Ryūshima
Welcome to Ryūshima!
This island, said to have been shaped millennia back by the twin dragon gods Bahamut and Tiamat, hosts a variety of mountains, areas of volcanic activity, rocky beaches, scattered forests, roving plains and hills, and even a vast rainforest to the south. Historians claim that this land, in fact, is the birthplace of dragonkin; the central mountain chain, the Spine, is allegedly constructed upon the very bones of the draconic overdeity Īo, who was cleaved in half during the Founding and whose blood gave birth to the first dragonborn. Over hundreds of years, the island has developed a unique mixture of dragonborn customs and human culture.
Our story begins in the recently formed Ishimatsu Shōgunate, the first united government of the island in over a century. This land was previously embroiled in a lengthy civil war known as the Age of Strife, spurred by the internal collapse of an ancient empire that came as a result of the foreign invasion of the capital of Kyōsa by the Black Horde. One samurai, Oda Ishimatsu, was able to unite the clans and oust the invaders, harboring in a new era of peace.
The last 20 years have marked a period of radical change, as Oda Ishimatsu, now ruling as shōgun, has strengthened control of Ryūshima to preserve unity. The island's borders have been closed to all nations but Caspia, the worship of multiple neutrally-aligned deities has been banned, mass disarmament has reduced the once mighty samurai class to mere bureaucrats or vagrants, and each of the nation's twelve domains have been carefully and strongly integrated in the central government. Despite the strict social order, this period has brought good to the Ryūhon people as well: the cities of Ryūshima have seen unprecedented cultural and economic growth in only two decades.
Alternative Name(s)
龍島, The Shimmering Scales, Ar'qwir
Type
Archipelago
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
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