Free Islands

## Description

The Free Islands is the only nation that has no monarch or lord system governing it. Instead, there are no official laws. However it is advised to not anger the Sea Emperor or any of the Pirate Lords, for that will only bring certain death. The Sea Emperor imposes certain rules and protection to his assets and attacking these assets or breaking this rules will most certainly mean your death.

In the Free Islands, piracy directed at ships from the Ten Kingdoms of Odianica is encourages and glorified. Many people come to the Free Islands to join pirate crews and to live in an anarchical society.

## Geography

The Free Islands consist of a main Island called Vagass and several smaller islands surrounding it. It is divided into eleven territories. These territories belong to each of the Pirate Lords. Vagass belongs to Aldrich Jaymes while the surrounding islands belong to the Ten Pirate Lords. The Free Islands are hot and humid. They consist of think jungles and several port towns on the beaches. The houses are made from jungle wood with terracotta stone roofing.

## History

The Free Islands were once a trade settlement of Aswain until the year a little over twenty years ago when the young pirate Aldrich Jaymes and ten other pirate ships defeated a large Aswainin navy fleet and forced them to abandon their forts and influence. After their victory, Aldrich Jaymes and the ten pirate ships who aided him became the rulers of the archipelago. Captain Jaymes become the "Sea Emperor" while the ten who followed him became the "Pirate Lords." Instead of a monarchy, Aldrich Jaymes made the free Islands an anarchy. Although there is no police force or any form of government, the inhabitants fear the Sea Emperor and the Pirate Lords.

## Bilgeport

The capital of the Free Islands and the pirate cove of Aldrich Jaymes. It is where all of the trade comes in. Because there are many pirates here, ships who wish to trade in the Free Islands must come to receive the jolly roger of Aldrich Jaymes to ward off pirate ships. He controls all of the trade and tourism here and has a few towns and cities protected from pirates so that the Free Islands' economy doesn't collapse. Bilgeport architecture consists of stone houses with terracotta roofing, and fine docks. Many ship carpenters move to Bilgeport to make a career here. There is no capital building, only Jaymes's pirate cove, hidden somewhere in the area. No one dares to search for it for it will be their last mistake.

### Aldrich Jaymes

Not much is known about the Sea Emperor, other that he and ten other pirate ships fought against the Aswainian Navy, granting independence to the Free Islands. They say he is ruthless and has no tolerance for annoyances. The people of the Free Islands respect him just as much as they fear him. His Jolly Roger is the picture of a kraken on a skulls and crossbones.

## Known Towns and Villages

**Halavanna**: One of the smaller islands surrounding Vagass and the hometown of Captain Jonathan Law. The town is small and filthy, common in the free islands. It is in Halavanna where the exiled dwarf Grunyer Beastbeard brought the eight year old Captain Law to grow up. It is also where Captain Law met most of his crew's officers, Lucrea Delias, Bok, Nigel and Winston Chamberlain, Teft Kaese, Dexter Richardson, Natalie Rose and Zethembei. Halavanna rests in the territory of Jarvis Griffon, The Ocean's Wrath. While Jarvis Griffon was away, the pirate Captain Brickjaw settled here to become the most powerful ship in the harbor, in hopes of controlling it. However Captain Jonathan Law and his crew defeated him and a portion of his crew in battle and stole his ship, which was "the best ship in the harbor" at the time.

**Moeli**: A small farming town known for it's hospitable nature. Moeli is on the coast of Vagass and is protected by Aldrich Jaymes and the Ten Pirate Lords. The farming town restocks all ships, merchant, or pirate, so long as they are willing to pay. Because of this, pirates do not cause trouble in Moeli for fear that the citizens will deny food. However a mage from Aswain came here and enslaved the town. He came to experiment on the citizens in hopes to resurrect his late wife. The mage was a professor from the Wolford College of the Arcane, names Norman Roques. He places a magical fog which trapped all those who entered. Professor Roques invented a weak form of golems to steal the town's people and take him to his layer in the jungle where he would extract their life energy. Those who survived were taken back to the town to live as emotionless, thoughtless zombie like people. Norman Roques also placed a seeing portal in the fog, over the town to observe the citizens, those who acted inappropriately, by his standards where transformed into pigs. The mage was killed when Jonathan Law's crew arrived.

**Goldcrest**: A few days away from Moeli, Goldcrest is the known tourist attraction of the Free Islands. It is also on Vagass and many people high class people come here to visit the luxury side of Free Islands. Because it is the main source of outside coin, those who cause trouble here will soon meet death in the eye as Aldrich Jaymes will garentee it. It has many fine ins and suits here. Many people come here to sell to the outside nobility and serve in the high paying suits. The Aswainian lord Julian Stratford came here with his young daughter Rachel Stratford to experience the tropical paradise. However it wasn't long until a band of pirates came to kidnap the young daughter and demanded a high ransom for her safe return. Captain Jonathan Law and his crew came and struck a deal with the noble. In exchange for her safe return, Julian Stratford agreed to offer Jonathan Law, rare sea charts of the seas near the Mystic Lands. Captain Law and his crew also met the strange dark elf Varis Orlyund in Goldcrest.

**Porthcrawl**: Little is known about Porthcrawl, other than being the hometown and birth place of Teft Kaese. It is in the territory of Rhea Elton, The Psychotic Gun. According to Teft, it is a well sized town and largest in Captain Elton's territory.

## Natives of the Free Islands.

The natives of the Free Islands were once tribes lead by shamans but ever since the colonization, the tribes disbanded themselves and very quickly, the natives adjusted to life with the white skinned settlers. To much surprise, the white skinned humans do not mistreat the tanned skinned natives. Their communities however are very segregated and the natives typically are hard laborers. Life for the natives is hard but their tight communities and respect for family life helps to ignore the pains and troubles of every day life.

## Notable Characters from the Free Islands

* Captain Jonathan Law
* Grunyer Beastbeard
* Luna Ludvic
* Teft Kaese
* Diego Monteagudo
* Jose Monteagudo
* Claudia Monteagudo