Lakay

—Max di'Sforza, extending his hand to save his greatest enemy, Colonial Overseer Leona Adler, from a fatal fall off the keep battlements during the Battle of Fort Heléna. Max and Lee were the founders of the Free Lakayan Federation.

**Lakay** was a tropical, equatorial large island. As a continent, Lakay also included the Wolcott Straits. It was a wild, beautiful, untamed frontierland. Throughout history, colonialism, imperialism, revolution, piracy, and federation had left their mark on it, but nature still reigned supreme.

## SUPER BRIEF Historical Overview - read this and don't bother with the long version!

* Hominids arrived in Lakay 150,000 years ago. A few evolved into the subterranean Verdis, a lot evolved into the graceful and tribal Kaneeyi, and a lot more migrated to the Vortic Isles, then back onto Lakay only 20,000 years ago and became the Bayut and Uiyet lineages.
* Lakay was isolated after sea levels rose in the year -1145 TE due to a coronal mass ejection melting a lot of ice from the north pole.
* From about the -1000s until the 1100s TE, there was only scattered contact between Lakayans & Vortics northwards, and Lakayans & Fallonese/Euluskans eastwards.
* In the mid-1100s, the imperialist Vortic Mercatorium began settling the Wolcott Straits north of Lakay and excersising naval control
* In the early 1200s, the Lusken Empire began colonising the east and northern interior coast, They settled, subjugated the Lakayans, exploited resources, and set up a penal colony for convicts. They also clashed with the Vortics over shipping routes and privateering.
* The 1300s to 1510s were the Golden Age of Piracy, in the Wolcott Straits
* In the first few years of the 1510s, the Lusken Empire's hold over Lakay was weakened directly in the area by pirate and privateer clashes, plots, resource shortages, the death of much of the colonial administration in the Pharox Thas Catastrophe, plus more indirectly by Datria's Violet Catastrophe, wars over metsl with Rakkimar, and the sudden independence of its biggest city, Felonil (in the Danderillon).
* In 1513, The Lakayan Liberators' prisoner rebellion led to a united revolution against the Lusken Empire culminating in the Battle of Fort Helena. The armies of the Kaneeyi, Bayuts, Uiyets, Verdis, and Convicts all united. The Lusken Empire fully pulled out of Lakay after they were decisively defeated.
* The Lakayan Federation was born on 13 Ižte 1513. Henceforth it was known as Liberation Day; the most important day in Lakayan history. The new Federation brokered peace with the Vortics.
* In 1519, the Lusken Empire made a last-ditch effort to recapture Felonil. Therefore, whilst most of the world's most formidable army was on its way up north, Lakay and the Vortic Mercatorium formed an unexpectedly powerful alliance, gathered troops from all the nearby ex-Lusken colonies, and fought the largest naval battle in history, the Battle of the Horn. They then waged a scorched-earth overland campaign on the Lusken Peninsula, and finally orchestrated the Sack of Luskan. The home of the world's most powerful empire was overnight sacked. The Lusken Empire was suddenly shattered into many successor states and would never fully reform again.
* In 1561, the city of Felonil, capital of the world, was in the control of a shadowy cabal of occult fascists. The Night Watch party convinced Lakay's Lord Governor to act as hammer - mounting a naval blockade and bombardment - whilst the Watch acted as scalpel. Felonil surrendered, and Lakay annexed it. It was renamed as Halcyon, and became the capital of the Lakayan Federation, despite not being in Lakay!
* In 1621, the Lakayan Federation in Halcyon had a dispute over oilfields with Datria. Associated complex political tensons led to Datria, Rakkimar and the Xant forming the Boreal Alliance, whilst Lakay, Lusken city states, and Brist formed the Euluskan League. This conflict exploded into a worldwide magical war with power like no other unleashed. The **God Wars** began!
* 1694 - At the end of the God Wars, Lakay was back to where it began a few hundred years ago. The Federation only owned its own island, and it was an empty and wild one, with scattered settlements and hundreds of years of buried history waiting to be uncovered!

## Location and Geography

Lakay spanned the northern tropical latitude of the Cradle, touching the equator at its south. The continent was located on the confluence of three tectonic plates. A reverse fault formed the Sierra Aspera and Verdis mountains, whilst a normal fault forms the Rift Valley on the western side of the continent - Lakay was slowly being unthreaded and torn apart by up to 10cm each year in the west. Some land had moved up to fifty metres between the Liberators' time and the time of the Wildecards.

Lakay was quite close to the Fallo - the island of Maeldaf sat equidistant between the northeastern horn of Lakay and the Fallonese coast. In addition, across the Wolcott straits and technically part of the broader Lakayan continent lay the the Vortic Isles.

It was a varied isle too, with tropical rainforests, subtropical forests, extensive plains and plateaus, mesas, a hot dry desert, a jungle valley, a variety of mountainous climes, extensive archipelagos on the north and west coasts, and even magical landscapes with obsidian pyramids, petrified forests, huge ancient monuments, or crystal woods.

# STUFF AFTER THIS IS A BIT LENGTHY but mostly up to date

## Settlement, Migrations, and Anthropology

The landmass of Lakay was first inhabited by hominids during a wave of migrations beginning 150,000 years ago. These hominids were near-humans who came from the Fallo and further south. They crossed from the higher land back then before the seas rose, which allowed the use of rafts and short distance sailing to make the trek.

This early Lakayan migration split off into several further populations:

* 150 kya - the ancestral Lakayan population arrived in the Lakay-Vortai supercontinent and split
* 130kya - the people who would become the Verdis became isolated in the mountain caves. They evolved thick insulating hair, lost pigment in their skin, became smaller and more rotund, and more hardy and stocky.
* 110kya and 90kya - two large migrations of the future Kaneeyi people inhabited the north coast, interior, and south. They evolved to be more tall, quiet, lithe, and graceful. The northern population evolved eyes with refractive indices adapted to see underwater, larger lungs, and slender muscular arms and legs perfect for hunting in the shallows. The southern population instead became great climbers with better sight, hearing, balance, and less dense bones.
* 110kya - the future Vortai people arrived in the future Vortic Isles. Those who didn't migrate further (continue below) evolved ochre, red or light brown skin to ward off the sun, a rudimentary swim bladder in the thoracic cavity to control buoyancy, more efficient lungs for longer breath-holding, and a special organ under their solarplexus that allowed them to filter out salt from saltwater, enabling them to subsist on sea water.
* 26kya - Many Vortai migrated back into Lakay in a recent migration, splitting around 14kya into:
* 3kya - the Uiyet people, not as well evolved for their terrestrial niche on the steppes, just fairly Vortai-human, but with a propensity for domesticating horses and cows
* 1.5kya - the Bayut desert/mountain folk, again just fairly Vortai-human, but behaviourally and mythologically connected to birds and bird taming.

## In-Depth Overview of History, Read this if you want to go loopy.

### Prehistory

* The Kaneeyi, having split into many tribes, occupied a large central swathe from the north to south coast, from ~90kya onwards. These tribes engaged in frequent infighting and raiding against one another, stealing horses, resources, land, etc. Others cooperated and explored, settled, farmed, domesticated, etc. These tens of thousands of years were steeped in cooperation, competition, history, and mythology. There are many stories and myths from this period tied to the land. The Kaneeyi did not invent writing, but passed down history through a rich oral tradition that is still fairly accurate to the present, being able to retell myths handed down about e.g. an extinct volcano's eruption can be dated within a couple thousand years through a story about a hunter who fled from firebirds. Horses were first domesticated here about the same time as in the Fallo (60kya).
* The Kaneeyi were really the only inhabitants of the continent until about 26kya when the wave of Vortai migrations arrived. They had some clashes in places, other times they worked together or ignored each other. They generally didn't live in similar environments.

### Pre-Modern

* In the year -1145 TE, the sun Seiros underwent a huge coronal mass ejection, melting a lot of Tarkassia's ice. The sea levels rose, cutting off the Vortic Isles, Wolcott Isles, and the Fallo. This isolated most people who were here already.
* From about -1000 to about 1000 TE, Lakay was very rarely visited by small groups of external people. Euluskans, Vortai, and Fallonese people arrived, but rarely made permanent settlements for more than fishing/whaling/exploring then going home. Kaneeyi people made contact with Vortai people in the Wolcott Straits, and with Euluskans on the southeast coast. Lakayans travelled to other places too, but a lot more rarely, since they had everything they wanted and a lot of spare land to move to.
* One nice small vignette was Vortai mariners and Kaneeyi settlers intermingling on the island of *Mixif* (much later Sankta Ravenna, site of Heather's Vineyard) and forming a small isolated admixture. Another interesting small event was a **Euluska-Kaneeyi pidgin** forming between Euluska whalers who wintered on the southeastern shore at Kaneeyi villages.

### Modern Era

* In the mid 1100s TE, the Vortic Mercatorium began settling the Wolcott Isles, and the northwestern horn of the island of Lakay. They displaced people, won and lost battles, and established a decent measure of naval control over the Straits.
* In the early 1200s, the Lusken Empire began settling the eastern and northern coast of the island, approaching from the Fallo, and warring with the Vortics in the straits. The Luskens subjugated and oppressed the Kaneeyi, forced the Verdis to hide, and reduced the home ranges of the Uiyet and Bayut people through their expansion. Undoubtedly they were the worse of the evils. During the 1200s-1500s period, lots of Euluska settlements were founded.
* The 1400s was when the Lusken Empire began using the island as a penal colony mining metal.
* The 1470s to 1510s were the golden age of piracy in Lakay's northern straits.
* **1510** - A famed pirate crew becomes the terror of the straits, fighting off privateers and the Lusken and Vortic navies. The very important thing here is The Pharox Thas Catastrophe, where the pirate crew killed a huge number of important Lusken nobles and naval commanders, leading to a small period of over-policing of the straits, but this exhausted the Empire's resources
* **1511** - A Lusken-gathered privateer taskforce containing two Disforza children, one illegitimate, locates another one of the Disforza children, Anaïs, and settles in the desert of Lakay. The famous Disforza noble family had been executed for treason four years ago, with the only survivors being four children (Anaïs, Machavellio, Isilen, Inigo) and one uncle (Gianluca).
* **1513** - The fourth and final Disforza is one of the freedom fighters and ex-Lusken prisoners who wash up on Lakay's shores - Machavellio. Known as the Lakayan Liberators, they begin a journey of revolution, rallying the Bayut, Uiyet, Verdis, and Kaneeyi tribes, plus the disenfranchised desert outlaws. They persevere through being hunted by Detectives, mages, and the Lusken Empire. Through bloody subterfuge and cutthroat alliances, they finally culminate in the Battle of Fort Helena.
* **13th Ižte 1513** is the most important day in Lakayan history. Liberation Day. The revolution overthrows the Lusken Empire in Lakay, with the loyalists either fleeing to the homeland, defecting to the Free Federation of Lakay or being killed in the battle. Max becomes Lord Governor.
* **1513** onwards - As part of the new administration's terms, the Vortic Mercatorium ends its policy of imperialism and instead allies with the new The Lakayan Federation, a free association for the continent and people, The Vortics patrol the Straits due to their naval superiority
* **1516** - Lakay and the Vortic Mercatorium form the Vortais-Lakayan Naval Alliance. Two years earlier, Felonil declared independence from the Luskens.
* **1519** - Five years after Felonil declares independence, the Lusken Army marches on it to try to take it over again. Whilst the peninsula is undefended, Lakay and the Vortics invade by sea, fight the Battle of the Horn of Luskan, invade overland, and crush the capital. The Vortics take over the Fallo. The Lakayan flag flies over Lusken. The Peninsula splits into city states.
* **1522** - The Lakayan navy helps to defend the independent city of Felonil from Pătrat ethnonationalist revolutionaries in the Battle of the Sandbar Sea.
* **Veltai 1561** - The prior year, Felonil's government is taken over by the Oracles, shadowy transhumanist occult fascists. Emissaries fleeing their iron grip beg Max Disforza to help them. Negotiations ensue and finally he agrees. The Lakayan navy sails via the Fallo, recruiting Vortics, then blockades the bay of Felonil. They bombard the city as the emissaries assassinate the fascist leader.
* **Ekei 1561** - Felonil surrenders, and becomes annexed by Lakay. It becomes **Halcyon,** and the Lakayan Federation now controls a huge chunk of land in the Danderillon, and the most powerful city in the world.
* **1621** - The Lakayan Federation in Halcyon has a small conflict over oilfields with Datria. Rakkimar and their lackeys the Xant sides with Datria and threaten Lakay with war. Lakay signs a weapons alliance with the Luskan-Brist Commonwealth.
	+ Rakkimar, the Xant, and Datria form the Boreal Alliance. The Vortics threaten to join Lakay if Datria goes near its metalfields but are bullied back into neutrality. Lakay and the Luskan-Brist Commonwealth form the Euluskan League. War breaks out. The GOD WARS begin after several private detectives fire upon Rakki separatists deep in Gildegra.
* [The God Wars...]
* Post-God Wars - **1694 TE / 0 C** - Lakay has lost hold of Halcyon and the Federation only owns its own island and a little bit of the Wolcott Straits. It is a wild and untamed land.

# OUTDATED OLD LORE BELOW THIS - NOT ENTIRELY CANON, very out of date

 —Lord Governor Machavellio Disforza thinks upon his works and prepares his plans to invade Waterdeep.

**Lakay,** also spelt **Laké'** or **Lakaï**, was a large tropical continental island, and one of the largest islands on the planet. It was a varied isle with a distinctive silhouette, inhabited by a diverse range of native tribes, namely the Verdis, Larawaks, Bayut and Uiyet, and the perfect place throughout history for intrepid pirates, bold outlaws, famous cowboys, evil empires, and more. To its north, across the Wolcott Straits, lay the South Vortic Islands, and to its east was the isle of Maeldaf, part of the Fallo.

In the modern day, Lakay was a surprising outlier to many other lands. It was incredibly empty - there were few remaining settlements, and many abandoned ones from the colonial era back from 1513 and before. It was also fairly natural - though two centuries of intensive mining and foresting had harmed the two NW and NE horns of the island, it was a big place! In fact, it probably became less industrialised as time went on, which was a nice change of pace. It was full of the crumbling ruins of many imperial strongholds.

## What's In A Name

Its name, Lakay, was an antique Luskanisation of the Larawiyaki word *laké'*, meaning 'the world' or 'everything'. (In modern Euluska, it would likely have been transcribed as Lakai or Lakaï). The straights to its north, as well as many of the colonised plots of land and towns, bore names harkening to Luskan or Vortic explorers, such as the Wolcott Straits named after an explorer, King's Stead named after the Emperor, Fort Helena named after an explorer's wife, and so on.

## History - Colonialism, Hooray...

In the 1200s and 1300s, the north coast of the isle had been claimed by The Lusken Empire, and the western horn was claimed by The Vortic Mercatorium not long after. It was used as a work-and-penal colony by both powers, with convicts sent to spend their days mining earth metals and felling trees in the hot sun and sticky heat.

The use of it as little more than a glorified mine continued for centuries, with exploitation and displacement of the native peoples by both powers. Luskan established Fort Helena and would appoint a governor for life. The final Luskan governor was Laeral Silverhand, who acted until 1513.

## The Golden Age of Piracy

In the 1400s and early 1500s, the varied island terrain, close passages, open water and lucrative opportunities made the straits to its north a haven of piracy. See Wolcott Straits for more information. During the late 1400s and up until 1513, the action here weakened the naval prowess of the Lusken Empire on Lakay. The biggest blow was the Pharox Thas Catastrophe, which led to several long years of heavy pirate hunting.

## Livrettadóres - the Liberators

In the summer of 1513, The Lakayan Liberators washed up from a prison transport called the Eagle Cried Hope, initially bound for Fort Helena. They were meant to be imprisoned and used as labour, but a storm said otherwise. They set off on a journey inland, through Oryix, then becoming established in King's Stead, where they became local legends. From King's Stead, they went on to unite the tribes. They spurred the Larawaks to action after the Davison Detective Agency seemed to have killed the chieftess Born of Thunder. They married the Bayut and Uiyet tribal leaders' children, ending a hundred-year feud, and bartered with the Verdis for weapons. This all culminated in removing the Lusken presence from the island and destroying the fort. The island was officially declared a free federation in summer 1513.

The Lakayan Federation slowly became the power of the island. Through its exertion of native unified power, The Lusken Empire and The Vortic Mercatorium both were forced to cut their losses and leave the isle, leaving its only power being its own. As such, even in the mid-16th century, the landscape is dotted with ghost settler towns and empty crumbling colonial castles.

The Davison Detective Agency, once the Lusken Empire's paid bloodhounds, were repurposed into the federal detectives, police, and bounty hunters.

Lakay was also notable for being one of the few places that could cure those suffering from lycanthropic diseases, at The Unimportant Yew, which became a pilgrimage site.

In the late 1510s, the construction of the **Trans-Heartland Railway** was completed by the Heartland Railway Company, pioneers of rail travel.
In the early 1520s, the Vola Imperiya occupied western Lakay for a few months, until the Federation caved to their demands, selling them almost a fifth of the island in the **Western Purchase**, creating a region that would be known as **Novy Lakaika**. It had more of a Volenyan culture due to influx of settlers.

## Exodus

Max's rule had been an excellent and prosperous one, but it was still fraught with problems. Half of his island was little more than endless prairie, rocky mountains or uninhabitable jungle. The whole land was littered with not much more than the ruins of old Luskan castles. His plans prevailed though. Max was victorious, and declared Waterdeep to now be Halcyon, capital of The Lakayan Federation. In the coming years, he moved his government and many of his people followed. Max and his family moved into the restored Disforza Manor south of the city, where he spent his time enjoying life. He had made it, once again. After Halcyon became part of the Federation, a large number of people emigrated to The Danderillon. The low population fell even further, as the island became far emptier.