[ISLE] The Great Southern Island

[Lord Iames Osari]

The Great Southern Island

History

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The Great Southern Island is an island of great size, most of it unexplored. It was discovered thousands of years ago by seafaring elven explorers. A century or so after its discovery, a large number of elves, fleeing a terrible war in their homeland, fled to the island, destroying all mention of the island and its location so that their enemies could not find them. However, their cousins who stayed behind won the war, and for their flight, the elves who settled on the Great Southern Island were dubbed the Craven Elves.

Among the elves who fled the great war were the royal family and many of the noble families. They founded a new nation along the shores of the island, in isolation from their homeland, after pushing out the indigenes.

Desperate to prevent the enemies of their homeland from finding them, the elves constructed a massive network of building-sized artifacts in their cities, blocking them from magical attempts at location. Unfortunately, those enemies had already established a secret enclave deep in the island's interior and stole the schematics to the device for their own purposes.

A few years later, there was a massive explosion of positive energy in the interior of the island, and investigators - the ones who made it back - reported an incredible increase in the size of the flora and fauna. The elves limited their inland expansion to the natural border provided by the nigh-impassable mountain range in order to protect themselves from the newly enlarged creatures.

The enlarged flora and fauna outcompeted their smaller versions in the interior of the island; along the western shore, however, the elves preserved the preexisting, smaller types.

Map

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Inhabitants

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Elven Royal Family

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The current High King of Elvendom is Haruhide Mori IV (NG M middle-aged gray elf wiz 9). He is the 16th in his line to reign since the Great Flight, and has been ruling since the death of his father 73 years ago. An academic by inclination, he nevertheless shouldered the duty of kingship at the age of 127. His wife, Ayane (NG F middle-aged gray elf aris 9), is a decade younger than he is. He wants to reopen contact, but has allowed the isolationists to persuade him otherwise.

In 20 years, when she is old enough, he plans to name his daughter Chou (NG F adolescent grey elf brd 5), who is already showing a keen interest in the politics and governance of the kingdom, as Princess Regent and return to his research. In the meantime, he relies on the counsel of his wife and his trusted cousin, the Duke of Dusk Peak, Daiki Mori.

Elven Noble Families

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{table="head"]Title|Current Holder|Seat|Stat summary
Duke Dusk Peak|Daiki Mori|Dawn Peak|LE M middle-aged gray elf aris 3/ftr 6
Duchess Tazawa Valley|Izumi Kurosawa|City of Bells|N F venerable gray elf aris 15
Count Northern Twilight|Hayato Mifune|Golden Hill|LG M adult gray elf aris 6
Countess Western Twilight|Kiki Hasekawa|Hasekawa City|NG F old gray elf aris 12
Baron North Delta|Hideyoshi Kenobe|Kenobe City|CG M adult gray elf aris 6
Baroness Eastern Delta|Kimiko Tanaka|Tanaka City|N F middle-aged elf aris 9[/table]

Elven Isolationist Faction

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There is a faction which wishes to re-open contact with the elven homeland; however, fear that it is in the hands of a bitter and implacable enemy has persisted, even grown as it was passed down the generations. Those who have given in to this fear desperately oppose any motion towards the re-establishment of ties to the homeland. So far, they have successfully prevented the elves of the Great Southern Island from contacting the elven homeland, but support for the idea is growing, and they remain frightened, worried, and determined to prevent it from happening. All of the nobles except Count Mifune and Baron Kenobe follow this philosophy.

Indigenous Race: The D'nal

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The D'nal are tall, bulky humanoids standing between 7 feet and 8 feet tall and weighing between 250 and 400 pounds. Males tend to be larger than females. They have dark, coppery skin and almost black eyes.

D'nals live in tightly-knit tribal communities, led by a shaman. It is rare for individual D'nal to have an opinion of any import that differs from that of his tribe. D'nal culture across tribes exhibits two constants: D'nals worship various inanimate forces of nature, and they practice the art of throwing large stones as a means of combat and hunting.

After the explosion of positive energy, the D'nal tribes within the affected area experienced instantaneous growth spurts. As a side effect, many tribes had the magic of their shamans imbedded in their bodies and souls, becoming the various breeds of giant. Tribes of the original D'nal race persist in the southwestern jungles, along the coast, where the elves have not yet come in numbers large enough to displace them.

D'nals and elves have occasionally been known to interbreed, but there have been no documented cases of a live birth resulting from such a coupling.

• +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma: D'nals are tough and strong, but not given to abstract thought or self-assertion.
• Giant: As members of the Giant type, D'nals are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, D'nals have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• D'nal base land speed is 30 feet.
• Low-Light Vision: A D'nal can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Powerful Build: The physical stature of D'nals lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger.
  
  Whenever a D'nal is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the D'nal is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him.
  
  A D'nal is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A D'nal can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
• Jungle-dweller: D'nals gain a +2 bonus on Survival checks made in jungle environments.
• Automatic Language: Giant. Bonus Languages: Common, Elven (rudimentary).
• Favored Class: Ranger.

New Ranger Combat Style: Rock Hurling
D'nal hunters use thrown rocks as combat weapons and hunting tools. They learn more advanced techniques from older hunters as they become more accomplished.
Combat Style: Rock Hurling
Improved Combat Style: Power Throw
Combat Style Mastery: Improved Rock Hurling

The Secret

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The Enclave
Deep in the interior of the island, on the other side of the Dawn Mountains from New Akashakyo, lies a small community established millennia ago by the powerful elven necromancer who later triggered the flight of the royal and noble families.

Dedicated to necromantic research, the community is directed by an ancient lich known only as the Director (LE M elf lich wiz [necro] 20).

The enclave is protected from detection by a Monolith of Concealment (see above), just like the elven communities of New Akashakyo. Creations of the Enclave stole the plans for a Monolith when the elves were first beginning to build them. The Enclave's Monolith is unique, however: in addition to its normal function, it also serves as the Director's phylactery. It was finished just before the positive energy explosion. The necromantic enchantments protected the living inhabitants of the Enclave from any permanent effects, but the Director, who has laboratories laced throughout the interior of the Monolith, was destroyed outright. However, the Monolith remained, and the lich soon made a comback.

The Director and the Enclave's ultimate goal is to transform all sapient creatures into intelligent undead, so that no-one will ever again die or suffer. For millennia they have researched ways of carrying out large-scale transformations, and now their plans are nearing fruition.

The Treasure

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Minor Artifact: Monolith of Concealment

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These immense structures, located at the center of each major elven city, block all scrying attempts that originate from anywhere outside a 3-mile radius from the monolith. Blocked spells reveal information as if an uninhabited stretch of jungle had been scried instead. While the Monoliths themselves cannot be bought, the magical knowledge that can be gleaned from their design, construction, and function is priceless, and could lead to innumerable advances in the field of arcane magic.

Strong abjuration and illusion; CL 30th; Weight You Ain't Gonna Move It.

Major Wondrous Item: The Lost Schema

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These are the plans to the first Monolith of Concealment, that were stolen by the Enclave; in addition to construction plans, the Lost Schema offer detailed analyses of ways of channeling magical energy through monolith-like structures to cover a great area, granting +20 to Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft checks. While the Enclave has employed these principles in the development of their engine of mass undeath, it is easily adaptable to other purposes.

Strong (all schools); CL 20th; Craft Wondrous Item; Price 70,000gp.

Someone with the Lost Schema available to study can add the following enhancements to any sword, spear, or other weapon with a vaguely monolith-like shape.

Defensive Ward: By planting your feet and holding this weapon upright above your head as a move action, you can generate a protective ward with a 10 ft. radius.You and all allies within this ward gain a deflection bonus to their armor class equal to the enhancement bonus of the weapon. This effect lasts as long as you do not move from that position.

Moderate abjuration; CL 9th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, wall of force; Price +2 bonus.

Greater Defensive Ward: By planting your feet and holding this weapon upright above your head as a move action, you can generate an impenetrable, hemispheric barrier of force with a 20 ft. radius. This effect lasts as long as you do not move from that position. Except as described here, this effect functions as the spell resilient sphere.

Moderate abjuration; CL 9th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, wall of force; Price +3 bonus.