The Stormbreakers

A Meaty Bones Setting

The Edge

The southeastern edge of the shallow Basquay Sea meets the depths of the Great Ocean.
This edge is marked by a long chain of small islands known as the Stormbreakers.
These rugged little islands face the brunt of the storms raging in off the Great Ocean, weakening their power before they sweep over the rest of the region.
The worst of these storms are hurricanes that do devastating damage and have done so for millennia.
Even worse, they happen so often that there is a Hurricane Season which is the most dreaded time of the year.

Sickle and Isles of Madura

by Dazzlinkat

A.K.A. Stormbreakers

The Ravaging Storms

The deadly winds, strong waves, and high water surges of the hurricanes that have hit these islands have created a rugged environment. The trees that grow here tend to bow to the wind. These winds bring warmer air providing a more sub-tropical heat that repels the chill of the more temperate winters felt inland from the coast.
This conflicts with the colder sea currents coming down from the north and spawns squalls within the region. Palm trees, coconuts, and mangroves also thrive here. The high water surges will drown the unwary or the unlucky who do not get to the safety of the high ground and have often washed away wooden structures. They have, on rare occasions, toppled stone structures.
The storms can sometimes spawn water spouts that spin and whirl their way across the water and even onto land. The bigger, deadlier water spout sometimes carries schools of sea creatures. Poisonous Spiny Fish, shocking Electric Eels, and even sharks have been known to be carried by these spouts and dropped onto the inhabitants of the islands.

Sickle

The Brahmaur learned of Sickle some three hundred years ago while serving aboard the human ships that carried the elven expeditions to the Isles of Madura. Ten years later, they arrived and claimed Sickle for themselves.
The Brahmaurs of Sickle have planted white pines to grow the masts for their ships near their shipyard, Dusk's Keel. Located at the western end of Sickle where the reefs and rocks are so many that only those experienced with the dangers and assisted by tug cogs can safely reach the docks, Dusk's Keel remains unknown to most. Along the northern slopes of the central parts, they have planted sturdy pines, a shorter tree that is cut for use as timbers in their single tin mine as well as the two iron mines found there.
The Brahmaur use the rock taken from their mines to build sturdy storm-resistant buildings, seawalls, and even small sheds are built of stone so as to withstand the wind. This is how the mighty storm-resistant port town of Stormnotch came to be built on Sickle's North Notch Bay.
Spreading from Stormnotch is a series of cobbled roads. Their rock set deep to provide a clear path for trade and safety for those who have farms on the lower but far more enriched land of the eastern end of Sickle. The rock farmhouses have withstood the storms even when flooded with the surging waters and are a welcome sight when the Brahmaur farmers return, though there is always a good bit of rumbling at having to clean them.

Isles of Madura

Stretching north and east of Sickle lies a chain of islands called the Isles of Madura. These are inhabited by a frog folk called the Jarevani. Aggressively territorial, the Jarevani live by a strict code of neutrality when either traveling beyond their tribal lands or confronting outsiders. Neutral grounds between the tribes exist and it is here that trade can be carried out between them. The Jarevani build huts on stilts that easily fall victim to the storms and take shelter in the high-ground caves. Being semi-aquatic creatures, even when the caves flood, it's still safe. It is not so safe for non-aquatic folks like elves or humans. Storms are considered neutral and all wars must cease until they pass and replacement huts are rebuilt.
Three hundred years ago, Bardigan elves scried magic upon those Isles yet they were unable to determine the precise source so they launched an expedition, hiring three ships of human origin. There they discovered the magical drink Grun-zhun made by the Jarevani. This drink was rum spiced with local purple peppers that only had magical properties when grown on these islands. No amount of research could determine why this was possible so a trade in the purple peppers grew there. In keeping with the laws of neutrality, a new trading place was made. Bentan, Trade Port of the Javani
Three years ago, when The End Of Instant destroyed all portals, Bentan was ocne again stranded from the world and the purple pepper trade was sudden'y halted. It was the gnomes and their ships who were the faster to get there and now they, and not the elves, are in control of the purple pepper trade.