Last Haven

This is it. The last speck of civilization before the great unknown begins. Be careful though. The people here are friendly if a little off due to the...you know the isolation. But that Reaverking fellow...He's nuts.

— Anidaran Captain

A welcome sight to anyone brave or foolish enough to travel into lands beyond any form of civilization. It marks the furthest point explorers have charted the waters of the Divide. What lies beyond is unknown and those that have dared to venture further have never returned. It is here, at the edge of the world where the outcast and unwanted have made their home.

Geography

Last Haven is a small island. You can cross from one side to the other in about a day. Its most prominent feature are three mountains, called the Sisters which rise from the hills at the centre of the island. Surrounding them are stretches of flat plain, broken by thick woods of palm trees. The coasts are dotted with small reefs and isles made of rock.
On its northern side is a larger bay. Deepwater and protected from southern storms by the mountains, it is a natural harbour. Here the settlement of Last Haven is located.

The City

Some may call it a city. Others a town or even a village. Truth is no one really knows how large the settlement truly is. Or how many people live here for that matter. It is a patchwork of wooden structures, that get built, broken down and rebuild depending on water levels. During the dry season, the water recedes and reveals up to 200 meters of land, while the rain season sees it rise up to 4 meters over normal.


There are only a few lasting buildings here. One of them is a large hall on a barren hill. Over four meters high and 15 meters long, it towers over the settlement. The House of the many Gods is a makeshift temple. Whenever outsiders come here to find a new home, they bring their gods. And the House will take them in.
Last Haven is a mix of all kinds of people. Those persecuted because of religious beliefs, wanted for crimes or whatever other reason there may be, are welcome here. They rule themselves, a council of twelve watching over the various needs of the city. Every year they are either re-elected or replaced with better qualified (or more convincing) candidates.

Few laws order the life in Last Haven and in many cases, punishment will be lenient. In a more severe case like murder however, the people here are far less lenient. The offender will be bound to a metal chain, which connects the island and smaller rock that houses the town's lighthouse. If the water level is low, the punished will die of thirst. If it is high they will either be eaten by the oceans various predators, drown or be ripped apart by waves.

Survival

As expected resources are somewhat scarce out on the ocean. The island while fertile and dotted with small deposits of iron and bronze has neither enough farmland nor metal to sustain more than a few villages. Fishing is the main source of food and most of the people are in some way involved.
A series of saltworks dot the coast and on there are fields of corn and potato in the southwestern corner. Four times a year, a fleet sets sail and heads toward the edges of the Divide. For about a month they harvest the various minerals and creatures that exist there.
Life in the southernmost part of the world is isolated and hard. There are often years between the arrivals of ships from the outside world. This isolation has had a strange effect on the island's inhabitants.
They are able to communicate with each other without using any words or gestures. Additionally, they are hard to anger. One could scream the greatest obscenities and curses at them and they wouldn't even bat an eye. Even slight physical violence is merely met with indifference or amusement. Some scholars theorize this to be another effect of the Divide. Who knows what living at the edge of the world does to one's psyche?

Ruins of a bygone Age

The House of the Many Gods is an old structure. It was old as the first unwanted arrived on the island. Filled with rubble and a few idols that are now displayed along with the myriad of foreign gods that have come to Last Haven. Who exactly they are depicting is unknown.
Another sign that there were people here in ancient times are seven great stone towers, built in a ring around the island. Each is about 6 meters in height, with four sides that narrow toward the top and unite in a skew pyramid. They are all cut from the same grey stone, each seemingly made from a single slab of the material.
The towers inner walls are charred black from fire. They were burned from top to bottom and with all remnants of the previous owners. One can only wonder why one would go to such lengths to destroy potentially useful things.

Maps

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  Last Haven

Alternative Name(s)

Southern Haven

Type

Large town

Population

Unknown

Owner/Ruler

Aero Mordalis the Reaverking

Owning Organization

South Sea Kingdom

Aero and the South Sea Kingdom
Last Haven is home to one of the stranger lords of the world. Aero Moradlis is an odd figure, to say the least. He looks rather normal if you ignore the various bottles he keeps on his belt at all time. Or that he has a Ringed Monkey as his pet, which sits on his shoulder while he walks the town. His behaviour, however, is anything but.
He is a pirate, which in itself is nothing out of the ordinary. Life in the south is hard and the people do not care where their food and luxury goods come from. Odd is that he often sails far out into the southern seas. Far beyond any of the island's fisherman, into waters that are as treacherous as they are unknown.
One day he returned from one of these trips and began to carve a cave into a large rock, on the islands northeastern coast. He called it Aero's Hold, styled himself King of the island.
A year later, after returning from another trip south, he declared himself Ruler of the South Sea. The locals mostly ignore him and his followers, which consist of the crews of Aero's twelve ships. Thankfully all the King demands is to be addressed with My Lord, which the people do with slight amusement.