The island at the northern tip of the islands is the Free Merchant’s Stronghold. This island is completely covered by the port city, Brigand’s Keep. Although the precise population is unknown due to the inhabitants penchant for hanging the king’s tax men who are sent there, it is estimated that there is a population of about 15,000 of the less desirable members of the Silverthorne realm.
The city is completely surrounded by a stone wall of Dwarven design, that towers over the island and makes attack nigh impossible. The only entrance is a channel leading into a gateway in the center of the northern wall. The speed of the current propels the vessel into the waterway which is rife with rock outcroppings and other hazards that only the most skilled navigators are capable of maneuvering through and then only if they already know the way. Because of this tactical advantage, the city is capable of withstanding even the strongest siege.
At the center of the isle chain is the Emerald Isle, long famed for its chapterhouse of Escalapians. It is here, in peace and sanctuary that the greatest healers known to man practice their trade. With rare herbs brought from all over the world by the corsairs common to the isles the Escalapians are able to cure nearly any illness.
At the westermost edge of the archipelago is the home of the Sea Dwarves. Their vessels crash and thunder across the waves, pilaging that which they desire with none to stand in their way. Only the most able seaman is able to avoid the shot flung from oversized catapolts which line their decks, and only the swiftest of sails can outrun the thundering churn of the strange vessels round oars. Cloads of black smoke follow the ships everywhere, it is believed that the Dwarves forge their killing iron just before battle so it is hot and fresh as it slices through the ships that are their prey.
The reef is also known for its cursed and deadly shoals. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Mephistopholes Reef. Here sailors lured by a strange and insistent song have been pulled to their death by the thousand. Ropes snap and wither under the perpetual night of the tide wrack around this isle. Boards seem to get dry rot by the second as one approaches, and all too soon the vessel is taking on water and plumeting to the bottom with her crew oblivious to their own danger.