High Seas Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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island_registry2014-09-30 11:36 pm
highseasmods) wrote in island_registry2014-09-30 11:36 pm
Entry tags:
Southwest
♦ EBONY & IVORY
[Distance from Isla Empieza]: Four weeks, but you'll need a strong ship and a seasoned crew to keep from beaching yourself.
[Terrain]: Expect a lot of concrete and cobblestone. Soil is rare, and usually reserved for agriculture. The dock is made from iron sheets welded together to form a barrier against the waves.
[Weather]: Misty, smoggy, and all-around unpleasant. It rains more than it should. The waves lash out against the shoreline, as if nature itself is trying to reclaim its sea.
[Is the island inhabited?]: Yes.
[If so, what is the culture like here?]: "Ebony" is wrought with poverty. The people are kind, but they are ultimately looking out for themselves. Don't be surprised if that nice gent you had a conversation with fifteen minutes prior is now threatening to stick you with a knife for your gold. It's nothing personal; a man's gotta eat. The island relies on fishing to be its main source of food, and boasts an impressive reclamation facility for producing clean drinking water. What most people don't tell you, however, is that the people who live here are scholars. The best and brightest the world has to offer. They came to this island in search of "Ivory", the mythical tower of knowledge. Their ships were dashed upon Ebony's metal shore, and they have been stuck ever since. If your ship survives the trip, however, please do keep an eye on it. Someone may try to steal it, looking to escape. Or, it may be trashed for resources.
The tower is real, but under control of Ebony's nobles, who built their castle as the only entrance. They only allow those that can prove themselves true scholars into Ivory. How do you prove yourself? Oh, by taking a test, of course! An insanely difficult, absurdly expensive test. It includes questions on math, science, magic, government, agriculture and engineering. Don't worry if you fail, though, you can always pay the fee and try again. Don't have enough money? Well, you can always put your brain and your back to work building and improving the island. The nobles love good laborers. The nobles claim to be protecting the world from knowledge it cannot grasp, but in actuality, they are hoarding information so that it cannot be used against them.
[Island peculiarities]: The "island" is entirely man-made. Ebony is, as its namesake, constructed entirely of black iron and steel. The streets are cobblestone, and grass is little. Lamp posts spring up in place of trees, and buildings look oddly organic in this world. Looming in the horizon is Ivory, a tower of glistening white, so tall it kisses the clouds. Ebony is constructed in a ring around the tower, guarding it from the world.
If you are able to enter Ivory, you will find it otherwise abandoned, albeit in immaculate shape. The interior is composed of marble and wood, and books line the walls. You could read every book you encounter for the rest of your life and you probably wouldn't clear the first floor. Many of the books read as a mass of garbled text, others have words which dance across the page, changing quickly and erratically. There are some, however, that are decipherable, understandable. If the book deems you worthy of its knowledge. Just be sure not to take any books out of Ivory. If you do, the pages will bleach white, and the tower's mechanized golems will pursue you endlessly- a security measure put in place by Ebony's nobles. This information does not belong to the world at large.
[Terrain]: Expect a lot of concrete and cobblestone. Soil is rare, and usually reserved for agriculture. The dock is made from iron sheets welded together to form a barrier against the waves.
[Weather]: Misty, smoggy, and all-around unpleasant. It rains more than it should. The waves lash out against the shoreline, as if nature itself is trying to reclaim its sea.
[Is the island inhabited?]: Yes.
[If so, what is the culture like here?]: "Ebony" is wrought with poverty. The people are kind, but they are ultimately looking out for themselves. Don't be surprised if that nice gent you had a conversation with fifteen minutes prior is now threatening to stick you with a knife for your gold. It's nothing personal; a man's gotta eat. The island relies on fishing to be its main source of food, and boasts an impressive reclamation facility for producing clean drinking water. What most people don't tell you, however, is that the people who live here are scholars. The best and brightest the world has to offer. They came to this island in search of "Ivory", the mythical tower of knowledge. Their ships were dashed upon Ebony's metal shore, and they have been stuck ever since. If your ship survives the trip, however, please do keep an eye on it. Someone may try to steal it, looking to escape. Or, it may be trashed for resources.
The tower is real, but under control of Ebony's nobles, who built their castle as the only entrance. They only allow those that can prove themselves true scholars into Ivory. How do you prove yourself? Oh, by taking a test, of course! An insanely difficult, absurdly expensive test. It includes questions on math, science, magic, government, agriculture and engineering. Don't worry if you fail, though, you can always pay the fee and try again. Don't have enough money? Well, you can always put your brain and your back to work building and improving the island. The nobles love good laborers. The nobles claim to be protecting the world from knowledge it cannot grasp, but in actuality, they are hoarding information so that it cannot be used against them.
[Island peculiarities]: The "island" is entirely man-made. Ebony is, as its namesake, constructed entirely of black iron and steel. The streets are cobblestone, and grass is little. Lamp posts spring up in place of trees, and buildings look oddly organic in this world. Looming in the horizon is Ivory, a tower of glistening white, so tall it kisses the clouds. Ebony is constructed in a ring around the tower, guarding it from the world.
If you are able to enter Ivory, you will find it otherwise abandoned, albeit in immaculate shape. The interior is composed of marble and wood, and books line the walls. You could read every book you encounter for the rest of your life and you probably wouldn't clear the first floor. Many of the books read as a mass of garbled text, others have words which dance across the page, changing quickly and erratically. There are some, however, that are decipherable, understandable. If the book deems you worthy of its knowledge. Just be sure not to take any books out of Ivory. If you do, the pages will bleach white, and the tower's mechanized golems will pursue you endlessly- a security measure put in place by Ebony's nobles. This information does not belong to the world at large.