Raefel Island

The cafe that Alistair was looking for was in the quiet northern part of the Capitol, far away from the bustling canal docks. Cafe Parvi was fancier than most; the glassware was immaculate crystal and the tiles on the floor shone in the sun. Rathnait Numio was sitting at one of the tables, her tea untouched in front of her and her brow furrowed in concentration as she reviewed some notes.
Alistair sat down at the table. "Master Numio?"
The Master Trader looked up. "Ah, Archmagus Girault. Thank you for taking the time." She put her notes down. "What are you doing for the next two weeks?"
Three weeks? The wizard frowned. "My time is open and ready for contract, if that's what you mean. What can the Wizard's Association do for you?"
"Raefel Island." Rathnait pointed at her notes. "I'd like an analysis from the Association about the feasibility and cost of maintaining a permanent shield around a pier facility, one that can resist cyclonic storms and protect the dock and the workers, within those two weeks."
Alistair stifled an immediate smile. "Master Numio, the mage's shield spell is a temporary and localized thing." He held up his palm facing outwards to the side; a faint shimmer appeared in front of his hand. He closed his fist and the shimmer vanished. "A shield can stop a crossbow bolt coming from the right direction, but for a wizard to maintain a permanent shield in a given direction would require their full concentration at all times, and defend only a few feet around them. You're talking about a permanent shield against cyclonic winds and flung debris? That may take a virtual army of wizards."
The trader paused. "My understanding of magic is that different mages are specialized in different things. Some wizards are very good at temperature control, others are very good at illusions, and yet others are good at warfare. Are there no wizards in the Association that are specialized in shielding, perhaps one that can project a building sized shield?"
"Not to my knowledge, no." The wizard thought for a moment. "And we would need multiple of those working in shifts to approach anything like you describe."
The trader drew a small envelope from her bag and pushed it across the table. A riot of florin notes. "I would like to know for sure. Please consider this a research payment to the Association - number of wizards, square area of land that could be protected from harm, per-diem wage cost, perhaps the possibility of some new magical tooling that could maintain a permanent shield. Magic has unlocked new potentials in the world, and I intend to use it."

Geography

Raefel Island is an atoll located in the southwestern Feryll Sea, roughly forty kilometers off the coast of Western Saibh. The main island (as Greater Raefel Island proper is merely the largest island in an atoll) is crescent shaped and mountainous, about three hundred kilometers from tip to tip (though the island itself is roughly only sixty kilometers wide at its widest) and covered in dense tropical rainforest that seems impassable at a distance. A number of smaller islands 'complete' the circle of the atoll, though these lesser islands are only referred to numerically (Lesser Raefel Islands one through sixteen).
While the atoll does not match the sheer quantity of islands of the archipelagos of Eastern Saibh, Raefel Island itself is the largest known island in the Feryll Sea by land area. Unlike some of the volcano-islands found close to The Stagonids, the center of Raefel Island's crescent is is a continuous mountain ridge (known as the 'Spine') rather than a single peak. Frequent storms and rainfall result in waterfalls that dot the Spine up and down its length.

Ecosystem

The portion of Western Saibh closest to Raefel Island is a tropical forest, and receives the most annual rainfall of any other region in the mainland of the Principality of Etoile. Raefel is significantly warmer and wetter, a dense and humid jungle teeming with wildlife. While the animals on Raefel and its neighbors resemble those of the mainland, they are almost uniformly larger, for reasons still subject to speculation by researchers from The Academy of Etoile. The Lesser Chiguir of the scrublands of the Vannis District, as an example, are thusly related to the Greater Chiguir found solely on Raefel, enormous rodents the size of large hogs, with more violent temperaments.
The abundant plant and animal life extends to the seas; the center 'lagoon' of Raefel Island, partially enclosed by its crescent, is a verdant and productive fishery, though no power-sail based commercial fishing takes place in the lagoon due to the treacherous coral reefs. Isolation from the mainland has created what observers have termed 'concentrated' nature, a fertile island where growth has overflowed every square foot of available land.

Localized Phenomena

Raefel Island has every quality that would ordinarily subject it to heavy exploitation - rich mineral deposits along the spine, fast-growing jungle with high quality hardwood timber growths, verdant game and fishing, and generally no rights claimants against any of those resources. The island's lack of commercial activity is due to frequent tropical storms of withering and crushing intensity. Annual storms are not unheard of in the Principality; major storms lash the southern coast of Western Saibh and cross the islands of Eastern Saibh in most second seasons. The southwest of the continent is subject to more frequent storms, however, and Raefel has no concept of a storm 'season' - a destructive cyclonic storm can strike in either the warmest week of second season as well as the coldest of fourth season. 
These storms are unpredictable in anything other than their destructiveness. No extant construction method offers significant protection from these storms, which have flattened masonry buildings, dashed Siege-sails against cliff faces, and flung animals miles into the sea, to be discovered in open ocean by puzzled mariners. Burrows and cave systems are the only reliable shelter against these storms - so while prospectors and adventurers have plenty they can survey and harvest from the land, Power generation is infeasible, preventing large scale extraction efforts.
While the storms can easily uproot trees and rend open gashes in the jungle when they pass overhead, the jungle is so fast-growing and resilient that the jungle usually grows back in over only a few seasons.

Climate

Most of the Principality of Etoile is temperate, with the western coast of the Saibh continent significantly wetter than the rest, but most of the continent experiencing the typical four 'Seasons' used in common parlance, and the island archipelagoes in the east having only wet and dry seasons. The southwestern corner of the continent, and Raefel off the coast, do not experience regular seasons; it is hot, humid, and rainy virtually every week of the year, with the only measurable distinction between Second and Fourth Seasons being a slight reduction in average wind speeds during Fourth Season. Torrential rains and furious windstorms can strike Raefel Island at any time of the year, and they land with some sense of regularity, at least once every four or five weeks.

Fauna & Flora

The animal life on Raefel exhibits a trend observed on other islands, informally termed 'island animal' syndrome. Like Greater Alaks and the Greatwurm of the Quaking Isle types, animals on Raefel are almost all much larger than animals to be found on the Saibh mainland, in the Principality metropole. Enormous hogs and junglefowl have been captured on Raefel and brought back to the continent in hopes of breeding, but to little success. 
One cultivar from the island has had significant success - a giant variety of rice plant is grown in the paddies of the western portion of the continent, and Academy researchers have pointed to Raefel as its origin. In living memory this plant is just 'rice', as it's supplanted all other rice plant types in agriculture, but historical cultivars of rice were only just over a meter in height. The giant varietal is five meters high, and produces nearly twelve times the amount of grains per plant as the original.

Natural Resources

Numerous historical accounts relate tales of rich silver mines, plentiful and fast-growing hardwood timbers, and overflowing animal and fish life. Modern expeditions from the Unified Trade Consortium and the Copper and Ironworker's Brotherhood have confirmed several of these accounts, with one copper mine on the Spine of Raefel speculated to be larger than even the largest copper deposits to be found anywhere in the eastern archipelagos. Were it not for the storms, the UTC estimates that the island could be exploited for well over 10mF monthly revenue solely from the fishery and lumber operations. Unfortunately, this revenue doesn't come close to covering the exorbitant retainer charged by Etoilean Term Insurance in order to cover the costs of storm damage and constant repair.

History

Raefel Island's existence has been known since prehistorical times, and its reputation as a storm-scarred nightmare has been known since Geran Raefel's ill-fated naval expedition to the island sometime around the year 140. Several settlements were founded and destroyed on Raefel over its ancient history, with the petty kingdoms of their time seeking wealth and land on an 'unclaimed' territory before finding their claim contested by nature. Ultimately, Raefel instead became a colony of exiles, as it became a common alternative to capital punishment to instead exile criminals and political prisoners to the island, dumping them on the shore and leaving them to their fate.
The rise of the Principality of Etoile provoked a naval expedition to the islands, to formally claim them for the Principality, drive out any extant pirates (as Raefel was known to be a supply stop for pirates attacking ships on the Great Circular Trade Route), and to ascertain the status of any living denizens there. To the surprise of the naval commander on scene, it was discovered that a settlement has survived on the island, a small town of exiles living within a cave complex deep within the Spine of Raefel and sheltered from the elements. As they could not construct any facilities or establish any agriculture, these survivors lived as hunter-gatherers in a more or less tribal state, bringing down game and fishing from the central 'lagoon'. 
After accepting Principality of Etoile sovereignty (and with a number of them accepting transport back to the mainland, as permanent exile was deemed an affront to Progress), 'Port Raefel' was established, with a resupply ship arriving between storms to attempt to improve the standard of living on the island for the remaining residents. Raefel is now a regular destination for adventurers and fortune-seekers looking to take the risks that the major consortiums avoid, looking for lost treasures in the jungle, ruins, and shipwrecks that dot the shores.

Type

Island

Location under

Saibh

Included Locations

• Molasses Cove
• Port Raefel

Owning Organization

Principality of Etoile