![[z_Publish/_assets/Elandor 2.webp]] # General Info *Continent of [[2-World/Planets/Elandor.md|Elandor]] · an archipelago in the southern Azure Sea · home waters of the ship-clans* The Spice Isles are a scatter of green islands, coral reefs and smoking volcanic islets in the far south of the Azure Sea, south of [[2-World/Regions/The Crystal Coast.md|The Crystal Coast]] and between the long tail of [[2-World/Continents/Myrathis.md|Myrathis]] and the jungles of [[2-World/Continents/Thryvalis.md|Thryvalis]]. Sailors call these waters **the Spice Sea**: on a warm night you can smell cinnamon and clove on the wind a full day before you see land. No crown rules the Isles. Every harbour answers to its own captains, and the captains answer, when they must, to **[[2-World/Places/The Captains' Table.md|The Captains' Table]]** in [[2-World/Hubs/Rumhollow.md|Rumhollow]]. Half the ships here are honest traders and half are smugglers, and most are both, depending on the cargo and the week. ## Spice - **Cinnamon, clove, pepper and nutmeg** grow wild on the larger islands and in terraced plantations on the rest. Most of the spice eaten on [[2-World/Continents/Aurethis.md|Aurethis]] passed through [[2-World/Hubs/Port Cassia.md|Port Cassia]] first. - **Ember-saffron** grows only on the ash slopes of the volcanic islets. It glows faintly in the dark, it burns the tongue, and alchemists and wizards pay a fortune for it as a spell reagent. Ember-saffron is where the spice trade and the magic trade become the same trade. ## Two waters - **[[2-World/Regions/The Saffron Reach.md|The Saffron Reach]]**, the northern isles: plantations, warehouses, white lighthouses and [[2-World/Hubs/Port Cassia.md|Port Cassia]], the spice capital of the south. Lawful, by island standards. - **[[2-World/Regions/The Wildwater.md|The Wildwater]]**, the southern isles: reefs, lagoons, wrecks and pirate havens, and islands that don't stay where the charts put them. Its heart is [[2-World/Hubs/Rumhollow.md|Rumhollow]], a harbour built inside a drowned volcano. ## The ship-clans Many islanders are born aboard ship and never live anywhere else. A **ship-clan** is a family that has sailed the same ship (or a ship of the same name) for generations: the ship is the clan's home, its business and its name. Ship-clan children learn the rigging before their letters, and the captaincy passes to whoever the crew will follow, which is usually, but not always, the eldest child. The tabaxi ship-clans are the oldest in the Isles, and the most superstitious. ## Peoples - **Humans** from every coast of the Azure Sea, many of them descended from sailors who meant to stay one season. - **Tabaxi ship-clans**, the oldest sailors of the Isles. Their own stories say the first tabaxi crossed the sea following the smell of the spice. - **Merfolk** of the lagoons, who trade pearls and salvage for steel and spice, and who do not like being stared at. - **The Undertide traders**: in the flooded caves beneath the southern isles, at low tide, there are traders who come up from somewhere deeper and speak only Undercommon. Nobody in the Isles asks where they come from. ## Faith Every ship carries a knotted rope blessed by [[2-World/Groups/The Tidewardens.md|The Tidewardens]], and [[2-World/People/Deities/Kaelos.md|Kaelos]] is the first god anyone in the Isles prays to. Smugglers keep a quiet second shrine to [[2-World/People/Deities/Lethiel.md|Lethiel]]: *the Smiling Debt keeps better books than any harbourmaster*. And every sailor knows the story of [[2-World/Groups/The Drowned Choir.md|The Drowned Choir]]. # Region Details **Dominant Races:** Humans, tabaxi, merfolk **Climate:** Tropical: hot and humid, cooled by sea breezes **Seasons:** The dry season (sailing and trade) and the storm season, the *Shut Months*, when sensible ships stay in harbour **Biome vibe:** Pirates of the Caribbean meets Neverland: turquoise lagoons, spice on the wind, pirate havens, and something old under the water **Regions:** [[2-World/Regions/The Saffron Reach.md|The Saffron Reach]] (north), [[2-World/Regions/The Wildwater.md|The Wildwater]] (south) **Major city:** [[2-World/Hubs/Port Cassia.md|Port Cassia]] **Location:** The southern Azure Sea, a few days' sail south of [[2-World/Hubs/Thuldrok.md|Thuldrok]]; the [[2-World/Continents/Iskavar Isles.md|Iskavar Isles]] lie across open water to the west # Regions **continent** Places where people live - Cities, Towns, Villages, Hamlets, Encampment, Keeps, Fortresses, Strongholds. - [[2-World/Regions/The Saffron Reach.md|The Saffron Reach]] - [[2-World/Regions/The Wildwater.md|The Wildwater]] # Capital Cities Groups of people and power - religious, cults, guilds, military