Endless Isles

big thanks to golden neckbeard for basically creating the entire setting, anonymous for requesting, anonymous for writefagging, anonymous for making the intro graphic, anonymous for support, anonymous for character and place ideas and anonymous for always being there.

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In the Beginning

"in the beginning the land was dry and the world was whole. Man could walk as far as he could see and vast seas of sand stretched in every direction. In the beginning there was the First Emperor, Carver of Worlds. He ruled the land and was a god to men. His cartographer's came to him one day and told him that they had mapped the world and all that was in it. The First Emperor was proud of his men and asked them what more could he add to his domain.

'We have mapped all the land in almost every direction,' they told him,' We have seen the edge of the world, and further. But we wonder now, what could be below?' they asked him.

'Sky,' they told him,' Sky. The sun leaves your empire for the night, it must rise in another. The moon and stars walk from one land to another' The First Emperor did not wait for another word. He set his men to dig, and so they did. It was not long before their spades broke through, into the world below. The bright sun shone through the breach from the depths of a surreal world. The world moved as flames rise from a fire. And the good Emperor looked down and saw in a flash, a beautiful queen. she looked at him from the rippling world and he reached down to her. And in another flash she was gone. The First Emperor had never seen a woman so gorgeous, and wished for her to be his. He would not stop until her took her under her control.

'Men,' he said to them,' dig! Dig into this world, make it mine!' And they dug and he searched for his queen. They dug until the only sand left was that sifting on the bottom of the ocean and only the hardest or rock was left behind. Some say he's still out there, digging. Past the fringe, on the edge of nothing, carving these Endless Isles..."

The Oath

Two-Dagger Torriaeu, the legendary Laugher of Louisport and the Haverland Sacker managed to steal Death away, taking her away and learning the secrets to life eternal. He swore the first oath, and bound death to whisper the oath to the greatest pirates of every age to come, to keep the seas free from the tyranny of Kings.

"Two-Dagger Torriaeu

stole the death away

bound her to his ship

and made to deal with her

'we pirates will rule' said he

'we men of ship and sea

see that we shall never fall

and I will let ye be!'

and so death saw to it

that any pirate willing

should never parish

but never live true"

The Crusaders

After the oath, there were some who didn't like what they saw. They wanted to return the world to how it was, by killing the immortals. Every last one of them. First they take your shadow, then they burn you, and you won't dance the shade away. These are the crusaders, who have 3 missions:

Finding 'Two Dagger Torriaeu' and reversing his bargain with Death. Killing every last man to have taken the oath. Destroying every last vestige of knowledge of the oath.

They are based at the legendary Fort Cross, where they take prisoners, and accept those few pirates who are tired of their 'life'. Then they kill those who cannot die.

"Look, kid, I know you've only been sailin' for a year now, so let me break it down fer ya.

Now, as ye know, most landlubbers aren't too keen on the Final Oath. But, well... 'tis bad luck to talk about em, but not all the True Living are content to sit on their scraps of land, doing the real work while the Deathless go about the Grand Game. Sometimes, for any of a thousand reasons, things work out so a spiteful Living fellow gets ahold of a ship and crew.

When that happens, we call em Crusaders, 'for the result is inevitable... for the rest o' their short lives, they go about tryin' to set things back to their precious 'natural order.'

What does that mean? Well, I'll tell you. Eternal imprisonment. They can't kill you, but they certainly can slap you in their hold, and eventually a nice cold jail... careful-like, so you can't do yourself in and go a-shadow.

It's ludicrous, 'tis. Madmen. Even if every True Living got together at once they couldn't imprison all of us. They're nostalgic fools, longing for a 'balance of life' that hasn't existed in centuries, and if you ever meet one of the crazy bastards, gut him and then run fer yer unlife."

A Mentor's Advice

To Be a Pirate

"ye think yer a pirate, do yah, saplin'? Arharhar, well I know a thing'r two 'bout pirates 'nd it aint but just a laymn's term, but a wurd 'ny man cn' take. Tuh be a real pirate, yah gotta be a pirate. Yeh gotta give yur heart to the sea, you gotta swer tuh her you'll nevah leave 'er. You gotta know yer ship good, treat' 'er like the fin'est er women. Ye gotta be'uh pirate, a'corse, before you cn be'uh pirate. So wind tuh the sails, laddy... and yu'll be a pirate yet."

The Emperor

"The Emporah', boy, he's tha reas'n ye walk this 'ere world, 'eh is. Look out'a tha horizon, child, see tha isles go on 'n on for 's far 's ye c'n see! tha's the Emporah's folly, boy. 'Eh use'ta rule tha land fro' 'ere ta ther. It all use ta' be 'is, it did, but when tha soggy git found tha ocean, 'eh made one 'uge mistake, eh. 'Eh fell in love, he did. Ner, tha's not somthin' ye want to be doin', is it, as the sea, a bu'tiful mistress, c'n be broken by no man. S'all ye c'n do 's give 'er yer heart 'n hope she'll see ya fare. Bu' the Emporah', 'eh keeps a lookin' for 'er, try'in to take 'er fer 'imself."

Gold Barons

"Un' in a mill'yon men'll find fortune in 'is scrap'uh land. 'Nd ee'l do anythin' tuh protect it. Now, us pirates 'er quite fond 'uh gold, ye'see, 'nd these men gotta lot o'it. Barons, we calls 'em. Thuh' kind with thu'h currency to keep ther' loot in check. Why, I ever ser' one wall in 'is island, ah! 'eh taut eh was thuh' clever'st uh dogs, eh did. But meh cap'n, ol' Torn-'Ook Tommy, 'eh knew wut tuh do. 'Eh gathered tugether e'ery anchor 'eh could git 'is derty li'l mits on 'nd sailed straight 'nder the wall! Ahaha! Whin we knocked on 'is door *knock knock*, 'eh ne'rly keeled ov'r! Cap'n never t'ld 'im how 'eh did it, neither."

Dead Wind Keep

"Dead Wind Keep! Scourge of pirate kind, it is. Aye, you've 'eard oh her. Stark white, she is, a 'orrid place. Perch'd on a cliff, tha builders thot they coul' catch that wind 'nd a great mill, bu' there's no wind tuh be caught, not ev'n a breeze. 'Nd the walls 'uh that enfernal 'ell 'ole seep wit' the blood of hundr'ds 'uh pirates, pray'in for death, 'nd eve'y day thuh keepahs swab tha walls and wash tha blood into tha sea. But the keepahs won' let 'em die, no sir. A dead pirate is'uh free pirate. 'Nd they don' want that. On'y two pirates manag'd to squeel ther way outta that'un, but you're not ev'n a pirate yet, boy. Jus' keep your arse ou' uh ther', you hear me? Is not a place you wan' to spend the res' o' your forevuh'."

Fort Cross

"Aye, son. Fort Cross is tha' end a'tha road fur us pirates. Tha Crusaders run't like a slaughta 'ouse. A dead place, like none ya' ev'r see. They know, ther', bout 'ow ta keep tha shade away frum a pirate. O'corse, som'r tha pirates go ther' willingly, ya'know. Life rea'y ca'ches up ta ya... You end up thinkin' 'bout yourself...'nd ya gotta tell yurself... ya jus' gotta git past it, ya know. But som'o 'em ne'er do. Som'o 'em jus' waltz up ta tha gates 'nd.. 'nd.. well, they don' walk out. Nothin' like Dead Wind Keep, nothin' atall. they know, yesee. 'Nd they don' take no prison'rs."

Louisport

"Ahar, Louisport, ya say... 'Avn't been ther in ages! Bahaha, I'd say I have a bet wit' damn nea' half o' tha town! ahahar, yah woul't thin' a pirate, born 'n bred as I, woul' be rakin' muck in tha middle o' no where fer no reason? Hahaha, a pirate town, indeed! You'd ne'er see such a raspy no goo' bunch o' rottin eggs agin! Louisport, now tha's a town. Boy, I'll take ya some day, I swer. oh, but tha smell, oh, ya wouldn' believe tha smell. 'Nd if that didn' kill ya, the folk wou'd. ahahar, I'll take ya some day, son. someday."

Haverland

"Good Haverland, ye say... 'Ave I ev'r been? Ha, nought 'til they drag me soggy bones there! Well, aint much good 'bout it, 'nyways. A port fer nought, but cow'rds, ev'n before Ol' Torriaeu's trick. Scrape meh sidewar's if a single cap'n in them murky wat'rs ev'r did a lick o' honest piratin' in ther life. Aye, boy, Aye. A pool lot, ye might thin', but they git ther kicks. Crusaders, they are, jus' fancy laym'n's terms fur a pirate 'unter. They don' like Tha Oath, ye'see, they say it 'unnatural' 'nd 'unholy', ha! Tell meh, boy, look out a'tha horizon ther... Look out a'tha ships 'nd islands 'nd tell me th's world aint mean' fur pirate! 'Tis only fair we git ta sail these seas forevuh. 'Nyway, they take'un good, hon'st pirates 'nd takin' 'em to Fort Cross 'er Dead Wind keep, I told yer 'bout Fort Cross 'nd Dead Wind Keep, roight? Aye, aye, like I s'd, scoundrels, e'ery one o' 'em."

Mad Bonny Flint

"Aye, aye, one 'uh the greatest pirates ta' ev'r sail. Mad Bonny Flint, a mad lass, indeed. She di' this dance, yehsee, a dance like non' you ev'r saw. 'Nd she'd dance inta' tha nigh'. A li'le bonked in the head, yah see. Some say all tha' dancin' 'as left 'er head knock'd about a peg'r two. But I know wha' really gotta 'er, 'er trip ta' Dead Wind Keep. Yea', saplin', she took er fare share o' death, bu' she made itout, she did. Nev'r tha same aft'r, I hear. O'corse, I nev'r wint near 'er, a demon of a wom'n, but a wom'n all tha same."

Creatures

"Well, I 'eard they gotta creature up in them 'ills. A monstroci'y, who prays on tha shades o'us pirates. they 'ave 'im locked down ter tha floor' but all that chains 'n anchors from 'ere ta 'Averland could'n hold 'im down. Death's lawle's mutt, run of, they say. But who'r they ter be talkin' bout 'im 'nyway. There has yet ta be a pirate to escape fro' Fort Cross. Ye c'n talk all ye want 'bout torches 'nd creatures, but I don' believe a lick o'it till a good hon'st pirate springs Fort Cross 'nd spins us a yarn. Un'til then, ye can count me ta stay away frum tha' place, you should too."

Pirates of Note

Mad Bonny Flint There are many tales about this lass, an' believe me 'earties each is true.

It's said that she took the final oath when she was just a lass of 16, and the years have not been kind to her.

Just as some of you might, she's danced the hempen jig, a few too many times for anyone to be comfortable. Her ship the Bloody Mary is a fearsome sight, the whole ship is the color of blood, some say it's from the blood of innocent men she's tied to it to keep it afloat, and yet others say she works her crew until they bleed, the truth me 'earties is even more dire, she slits the throats of her crew, a mad ritual to Davy Jones. Just to keep the first Crusader off her back she kills her men. Beware the the Madwoman with the knife, for even the Albatrosses wont go near her ship. Take this tale to heart lads, never get caught at what ye do, or Mad Bonny's fate might be yer own.

Camille "Raven Eye" Blaque Odd that such a fine young lass would sully herself with piracy, but the final oath does strang things to people. Her Ship the Blackbird is said to have sailed all over these endles seas, never touching the same port twice, why it's even claimed that she's met Two Daggers Torriaeu. I say that old grog is easier to swallow than most of her legend, however I do know this much to be true, it's said that after her final oath, she sought out one of those Voodoo women, wanted the eye of a raven see, so she could aim her pistols as well as a cannon, however she has to keep it covered up most times as it's a little strange, some even say she met some old witch on an island somewhere that cursed her good eye, the one she was born with to drain of it's color, to show that she was twice damned, first for taking the final oath, and the second for making a deal with the voodoo woman. Now some tales say that the voodoo woman and the witch are the same person, we'll never know, last time she was in this port was four years ago, and we know she'll never be back, beware a white flag when it bears two cutlasses and a bird boyos, lest ye be... conscripted onto her wandering ship, to ever sail these isles.

Thomas 'The Hatter' Gattler 'Eh spend a while in one of them monestaries, learnin' some. An Alchemist who has inhaled too many chemicals for his own sanity, but a captain none dare cross. He doesn't sleep, and only drinks a foul brew of his own concoction. Throws vials of burning dust, and charges through the corrosive smoke, cutlass in hand. His face is covered in scars from burns old and new, but he doesn't feel pain anymore either. He captains the Wyvern, and takes on cabin boys to learn his alchemical arts. However he's found in his chemicals a way to burn you from the inside out, glowing so that there are no shadows within you or without. And he uses it on his apprentices at a whim.

Jack "Ages" Hangrope An old man, who swore the final oath on his deathbed, mere moments after death was stolen. This ancient captain has still yet to die once, his old frame bent over the wheel as he steers the good ship Chronos, the oldest man still living. Each of his teeth have been replaced with a different metal, one of gold, one of iron, one of silver, one of copper, and so on so that his smile coming out of his gaunt face is a most fearsome sight. He runs the jolly roger with his trademark teeth of colour.

Many have tried to upheave him, thinking that he is an old man, and will be quick to die, but his skill with the sword has been practised longer then any other and his rheumy eyes are still as sharp as an eagles when he has a gun in hand. His body is rotting with age, but even this won't seem to kill him, his pickled skin stitched together like his sails, flags and his ship.

The Chronos is an ancient ship, with rigging from another age and it still has a balistae mounted on the prow. However it keeps pace with newer ships, it's barnacled and rotting hull not slowing it down, for who can outrun age itself?

"Dancing Blades" Joe There are many tales of mutiny, but Joseph has taken part in more then most. A sly bastard son of Torriaeu (or so he claims) most of the most famous Captains in the seas have had a ship stolen by Johnny. A glib and charming young man, he goes by a new name each time he comes forth, a young landlubber taking to the sea. He takes to the life at sea too well, winning debts from captain and crew, but discharging them at a moments notice. Once they're at sea for a while, he builds resentment against the captain, playing every crewman against eachother at dice and cards, until the most loyal ot the captain are owed debts tenfold what the others can pay, and then takes over the ship one night when the captain's loyal crew come down with a bout of sharp steel, and the captain catches it in plain sight of the crew later, blade in hand so none can doubt Dancing Blades skill with daggers.

He never captains the same ship twice, but instead builds up and amasses treasure in a hiding spot only he knows about. After offloading a lot of his gold he steers his ship into the Worlds Maw, a tidal maelstrom which is over a jagged reef. It's said that the world devours your shadow if you fall in, and no-one save Johnny even claims to have fallen in. They say that the Devil don't trust him not to take over Hell, so he spits him back into life, shadow eaten or not.

Blind Johnny Then there's the story of Blind Johnny, most daring son of a gun you've ever seen. He has both his eyes, but it's not like he needs them. I've seen him unload a brace of pistols, eyes closed the whole time, and only a single hole in target. Six holes in the wall directly behind it though, not a single miss. Was a wild captain to serve under, I danced the shades twice with him, and I'd follow him anywhere. Well, near anywhere. Left him for the sea floor after I heard where he was heading last. Wants to raid Deadwind Keep, soon as he can find a crew. Mad he is, but if there was a son of a woman who could do it, he'd be the one. He got cannonballs betwixt his legs he does.

His raid on Fort Cross though, that was brilliance. First trip to sea after swearing my oath, had a crew of us yung'ns who didn't know a bit better. Gave us all vials, said they'd explode if we mixed the red and the green. Told us to hide them in our mouths, and the moment we were captured to bite down hard. Me an him were the only ones to escape alive, a few more rejoined us later, the others either were captured or didn't want to have anything to do with Johnny Boy ever again. But we got us fame enough that for ale in every port, and two or three women apiece. And he got what he was after - he put a shot straight through his old mates eyes, t'save him from the burning what no man comes back from. Now I don't mess with crusaders, an there's a reason I don't use my real name, or tell this tale on any night but the last in any port, becuase I don't have the balls of that man. And I've saved my red'n'green, slept with them close my whole life, becuase the only thing worse then the final death, well. . . we don't speak about deadwind.

The Red Velvet Prince Also called the Terror of Toroguay and Cruel-Lipped Karl, they say no pirate has embraced the race for hedonistic delights, no matter how dark, as strongly as has he. They say he considers his own heart-breaking face, smooth, pale, and fine-boned as any débutante, to be his greatest treasure of all.

So far as any Deathless can remember, he's never been seen to appear over thirty; they say he sails back to his home island, some deserted rock only his most trusted officers know, to kill himself every time he manages to go a decade without the Shadow Dance setting him back to the visual age of seventeen, so he never has to see himself grow old.

The Tale of Davy Jones

Now Jones was a good captain, always straight and fair but firm, and his men loved him dearly in those deadly days of Navies and Patrol. A cunning old coot, and lucky too, but one day his ship Cornelia had the fight of her life. She won, in a manner of speaking, but such a victory as a sailin' man never prays for; left drifting with a holed hull and no masts left a-standing, barely able to stay afloat much less move.

Now, fourty nights she sat adrift, stores run low and all the while men workin' the bilges, as desperate for a few more hours as any Unoathed you've seen starin' Lady Death in the face.

It was beginnin' to look grim indeed, the good captain considerin' an honest and dignified end for himself and then, should they choose it, when sails were spotted! Help had finally arrived...

...In the form of ol' Two-Dagger himself!

Now old Torrieau pulled up with a bonny grin, and hailed: "Why, is that a waterlogged dog I see, paddling desperately to keep afloat but with no true hope of dry land to be found?"

Wary glances were exchanged and both crews put hand on saber, but sly old Davy stood with stern lips and a cold glare and said nothing, exercising that cunning willpower of his so legendary in a profession where a lack of self-control is practically a prerequisite... Which ol' Torrieau was counting upon.

"Why, no, if it isn't a fox! Me old pal, Davy Jones himself! Looks like you're in a spot of trouble... Come aboard, and we'll tow the Cornelia to Louisport!"

And so it was done, the crews mingling and the Cornelia saved.

While she was being rebuilt, however, Torriaeu beseeched Jones, "We've got quite the job planned, old Davy boy, and I could use another commander and advisor with a level head and a fearsome name! The Cornelia will be fine under the watchful eye of your quartermaster and first mate. Sail with me, just this once, and I'll lead ye to glory!"

Now if it were anyone else, old Davy would have doubtlessly socked 'em in the mouth and stalked out with that steely glare, but Two-Dagger Torriaeu is nothing if not silver-tongued, and against his better judgement, Davy Jones accepted his offer and joined him for another run on the waves.

It would be his last.

Maybe a few crazy pirates mentioned like the other one's we've been talking about, who use skyships and submersibles, and possibly Ironclads and all sorts of crazyness. We should have an 'oriental' type area, with more Asian ships (junks, or whatever) and so on too.

Now, here's where the tale starts to go all different accordin' to who'se tellin' it. Where precisely did Jones and Torriaeu strike? What did they take? I've 'eard a thousand different versions if I've 'eard one, but they all agree... it was as grand and bloody a venture as had been seen in the days 'afore Torrieau's Trick. The waters ran as red as the holds did shine of gold, and those who made it out alive were sure to be kings among men.

Torriaeu and Jones almost got away clean, too, when a stray ball of grapeshot caught Davy right across the teeth, taking his jaw clean off.

Well, the mists rolled in and the pirates escaped, but it was a long, hard death for Jones, the last casualty of that glorious haul. Torriaeu, so they say, was despite his own treacherous nature beside poor Jones every minute, even as other wounded in his own crew also passed. Perhaps the guilt was too much even for him to ignore, for it was Two-Dagger himself that brought him along after all.

As the mists roiled and the dying passed, however, talk cropped up on the ship. Death, they said, was walking the planks, to be seen with the naked eye, taking the poor bleeding curs with a gentle caress and a soothing whisper, when their time it was.

Finally, Two-Dagger himself saw her, when only dying Jones was left... and when his eyes alighted on that pale face, to whom he'd sent enemies and prey by shipload and then some, Two-Dagger Torriaeu fell eternally in the purest and most sinister of hopeless love, that love which transcends all logic and even the inscrutable laws of the cosmos itself.

"Stand aside," she whispered. "This one is mine."

None know what Torriaeu said to Death then, and pray that none ever should. He pleaded, he cajoled, he offered and debated, plying that silver tongue like no other trickster in all time has done, and somehow, he stole the heart of Lady Death herself away... but he was too late. As he turned from elaborating some sub-point of his bottomless devotion, presumably, Davy Jones was already gone.

But Death was not.

Whence they sailed then, and what they did, would take years to outline. The Driftings With Death are a whole 'nother Odyssey all their own.

What's important is that, one day, amidst their strange and terrible wand'rings, Death's hopeless paramour came to her, and he pleaded for the famous Trick, that she should take none who sail in his name, ever again.

What he offered in return, if anything, remains a mystery, but, well, as any of you who've taken the Final Oath know well, "in his name" turned out to mean more than just his immediate crew. I like to think old Torriaeu was sly enough to know what that wording could mean, and that this whole state of events isn't just one big supernat'ral fuckup, in which case the old bastard has saved my life a few hundred times now, as a matter of course.

But there was one man... one mean old spirit to be precise... who took great offense at this. Davy Jones.

When the deal was struck, old dead Davy was enraged. Who was Torriaeu to ask for this, rather than bringing back the man he wronged, the man who's death brought Torriaeu his beloved in the first place? This was betrayal, dishonor, blackest treachery!

And so that day, the spirit of Davy Jones, the last pirate to fall to Lady Death's cold caress, tore up out of his rotten bones from the seabed below, and set out to stalk the waves, ever searching for his traitorous friend.

It's true, I've seen him myself! On a calm dusk, when the wind dies out, look to the west, and you just might see him, standing there when the sea is flat as though it were a vast decking, stumbling and wailing his torment and a promise of bitter vengeance from his hideous throat, still jawless from his terminal injury.

...and that's why they call it Davy Jones' Locker, for every night the spirit must return to the rotting sea-casket in which Torriaeu tossed him over, all those centuries ago, there to seethe in his betrayal and misfortune, the Last Pirate to Die.

Golden Neckbeard