. The gates are closed at night, you have to payextra to get them to open up.

Water is piped in from a spring. The aqueduct runs underthe Whitegate district on the north and west side of town.Some of the houses have private access. Multiple fountainsprovide water in the district. The Gloomridge district re-lies on water from the public fountain in the middle of themarket square.

1. Whitegate Trading Post. Biggest and oldest, has itsown stable to sell horses and packing mules. Com-plete expedition or mining equipment available. Largeweapon and armor selection.

2. The Whitegate Tavern near the north gate.

3. Church of Chause, Spirit of Nature. High priest REV-EREND SUN, 4 priests, 3 paladins, 12 clergy. Stonebuilding, large open courtyard in the middle.

4. Constable and Jail. Sheriff ORVILLE, human, 10thlevel wizard. Several mid level warriors, 20 competentguardsmen.

5. Traveler’s shrine, pantheistic. One priestess, SISTERBRICY. She has curative potions for sale.

6. Bookstore and Wizard for Hire. NILREM, old humanfemale, long white braided hair. Owl familiar. Doesappraisals and casts spells for a fee. Will not leavetown. Sells parchment, ink, a few minor scrolls. Shekeeps her scroll collection elsewhere. She gets paidnow, and delivers it later, sometimes by owl.

7. Market square. The market is open from dawn till noonexcept on holidays. During the night, cats will roamthe square. In the middle of the square is a large beau-tiful fountain made by dwarves out of white stone. 4life-sized stone lions sit in the middle, facing the 4 car-dinal directions. Water gushes from their mouths.

8. Hendrickson’s Tavern. Decorated with trophies andweapons. Oldest tavern in town. Now run by hisgranddaughter, JANNA. Tall, pretty, blonde, and mar-ried. (she is an 11th level Bartender!)

9. Mother Battleaxe’s Boardinghouse and Hotel. Yes thatis the name she goes by, and no she is not really akindly granny that bakes dwarf cookies. She oncebeat a rude customer unconscious with a wooden soupbowl.

10. The Belle Casino and Music Hall. A large rowdy barwith extra gambling tables and backrooms for highstakes games. It has a full stage for performances.Excellent security. Rooms are available upstairs. Nofood is served here.

11. The Silver Ingot. Dwarves and miners drink here. BIM-LER SKULLSPLITTER is bartender and bouncer.

12. Gloomridge Taproom. A dive outside of the walls nearthe South Gate.

13. the Keep is 30’ tall with 2 stories.

There are 2 other taverns:

• The Dirty Hole. Converted mine tunnel outside of thetown. Dominantly dirty dwarves drinking dark drinks.

• The Beer Wagon. In the market square. A real wagon,they set out benches.

Blacksmith. ‘Jock’s Stables and Smithy’ Large operation.Sells horses and carts. There are 3 other blacksmiths, 3breweries, a locksmith, and numerous gem traders andspice merchants.

INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF NOTE

There are 5 noble houses: Chadan, Lorris, Lavant,Bergkrakken, and Klauffextor.

• Lord Mayor ROBARR CHADAN was appointed by the Re-gent.

• Lord LART VON KLAUFFEXTOR. He’s rich, he’s a localnobleman, he’s a wizard, and he’s up to no good. Andhe has a lot of cats.

• The wealthiest dwarf is Lord THORFIN BERGKRAKKEN,a merchant and retired miner. Most disputes betweendwarves are settled by him and not the Lord Mayor.

• One of the spice merchants is GUNTER TORRSON, a bigaffable Norseman.

SOURCES

• Azgaars world builder, Donjon’s town builder, d20town builder

• boards.4channel.org/tg/thread/68571251/

• boards.4channel.org/tg/thread/68525593/

• boards.4channel.org/tg/thread/68598483/

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TimelinePrincipality of Latrelle