The Isle of Pearls

The fisher's village on the Isle of Pearls was unlike any of the other local villages across the Stagonids. It was neat and tidy; too tidy, with a hint of the 'made-for-tourist' feel that Toreo found deeply uncomfortable. Still, it was a pleasant place to be, small white-washed plaster buildings with shells hanging from ropes, laid out in a tightly packed grid. The ocean was visible everywhere, limiting the effect of the otherwise claustrophobic footpaths.
Still, Cara was here on business, and had no patience for admiring the scenery. Toreo followed her to a nondescript building on the waterfront, walking through a door that was marked 'private only'. This was the pearlfish processing center, a cavernous building reeking of fish offal and saltwater, with a number of harried-looking apprentices gutting fish and sorting pearls. The closest apprentice looked up at their entrance with a start.
"You can't be here! This building is for Union members only!" The girl was very young, perhaps fifteen at most, and had that apprentice's look, a mixture of forced authority and fear.
Cara shook her head and pulled out her insignia. "I am a Magistrate of the Principality and my movements may not be restricted while on official business. I would speak to a master pearler, if you would." She tucked her insignia away and waited patiently while the apprentice scurried away. Before long, she returned, with a heavyset older man in tow.
"Aye, what's this? I am Master Pearler Correl. My apprentice here informs me you are a Magistrate? Welcome to the Isle of Pearls." He clasped his hands together. "How may we help?"
The magistrate pulled a small jewelry box from her pack and opened it. Inside was a beautiful silver necklace with gold filigree, with an enormous Stagonid Pearl inset, the size of a small bird's egg. Cara raised the necklace to the sunlight and rotated it slowly; there were marks of old blood in the filigree, a bloodstain that had been carelessly rinsed off some time ago. "I am Magistrate Caranda Valier, and this is Marshal Toreo. This necklace was found at a reseller's shop in Nenuph. We suspect foul play regarding its former owner, as the bloodstains may attest." She pointed to the pearl. "I have been given assurances that each Master of the Pearler's Union has memorized the provenance and destination of every pearl of this size and quality. Is that true?"
The pearler took a close look at the necklace, frowning. "This pearl was fished on Laurel's watch six years ago and sold not long afterwards to the Unified Trade Consortium to be fitted to this necklace. I believe it was then sold to the House of Lhunir as a Conferral gift for their firstborn daughter, who was sixteen at the time and thus would be twenty-two now." He shook his head. "A shame for such a beautiful pearl to be caught up in criminal acts."
Toreo whistled. "That is a lot of information you got, merely from looking at a shiny rock. Any chance you have paperwork to verify any of it?"
The pearler shot the marshal a glare. "I and my Union will stand behind this knowledge. Should that be insufficient, you are free to investigate elsewhere. Now, Magistrate, will that be all?"

Demographics

Of the fifty inhabitants of the Isle of Pearls, thirty-eight are pearler fishers, with the others supporting the pearling business. All are members of the Stagonid Pearler's Union. While pearling in the Stagonids is an old local tradition, the ranks of the fishers now hail from all across Saibh.

Government

While the Isle of Pearls is ostensibly under control of the District Commander of the Stagonids, for all practical purposes, the islands are self governing, and the Isle of Pearls is no exception. The pearlers manage their own affairs through their guild organization.

Industry & Trade

The Isle of Pearls is famous for its production of Stagonid Pearls, a unique 'pearl' variant found inside the local pearlfish. While not true pearls (all other pearls are harvested from some sort of shellfish), Stagonid Pearls are larger, have a shimmering quality during the day, and weakly fluoresce at night. These pearls are in high demand as gemstones; a "Jewel of the Sea" pendant marketed by the Unified Trade Consortium, featuring one AA grade Stagonid Pearl centered, can cost well over 50,000F.
Pearler fishermen have a guild monopoly on the taking of pearlfish from the Grand Reef of the Stagonids, and the exact details of how they fish are a secret. The pearls within a pearlfish are only commercially viable in a small timeframe of the pearlfish's life - too young and the pearls are too small or soft, while if the fish is too old, the pearl is significantly discolored and loses its shimmer. Additionally, the stress from being fished from the ocean can cause changes to the lustre of a pearl, damaging its commercial value.
However it's done, the pearler fishers bring their live catch back to the island, where the fish are 'processed' and their pearls extracted. These pearls are then sorted by quality - size, lustre, and color are the major factors in the grading of a pearl, which ranges from B- through AA+. Stagonid pearls that are of gemstone quality are specially treated for durability and coated to enhance their sheen, in preparation for use in jewelry. Pearls that do not make the grade are typically ground into a fine powder, which can be used as a filigree with the same shimmering, fluorescing effect.
While it is not publicly known exactly how valuable the trade in Stagonid Pearls is, pearlers typically retire to significant wealth after a decade of 'master' status.

Infrastructure

The Isle of Pearlers has long been home to a ramshackle seaside fishing village, merely a small dock for pearlers to drop off their catch and sleep when the pearlfish are in season. In the era of rampant piracy in The Stagonids, there was no reason to flaunt wealth, especially on an island that is utterly indefensible from naval attack. In the Principality era, the pirates are a distant memory; the village has been rebuilt in a modern fashion, with a hostelry for pearlers, luxury lodgings for tourist visitors, a small processing plant for pearlfish, and their very own Power station and power-sail recharging dock.

Guilds and Factions

The Isle of Pearls is, for all intents and purposes, owned by the Stagonid Pearler's Union, the sole commercial body operating on the island. The Union has a state-granted monopoly on the harvest of Stagonid Pearls.
Though many apply to the Union to join the ranks of its apprentices, only two apprentices are taken on each year, signing on for a five year understudy on the processing of pearlfish and their pearls. Upon satisfactory completion of their apprenticehood, the new Union pearler becomes a journeyman, sailing the waters of The Stagonids to look for pearlfish schools ripe for the harvest. There are only twenty masters of the Union, and journeymen may only be promoted to the master title when one retires. The master pearlers lead the harvest themselves and reap the majority of the profits from each catch, as well as training the next generation of pearler fishers. Each master is expected to retire after a decade, to make room for the next journeyman in line.
The Pearler's Union has successfully fended off all takeover attempts by larger craft guilds and trade consortiums, as the guild is highly insular. The guild is steeped in the local culture of the Stagonids, and part of the reason for it's long apprenticeships is to culturally immerse each new apprentice in the 'old ways' of Stagonid islanders, and to imbue them with a naturalist's respect for the world around them.

History

The harvest of the pearlfish in the Stagonids is an long-standing local trade, dominated by a specific clan of islanders on what was then called Black Ash Island. The clan guarded the secrets of pearler fishing jealously, and tightly controlled the sale of their unique pearls to the greater world. This was partially by circumstance; the presence of many pirate raiding crews around the Grand Reef naturally limited the scale of possible economic growth.
After The War of Unification and the clearing of the pirates from the area, there were a number of years where amateur fishers wreaked havoc on the pearlfish trade. Knowing the source of the Stagonid Pearls (but not the secrets of harvest), sweep-fishers would harvest entire schools of pearlfish at a time, decimating the population and producing very few pearls of commercial value. The original pearlers lodged a complaint with the Principality of Etoile, which sent a magistrate to investigate. The situation was resolved by limiting the right of pearlfish catch exclusively to the islander clan, which was organized into a Guild of the Principality and given official status. In exchange, the islanders could no longer limit admission to the clan to locals, and would open their ranks.
The new Stagonid Pearler's Union was able to produce and sell much larger quantities of pearls under the aegis of the Principality, and the wealth has transformed the island. The Union, however, makes a point of preserving their old clan traditions, including what is rumored to be actual worship of the pearlfish itself.

Tourism

Significant pressure from the Unified Trade Consortium and other tourist interests in the Stagonids resulted in a concession; a small, six room micro-hostelry was built on the island to accomodate tourists. The tour package to the Isle of Pearls is notoriously expensive, but included with the price of the package is a raw AA quality Stagonid Pearl, resulting in the tour being sold out years in advance. A typical package includes four days on the Isle itself in luxury accomodations, a tour of the processing facility, and a seat on a pearler's fishing outrigger. Those looking to discover the secrets of the Pearler's Union typically leave the tour disappointed, as the pearler fishers stick to their scripts in front of the tourists.

Alternative Name(s)

Black Ash Island

Type

Village

Population

50