Serpent Isles

The Serpent Isles are a scattered archipelago of rocky islands in the Guardian's Sea, ringed by jagged reefs, unpredictable currents, and the hunting grounds of massive sea creatures. Only the most skilled sailors survive the crossing. The port city of Bilgewater is the sole place on the isles where foreigners are permitted; the native islanders view it as a fetid gutter and call residents of mainlander descent paylangi. Beyond the port lie smaller pirate settlements and the golden temples of Buhru, seat of the isles' native culture. The isles are the heartland of the worship of Nagakabouros, the god of life, ocean storms, and motion, also called the Mother Serpent, the Great Kraken, and the Bearded Lady. Its priestesses maintain temples, call holy serpents, and teach the faith's tenets, while its Truth Bearer leads the war against undeath, driving back the Black Mist of the Harrowing. Illaoi, the most powerful Truth Bearer in a hundred generations, broke with tradition by leaving Buhru for Bilgewater, opening a handful of temples there and judging some of its residents worthy of the Test of Nagakabouros. Life on the isles is bound to the sea's monsters. Hunters in the traditional Serpent Isles manner launch themselves onto living beasts to secure tow-hooks with their bare hands and begin butchering while the creature still lives. Prizes such as the sapphilite sacs harvested from a jaull-fish's maw can pay for a ship and its crew ten times over, feeding the slaughter docks of Bilgewater. Serpent callers summon the children of Nagakabouros in the city's defense, though the greatest beasts keep to the deep water, repelled by the stench of the Slaughter Docks. The surrounding waters keep older secrets. Bilgewater legend tells of the Abyssal Crown, said to grant command of the Beasts Below and, through them, control of the waters around the isles and of Bilgewater itself. Those who plunder Buhru holy places rarely escape: a smuggler's carrack fleeing the isles with treasures looted from a Buhru temple was smashed to matchwood by an abyssal kraken and dragged under with all hands. Serpent callers have prophesied futures in which the peaks and coves of the isles burn as enemies close in, warning Bilgewater's fractious captains that only unity will avert it.