Farshore

Farshore at its founding, as seen from a nearby hill.

The name Farshore is given to the nation state and the humble capital of the areas known as the Isle of Dread. First recognized in the world arena by the Theocracy of Carceri, this former Sasserine colony was established by the Vanderboren family on the small island of Temute, just south of the Isle of Dread mainland. Through clever negotiations with locals and shrewd dealings with foreign powers, Farshore has established themselves as a gateway destination in the Thousand Oceans of A'Tuin.

### **The City of Farshore**

Motto = In the light of the suns, we make our freedom.

Region = Southern Oceans

Rulers = Lord Mayor(ess)

Government = Aristocratic Municipal Corporate Council

Established = 207 AM (After the Madness)

Resources = Virgin jungle, rare animals (dinosaurs), gold, gems, and port

Coinage = Stars (pp), Sovereigns (gp), Sapphires (ep), Silvers (sp), Sections (cp)

Population =  5401

Races = 73% humans, 4% elves, 3% dragonborn, 3% half-elves, 3% halflings, 2% dwarves, 1% gnomes, 1% orcs, 10% other

Languages = Common, Elvish, Gnomish, Halfling

Alignments = NG, all others

Allies = Carceri

Enemies =

### **Map Locations**

1. Docks, Commodore DeCatre's office
2. Warehouses
3. Palisade
4. Watchtowers
5. South Gate
6. Cemetery, Chapel of Neroth and Beltine
7. West Gate
8. Militia Barracks
9. Vanderboren Manor
10. Meravanchi Manor
11. the Clayworks
12. the Smithy
13. the Tannery
14. the Last Coconut (inn/tavern)
15. Chapel of All Gods
16. Hall of Records
17. Apocethary
18. Greenhouse
19. Professor's Aldwattle's Laboratory
20. Farmsteads

### **Authority Figures in City of Farshore**

    Lavinia Vanderboren, Farshore Lord Mayoress and National Council Leader (female human)

    Lord Avner Meravanchi, General Marshal of the Armies of Farshore (male human)

    Professor Checkle Aldwattle, City Council Member (female human)

    Vesserin Catherly, Chaplain and City Council Member (male half-elf)

    Telda Syren, National Council Member (female half-elf)

    Militia Captain Ulvar Kabbanja, City Council Member and captain of the outpost in Farshore town (male human)

    Privateer Commodore Samuel De'Catre, Commander of the privateer corps of Farshore and Harbormaster (male human)

    Mora, Chieftess and Necromancer, National Council Member for the Burowoa (female human {Olman})

    Rassashtak, Cheif and Paladin, National Council Member for the Ssslistak (male lizardfolk)

### **History**

The Isle of Dread has long been the stuff of legend. Tales of its existence date back to the Age of the Explorer Kings of Armedio, the beginning of the Ceoriyani Empire, and folk tales of the Hub from long before the Madness and before the various Islands even knew of each others existence. These stories were used to spook new deckhands and fascinate children in seaside ports. Yet the Isle was only a mystical mirage until recently, when the discovery of famed Armedian explorer Rory Barbarosa's journal brought it back to prominence and sparked a desire among the adventurous to locate its distant shores.

Hidden deep and tailward in the Vohoun Ocean, thousands of miles from the civilized lands to the head, those who attempted to use Barbarosa's journals to find the Isle of Dread found the undertaking exceedingly difficult, and many ships were lost in the attempt. Until, that is, Captain "Mad" Madsen Atirr, one of Barbarosa's original crewmen, braved the southern waters again in his infamous ship, the *Morningstar*. In the process, he created the first accurate seacharts to the Isle of Dread.

Accompanying Atirr was an adventurous young woman named Larissa lomundi, who became one of only a few to own a copy of this highly prized map. After the successful journey to the Isle of Dread and her subsequent return to Sasserine, Larissa was unable to forget the wondrous sights and exotic locales she'd experienced. Several years later, after marrying into nobility, she told her husband Verik Vanderboren of her journey, and the two hatched an outrageous plan. They would not only return to the Isle, but would settle it, establishing a colony on the island.

Four years ago, after considerable preparation, the Vanderborens outfitted two ships for the journey. They assembled a crew of explorers, sailors, and colonists, and secured the aid of Lord Manthalay Meravanchi, a veteran explorer of the Amedio Island's jungles and one of the few Meravanchis to escape his family's reputation for debauchery. After an arduous passage, the colonists finally reached the Isle of Dread. Unlike others drawn in by lurid tales from Barbarosa's diary, the Vanderboren Expedition didn't seek to pillage or exploit the Olman natives living there. Instead, they won their trust and grudging respect, returning at least as much value as they took in trade. After much bargaining, the Vanderborens forged a treaty with the people of the Seven Villages and won control of the 25-square-mile islet of Temute on which to build the colony.

Temute ("the abandoned place") became the site of the first outsider settlement in the archipelago. The initial effort was challenging. Temute had been uninhabited by the Olman for years, and coaxing them to its shores to assist in constructing the colony proved difficult. Metal was in short supply. Eventually, the Vanderborens decided to return to Sasserine to organize a re-provisioning, leaving Lord Manthalay in charge of the colony. One of the ships, *The Mercurial*, was lost at sea after an attack by a monstrous leviathan, but the *Blue Nixie* managed to return to Sasserine safely, if only just. It took several months to repair the badly damaged ship, and after that, other developments kept the Vanderborens from returning to Farshore with more supplies. They remained in periodic contact with Lord Manthalay via spells, but every attempt to return met with failure for one reason or another. And just as they'd purchased a new ship to accompany the *Blue Nixie* on a return voyage, treachery laid the Vanderborens low. Their own son, Vanthus, burned them and their new ship to ashes on its maiden voyage.

Farshore has thus spent the last several years on its own. Local Olman villagers, attracted by the wonders the northerners produced, aided them in expanding and building, and taught them many secrets about their new home. Expeditions to the mainland of the isle were common, although most of those that attempted to explore the interior never returned. Within two years, the colony was nearly completed, and a hard-won community was established on Temute. Flushed with potential, but with need of further supplies, Farshore waited patiently for more resources from Sasserine before it could finally become the self-sustaining trading post envisioned by the Vanderborens so many years ago. That help arrived a total of seven years after the Vanderborens left in the form of their daughter, Lavinia, and her cadre of adventurers led by privateer, Captain Samuel Decatre.

The crews of the *Blue Nixie* and the *Sea Wyvern* were instrumental in rebuffing an assault by the Crimson Fleet intended to raze the fledgling city to the ground and use the citizens as slave labor in their conquest of the Thousand Oceans. After that, the two crews and Lady Vanderboren quickly crew into a cult of personality with Lavinia being elected to Lord Mayoress, a position she holds to this day with few interruption some 70 years hence. During her tenure the colony has seen many advancements into the Isle of Dread and into the wold stage, officially being recognized as an independent nation state unto itself only ten years after its humble foundations thanks to a combination of treaties with the Olman tribes of the greater island and a agreement of mutual defense and trade with the distant headward island state of Carceri.

The conjunction that brought the Great A'Tuin to to the Crossroad World of Storhm, brought even more traffic to the small nation state as the easiest access to the Thousand Oceand and their islands is via the tailward oceans, making the Farshore the first possible port of call before access to the greater world beyond. There have been calls by the expanding populous of the city to extend the borders of the colony outward, but for the meantime, Lord Mayoress Vanderboren hold true to the treaties and constitution of their state and instead building upwards or permitting new cities to be founded on Temute or Isle of Dread proper.