Islands of the Great South Sea

Golnir is known for its rugged coastline, and the Golniri people for their mastery of ships and sailing. They have charted many a route through the Great South Sea, and Golniri traders can be found in many foreign ports. Just about all of them know stories of strange and mysterious islands out in the Sea - places of wonder and mystery, and often great danger as well.

Here are a few islands that travelers on the Great South Sea might discover. The list is formatted as a d20 table so that it could be used to randomly determine encounters, but if any islands interest you, you can pick from the list to drop them into your campaign as well.

1. Zefira. The entire island serves as a convent, with a number of chapels and dormitories where nuns live their lives in seclusion, meditating on the divine. No men are allowed to set foot on the island.

2. Lythion. This island was settled by pirates as a hideout, thanks to its extensive cave systems for hiding treasure, and its name passed into maritime lore. Over time, as more and more pirates hid from the law here, it grew into a town in its own right - if a lawless and cutthroat one, where stolen goods flow freely in the market and no one will question it if someone disappears for angering the wrong person.

3. Dragonspine Island. This island is built upon the skeleton of a dragon that died among the rocks here millennia ago. Over time, sand and plant life built up around the skeleton, but bones still jut up from the ground - and it is said that one who rests within the cave formed by the dragon's eye socket may receive visions from the beast's memories.

4. Hawksfeather Pillar. A sea stack that rises sharply from the water, with caverns all along its cliffs. It is home to several nests of harpies, who prey upon ships that draw too close.

5. The Isle of the Dead. By day, this island seems to be nothing more than a lonely, deserted rock, but at night, it is populated by ghosts - spirits of those who died at sea and never received a proper burial, now having found a community in each other.

6. Kardemion. This island is not tethered to the seabed, but floats atop the water like a gigantic ship. When storms rock the waves, it drifts from place to place.

7. Chelonisia. This island is in fact the shell of a gigantic turtle, so huge and so old that grass and trees have grown on it. The creature is normally dormant, sleeping floating in the water, but woe betide anyone who wakes it.

8. Magazi. The only inhabitants of this island are a coven of three hags, who tend to an ever-bubbling cauldron in its center. The can see into the future, but their prophecies are always delivered in riddles, and they will only tell the fortunes of those who bring them an offering - usually one that requires a great undertaking to obtain (such as the egg of a dragon or the hair of a giant) to prove their worthiness.

9. The Isle of Splendors. This island sits in a space where the realm of Faerie bleeds into the mortal world. It appears constantly lush and bucolic, even in winter; its inhabitants are cheerful and eternally young and beautiful, and the trees are laden with fresh fruits. However, one who leaves the island after more than a day will find that many years have passed in the outside world, as time here flows faster than normal.

10. Phyteia. The inhabitants of this island are wise scholars and philosophers. They spurn outsiders, who they deem as foolish and short-sighted, unworthy of the enlightenment they enjoy.

11. Korbovos. The inhabitants of this island are fools; they are so stupid that any inhabitant would be considered the village idiot in any settlement on the mainland. Nevertheless, they consider themselves to be learned wise men, and that everyone else simply does not understand them.

12. The Island of Wise Beasts. On this island, animals can speak the languages of men, and rule over humans, who they use as livestock to plow their fields and carry their burdens.

13. Kolasis. This island is formed by a ring of cliffs surrounding a great pit, like a giant funnel. The people refuse to descend into the pit, which they believe leads straight to Hell. 

14. Trihendron. This island is wreathed in great vines on which grow grapes the size of melons, so potent that they can make a man drunk just by eating one. They are tended to by a giant named Athros, who will guard them fiercely.

15. Obria. On this island is built a tower that juts high into the sky. At the top floor, a rope hangs through the window, to which a castle in the clouds is tethered.

16. Khoremi. The inhabitants of this island revere a meteor that has fallen right at its center, believing it to be a holy treasure of the gods. They will direct any outsiders to it so that they may be blessed, but in truth, the meteor holds no special powers.

17. Psithrios. This island is home to a great volcano, and its lava is used as a forge by a community of dwarven smiths, who craft magical treasures.

18. Mesaria. Just off the coast of this island is a powerful whirlpool. The inhabitants fear it as an all-devouring demon, and throw captives and criminals into it to try and sate its wrath.

19. Prosipion. This island is inhabited by doppelgangers; everyone here seems to be a perfect copy of someone the PCs know...including themselves. They have no memories or knowledge of the PCs or the people they resemble, and insist that nothing is unusual.

20. Dolania. A genie lives on this island, and offers to grant wishes to those who can prove themselves worthy of his favor. In reality, he doesn't want to be bothered with mortals, and leads them along by sending them on great quests in the hopes of getting rid of them.