A brief history of The Cobalt Isles

The political tapestry of the Cobalt Isles has been in a constant state of flux for as long as the islands have been inhabited. The Azuris Isle repository is the holder of the oldest most complete set of records about life before The Cataclysm almost nine centuries ago, due to the population of Azuris coordinating a monumental effort to maintain stability during the time period. While the Island has since fallen into political conflict and diversity The Repository serves as a sanctuary of peace and safety regardless of the current state of the world.
Not every Island is Azuris though, the other three major islands consist of Mistros, Aerule and Belmont. Abomination is a popular fifth despite not comparing to the others in either size or population. The cultures differ wildly between the major Isles, and the thousands of smaller Islands all boast their own sets of customs and rules. The people of the Cobalt Isles have one thing in common and that is their proximity to the sea.
The Cobalt Isle economic structure is entirely based upon trade, they focus heavily on exporting their luxury goods like wine, citrus and other specialties of the tropical zones while importing the bulk of their commodities like iron, livestock and things they cannot sustain or produce themselves in the necessary quantities. Azuris Isle spearheaded this effort in the first year post cataclysm, travelling the oceans of the world and beginning the fledgling trade agreements that would drag many places back into some sense of power.
With the focus on trade the sense of competition between the Isles grew into coastal and naval raiding. The first real 'Pirates' of the world were in The Cobalt Isles, merchant ships would soon require significant protection of their own or fall prey to being plunder. The pirates did not restrict their activities to simply the region of The Isles, many historical documents speak of a Pirate Blight on the coasts of nearly every other continent. Their activities formed the basis for the Auchen League of Olancia to unify, and destabilized Avarniom economies to bring their political web falling in on itself.
With their intense naval tradition it is unsurprising they are known throughout Deloth as the best shipbuilders, sailors and navigators of the world. Most of the worlds greatest merchant houses have their headquarters here too. Though the golden age of piracy has been waning in the past century. The developing naval tactics of Alkworne navies picked up and built on by The Avarnian Ships of The Line has left the strength of the lone raiding party in question.
The modern Cobalt Isles focuses more on trade and coin more then naval power, with the increased political stability of the surrounding world those of the Cobalt Isles find the disunity between and within the Islands a huge disadvantage. The constant competition with each other places them awkwardly to compete with other major trading partners such as Precipice city or The Auchen League. There are political movements in motion to begin a great unification of The Isles, but the thousands of smaller pirate kingdoms are unyielding to change. The blind greed faced by those who live on plundering ships is hard to reason with.
The Cobalt Isles have found themselves somewhat left behind and have already faced a significant invasion and occupation by the modernised forces of The Avarnian Empire. Their clinging to ancient tradition has weakened them, however the lands remains in the center of Deloth and they maintain the overall strength to defend their lands. The merchant trading houses make them the richest continent in the world and the center of the Delothian Economies. Because of this they remain the holder of the proverbial puppet strings.