[ISLE] The Lost Isle

RTGoodman · 01-04-2008, 12:51 AM

The Lost Isle
[Rookie Entry]

“I have seen with my own eyes in this brief interval of time … things that no other mortal eye had seen before, glimpses of a world past, a world dead, a world so long dead that even in the lowest Cambrian stratum no trace of it remains. Fused with the melting inner crust, it has passed forever beyond the ken of man other than in that lost pocket of the earth whither fate has borne me and where my doom is sealed. I am here and here must remain.”

– Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot

Description:

Geography
The Lost Isle is, as far as islands go, rather small. Vaguely circular, the island stretches perhaps 30 miles in diameter. The most remarkable feature of the island, however, is not its size, but rather its geography. The outer reaches of the island are like any other tropical isle – sandy beaches, occasional rocky outcroppings, and blue lagoons. However, approximately a mile inland on all sides of the Island rises a cliff some 500 feet high. In most places, the sheer cliff prevents travel, though there are areas spread sporadically around the island where either a series of caves or a slightly less steep (though still dangerous) cliff allows passage to the interior of the island.

The cliffs themselves are actually rather wide (up to a half-mile in some locations), forming essentially a hollow plateau or mountain (and indeed the geography itself seems to indicate that the island is possibly a former volcano of immense proportions). The top of the cliff is windswept, so few plants (and fewer animals) manage to survive. Relatively flat, the tops of the ridge are ideal for seeing long distances, and on clear days one might be able to see for miles in any direction.

The interior of the Isle is the most diverse and complex. A tropical jungle, the climate is perpetually hot and humid, creating a miserable experience for those not accustomed to such an environment. This is especially true during the monsoon season, when the entire island is inundated with heavy rainfall that turns the various streams into torrential rivers. The trees here can reach up to 250 feet tall in some areas, though most of the trees form a canopy around 120 feet above the ground. Other than the giant trees, the rainforest area is full of smaller tree, ferns, flowers (both beautiful and in some cases deadly), and vines (of the living and non-living variety). The few major rivers, fed by hundreds of tiny tributaries, are deep and swift-moving, flowing toward the ocean through a natural eroded "tunnel" through the base of the plateau. The outflow of the river here has eroded enough of the outer ring of land that the sea essentially reaches all the way to the base of the cliff for miles in each direction.

Below the surface of the jungle, and throughout the plateau that surrounds the jungle basic, the earth is full of tunnels and caverns, most connecting (eventually) to a large central chamber. On the map below, the entrances connected by dotted lines indicate though that specifically connect the outer portion of the island to the jungle, boring through the plateau (indicated by the darker brown coloration).

The Isle is far removed from most major landmasses, and indeed no islands are present within a hundred miles. Reefs and shoals in the area indicate that it was possibly a former island chain, though is seems like these areas have been submerged for centuries and are eroded and covered with sea life. The reefs and shoals themselves are dangerous to ships, and indeed the waters around them teem with sharks, giant squids, and other dangerous creatures. The residents of the closest inhabited islands seem to have forgotten the island (perhaps their ancestors avoided the wrath of its former inhabitants, detailed below in “Secrets”), while the tides and weather keep out many other visitors.

Spoiler

Creatures
The majority of the fauna of the Isle is like that of most jungle islands. Thousands of insect and bird species abound, while large cats and apes prey on the smaller herbivores. However, the Lost Isle is also home to several creatures that are found nowhere else on the world, and are most likely holdovers from some lost age. Dinosaurs of various species rule the forest, and large, fierce ancestral versions of other animals pose a threat to any but the hardiest of explorers (see the Prehistoric Animal template below). Because of their size, though, there are very few true Prehistoric Animals, though Dire versions of various creatures abound.

Despite the apparent dangers, hidden in the north-central area of the island is a thriving (though small) civilization. The four races collectively known as the saurials, superficially an intelligent offshoot of the dinosaur species, have lived undisturbed here for centuries at least, developing magic and simple technology and living in peaceful coexistence with the flora and fauna (in general).

Prehistoric Animal [Template]

Spoiler

Sample: Prehistoric Ape

Spoiler

RTGoodman · 01-04-2008, 12:52 AM

Inhabitants:

[Game statistics for the four Saurial subraces, as well as overarching racial characteristics, can be found here or here.]

The major inhabitants of the Lost Isle are the saurials, four dinosaur-like humanoid species that peacefully coexist with the rest of islands fauna from their north-central capital city. The saurials, who speak Draconic, have a relatively egalitarian society, with all taking part in assuring the civilizations survival and leaders only being appointed and followed because of their ability to aid the community as a whole. Most Saurians are Experts, focusing on crafting, foraging, and other practical professions. Others, especially Flyers, have levels in the Rogue class and focus on scouting, while many Bladebacks train as Warriors or Fighters to better defend the population against the dangers of the Lost Isle. Of the magical classes, Adepts are more common than other classes, though the spiritual leaders of the civilization are Druids (many with dinosaur animal companions). The hornhead subrace has spent time learning the ways of wizardry, though the primitive writing system (essentially pictographs) has limited this somewhat. As of now, with such limited contact to outside influences, there are no clerics, monks, or paladins in Saurial culture, though more exposure to the other races (which is sure to come in the future) these will surely come about. A small percentage of the races have exhibit psionic powers, though most cannot distinguish between psionic and arcane arts.

The major leader of the civilization at the moment is the High Priest Regnarak, Old Finhead Druid 12. The only other major leader is the hornheads’ High Arcanist, Palinox (Hornhead Wizard 8).

However, unbeknownst to the saurials, they are not the only sentient race on the Lost Isle (see Secrets below for more details). The saurials, though, have noticed that more of their number have gone missing in recent years, and there hasn’t been any evidence that this is due to the wild animals and normal dangers of jungle life.

High Priest Regnarak

Spoiler

Secrets:

Spoiler

The Lost Isle was actually “lost” because of its former inhabitant. A millennium ago, the sole resident was the great wyrm red dragon Kothgarix, a being so powerful that he created races, raised mountains, and destroyed all the other islands in the area in his paranoia that someone would try to take his hoard. However, not even he, so powerful he was nearly divine, could fend off the tides of time, and he eventually died in his lair, hidden under the great jungle in a huge cavern network. (A DC 25 Knowledge [History] check reveals information about Kothgarix). However, despite his death, Kothgarix still manages to influence the world in a small way as a vestige, taken away from this world but forbidden from truly passing on.

New Vestige: Kothgarix

Spoiler

Kothgarix’s hoard, full of gold, jewels, and other priceless items (stolen from unfortunate sailing ships and the inhabitants of the islands that he destroyed) is mostly intact, having never been discovered by the only (known) sentient beings on the island, the saurials.

However, unbeknownst to anyone else, Kothgarix did not live alone in this lair. His experiments with race creation that eventually led to the invention of the saurials also led to another result – a subterranean civilization of savage kobolds, a society of twisted evil barbarians and sorcerers wandering the immense subterranean caverns, but worshipping the ideals of the ancient dead dragon “god” imprinted in their racial memory. The focus of this is their idol, the skull of Kothgarix, a mighty magic item that is passed down from leader to leader.

Treasures:

Spoiler

Skull of Kothgarix:
The skull of Kothgarix is a large, magical artifact crafted from the skull of the great wyrm red dragon that was once inhabited the Lost Isle. In its natural form, the skull is large enough to serve as an altar for various dark rituals performed by its current owners, the evil kobolds in their underground mazes – rituals that usually involve torturing or killing saurials they capture near the entrances to their caverns. (As the final product of Kothgarix’s racial creation experiments, the saurials are held in contempt by the kobolds, who consider themselves to be inferior by-products – and are eager to change this.) It also has the power to shrink itself down to be worn as an amulet.

The skull, in any form, radiates strong magic of all schools and has a strong aura of evil, and it has a permanent 20-foot radius emanation as the desecrate spell (treated as a permanent altar for any evil deity or any dragon deity). The wearer of the amulet (when in that form) gains immunity to fire damage, and gains the frightful presence of a dragon. The radius is 30 feet, and takes effect whenever the bearer of the skull attacks or charges. A potentially affected creature that succeeds on a Will save (DC 10 + bearer’s HD + Cha modifier) remains immune to the bearer’s frightful presence for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less HD become panicked for 4d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 4d6 rounds. Dragons ignore the frightful presence granted by the skull of Kothgarix.

Treasure of the Saurials

Exotic Shields	Cost	AC Bonus	Max Dex	Armor Check Penalty	Arcane Spell Failure	Speed	Weight
Saurial Tail Sheathe	30gp	+1	--	-1	0%	--	15 lbs.

Saurial Tail Sheathe: The saurial tail sheathe is an exotic armor style employed by the saurials of the Lost Isle and other creatures with a strong, flexible tail. Creatures with a tail attack (or a creature without a tail attack that has a strong and flexible enough) wear this armor (usually several wide rings of steel, iron, bronze, or hardened wood) along their tail, thus allowing them to deflect attacks with the tail as if wielding a shield. This allows a creature to wield a two-handed weapon (or two separate weapons) and still manage some degree of protection. Furthermore, the extra weight and shielding allows for more powerful attacks, and increases the damage of any tail attack by one size category.

The saurial tail sheathe is an exotic shield, but any Lost Isle saurial with proficiency in heavy shields is automatically proficient with the sheathe. Like other shields, a saurial tail sheathe can have spikes, and doing so changes the tail attacks damage to piercing and bludgeoning damage.

EDIT: Added a vestige I finally finished, did some more proofreading.