Purple Peppers of Madura

It came from stars and crashed onto the jagged reefs, breaking open. Seeds splashed out upon the surrounding sea and were flung into the air.
The thing from the stars sank down to the bottom on the deep side of the reefs.
Fish and delighted hippocampi feasted on these strange new seeds in blissful delight.
So many of them came to the frenzy that they drew the attention of a Great Steam Turtle.
Hippocampi and fish paniced and swarmed for the shallow side of the reefs in hopes of escaping the turtle.
With great snapping jaws, the turle snatched up mouthfuls of unfortuante sea creatures and swallowed

The Seeds by fotosforyou_rk

Great Steam Turtle by thommas68

Once, twice, thrice it fed until the hapless creatures all reached the safety of the shallows.
Waves made by the attacking turtle pushed the seeds into the shallow waters; an inadvertant reward for those who had escaped its reach.
Still hungry, the turtle found the broken thing from the stars.
It looked like food so the great turtle ate it.
Only those seeds that had been caught in the winds escaped the hungry denizens of the sea.
There had not been much of a wind but it had blown just strong enough to drop the seeds upon the nearby chain of islands.
These seeds took root and the first purple peppers of Madura began to grow.

The Isles of Madura

Purple Peppers by sandeephanda

Their ancesters has been sea frogs who had hopped out of the sea and into the wet caves of the many islands of Madura.

The steamy jungles inland proved just as comfortable as their caves and they spread inland.

They were the Javani and the purple peppers were theirs.

Javani use the peppers to make Grun-zhun, a spicy rum, used to bring them the dreams of the stars, which only happens if they are a bit drunk.


Drink too much of it, and a Javani could not only wake up with a hangover, but changed into the opposite sex from when they started drinking!

Coming of the Elves

The first explorers to the Isles of Madura were the elves who arrived on human sailing ships.
The elves, leaving the human crews aboard the ships, charmed the Javani into accepting them without violence.
They soon became fascinated with how Grun-zhun inspired sex-changes in the Javani.
Examining the rum and then the peppers, they were mystified at the lack of magic in either.
The elves also drank Grun-zhun, though only to appease the Javani.
They found the spicy rum was tasty enough to appeal to the lesser races but was not to their liking.
Those elves from sorcerous bloodlines, however, felt their magic refreshed! How could this be?

Purple pepper seeds were taken back to elven lands and planted.
The peppers grew but they lacked the refresjing powers of those grown in Madura, so the elves returned to the Isles.
The elves brought with them a portal, providing them instantaneous travel to and from the isles.
Without any further need of ships, they dismissed the humans.
Over the centuries, the purple peppers of Madura were discovered to refresh the magics of all types of magic users and the elves grew rich from their control of all purple pepper trade beyond Madura.
All this came to a sudden end when The End Of Instant happened.

by kapixel08

Since then, the gnomes have taken over the trading of purple peppers. Will the gnomes figure out the mysteries of the purple peppers?
Will they be able to keep their hold over the trade?