Research on "The Isle of Dread"

Here are a few research materials that you might have pulled up while preparing for your journey to....THE ISLE OF DREAD (Phantom of the Opera music plays).....okay, it is really not that bad...maybe....

From the book "Surveys of the Sea of Dread":

The Thanegioth Archipelago

The Thanegioth Archipelago is a cluster of island around the center of the southern end of the Sea of Dread and the northern center end of the Davanian Shallows. Despite being very close to Ochalea, the Empire of Thyatis does not have a hold on these islands. Part of the reason why, besides the current flow of interest being in the Hinterlands, is because of the regular pirate raids around these islands, the dangers of the islands, and the location. The islands are not only too far away for logical, economical protection, but are close to the Seprent Peninsula. Of course, they still would have to travel far to get to the Thanegioth Archipelago, but, based on how aggressive those creatures are, settling at the Thanegioth Archipelago could provoke action.
The Thanegioth Archipelago is actually two Archipelagos. On is on the west, the other on the east. However, the distance between the two parts is so far that these two Archipelagos are rarely associated with each other. The western part, which is miles and miles away from the eastern part, tends to be associated with the landmass near it, Thanegia. When the Western Thanegioth is addressed, it will be under Thangegia.
The Thanegioth Archipelago contains ten major islands with dozens of smaller islands around it. Most of the islands are named after Glantrian and Alphatian Wizards. Years and years ago these two nations apparently had an eye on these islands. They either wanted them for expansion or for research. I would like to take a wager on magical research, but other Thyatians would go the aggresive route and say they were trying to take over. A few of the islands are not named by these two nations due to either the prexsisting civilization found on them or the names being lost in the sands of time. I am not a historian so I do not dwell on the nature of the names beyond these points. The ten major islands, from east to west are: The Isle of Arcendia, Stoneburst, Welxion, Jurnivis Isle, Flameburst, Isle of Cannibals, Isle of Dread, Aquaburst, Mercy's Tear, and Aeroburst.
The Isle of Arcendia, I heard, is an island ruled by spiders. They do not take kindly to humans or demihumans and all that landed there do not live to tell the tale. Of course, someone must have returned in order for this rumor to spread in the first place. When I bring this up with them, the sailors tell me to be quiet and they go back to their ale. Other rumors that I heard sailors spread were that they say cat people way the Hells out there roam on that island, some mist that eats ships that enters it, a whirlpool that leads to another plane, and reefs that appear out of nowhere from a bottemless sea. I do not have research material from educated people on this island, but odds are, since all the rumors are bad, that island is a dangerous place to be around. I don't know which rumor is true, if any, or even if there is something more dangerous, but I wouldn't recommend that island for the common traveller.
Stoneburst, Flameburst, Aquaburst, and Aeroburst should be obvious to those who are recognize Glantrian or Alphatian works. These lands are lands that are magically plauged. Each of these small islands were used for magics of a specific element, Earth, Fire, Water, Air. The magical studies on these island warped the lands and made them almost like being in a Plane of one of those elements. No sailor bothered with these islands since the magical discharge from them can be seen well away from the island. No sailor is stupid enough to sail towards one of those islands in a normal boat.
Welxion is an unihabited island by most matters of life. Only volcanos rests on this large barren island. No animals of anykind is seen on this island. Some sailors stop here when they need to spread their legs. Of course, they don't stray far from their boats since the volcanos on these islands are active and go off at regular intervals. Not to mention, since the rock doesn't have good time to settle, there are many spots on the island that a person can sink into molten rock. Neitherless, it is a good island to make a temporaily pit stop when on a long trip.
Jurnivis Isle is another story. It is inhabited, but not sentient beings. The creatures found here are terriablly powerful and large creatures that match those found in the uninhabited regions of the world. Some merpeople that I spoke to told me about a Kraken making residence on this island by using underground caverns. The Kraken, apparently, feeds on creatures living on the island by dragging them under pools that lay hidden all over the island. From what the merpeople told me, these creatures that the Kraken pulled in, based on the remains, are larger than any ship that the Empire of Thyatis builds. Many sailors know about this rumor, and, since a Kraken is the worst case scenario for any seagoing travel, travel well around this island.
The Isle of Cannibals is another island that is inhabited. This time with sentient beings. However, these people are not friendly to any persons. No one has been able to succesfully communicate with these tribal people because of their cannibalistic nature. The tribes appear to be spread out across the island. One thing that sailors have noted when sailing around this island is that it appears as though some of the tribes are farms. Meaning that they farm their own people to eat. A sick group of people that, when the Empire of Thyatis have a care to, well be wipped clean from this world.
The Isle of Dread is one of the two islands named by the inhabitants. The land around the island makes it hard to get anywhere except for the southeastern portion of the island. Only a few handful of explorers have actually been to this island. Of all the islands here, this appears to be the easiest island to start exploring. Of course, exploring the other islands almost spell certain doom, but that is beyond the point. I have not the honor of finding or speaking to anyone who have been into the island, but from what little I heard, it appears that the natives on the southeastern portion of the island, though catious, are friendly and willing to trade, harbor, and help the "brave" explorers of the Isle of Dread. Due to a few centuries of contact, the islanders actually know Thyatian. It appears as though that these people are smart enough to know that speaking Thyatian would someday be benifitial so the offical language of the island is Thyatian. Though poor, the islanders are welling to trade with any persons who travel out to their island. The southeastern penisula is walled off from the mainland. I heard that the dangers found beyond there would overrun the villagers in days if they were to get past the walls. The walls do not seem to have been built by Glantrian or Alphatian hands so I have no idea as to where the wall came from. All I know is that it is very helpful to these people. The sometimes go past the wall to collect tar and, rarely, game. They do not stop explorers from braving the island.
The last major island is Mercy's Tear. This island is named after the inhabitants. The legend goes that when their ancestor's were lost in the sea, they prayed to the Immortals to save them. The immortals granted their wish and from the sky came their homeland. I don't know if this story is true, but I would wager that the part about their ancestor's being on the brink of destruction is true since these people are extreme pacifists. They lack weapons of anykind. A person might wonder how do these people survive. The reason being is simple. First, the bulk of the tribes people here live in the middle of the island. Thus a raid on these people will need to travel inland to get to anyone. Second is because all metal becomes extremely heavy once a person sets foot on the island. Most people will need to abandon their weapons if they wish to travel inland. Third, a unique branch of creatures live on this island that lives nowhere else in the world. The tribal people seem to think these creatures as angels and give them tributes of fish and such. It doesn't matter if these creatures are angels or not, this tribute that the villagers give them seem to make the villagers immune to the dangerous attacks that these creatures can preform. I don't think the villagers know that, in a sense, these creatures protect them in exchange for the food that they give them. Beyond this, this island has sparked zero interest among civilized nations. Not even the Glantrian and Alphatian wizards who studied here had a care to go to this island. It appears that magic does not work well on the island as well. So obviously they avoided the island like the plauge.
The minor island surround the major islands. Over three fifths of them are barren. Some of them seemed to of been the target of minor migration patterns. Others have plant life on them, but no animal life. Some do spot plant and animal life. However, of sentient races, there are none on them that I know of. The name of each of these islands are numerous. Almost all of them, if not all, are not in use today since they were only used a long time ago. I wager that any sailors who pass through here names them as he goes.
Overall, the Thanegioth Archipelago does serve some interest with civilized nations. It's location in the Sea of Dread would make it a good waypoint for ships passing by. There are bound to be lots of secrets hidden by the magi studiers or perhaps other long forgotten inhabitants of these islands. The fishing here, from what I heard, is incredible. The warm waters here and the currents make this a prime breeding spot for fish of all kinds. There are even a good number of whales to be found in this area. And the resources on the islands should be rich since they are untouched. All it would take is someone brave, or stupid, enough to try to clear out the dangers enough so that the riches can be had. Of course, the dangers of gaining these riches would top or even surpass the dangers of Norwold.
I will deal with Western Thanegioth, or Thanegia, in the next section. If you are looking for more information on the the Thanegioth Archipelago, you would be hard pressed as I spent many years trying to find adequate information on these islands. I have to say, I had learned much since the first version of this book when all I wrote on these islands were:
"....a place that only the suicidal should visit as death would most certainly be had for all those who bothers with these islands."

The next bit of research you found is from a letter that a captain wrote to his wife. The letter was put into the library due to the fact that the captain had done scouting trips on the Hinterlands which is a current interest for the Empire of Thyatis. Though the captain visited the Isle of Dread many times as a waypoint between Davania and Brun, he only mentioned the island in four letters.

First letter (in terms of date)

I found me an island that would serve me well on me travels. I normally steered clear of these damned islands, but a storm threw me off course and my ship took in a lot of water. We prayed for the best as we picked an island that appeared friendly enough. We guess right as the people on the island were friendly. It seemed as though their elders were able to speak our language but not the common folk. I guess a few of our guys came here before me. The villagers call this island the Isle of Dread. Nice name. They warned us that we will be safe as long we don't travel past the wall at the northernmost village a few miles from where we landed. It wasn't a threat, it was a warning. We are sailors, not damned adventurers. We had no intention on going deeper in the island more than we needed to. The people were friendly enough. We even made a few trades with them. I ask them if I could stop by here again sometime in the future and they welcomed me to. I guess my trips will be shorter from now on. And you know what that means, my sweet.

Second Letter

All the times I been to the Isle of Dread, I never once bothered with finding out about that wall that Tanaroa has. It covers from coast to coast, which is about a mile or two. It is quite a work. If you see the buildings that these people live in, you would know that there is no way that this wall was built by them. I decided that it was time for me to ask. It appears that it was built a long time ago, by some god or ancestor or some damn thing like that. It was not built to keep invaders out, but rather to lock something in. A pretty damned wide berth of living space for whatever the Hells is past that wall, if you ask me. In all the time that they held the wall, however, they never ran into any problems. I wager that the tribal people can actually expand out into the island a few miles safely if they were not so afraid to. They do have a trail that goes out to the tar pits, but other than that they do not have much interest with the mainland. Let them hide.

Third Letter

I never would have imagined this, but as we were sailing away from the Isle of Dread after making our stop I spotted a dragon flying around the northeastern part of the island. A dragon! Way out here in the middle of the ocean! I have heard of sea dragons, but this was not some aquatic creature. This dragon was flying in the air. I wonder why it was way out here? Even for dragons, the flight to this isle is a very long trip.

Fourth Letter

It appears as though pirates have found that the Isle of Dread is waypoint for honest traders like me. I have noticed an increase in the number of pirate ships around these waters. They must be taking residence in the smaller islands around this area. I can't tell where they are coming from, but if the numbers keep increasing I may need to favor a different route to increase my chance of survival. I have more interest in getting home to you alive than sooner. The good news is that they do not sport large ships around here. They seem to favor hit-and-run tactics. Which is well for me since I tend to be well stock in mariners. Hopefully they won't develop a fleet or I will be swimming in Death's Waters.

The rest of the information that you guys found were from rumors. It is possible that you could find more in the libraries, but that will take a much deeper search than what you will probably be interested in. The rumors that you found (in no particular order) are:

I heard a rumor that you are an idiot. Is there any truth to that? (sorry, TES IV reference, but seriously now...)

Why would you want to sail to those islands? Nothing can be gained from there but your deaths.

The islanders speak of this thing called a black pearl on that island. It is apparently a ancient myth that has been with them for generations. I doubt there is any truth in it.

A friend of mine's son went over there in search of adventure. The party that he was with was nine total. Only two of them came back. Well, one of them was half and the other was insane. Maybe that island should be the Isle of Horrors.

If the rumors are true, the Isle of Dread should have some unique creatures in store. Researchers should pay a good price for captured creatures.

I heard that the dead walks among the islanders.

The villagers are richer than what they want us to think. I mean, how else do they get their gold?

The Isle of Dread? Bah, just a bunch of myths and legends surround that area with no truth in it no whatsoever. The only reason why that place is deadly is because a normal person will run out of supplies in search of adventure that they heard from all the lies.

I heard that if you dig around in the dirt on some of those islands that you might find discarded magical items.

Some wizard made those islands as a playground long ago. A wizard did it for sure this time.

I heard that there is a civilization living there that should have died out a long time ago.

That black pearl you seek is just a pratical joke the islander plays. The islanders are black skined and so the pearls you seek are closer than you think.

Obviously the black pearl would be something evil based. Maybe someone evil intent might pay a pretty price for them since I heard many normal pearls being used for good intent.

I wouldn't worry about the Isle of Dread or the surrounding islands. The Hinterlands is were you can find some real action. And that action is guarantee too! With that Thanegioth area, there is too many uncertains for there to be reasonable adventure. Take it from me, if you want a heavy purse at the end of the day, I would recommend that you stay away from those islands.

Traffic will be bad, as in low, due to the recent intrest in a Norwold invasion. I don't think you will run into much traders now. Hope you are ready to be marooned for a while if worst comes to worst.

The only thing dreadful about the Isle of Dread is the fact that there is nothing there. Seriously. I walked around the whole trail to the tar pits but nothing happened. What a waste of time that was.

Even though the islanders respect explorers of the island, if you do not return to you ships in a reasonable time, they will assume that you are dead and take what they can from the ships you left behind. That is why you won't find many empty ships around there.

The Isle of Dread is a dangerous place. Now get out of my house.

What? Stop stabbing me! I told you I don't know what you talking about! Augh! Get this halfling off of me! Why is everyone walking by watching this! This isn't a duel! Get off your asses and help me. Dear lord not there....

I don't know anything! I don't know anything! Please, stay away!

Guards, help!

Hello little halfling, would you like to donate to the Way of Peace....by the gods! What are you doing to my breathern! The Isle of Dread! Never heard of it! Please, stop killing them. Why is your friend charging a fireball....

I don't know where a church of Terra is and it certainly won't be on the Isle of Dread!

Hey baby, why don't me and your little friend come with me for a walk around the town with my best mate here....who is getting stabbed in the back by your friend....what's that battle axe for?

Stupid dwarf! You killed my husband and my lover with that explosion in the arena! Go to Hells!

You stupid elf! This is a no fly zone! Get back down here before I shoot you down!

Why did you guys set the orphanage of fire? Stop the spread of disease? The kids were dead? Burn the bodies? But you set the whole building of fire while living the bodies untouched. Is that a halfing or a ball of knives....

I got laid at Norwold!

I am glad you guys decided to go to the Isle of Dread now. The Invasion of Norwold would have been screwed if you guys did half of the things you did to this city the past five hours.

I see my advice about Trevor helped you out. The Isle of Dread is full of fun, mystery, and suprises if you look hard enough. Don't loose heart if you don't find anything immediately.

We are ready to set shall to the Isle of Dread when you are. And we got the supplies and everything in record time. So what have you guys been doing the past few hours?

Well, that is all that you could dig up in your brief search of the city on the Isle of Dread. On another note, you guys might want to leave the city pretty soon....