The Grace
Despite its benevolent-sounding name, The Grace is a grim destination from which few travellers return. Across the channel from Osbray-by-the-Sea , The Grace is a former leper colony that now lies abandoned. Sailors passing by it utter prayers to the Six Saints to ward their souls, for it is whispered that a malevolence makes its home on that bleak isle. To this day, Banteavans are forbidden from setting foot on the isle by decree of the Church... but even so, the folk of Osbray can sometimes look out across the channel late at night and see the the glimmers of campfires on the shores of The Grace.
Geography
The Grace is a large island off the southern coast of Banteave, dominated by rocky shores, steep hills and gnarled trees.
History
Historical records prior to The Banteavan Invasion of Ostamber are slim, but it is said that the druids of The Red Sisters would exile Lowlander criminals to the isle, though the druids would never set foot upon the shore of The Grace themselves. Antari legend speaks of a hunger that dwells within the heart of the island, one that devours the hearts of whomever traverses the rocky shores.
After the Invasion and the founding of The Kingdom of Banteave, the Church was granted the rights to the island by King Gilas II. Shortly thereafter, the Church began to quietly build a small settlement upon The Grace. Calling up serfs from the lands that would one day become the Barony of Holthen , the Church ferried builders and their supplies over to The Grace. Early reports suggested they were building a monastery, separate from the rest of the kingdom, where monks of the Six Saints could learn in peaceful seclusion.
The peace was not to last. When an outbreak of the Weeping Death swept across the Lowlands, The Grace became an impromptu leper colony as hundreds of sickened Banteavans were unceremoniously shipped to their shores. The monastery administered what aid they could to the huddled, dying masses outside their gates, but soon the situation was spiralling wildly out of control and order rapidly broke down.
What happened next remains unclear. When the plague finally subsided in the Lowlands, the Church declared it forbidden for any soul to set foot upon The Grace, under penalty of death. Supply ships ceased their trips out to the island, any remaining boats docked at the harbour on The Grace were torched from afar with flaming arrows, and the folk of Osbray-by-the-Sea were urged to forget the place even existed... though they could just as easily look out their windows and see its silhouette against the horizon, clear as day.
When a group of five young treasure-seekers made the trip back from the island successfully, years after the decree, they returned with strange tales about the ruined monastery and a sackful of silver. They had gone there in the hopes of finding enough lucre to help their families through what was expected to be a tough winter, but their ambitions soon lead them to ruin. When word got out of their feats, the Church was quick to act, pressuring the local lords to arrest and execute each of the five adventurers. Their deaths were swift and brutal, the public outcry sharp, and the seeds would be planted for the King of the Moors to rise in defiance of the Church and Crown some five years later.
