02 - Iron Kingdoms W.. - Captain Spud Is Amazing

108.1.141.197
After the destruction of Drer Drakkerung,
Garlghast remained uninhabited for many years. Over
time pirate captains established fleapit communities
on the fringes of the island in its many hidden coves,
making a living from smuggled cargoes and plunder.
Most of those have been abandoned over the years,
but some yet remain. Mostly the place is inhabited by
wandering dead and a few hundred humans, trollkin,
and bogrin. These living inhabitants are nominal
citizens of Cryx though most of them do not know or
acknowledge it.
The only industry on Garlghast is the mining of
necrotite conducted by freelancers and agents of
the Dragonfather, for the island is saturated with the
energies of the fallen. Over the centuries thick veins
of powerful necrotite have turned up all over the
island. These veins are rent open and strip mined for
every trace of the charnel mineral, and loads of it are
shipped back to Cryx for refining.
Elsewhere the smaller islands around Garlghast
are bleak, exposed, salt-licked rocks, or blanketed
by foreboding marshes. These islands are pocked
by small Cryxian outposts and hidden ports, and
getting to them is a treacherous journey. Strong tidal
currents drive many ships onto the rocks of the largest
southernmost island.
Giant’s Head
Giant’s Head is named after the immense stony
mountain that dominating the island’s center. On
clear days the mountain can be seen from as far as the
mainland coast, and it serves as a familiar landmark
for sailors. Not a part of Cryx, Giant’s Head is sparsely
populated by a couple hundred tough-as-nails
Cygnaran settlers who refuse to leave the island despite
the occasional pirate threat. In truth the waters around
Giant’s Head have been contested by Cygnar and Cryx
for centuries, and the waters just off the Head have
been the place of many vicious naval battles.
Morovan
This island east of Hell’s Hook is relatively lush and
well forested and is far enough from Cryx to suffer
no apparent signs of dragonblight. Cygnar maintains
an isolated watch keep on the northern end of the
island called Crownfort. It has been thrice besieged
by Cryxian forces in the past decade but has always
managed to hold out. Lord Captain Drake Roodring
(male Caspian Ftr10) is the current officer in charge
and a hard-bitten one at that. He has scars aplenty,
a taste for hooaga juice, and a perpetual scowl.
The island is considered one of the outer islands of
the Nightmare Empire in spite of Cygnar’s trifling
presence, but the island is not governed by either
nation. Two small outposts are located in secret coves
on the island’s south end as supply points for Cryxian
ships, and these serve as the only Cryxian presence
on Morovan. Additionally several hundred savages,
most of whom worship a shark-like representation of
the Devourer, occupy caves along the eastern shore.
These primitives hide from Cygnaran patrols but have
recently come into conflict with Cryxian sailors.
Satyx
Lost among the countless Scharde Islands, the
location of the dark jungle isle of Satyx is known only
to the ancient race of beautiful yet terrible warrior
women who call it home. The Satyxis were said to be
spawned when the Dragonfather slew His child Shazkz,
called the White Dragon, in the skies above the island.
The blood and blight that descended upon the land
twisted and warped the inhabitants of the isle in both
mind and body. The men wasted away over mere
weeks while the women became something changed
(see entry, MN1). Since those days the Satyxis have
become infamous as high seas killers in the service
of the Dragonfather. Among the most prominent
leaders of the Satyxis is the notorious reaver witch and
pirate queen Skarre Ravenmane though in truth she is
seldom ever seen in Satyx. She is far too busy scourging
the seas or carrying out dark deeds for Toruk and His
Lich Lords.
Windwatcher’s Passage
Many disasters have befallen Cygnar’s coasts over
the millennia, and most have been borne on onshore
winds. Be they pirates, Orgoth vessels, or the dread
shape of the Dragonfather, the long, uninterrupted
run of clear water known as Windwatcher’s Passage has
provided both an open channel for the invaders and
early warning for the defenders. Both water and wind
run fast here, channeled between the islands rising
on each side. Cygnarans have always expected trouble
from this route, which is why they built the massive
towers of Westwatch and set coastal defenses all along
World Guide 329