Islands, Part 2

Been a busy and strange last 6 months or so, but I'm finally at a loose end, so here's a follow-up from a comment in an earlier post. In fact, it contained information I'd never written down, and also had forgotten...

The Island of Seahorses sits in the middle of the Sea of Stars. Nearly all the adventures I've run in this particular world have taken place in the continent to the north of this sea. It is bounded to the north by the Arid Badlands (I need a better name eventually but it will do for now), where three ancient tiered cities rule over small fishing villages; to the east by an immense desert; and to the west by a peninsula dominated by the Jungles of Nyem, containing both the Flying Cities of Lomoxth and a kingdom of Volcreths, barbaric civilised giant chickens (from the Dragon Warriors RPG). To the south, little known lands, although a pseudo-Greek Empire and a Mesoamerican land with giant domesticated insects trade with the north.

Near the southern end of the Sea of Stars, directly east of the only pass out to the open Pale Sea, past jagged cliffs, drowned river valleys and clear fiords, lies the Island of Seahorses, named, most probably, after its somewhat curved shape, like an inverted S. The centre of the island consists of a narrow band of sharp upthrust mountains, with the only arable land on the far northern and the south-eastern most peninsulas.

The northern area has a splinter colony from the afore-mentioned pseudo-Greek Empire. This culture, although technologically superior to most other civilisations in the world, is hamstrung by a curious form of democracy, where every noble family works against all the others in order to sway the common vote on a yearly basis. The splinter colony is the last remnants of the old Royal order, exiled around 200 years ago. There are opportunities in helping them accomplish their aims, in the form of strange items, unknown elsewhere. But the tide of public opinion can shift quickly....

On the southern limb, separated from the north by a narrow but steep mountain range, an animistic cult worships a vengeful water god, with ritualistic drownings.  Although somewhat dangerous, it is one of the few places elementalists can begin to fathom the deep mysteries of water magic, and entirely based on the opening to one of the Throne of Thrones books a decade or so age....

These people are a strange mongrel race, taking in all from the surprising number of half (or fully) drowned sailors that wash up on these shores. It is rumoured that the High Priest of this cult can breath life back into those that have drowned on these shores, and demands this rebirth of all who join the Temple of the Drowned Twins.