The Serpent Isles is the primary exploratory region of the campaign. It is a massive archipelago southwest of the Continent, located within Kaytriss’s tropical zone north of its equator. It is made up of hundreds of individual islands, and was apparently populated by a civilization commonly identified with the mythical Empire of Lemuria; presently, its only mortalkin inhabitants are settlers from the Continent.
Many creatures thought either extinct or mythical—from fey goblins and elemental kobolds to mighty dragons—were rediscovered in the Serpent Isles. These, alongside the near-ubiquitous (and quite dangerous) Lemurian ruins filled with the wonders of an ancient arcane age, bring numerous explorers, adventurers, merchants, and would-be-pirates to the Isles year-over-year.
The most influential pirate to sail the Serpent Isles was Captain Silvereye.
Ports of Call
The following list details all the major ports currently found in the Serpent Isles, along with their current allegiance. They are listed in order of population, greatest to least. Note that Tower Hill, the most populous colony in the Serpent Isles, has a population of 25,000, only 10% of La Gardé.
Tower Hill is under governance of the Noble House of Tantivi, though swears fealty to the Patriar in Coppalia. It is hostile to pirates.
San Reneaux is under the governance of Gallica. It is hostile to pirates.
Ambersail is allied to the Council of Eight. It shelters pirates.
Trieste’s Hope is a Coppali colony. It is hostile to pirates.
New Cordova is under the governance of the High King of Astoria. While officially hostile to pirates, it is known to shelter many.
Merhausen is under the governance of the Teutonic crown of Lippewick. It is hostile to Pirates.
Dragon’s Rest is the home of the Council of Eight. It naturally shelters pirates. Its location not generally known.
Bloodtide is the home of the Blood of the Serpent pirate faction. It shelters pirates willing to align themselves with the Blood. Its location is not generally known.
Native Factions
The Council of Eight, previously known as the Council of Five, is a ruling council of eight pirate captains.
The Blood of the Serpent is a breakaway faction from the Council of Eight, and has earned a reputation for cruelty and unnecessary violence.
Continental Factions
The following continental factions have an entrenched influence on the Serpent Isles:
The Twelve Paladins of Louen are, as a rule, not involved in the Serpent Isles. However, two of their number buck this trend. Knight Paladin Michel Batton (he/him) acts as the governor of San Reneaux. Knight Paladin Adrienne D’Amour (she/they) captains a ship that patrols across the Serpent Isles specifically to capture pirates, pressing them into her service.
The Red Tempest, those pledged to Sigrid, The Red Hand, currently sail in the Serpent Isles on a general mission to collect powerful artifacts and raise support to her banner ahead of her eventual planned conquest of Lochlann. She frequents New Cordova and occasionally other ports that shelter pirates.
The Hands of Tyr can occasionally be found in the Serpent Isles, flitting among all ports of call as a truly “neutral” faction unconcerned with the conflict between the continent and the Isles’ pirates. They hunt monsters; they collect magical items deemed dangerous; they do nothing much different from their activities on the Continent.
The Noble House of Tantivi rules Tower Hill through the house’s third scion, Governor Dorset Tantivi (they/them). Dorset’s wife, Sir Mara Neroni (she/her), brings the welcome power of the Sanctum Knights to Tower Hill’s defence. Otherwise, Governor Tantivi oversees the brisk export of wealth from Tower Hill to the continent—and if much of that wealth goes directly to the Noble House of Tantivi, who could blame them?
The Ondoran Family has been trying to gain a foothold in the Serpent Isles for decades. They operate a merchant guildhouse in every Serpent Isle port hostile to pirates save for Tower Hill, and a solid fraction of the merchant ships moving to and fro upon the trade winds belong to them. But there could always be more…
The Sanctum Knights have sailed the Serpent Isles since the very day they were revealed to the Continent, and their influence has not waned. Patrols of these Knights are ubiquitous in most colonial ports and along major trade lines. Knight Commandant Franco Casadei (he/they) coordinates all patrols and excursions from the Sanctum Fortress at Tower Hill.
The Eyes of the Serpent are ever mysterious, ever grasping, ever skulking. Of course they’re in the Serpent Isles! Individual Eyes seek out arcane power, buried secrets, knowledge of a past age… everything that would draw someone to the Isles like iron to a lodestone. To believe the rumors swirling about them, the Eyes of the Serpent infest the Serpent Isles like ants on a dungheap. They’re just nowhere to be found when you start looking, of course. Their involvement with the Blood of the Serpent has long been rumored, never confirmed. Everyone agrees it would be extremely on-brand, though.
The Sisters of Sacred Waters can be found in every major settlement throughout the Serpent Isles, and many minor ones. They are also officially neutral on the question of the Isles’ governance, which allows them to move between pirate havens and colonial ports with ease. Their mission of service sees great fulfillment throughout the Isles, as their knowledge of medicine is second to none.
The House of Lippewick governs the colonial port of Merhausen through Governor Piotr Vogel (he/him). Apart from this, their influence on the Isles is rather faint. Certainly they charter plenty of trade ships to and from Merhausen and other colonial ports of call. Their saber-rattling in the region tends to be “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
History of the Serpent Isles
This is a brief history of the Serpent Isles.
Discovery
In 1214 A.G., a merchant vessel bound for La Gardé was thrown off course in a sudden storm.
Captained by a former Sanctum Knight elf Eduardo Trieste (he/him), the vessel survived the storm but found itself in uncharted waters, amid an ocean of strange islands uninhabited and brimming with ruins of the ancient world, the lost Empire of Lemuria. On the horizon, a distant tower was sighted. Captain Trieste made for it, landing at the base of a massive Pharos, an ancient lighthouse nearly two thousand feet in height: a wonder of the world.
Or so his story went. In the month of Deepnight, 1214 A.G., his ship limped into the port of Aigyptos, and the manuscript of his findings became an instant bestseller among the noble elite of that city—and soon, across the Continent. The Sanctum Knights recalled him into their ranks (as he had been expelled a decade previously for some obscure indiscretion), and made him captain of a fleet of ships sent to explore these uncharted islands.
The fleet set sail the following Raintide. According to Captain Trieste’s own account, they arrived at Pharos Island two months later, on the first day of Nightsun. Three days later, six of the nine ships in his fleet executed a flawless mutiny, one that nearly claimed Trieste’s own life. Under the command of the newly minted halfling pirate Captain Proudtree (they/them), the stolen ships sailed away to seek their own fortune. In light of this, on that day Trieste gave these isles the name that would hold the imagination of a Continent for decades afterward: the Serpent Isles.
From Discovery to Present
The fate of Captain Proudtree and their stolen ships did not remain a mystery for long. In 1217 A.G., reports reached the mainland that the Captain had founded a settlement named Dragon’s Rest in a hidden cave somewhere in the Isles. The precise location of Dragon’s Rest remains generally unknown to this day outside high-ranking Pirate Captains on the Council.
Captain Trieste’s expedition was not a complete failure; the bay on which he landed, beneath the towering Pharos, became the bustling port of Tower Hill, and was placed under the governorship of the Sanctum Knights in 1216 A.G. Trieste served as its first governor and served for nearly 3 years, when he was taken ill under mysterious circumstances and perished.
The Pirates of Dragon’s Rest founded the Pirate Council of Five when five pirate captains (including Captain Proudtree) officially declared the Serpent Isles as a free, sovereign territory separate from the authority of any continental kingdom or empire.
The port of Ambersail, originally a Gallic colony, joined this insurrection in 1221 A.G. and reorganized their government into a more-or-less democratic council with an elected governor. The orc Ovid Rendon (he/him) became Ambersail’s first governor, and he became renowned for both his shrewd political mind, his undeniable charm, and his ability to drink any of his constituents under the table.
The colonial ambitions of the continent were not deterred, however. The following colonies were founded over the next few decades:
San Reneaux, a Gallic colony, was founded in 1227 A.G.
Merhausen, a Teutonic colony, was founded in 1229 A.G.
A penal colony near Merhausen, Fulda, was founded in 1230 A.G., was razed in 1232 A.G., and was rebuilt in 1237 A.G.
Trieste’s Hope, a Coppali colony, was founded in 1234 A.G. It briefly rebelled in 1246 A.G., though Coppali governorship was reestablished in 1248 A.G.
New Cordova, an Astorian colony, was founded in 1239 A.G.
While Lochlannis merchant interests are also drawn to the Serpent Isles, that kingdom has not as yet deigned to join in the colonial project directly.
Back to Pirates: The World of Kaytriss
The Serpent Isles
The Serpent Isles is the primary exploratory region of the campaign. It is a massive archipelago southwest of the Continent, located within Kaytriss’s tropical zone north of its equator. It is made up of hundreds of individual islands, and was apparently populated by a civilization commonly identified with the mythical Empire of Lemuria; presently, its only mortalkin inhabitants are settlers from the Continent.
Many creatures thought either extinct or mythical—from fey goblins and elemental kobolds to mighty dragons—were rediscovered in the Serpent Isles. These, alongside the near-ubiquitous (and quite dangerous) Lemurian ruins filled with the wonders of an ancient arcane age, bring numerous explorers, adventurers, merchants, and would-be-pirates to the Isles year-over-year.
The most influential pirate to sail the Serpent Isles was Captain Silvereye.
Ports of Call
The following list details all the major ports currently found in the Serpent Isles, along with their current allegiance. They are listed in order of population, greatest to least. Note that Tower Hill, the most populous colony in the Serpent Isles, has a population of 25,000, only 10% of La Gardé.
Native Factions
The Council of Eight, previously known as the Council of Five, is a ruling council of eight pirate captains.
The Blood of the Serpent is a breakaway faction from the Council of Eight, and has earned a reputation for cruelty and unnecessary violence.
Continental Factions
The following continental factions have an entrenched influence on the Serpent Isles:
The Twelve Paladins of Louen are, as a rule, not involved in the Serpent Isles. However, two of their number buck this trend. Knight Paladin Michel Batton (he/him) acts as the governor of San Reneaux. Knight Paladin Adrienne D’Amour (she/they) captains a ship that patrols across the Serpent Isles specifically to capture pirates, pressing them into her service.
The Red Tempest, those pledged to Sigrid, The Red Hand, currently sail in the Serpent Isles on a general mission to collect powerful artifacts and raise support to her banner ahead of her eventual planned conquest of Lochlann. She frequents New Cordova and occasionally other ports that shelter pirates.
The Hands of Tyr can occasionally be found in the Serpent Isles, flitting among all ports of call as a truly “neutral” faction unconcerned with the conflict between the continent and the Isles’ pirates. They hunt monsters; they collect magical items deemed dangerous; they do nothing much different from their activities on the Continent.
The Noble House of Tantivi rules Tower Hill through the house’s third scion, Governor Dorset Tantivi (they/them). Dorset’s wife, Sir Mara Neroni (she/her), brings the welcome power of the Sanctum Knights to Tower Hill’s defence. Otherwise, Governor Tantivi oversees the brisk export of wealth from Tower Hill to the continent—and if much of that wealth goes directly to the Noble House of Tantivi, who could blame them?
The Ondoran Family has been trying to gain a foothold in the Serpent Isles for decades. They operate a merchant guildhouse in every Serpent Isle port hostile to pirates save for Tower Hill, and a solid fraction of the merchant ships moving to and fro upon the trade winds belong to them. But there could always be more…
The Sanctum Knights have sailed the Serpent Isles since the very day they were revealed to the Continent, and their influence has not waned. Patrols of these Knights are ubiquitous in most colonial ports and along major trade lines. Knight Commandant Franco Casadei (he/they) coordinates all patrols and excursions from the Sanctum Fortress at Tower Hill.
The Eyes of the Serpent are ever mysterious, ever grasping, ever skulking. Of course they’re in the Serpent Isles! Individual Eyes seek out arcane power, buried secrets, knowledge of a past age… everything that would draw someone to the Isles like iron to a lodestone. To believe the rumors swirling about them, the Eyes of the Serpent infest the Serpent Isles like ants on a dungheap. They’re just nowhere to be found when you start looking, of course. Their involvement with the Blood of the Serpent has long been rumored, never confirmed. Everyone agrees it would be extremely on-brand, though.
The Sisters of Sacred Waters can be found in every major settlement throughout the Serpent Isles, and many minor ones. They are also officially neutral on the question of the Isles’ governance, which allows them to move between pirate havens and colonial ports with ease. Their mission of service sees great fulfillment throughout the Isles, as their knowledge of medicine is second to none.
The House of Lippewick governs the colonial port of Merhausen through Governor Piotr Vogel (he/him). Apart from this, their influence on the Isles is rather faint. Certainly they charter plenty of trade ships to and from Merhausen and other colonial ports of call. Their saber-rattling in the region tends to be “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
History of the Serpent Isles
This is a brief history of the Serpent Isles.
Discovery
In 1214 A.G., a merchant vessel bound for La Gardé was thrown off course in a sudden storm.
Captained by a former Sanctum Knight elf Eduardo Trieste (he/him), the vessel survived the storm but found itself in uncharted waters, amid an ocean of strange islands uninhabited and brimming with ruins of the ancient world, the lost Empire of Lemuria. On the horizon, a distant tower was sighted. Captain Trieste made for it, landing at the base of a massive Pharos, an ancient lighthouse nearly two thousand feet in height: a wonder of the world.
Or so his story went. In the month of Deepnight, 1214 A.G., his ship limped into the port of Aigyptos, and the manuscript of his findings became an instant bestseller among the noble elite of that city—and soon, across the Continent. The Sanctum Knights recalled him into their ranks (as he had been expelled a decade previously for some obscure indiscretion), and made him captain of a fleet of ships sent to explore these uncharted islands.
The fleet set sail the following Raintide. According to Captain Trieste’s own account, they arrived at Pharos Island two months later, on the first day of Nightsun. Three days later, six of the nine ships in his fleet executed a flawless mutiny, one that nearly claimed Trieste’s own life. Under the command of the newly minted halfling pirate Captain Proudtree (they/them), the stolen ships sailed away to seek their own fortune. In light of this, on that day Trieste gave these isles the name that would hold the imagination of a Continent for decades afterward: the Serpent Isles.
From Discovery to Present
The fate of Captain Proudtree and their stolen ships did not remain a mystery for long. In 1217 A.G., reports reached the mainland that the Captain had founded a settlement named Dragon’s Rest in a hidden cave somewhere in the Isles. The precise location of Dragon’s Rest remains generally unknown to this day outside high-ranking Pirate Captains on the Council.
Captain Trieste’s expedition was not a complete failure; the bay on which he landed, beneath the towering Pharos, became the bustling port of Tower Hill, and was placed under the governorship of the Sanctum Knights in 1216 A.G. Trieste served as its first governor and served for nearly 3 years, when he was taken ill under mysterious circumstances and perished.
The Pirates of Dragon’s Rest founded the Pirate Council of Five when five pirate captains (including Captain Proudtree) officially declared the Serpent Isles as a free, sovereign territory separate from the authority of any continental kingdom or empire.
The port of Ambersail, originally a Gallic colony, joined this insurrection in 1221 A.G. and reorganized their government into a more-or-less democratic council with an elected governor. The orc Ovid Rendon (he/him) became Ambersail’s first governor, and he became renowned for both his shrewd political mind, his undeniable charm, and his ability to drink any of his constituents under the table.
The colonial ambitions of the continent were not deterred, however. The following colonies were founded over the next few decades:
While Lochlannis merchant interests are also drawn to the Serpent Isles, that kingdom has not as yet deigned to join in the colonial project directly.