Kalanlania Archipelago Campaign

[Dartanian]

I call my campaign the Kalanlania Archipelago Campaign. The archipelago is composed of three island groups designated as the North Kalanlania Islands, the South Kalanlania Islands and the East Kalanlania Islands. There are numerous ethnic groups and and countries spread throughout each of these areas. Many sizable islands are not populated by humans or only partially so. It is located in an archipelago containing over 250,000 islands, islets, reefs, coral reefs, skerries, cays, sea stacks and sandbars. The islands range in size from about half the size of Greenland and down. There are 30 islands between the half-size of Greenland and Java, there are another 60 islands between the size of Java and Timor.

The distance between islands varies from five to thirty miles apart within each of the three groups of islands, while each group is between 200 to 250 miles between the nearest islands of each group.  The campaign is located in the North Kalanlania Islands and while there have been brief further excursions most of the action has taken place on just five islands so far. The campaign is built around the Rusnalwanal people on the island of Rusnalala and on this and many other islands there is evidence of an older civilization(s) that were more advanced than the current ones. Constant warfare and raids take place between the different groups, although there are temporary alliances now and then to fight against the amphibious peoples of the water and to fight other monstrous incursions. There are also underwater ruins of older civilizations and there is a long running debates about whether these were once above water or were also under the sea. The players may someday be able to settle that debate one way or the other. The few mages that can wield water breathing magic are held in high regard by all, especially by the warriors.

[Mighty Darci]

Please tell us more about the amphibious peoples!

[Dartanian]

The amphibious peoples consist of a race that must come onto land as part of their reproduction cycle and bury their eggs in the sand. These nesting sites are strongly guarded and defended. A long time ago when humans first came to the archipelago the nesting sites were not guarded because they had never needed to be. Then in ignorance on the first island they landed on they dug up the eggs up and ate them, not knowing that they were that they were killing the spawn of sentient creatures. So war erupted and has been waged now for a long time. The amphibious peoples could not drive them from this first island and eventually they spread to other islands throughout the chain. Originally only about a dozen large islands were used for nesting sites, now humans have control of about half of those large islands and those former nesting sites are now spread across hundreds of small islands, although the population has remained stable.

The amphibious peoples are somewhat humanoid in shape with a broad tail about four feet in length. They are a dark green and have hands with an opposable thumb, but lack the dexterity of humans. They have large eyes that are wide set on their heads and they do have gills, while they can also breath air directly. They can remain out of water for up to an hour before their skin starts to dry out too much and they have to return to the water for at least an hour before they can set foot on land again. They have a formidable set of claws on hands and feet along with a ferocious set of sharp teeth set in a mouth that can open unusually wide. They make sea travel between the islands very hazardous and a single boat is easily overwhelmed. Fortunately for the humans they have developed some effective countermeasures based on having a sufficient numbers of ships and personnel to repel the attacks.

All attempts at contact have met with disaster and those efforts eventually ceased. A move is underway with a goal of exterminating the amphibious peoples, unless some way to reach an accommodation with them can be achieved. As the numbers of other monstrous creatures seems to be increasing and travel is again becoming more hazardous the need to eliminate these peoples or reach an accommodation becomes ever more important. Only a very few people are working towards a means of contact to achieve accommodation and that is where the players in the campaign come in. They are exploring the ruins both above and below water along with other people, but part of their goal is to find someway to reach a truce and eventually an alliance, healing the breach between the two peoples. The amphibious peoples seem to be unified for the most part, where the humans are split into many groups whose alliances are fleeting and fragile. The players arrived at their own goals and had a choice of what they would support or oppose.