Forbidden Islands

Islands are located in the south western corner of the Southern Ocean, just east of the Jungle Continent. They are part of the seismic instability of this area, and especially prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity. They are also densely jungled islands, and very well suited to the growing of coffee, tea, sugar, etc. They are forbidden largely because they are very dangerous - though there are also taboos associated with them. They have a nasty history - there are stories of evil kings and armies of undead - the former is a relic of a time when they were dominated by some evil figure; the latter is quite true. The interior is crawling with zombies, some under control, but most on the loose.(The evil priests who made them have disappeared.) 
This did not stop colonization though. Easterners came here several hundred years ago, establishing fortresses, from which they robbed the place, carrying off slaves and so on. Slowly, this expanded into large plantations, especially on Cauldron island,t he largest of the chain. This tends to be dominated by Al Aben, Arcaba and Xandria - though in recent decades, forces from the north have come in - most northern entities have some kind of representation, particularly Pallas and the Kingdom. Forces from Barracuda and Isadore came as well. Thee places tend to be well outside the law - there is a thriving slave trade here, in both directions - slaves from the islands carried off, but also slaves from the JC and from the east, the Dark Continent, are brought here. There are large slave trade cities on Cauldron - which are heavily fortified and manned, especially as the last 20 years or so has seen a huge uptick in piracy aimed at the slave trade. It is a complicating factor to piracy - many of the pirates were made of former slaves, and significant groups are in fact idealists, even zealots, against the trade. These raid heavily in the eastern Southern Ocean, and around Cauldron - they tend to be based west of CHULT, places like Desolation island, or along the northern coast of the Jungle Continent. They range far - they raid the Forbiddens and the JC, they raid across the sea, preying on the ships from the Forbiddens and the Dark Continent, raiding along the ZHAKARIAN coast - even to the DC itself. They have made it a very dangerous busines in this part of the world - thoughthey haveals been corrupted at times. They were also weakened by the Pirate Wars, as most of them sided with Samira, but were based in the south and east, and were a special target of Madame LaForge’s pirates - and of eastern navies.

Geography

Volcanic, jungle islands, hot and humid.

Type

Archipelago

Location under

Southern Ocean