Tarador

The oceans of Amaun are home to two floating islands, Tarador and Arithasia, making their ways across that world in patterns none can comprehend. These are exotic places known for their exotic people.
Tarador is known to outsiders as an especially lively place full of passionate people. To many, this is a place of song, wine, and romance, and it is very popular with travelers. Too many learn too late that the Taradori love of drama is a double-edged sword.

Structure

As the Taradori people are a very independent folk, they don't have a formal government. Officially, each is free to do as they will and live their own lives. The reality is far from this ideal, however. The wealthiest families have so much influence they are effectively a ruling class who make their own laws.
While formal laws are not made, civilian militia keep order. Most of these are privately funded by the wealthy, and tend to be extremely corrupt. Crimes such as murder, theft, and assault are punished, but the nature of this punishment varies quite widely. Bribery is almost a fact of life in what passes for a Taradori justice system, and disputes are more likely to be settled with duels than trials.

Culture

More than anything, the Taradori value passion, drama and music. They tend to dive into things with all their hearts, for better and for worse. It has even been suggested that two items represent Tarador more than anything: the guitar and the rapier.
The arts have a place of honor in Taradori culture, from painting, to plays, to music. Many of the floating island's elite spend exorbitant amounts patronizing artists of all kinds, completing with their rivals over whose artists are greater as well as who spent more on them. Taradori artists are recognized across the Twin Worlds for their masterpieces.
Of particular note to the rest of the Twin Worlds are the musicians of Tarador. They are primarily associated with the guitar, an instrument widely recognized as unique to the island. Many musicians travel to the mainland to share their talents with the rest of the Twin Worlds. The island has a higher population of bards than anywhere else in all the Twin Worlds. None know why this is as the source of bardic magic is poorly understood.
The Taradori culture also places great emphasis on romance. Love is celebrated in all its forms from the deepest personal bonds to wild whirlwind romances based on nothing more than pure passion. Because of this, long-term relationships tend to be rarer than they are elsewhere. Duels fought between suitors over a mutual object of affection are very common, and are generally treated as entertainment by the public at large.

History

The story of Tarador is always is told and retold over and over again, filled with plots and schemes, rivalries and full-on feuds, and seasoned liberally with tempestuous love affairs and duels to the death. The theaters of Tarador and beyond are filled with such tales punctuated with the applause of adoring crowds.
Unfortunately for serious historians, the Taradori love of drama makes it especially difficult to separate fact from fiction. Many Taradori scholars care more for making events seem legendary than they do about recording them accurately for posterity.
What is actually known about the history of the island is very vague. Much of it parallels that of its sister nation Arithasia. It is known that the island was settled in the wake of a terrible war. This conflict was either the Second Imperial War or the Second Rising. The opinions of scholars vary.
Since that time, most of the rest of the history of Tarador has been that of conflict. These have not been grand conflicts such as the Third Rising and the war against Ansarien Ill'conter. Instead, these have mostly been smaller struggles. Most of these have been internal, but there have also been wars against Arithasia and the sahuagin.

Demography and Population

Like its fellow floating island, Arithasia, Tarador's population is primarily human. Unlike Arithasia, the Taradori people aren't almost exclusively human. Their greater emphasis on trade has led to a far greater diversity among its population than that of its spiritual neighbor.
Aside from its human population, the highest number of people are halfling, much as it is on the continent of Vald. A relatively large population of tritons live beneath the surface and they can often be found above the waves. There is also a relatively significant number of half elves, a large number of them with sea elf heritage.

Territories

Since the island of Tarador isn't in a fixed location, its climate often varies, although this variation isn't usually as wide as that of Arithasia. Its tendency toward warmer temperatures are even stronger, as it rarely drifts into cold northern waters. As such, climates usually vary between warm temperate or subtropical.
The life on the island is also similar to that of Arithasia. Creatures living there have to have adapted to a variety of environments. Animals include deer, foxes, and raccoons. Due to its warmer climate, reptiles like snakes and lizards are more common.
Magical creatures are also common. Many of these are hybrids like owlbears. Caniquines and feliquines are found nowhere else and are frequently used as heraldry by the island's prominent families. Dragons are naturally rare, and those that do exist there are aquatic ones such as bronze and topaz dragons. 
It is believed that the island is closer to the Feywild than its twin. Some have even suggested that the entire island is the domain of Uvalina, the Vine Maiden. Her servants, the vine nymphs are far more common here than anywhere else in the Twin Worlds. Other fey creatures like pixies, nymphs and nerieds are also quite common.

Military

Because Tarador doesn't have a formal government, they don't have a formal military, either. The influential families that run the nation do employ a large number of house guards that together can form something akin to an army if need be. They rarely ever do so, however. Instead, they usually fight one another due to their employers' rivalries.
The island is also protected by the infamous Taradori corsairs, privateers charged with stopping threatening vessels from reaching their shores. They are given leave to do this in any way they see fit. Unfortunately for many, this freedom leads to a level of corruption that leaves many little more than pirates.

Foreign Relations

The floating island of Tarador travels across the oceans of Amaun, making stable diplomatic relations difficult, made all the more so by Tarador's lack of government. They do, however, engage in trade with a large number of nations, especially those they drift near.
Tarador only has specific relationships with two nations. They have had a long rivalry with their fellow floating island, Arithasia. This relationship has occasionally crossed over into actual war, which is almost always won by Arithasia due to their warrior culture. The Taradori tradition of nautical trade has also led to repeated conflict with Nuvoan pirates.

Agriculture & Industry

More than anything, there is one thing produced by Tarador that is known throughout the Twin Worlds: wine. Taradori vineyards make all sorts of wines for every occasion. These wines are worth a great deal and grace the tables and cellars of a great many nobles.
Much of the farmland on the island is taken up by its famous vineyards, but they also use some of it for food production as well, particularly olives, grains and fruit orchards. Most of their meat comes from the sea, which makes food somewhat more scarce when the island drifts further into the open ocean.
Of the craftworks made in Tarador, it is their musical instruments that are exceptional in quality. The primary creations of the instrument-makers of Tarador are wooden ones, such as lutes, harps, and flutes. Most famously, the Taradori are the only producers of guitars in the whole of the Twin Worlds.

Trade & Transport

In many ways, trade is the lifeblood of Tarador. Not only does it allow the Taradori people to aquire the things they can't produce themselves, but it also allows their society to flourish from contact with others. This is almost more important considering the emphasis Taradori culture places on passion and romance.
Tarador's primary imports are in raw materials the island just doesn't have. The main import is metal, primarily iron, but also precious metals like gold used for artistic reasons. In addition, even though the island does have plenty of trees, much of the wood used is imported due to the unsustainablity of large scale logging.
They tend to export very specialized goods to other places. Their wines are celebrated everywhere in the Twin Worlds, and they are one of the greatest exporters of olives and olive oil. In addition, their musical instruments fetch high prices in other places, although guitars are rarely played by foreigners, with rare exceptions such as the Mandian performer Talm Six-String.
Much of the goods leaving Tarador flow through the city of Corazon near the center of the island, where most of the grapes and olives are grown. They then travel by road to the ports with Puerto Azul being the largest and most influential of such places.
In addition to the usual trade with others of the surface world, the Taradori people trade with aquatic cultures, as well. There are even several triton settlements on the underside of the island, although the most influential families don't allow them to settle close to Puerto Azul for security reasons. Like Arithasia, this trade is small-scale for things both sides consider to be curiosities.

Founding Date

Early 2nd Age

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Capital

Puerto Azul

Demonym

Taradori

Government System

Plutocracy

Power Structure

Autonomous area

Economic System

Traditional

Controlled Territories

• Corazon
• Puerto Azul