Togoto Island
Capital: none
Population: 3,500
Races: nearly 100% human
Overview
Togoto is a medium sized island on the eastern edge of the South Isles. It is approximately 16 miles across it widest point (From southeast to northwest corner) , and 8 miles across it's narrowest (north to south). Togoto Bay, on the north side, is protected by submerged coral reefs and volcanic rocks, and is almost impossible to navigate without help from and experienced navigator who knows the waters. North, the Dragon Spines are two days sailing away. West, Elliot's Cove on the big island, Billikan, can be reached in a day of good sailing. To the South, Windsong Island is the home to the Annu Atu clan, the largest group of natives left intact in the South Isles.
The inhabitants of Togoto are a mix of the indigenous Magirie, western expatriates, renegade Giorands, and Mirvians. It is the easternmost island, and the closest of the large island to the western mainland. This gives the culture a western flavor. Approximately 3,500 people make Togoto their home.
This island is home to two seacoast villages. Sully's Point on the north side (Togoto Bay), and Fish Bottoms on the south side of the island. The rocky island has fresh water and adequate top soil to grow enough food to be self sufficient. Fishing is important, but is done for food and oil for the inhabitants, and not generally for export. The hemp plantations on the south side and slopes of the tall hills produce about one third of all of the hemp (and rope) produced in the Isles. Bamboo fields and flint mining are also part of the economy.
Togoto Island got it name from Westerners Generations ago. It had begun to get a reputation as the"Island to go to" when you needed something. Slaves, contraband and other black market goods have historically been the stock-and-trade of this island's economy. To this day, Sully's Point is a sort of clearing house and market for slaves.
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Sully's Point
Sully's Point, the larger of the two villages, is a pirate's haven. Privateers of all types make Togoto a port of call, and the code of the sea dominates this part of the island society. "Dead Eye" Sully rules the Point's 2,000 or so inhabitants the way a captain rules his ship. The tough inhabitants make the village a wild place to visit.
Even though Sully has an iron grip on the village, a powerful pirate named Brig Yaorig also makes the village his home. Between Brig's five ships, he accounts for almost 300 of the village's 2,000 residents. And although many of his raiders routinely take to the sea most of the year, Brig and his faction still outnumber Sully and his men two or three-to-one. Brig continues to allow Sully to run the island because to seize control would take a bloody battle, and weaken him considerably. Brig is thought to be powerful enough to seriously challenge Zahkir (see Billikan's Island), and so far, Sully has not gotten in the way.
Ships of all sorts make Togoto a stopping point, as it is approximately midway between The Western lands (Tilth, Rastgoth and the Baronies) and Giorandi and the east. Although Sully's Point is a "neutral port," and open to any ship, it takes a special captain to brave the rough village. Inexperienced sailors, weak, understaffed crews, and captains who make it known that they have expensive cargo will find themselves easy prey to any one of several pirates looking for a quick prize. Well armed crews, or crews that have made the port a stop before can usually come and go with out too much trouble.
Much of the activity in the village (and on the island itself) centers on the arena – or the "Fighting Pit" as tit is know to the inhanitants. The Pit is a place for amusement, as professional gladiators fight monsters and each other to the delight of the crowds. Nel Casis, the only plantation owner who is not welcome in the village of Fish Bottoms makes the matches and takes the bets in the arena. It is also the judicial system for the society.
Disputes on the island are frequent, as is often the case among cutthroats, murderers, drunkards, and worse. Sully usually lays down his version of the law, and decides what's fair, and what's not. Disputes which cannot otherwise be resolved are settled in the Fighting Pit as man (or woman) fights man in a winner take all match. On an island where a feud between two men can escalate to a whole ship's crew, and spill into the alleys of the village, the Pit is a hard necessity. It is an unwritten rule, however, that a pirate must prove himself worthy enough to step into the Pit to settle a dispute.
To prove themselves, young pirates, visitors to the islands, and any one who wants to be treated as an equal in the village undergoes a trial called "Pirate's Justice." On the east end of the island is a sink hole that leads into the lava tubes that honeycomb the island. The Sahaugin (sharkmen) which lair in waters further to the south, also use these lava domes and caves as their place to test adulthood. Surviving the day in Pirate's Justice makes a man an equal in the eyes of the village.
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Fish Bottoms
The hemp plantations on the southern end of the island produce a third of all the hemp grown in the South Isles, and make the 5 or 6 owners wealthy. These rich men have their own village on the other end of the island, and they tend to keep themselves apart from Sully's Point. Although the village on the north end is an important market for their product, the tension between Sully and Brig is not good for trade. For that matter, these men support Zahkir as the leader of the Isles, and favor stronger central leadership, which they feel is good for trade. The size of Brig's faction has become large enough to be worrisome, and is considered bad for trade.
Fish Bottoms is not an open port, and ship captains must be invited to the village in order to trade. The village of 1,000 is well armed, and well defended. A militia of about 100 man wooden stockades and can raise a fighting force of about 100 more able bodied sailors and laborers. There are plenty of weapons stores on each of the plantations. Each owner also keeps a sizable body of mercenaries to gaurd each plantation.
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Religion
Religion on the islands, like its people, is mixed. The most popular are deities that appease the elements. The Furies, a Mirvian trio of wind, wave and lightning gods, are venreated, as are the Magirire gods of the huricanes. Tarot priests visit from the Giorand mainland and some of the various western pantheon are represented. Sully's right hand assistant, Lawreaunt DuMariner, is a priest of the Crestus, the western god of mercenaries.
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