Ghue Island

Despite its proximity to the coast, Ghue Island feels as if it is a different world from a bygone era. Dinosaurs and other megafauna, including giant condors and clubneks, freely roam across the mountainous landmass in Legion’s Bay. Primordial grasslands and rainforests cover the slopes of its peaks, which include several active cinder cone volcanoes. Nestled atop one of these 4,500-foot-tall mountains lies the Unspoken City, a settlement said to house 888 human wizards who conduct bizarre experiments and magical research that would be deemed unethical in the vilest mystical academies. A primitive race of gaunt, undersized goblins known as the Depraved serve their deranged masters without question. The prevailing evidence would suggest Ghue Island’s arcane practitioners twisted these unfortunate creatures into their present incarnation through magical means, selective breeding, or a combination of both.
The secretive cabal of mages has lived on the island for countless generations. In fact, all of these wizards share some common heritage, though males outnumber females by a whopping five-to-one ratio. Ghue Island’s human residents place some inexplicable significance to the number 888. Therefore, whenever their population exceeds this number because of a newborn’s arrival, they sacrifice and devour their oldest resident to restore balance to their community. While the wizards devote much of their time and energy to expanding their eldritch knowledge and mastering new spells and incantations, the urge to commit ritualistic murders and indulge in cannibalism remain foremost on their disturbed minds. When they cannot butcher one of their own, the wizards periodically look to Legion’s Bay for fresh victims. Most mariners steer well clear of the island’s bloody shores, yet some invariably sail into the mages’ devious nets.
Several decades ago, Ghue Island’s mages commandeered The Swimming Hen, a cog sailing out of Ustran Pazeel. In typical Ghue Island fashion, the wizards mercilessly slaughtered the crew and passengers. They then devoured their raw flesh and gnawed on their bones in a sickening feast. When word of the atrocity reached civilization, Captain Madrock Fist led the mercenary Company of Severed Steel in an assault against the Unspoken City. The mages brutally beat back the invasion, killing and sacrificing more than half of the company’s members in the process. Captain Madrock’s troubled mind never recovered from the horrors he witnessed on Ghue Island. He swore the mages had stitched animal limbs and heads onto animated humanoid torsos, though he never produced any evidence to support his testimony. However, those who survived the ordeal confirm his statements regarding the physical deformities plaguing Ghue Island’s human population and the gruesome cannibalistic rituals he saw the wizards perform immediately after their attack failed. Several survivors also recall seeing a giant golden egg atop a pedestal on the summit of the mountain where the Unspoken City stands. These accounts may explain the pervasive rumors about giant condors dwelling on the island as well as confirm these birds’ importance to the resident wizards.

Type

Island