Luzami

Of all the locations in Dragon Quest III, Luzami is probably the least important. It's a small island in the open ocean, with a small isolated village; even the townspeople note that they haven't had visitors in years, and the shop has nothing to sell you, probably because the village is so far-flung it has little need for trade with the outside world. There's nothing there you need to complete the game, and it's so small and in the middle of nowhere that I'm willing to bet plenty of players miss it altogether. But it's still there. I love it when open world games have places with no real relevance to the plot or functional utility, but they're there nonetheless, giving the impression of a world that exists and extends beyond the needs of gameplay convenience. That's a philosophy I strive toward with my DMing, and it's why The Saga of the Ortegids exists. So no treatise on the geography of Erdland would be complete without a look at Luzami, and what can be done with it.

The most prominent feature of Luzami is an observatory, the residence of an astronomer who was exiled there for positing the theory that the world was round. This recalls how several astronomers in the real world like Galileo and Copernicus were charged with blasphemy for their theories, and suggests that Erdland has a similarly powerful religious authority (perhaps based out of Lancel). There's also a prophet living on the island who gives you hints on how to progress through his visions of your future deeds. And with that, I've pretty much covered everything you can interact with in Luzami.

The obvious question for the worldbuilder in me is why the settlement on Luzami exists. The fact that there's a shop there at all implies that it was connected to the outside world at some point, but for one reason or another was cut off and lost contact. Alternatively, it might just be that the shop simply doesn't offer anything of value to an adventurer. It might be something more like a grain storehouse. Luzami doesn't seem to be big enough to house more than one settlement of any considerable size, even if we assume that the map is simplified for gameplay purposes, so it seems unlikely that the village would encounter outsiders enough for trade to be viable. I'd figure that the people there likely rely on barter - perhaps the reason they don't have anything to sell you is because they don't have any use for gold.

Art by Alayna Danner

It's possible that Luzami was settled as a colony by some other power - Aliahan would probably make the most sense, given its proxmity to the northwest - but was abandoned for being too far-flung and offering little in the way of strategic advantages. It's also possible that Luzami exists as a penal colony, with the inhabitants being exiles or the descendants thereof - a place where various kingdoms sent their outcasts. We do know that the astronomer found his way to the island that way, but for the others, it's harder to say. Still, there could be some interesting opportunities for adventures if we assume the island is a place where people are exiled to. The PCs could be shipped off to Luzami if they run afoul of a powerful ruler, or perhaps they're after someone who knows something important, but they've been exiled to Luzami - and given the isolation of the island (it seems like it'd be too small to show up on most maps), tracking them down might be easier said than done.

I, personally, am drawn to the fact that there's a prophet living on Luzami. He appears to be the oldest resident - this is likely due to the game reusing sprites; there's a lot of old hermits throughout the game. But if we assume he's been there longer than anyone else, it's possible that the village grew around him. Maybe he's an oracle sought after by those who know where to look, who seek guidance from his glimpses of the future. That would give the PCs another reason to go to Luzami, if they hear rumors of an oracle and believe his foresight would be helpful to their purposes. I like to scatter NPCs that might provide a unique service to the party here and there in my maps, and this man could easily be made into one of them. Of course, you could just as easily use Luzami as is - just an island thrown somewhere in the map, waiting for the PCs to stumble upon it in their travels.