Green Isle
Lying off the Eastern coast of Shardar, the Green Isle is the largest of the
islands that surround the main land. Although
this is an extremely large island, it has a very small population and the only
settlement on the Isle is Eastpoint. Eastpoint
is very much a frontier town with little or no laws and next to no organisation.
The leader of Eastpoint is Alex Gardell, a rough man with quick fists and
an even quicker temper. It is
through sheer strength and determination that he keeps his position, but he does
manage to keep the community working, just.
The area
immediately around Eastpoint has been tamed and cultivated by the residents of
the town, but the rest of the Isle is a wild and dangerous place where strange
and curious creatures roam. The Green Isle is covered with dense forests that seem to
thrive on the salty air that washes in from the Sea of Despair.
The undergrowth is thick and tangled and very little light manages to
make its way through the dense canopy of leaves overhead.
The most
common tree on the Isle is the Loccum Fir, a quick-growing tree that has bare
trunks and a vast growth of greenery at the top of it.
These trees are good for logging because of their straight and bare
trunks and this is one of the main exports from Eastpoint to the mainland.
The sap from these trees can be made into a strong glue if it is treated
properly and this glue is virtually impervious to seawater.
Many barrels of this glue are sent to Shandow every week for use in the
shipbuilding that takes place there.
Wolves are
extremely common on the Green Isle, as are a breed of creatures that look
something like the werewolves of legend. These
beasts, Wolvers as they are called, run on their hind legs and have arms that
stretch virtually to the ground. These
beasts use their arms to help them run quite often and they are also very useful
when the creatures wants to climb either rocks or trees, which it does when
waiting in ambush for its prey. The
animals look mostly like wolves but their shape is basically that of a
two-legged creature. Their heads
are as those of wolves, if slightly larger, and their intelligence is only
slightly higher than that of a normal wolf.
Wolvers do
have a lot of cunning, much as any wolf does, and they tend to travel and hunt
in packs. They feed on anything
that they can hunt down and this includes both domesticated animals and humans
as well. Unlike wolves, Wolvers
have no fear of humans and regard them as just another creature to prey upon.
There are rumours of some Wolvers leading wolf packs but this has never
been proven. If it were true, the
Wolvers and their packs would be a serious problem threat indeed to the
residents of Eastpoint.
There is a
kind of deer, called Jackson’s Gazelle, that is very common in the forests of
the Isle and the wolves, Wolvers and people of Eastpoint make this creature a
main part of their diet. This has
led to unfriendly competition between the three main predators of the Isle and
Alex Gardell has put a bounty of 1 Falcon for the pelt of every wolf that is
brought in and 5 Falcons for every Wolver.
Hunters from all across Shardar come to the Green Isle in the hopes of
picking up some fast money this way, but the wolves and Wolvers have become used
to humans and know their ways. The
wolves and Wolvers of the Green Isle are more cunning and dangerous than their
cousins on the mainland and the hunters often find themselves becoming the
hunted.
The
Northern coast of the Green Isle is home to a large colony of seals and sea
lions. These creatures are hunted
for both the oily fat that they carry and their pelts.
The hunters of Eastpoint will occasionally venture across the Isle on
foot or horseback to prey on the sea creatures but they most often will travel
around the Isle on small and unseaworthy boats and take their trophies back the
same way. The dangers involved with
this come mainly from their rivals for the seals, the Orcas or Killer Whales.
These
intelligent beasts have realised that man is a competitor for the seals that
they feed on and, as such, the will happily attack the small boats that the
hunters use to reach the Northern coast. The
Orcas will act as a team to overturn and then completely destroy the boats of
the hunters but they rarely show any interest in the humans themselves.
Yet another
threat to the residents of the Green Isle are the Raiders who come down from
above the Sea of Despair. After a particularly hard winter, the raiders can reach all
the way south to the Green Isle and to Eastpoint in search of pickings and their
attacks can virtually devastate the town. This
happens only rarely but when it does happen is causes so much pain and hardship
that the people of Eastpoint can never forget or forgive.
They have approached High Lord Calloway on many occasions, asking that
the do something about the Raiders but, as yet, nothing has been done to prevent
their attacks.