Isle of Smoke

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## Basics

 ### Population

 80,000

 ### Leader

 Honor

 ### Leader's Spouse

 Sly, Sorrow, Whisper, Blessing, Hope, Tempest

 ### Leader's Heir

 Clever

 ### Primary Inhabitants

 Tieflings

 ### Major Cities

 Reznoriak City, Novorik, Patrivya, Kryznas

## Geography

 ### Terrain

 Mountainous

 ### Climate

 Subpolar Oceanic

## Culture

 ### Language

 Abyssal

 ### Major Deities

 Reznoriak

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**The Isle of Smoke** (Остров дыма) is the home of Shaijara's tieflings. A small island nation, the Isle's economy is based largely on fishing and sailing. Despite its involvement in naval trade, the Isle of Smoke is fairly isolationist, and rarely allows non-tieflings to visit the Isle.

## Government

The head of the tiefling state is the king. This is a hereditary role, and succession is agnatic-cognatic primogeniture. The current king, Honor, has ruled for nearly thirty years. While the king is the head of state and has final authority on issue of governance, much of the actual administration of the kingdom is performed by the royal concubines.

Traditionally, the king takes seven concubines, and chooses them not only as mates but also as adept leaders and administrators who will bring value to the running of the kingdom. Being chosen for this role is seen by many not only as an honor, but also a sort of civic duty. Most who are chosen for this role are happy to accept it, but there is also a traditional ceremony originally intended to prove that the woman chosen is better suited as a warrior than an administrator. In this ceremony, the chosen woman and five chosen companions engage in a “trial by combat” against the king and five chosen companions.

## Religion

Reznoriak is the name both of the large volcano near the southern coast of the Isle of Smoke, and the god that the tieflings believe dwells within it. According to their mythology, Reznoriak was a fiend who grew as powerful as a god, but then forsook his nature, pursuing creation rather than destruction. The other gods turned against him and sealed him within a mountain, but Reznoriak was bound to his creations, the tieflings, and could not be fully sealed away. A part of his spirit lives in each tiefling, and when they die, that part returns to Mt. Reznoriak and then is born again in a new body.

Because of this mythology, tieflings have a different relationship with fiends than the other races. Beliefs about evil acts--murder, theft, etc.--are much the same as anywhere else, but particular beings or sources of power are not considered to be irredeemably evil. Tiefling warlocks are not common, as a pact must be formed wherein the tiefling is not required to carry out evil acts, but if an agreeable arrangement can be reached with a fiend, there is no social stigma against that arrangement.

In general, tiefling morality is governed by the principle that creation is positive and destruction is negative. While the tieflings are far from pacifists, they try to avoid unnecessary death. The creation of art is highly prized, with high places in society for skilled musicians, poets, and other artists.

## Culture

The tieflings have several very unique cultural beliefs. A particular area of distinction has to do with tiefling ideas of gender. Male/female gender roles tend to be somewhat stricter than among humans or dwarves. However, tieflings also believe in a third gender, believing that tiefling souls are reborn through Reznoriak, and that while most souls will be reborn as the same sex as in their past life, about 1 in 20 are thought to move fluidly between male and female bodies, their soul not tied to either sex. These tieflings constitute the third gender, called twice-born and referred to with “they” pronouns. Twice-born have a special place in the tieflings religion, and there is a religious order known as the Chosen of the Mountain composed of only twice-born mages.

Attitudes toward magic are another area of significant divergence between tieflings and other cultures. Magic is very common in tieflings society, and is viewed much more positively than among humans or even dwarves. The most common mages are wizards and bards, who study their magic in apprenticeships. Sorcerers, who possess inborn magic, are still somewhat rare, but much more common than among any other race, and young sorcerers are also usually apprenticed to an older sorcerer who can teach them to control their abilities. Druids are even more uncommon, but tiefling druids are among the most powerful outside of the elven kingdom.

Xenophobia is also a strong component of tiefling society. Tieflings who are not sailors seldom interact with members of other races, and most do not speak Common. Miscegenation is strong disapproved of; however, any offspring of such a coupling is considered by the tieflings to be fully tiefling and thus subject to the rule of the Isle of Smoke.

## Cities

The largest city on the Isle is Reznoriak City, a southern port city and the home of the king and his concubines. There are three other cities of any note on the Isle of Smoke: Novorik, a northern port city; Kryznas, a fortress city in the western mountains; and Patrivya, a city built among the forests of the Isle's central valley.

## Guilds and Orders

The tiefling society is fairly regimented, and training and education tends to happen through structured guilds. In addition to standard trade guilds, there are significant formal orders for mages, soldiers, and priests.

### Mages' Guilds

There are six main orders of mages, each with a different specialization. In Kryznas, the Truthspeakers attempt to develop new words of power and the Sentinels of the Cliffs guard the island, focusing on divination and defensive magic. In Novorik, the Archivists of the Flame focus on the preservation of magic and discovery of lost spells. In Patrivya, the Lightbearers focus their work on natural philosophy and medicine. The Darkweavers, operating primarily out of Reznoriak City, are an order of illusionists, diplomats, and spies. Finally, the Seacallers, an order of ships' mages, maintain substantial presences in both Reznoriak City and Novorik.

### Martial Orders

The martial orders of the Isle of Smoke answer directly to the Isle's king and can be called upon in times of war. During peacetime, the orders train, maintain cities' fortifications, and accompany merchant ships as guards. All of the Isle's martial orders allow only men to join their ranks, although there have been rare instances of women being granted special dispensation to join an order.

While all martial orders serve the king during war, the Blackiron Blade is most directly linked to the monarch. Based in Reznoriak City, this order guards the capital, with its most trusted members forming honor guards for the royal concubines and even for the king himself.

Meanwhile, in Kryznas, the Mountain Guard works alongside the Sentinels of the Cliffs, helping to guard the ports and coves of the island. Based out of Novorik, the Steady Hand focuses on hand-to-hand combat, stillness of mind, and nonviolent solutions where possible. Patrivya is home to the Farstriders, an order of hunters and scouts who watch over the island's forests and valleys. Finally, the Wavewalkers specialize in combat at sea, and act primarily as ships' guards.

### Religious Orders

Religious orders, more than any other group on the Isle, are gender-segregated. Male priests belong to the Godsworn. This is the largest and most influential religious order. Its priests act as advisers and counselors, craft religious doctrine, and control a substantial amount of wealth and land.

Second in power but not necessarily in significance are the Chosen of the Mountain, an order of twiceborn priests. Every significant religious ceremony has vital roles which may be played only by the Chosen, and many Chosen also find themselves in significant advisory positions. Any twiceborn child of a royal concubine joins the Chosen.

Finally, the Moonsisters are a Patrivya-based religious order of only female druids. The Moonsisters tend to keep to the background of tiefling society, and do not take many front-facing positions. However, the role that they play in ceremonies and rituals involving agriculture, the weather, and healing is vitally important to the Isle.

## Characters from the Isle of Smoke

* Fate, a smuggler and sailor;
* Fearless, a soldier and ship's mate;
* Liar, a former warder;
* Malice, a priest and ship's mate;
* Myth, a mercenary;
* Prudence, a smuggler and sailor;
* Song, a ship's captain.