The Hidden Island of Golden Beans Geographic Location in The True Dark Ages | World Anvil

The Hidden Island of Golden Beans

The Hidden Island of Golden Beans is meant to exist far to the west in the Atlantic Sea. It is said that the island is mountainous with some flat areas with trees & grasses. They say that hidden deep within the mountainous terrain is a cavern protected by a monstrous creature guarding a highly sought after treasure, one of golden beans growing like broad beans on a vine but from veins of gold in the rock.

Geography

Made up of a central large mountainous island with a smaller flatter part to the south. The majority of the island has cliffs around it and no other landmass is nearby. The majority of the island is covered in long grasses some bushes with small clumps of trees here & there. Made of ancient volcanic rock, it is slowly being eroded over time. There is a few caves here & there scattered around with some filled with water. One in the largest mountain is deeper and the only known entry is well-above sea level & drains most water that gets in deeper down. It seesms that this is linked somehow to the Underdark

Ecosystem

Plants are abundant enough but usually only the hardiest of them can survive close to the edge and higher up the island. Most seem to have come from further afield being drawn here by sea currents, although a few animals and ship could easily have dropped off the seeds for the odd one or two. Insects, annelids & arthropods seem to be common enough and found throughout either feeding on the plants or each other. Sometimes migratory birds are found passing through and feeding on these creatures though none stay permaently. The odd sea animal passes by using the island as a base for the time, though never staying long.   One thing that has been noted is the myth that a monsterous creature of ancient evil supposedly lives on the island using the cavern as it's home. It lives on any creature that arrives on the island or that ventures up from the underdark. Thought to be a descendant of the dragons and whispered that it is an offshoot of the hydra.

Ecosystem Cycles

The usual cycle of life doesn't seem to exist here extending about 3 miles of the coast. Constantly surrounded by exceptionally dangerous storms at the edge of this, the inhabitants are able to breed as normal no mare the season, and the seasons are always mild.

Localized Phenomena

A constant violent storm rages three miles out from the coast of the island permanently. It seems to wreak most ships & ruins many other means of getting through to the island. Nothing seems to prevent or make a path through this storm, and going over or under doesn't seem to work either wit hriptides & other phenomena present.   The island doesn't seem to have any severe shift in weather with it being mild all year round. No heavy rain or snow, no freezing weather, no extreme heat, nothing.   It is thought by those rare few that survived getting off the island that these and the monsterous creature thought to be a hydra of some kind is likely linked to the ancient stone workings in the cavern.    One of the stranger things left by the Giants is their method for collecting gold. They managed to magically perfect the method of wherever there is gold present, a magical bean is rubbed into it and the gold starts 'growing' out like a bean sprout. These can be harvested all year round and since the war, it has took on the properties of a plantitelf growing primarily in the caves, and in the odd places around the island. Anyone who takes these find they are pure gold and will not grow anywhere else other than the island itself.

Climate

Generally mild all year round.

Natural Resources

Maany rare imsects & plants can be found on the island, some useful in medicine & magic. At the same time the gold beans can be found especially in the caves 'growing' like broad bean plants. Some rare Giant items may be found throughout the cavern system, along with the odd Dragon item too. A few of the servants of both may still exist here & there too hidden away in the dark recesses of the caverns waiting to be discovered & maybe studied or exploited if captured or killed.

History

Some survivors that explored the cavern stated the same about the cavern system and island. It is indeed linked to the Underdark were there is a bridge that leads over an abyss filled with mist that acts like a storm getting worse as anyone travels across this. They mention the size of the bridge being able to accomodate at least to giants side by side, and there is stonework leading from it up to the outer mouth of the cave. It appears that carvings are on it explaining that Giants once controlled the island and that they were attacked by Dragons during an ancient war. The Giants appeared to be losing as the Dragons were using minions born from the eggs the Dragons and had outnumbered both sides during the war. Decimated, the Giants called upon dark gods to save themselves & improve their lot. The Dragons & their minions were driven off but the Giants were indebted to a mighty queen who served the dark gods and she spirited her away. She had summoned two ancient evil creatures, one from the watery depth of the ocean, and one from the depth of the watery cavern to finish off the Dragons minions. At the same time, her masters seized the island as their own. Those few Giants that remained had hidden themselves with powerful magic, and escaped when the time was right, and recorded what had happened after the war. The hydra creature was a remnant of the Dragon army and is said to be now enslaved to a powerful entity existing deep underground, and preventing anything from seizing territory or treasure amongst the old ruins. The odd rock formation seems to be the remains of old Giant ruins as well up & down the island's surface, even the rare one near the peaks of the mountains.

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