Sibuyan

Most of this information is very-rarely known outside the Sharktooth Islands.
Sibuyan is the largest island in the Sharktooth Archipelago. It is a mountainous volcanic island with rich fertile soil. Its climate is tropical, but the interior highlands are cooler due to their elevation. Most of the coast is mangrove jungle. There are occasional beaches and stretches of rocky coast, but they are rare.
The majority of the population of Sibuyan lives in the interior highlands. They have developed terraced farming. The high rain, rich soil, and warm weather makes agriculture exceptionally productive. The coasts and the valleys are thick untamed jungles.
There are two cities on the island and the ruins of a third one. Banjai is the capital and is in the interior highlands. Tarlac is the main port on the southern coast. Zenalo is the former colonial capital and original port on the north-east coast.
The government of Sibuyan is a Katrin-worshipping theocracy. The worship of other gods is nonexistent. The absence of clerics of other gods hides the weakness of the clerics of Katrin . The theology of the clerics of Katrin acknowledges Katrin’s death and promises her return. The other prime gods are blamed for her murder. This justifies the suppression of other gods.
The theocracy is meritocratic bureaucracy. Magical, administrative, and political skills are prized. There is a yearly examination open to all for new positions within the bureaucracy. The exams test knowledge of the teachings of Katrin, magical skill, and a small set of classical texts. Children of the theocratic elite have access to better education, so are more likely to succeed in their exams. However, the society has many stories of poor peasants succeeding in the exams and rising to the top of the bureaucracy.
Prior to Katrin’s death, her clerics dominated the theocracy. Since then, lay clergy have grown in power at the expense of the old guard clerics. The lay clergy have a little skill at divine magic, but are often wizards, sorcerers, or artificers.
Katrin prizes invention, but the society is insular. This has limited the number of breakthroughs that have happened on the islands. The two major inventions are terraced farming, and magical tattooing. Sibuyan mystical tattooists are some of the best in the world. Several types of magical tattoos can be found nowhere else.
Magic is unusually common in Sibuyan society, but there is little powerful magic. The magic leans towards arcane rather than divine.
The total population of Sibuyan is 150,000 to 250,000
Banjai This is the highland capital of Sibuyan. It is the seat of the theocracy and home to its main academy. It is a carefully planned city at a high enough altitude that the temperature is usually pleasant. It is frequently fog-shrouded or raining. Roughly 10,000 people live in the city.
Tarlac Tarlac is Sibuyan’s open port. It is a new city built around a large natural harbour. The approaches to the harbour are deceptive making it hard to reach without a local pilot. It is a wet, muddy, rambunctious place.
The theocracy cares little about the world outside the archipelago, which means ships with questionable legality can freely use the port. This has made Tarlac the greatest pirate port in the world. It is the one place that pirates can safely trade, repair, and recruit. The city has an extensive shipyard focused on ship repair, but also for building small fast ocean-going vessels.
There is a population of Sahuagin in the city. Pirates will frequently hire them as marines for their attacks.
The theocracy is more flexible about the worship of other gods in Tarlac. Worshipers of the old prime pantheon will still be suppressed, but the worship of newer gods is accepted. Namhu in particular has a strong following.
The population of the city is about 8,000 and it is growing fast.