The RegionNorthwest of the Dalethian lands is an island known as Roverseiland. The rather small island used to be part of the land a long, long time ago, but is now separated from the rest of the continent by a rough, deep sea. The date of separation is unknown, but has probably the same date as the loss of Trigohaima and the flooding of Fanigawi. In those ancient times, the Giant city Amachteschky should have been near or on Roverseiland.Because of the strong wind from the sea, the island is also called Windeiland. HistoryDuring the centuries of the United Empires, Roverseiland was the place to ban people to. Everyone who was no longer allowed to be a citizen of the Empires, got a one way ticket to the island, that then belonged to the Country of Lamorial and Cinfer. The emperors who ordered the bannings always pointed out they weren't cruel, because Roverseiland was such a small island. The logic behind this has been lost in the centuries.In the independence wars in the Weslanan, Roverseiland fought for it's own independence and got it. They still are independent, and do not have political relations to the Weslanan Union. This independence makes life hard on the small island. There are not many resources and the trade with (mostly) the Weslanan can be expensive at times. The inhabitants of the island also have to fight against the general idea they are all criminals - "rovers" does mean "robbers" after all and the fact that many of the "criminals" that were banned to Roverseiland had been political incorrect scholars has been forgotten for a long time. Playground of the GodsThe island is more or less round. The capital of the country is Nest, a harbour village in the southeast of the island. The village only has a few streets, poor houses and a harbour.North of Nest, there are hills who form a barrier over the island from the southeast to the northwest. The hills - sand, sandstone and loam overgrown with creeping sea-pine-trees, curved lorks and tough grasses in a shallow layer of peat - are uninhabited by humans, but make a great place for birds and small animals, who are hunted to make a difference in the menu that usually consists of fish and shell-fish. The hills have a tough base of loam. In the northwest, the loam comes to the surface and where it meets the coastline, wonderful cliffs and caves can be found. The Worldsea scraped parts of and the parts left are a bizarre arrangement of natural pillars and bridges, deep caves that echo the waves, rocks in all forms and sizes - the Playground of the Gods it is called, although the actual size of the playground is no more than a quarter of a gong. The yellow and red cliffs that rise from the sea make a surreal show at sunset, when the light of Fon is reflected on the water and thus light the rocks with a wavy, fiery red that seems to set the coast on fire. A place of rites of Phyarx has been held here and the ruins of a temple can still be found between the rocks. MeeuwenstrandSouth of the hills are dunes, a sandy desert, teased by wind and water. An endless plain by low tide, a wild water mass by high tide is the southwestern corner of the island, a broad beach that reaches out to the dunes. There are no villages here, and the only life that is regular are the seagulls that shriek around in the sky. Some days, ships have anchored on the beach. They seem to form a settlement on their own, and will drift away with the next high tide... This part of the island is called Meeuwenstrand. With extreme low tide, you can walk all the way to Amachteschky, which is supposed to be on the bottom of the sea, south of Meeuwenstrand. And sometimes, things wash upon the shore, things that probably come from the ancient city, but may be worthless all the same.The High TowerIn the dunes, only one building lasts longer than the next storm. It is the High Tower, a sturdy square tower, made of stone, rising up in the sky, fighting the strong wind for centuries. The flat roof once was a lighthouse that guided ships over the Worldsea to the save harbour of Lamorial, but the tower seems to be much older than that. Arlo Paran was interested in the tower and suspected it to be one of the few remains of the Giant culture, but he told everyone the tower was not of Giantian architecture.The tower, five stories high counted from the sandy patch at the front door, is higher than just that. The front door has been made only two centuries ago, because the old door kept on sanding in and was eventually unreachable. A considerable amount of tower is hidden by the sand of the dunes. How deep the tower goes, nobody knows. At the feet of the tower, some say, there is a village that has been drowned in sand ages ago. Arlo Paran has been in the tower and noted that the stairs went deep, into a moist construction of cut rock, with a pool in a cave nearby, but that the stairs went deeper and deeper, probably to the Source of Airtha, but that they were covered in sand, and although he had dug into it for nearly two weeks, there was no end, and he gave up soon after the fifth time the sand came down into the pit. CinutNortheast of the hills that divide the island is a low plain that borders a quiet part of the sea. It has a calm, tame climate, most of the time the hills protect this place from the southern winds and storms. This is the agricultural part of Roverseiland, where sheep graze on the salty grassland and tough wheat grows on higher, drier grounds. It is also the place where the second settlement of Roverseiland can be found, build on an artificial hill about five feet high to prevent it from flooding during the extreme high tides.Cinut is a small village with a tiny harbour. It is situated on the northeastern coast of the island, but focuses on the farms on the land. A poor population provides the non-fish food for most islanders, a trade mostly neglected by the fishermen and sailors of Nest. The origins of Cinut is a hut made by Verenz "the Sailor" of Ciniz, that apparently was build here (but archeologists have it that the hut stood more to the west, in a glade in the dunes, near a small lake with sweet water). NestEverything is small in Nest The harbour is the core of the village, although the real harbour lays dozens of fathoms away in the sea - the harbour is too shallow to harbour the deep keeled ships. Small boats will be rowed in and out of the harbour to get people and goods to and from the ships. The houses do look much like the ships; build of the same wood, weathered in the same salty, wet condition. In some cases, the wood of old, wrecked ships is used to build the houses and the original details of the ships still can be seen in the architecture in this poor place. Almost all houses have two stores and a small level just under the roof. The houses are narrow, but long, with the small facade facing the south, making it difficult for the wind to enter the house. The roofs are very steep, and let the rain quickly run into gutters and barrels - it is the easiest way to collect drinkable water. The settlement smells of tar, fish and salt. There is no escape. Even in the dunes and hills nearby, the village can be smelled. On some days, the smell of wood smoked fish hangs over the city, while the smoke rises up to the sky. The smell gives some relief from normal stench. Some islanders smoke pipes with kemp leaves to fight the stench; others say this tradition only makes things worse. In Nest are only two places to go for strangers. In Cinut, there are none. De Ankerplaats is the tavern of Nest where the sailors are when they are not sailing or sleeping; the place has cheep beer and serves smoked fish. It is on the main street of town, and recognisable by the anchor and the fishing net on the facade. De Goede Rede is more or less a restaurant where the menu shows more differences than that of De Ankerplaats. It is a place for strangers and the innkeeper has some rooms free for the sparse curiosist that might show up on the island. The only other building in Nest worth mentioning is the temple to Aaser, which has been abandoned long ago - no priest could put up with the freedom the Roverseilandians demand for themselves, and some priests in Daleth claim even Aaser has left the island. The temple is small, stands on the eastern "tail" of the island, and is build of wreckage wood. The structure is so bad, ropes are used to keep it in place. It looks like a stranded ship now. Onzalige Gronden and MosselbochtThe eastern part of the island makes a curve and forms a bay, called the Mosselbocht. This place has good fishing grounds an belongs to the richest families of Roverseiland. "Mosselbocht" is also the name of a salty, high alcoholic Roverseiland drink, made of distilled sea grass and some secret ingredients.Further to the southeast, sandbanks are found. They are called the Onzalige Gronden. It is here that many ships are grounded on the sandbanks, which can happen under good weather conditions as well. The pirates however, have used these banks to trap the ships which they wanted to rob. Only the best skilled sailors of Roverseiland know exactly where the sandbanks are. The women of RoverseilandFrom ancient times, Roverseiland has a law that is different from any other country in Daleth. It states that the fishing grounds -those parts of the sea were the fishes can be found- belong to the women of the island. It is the women who own the ships for fishing, and they have inherited them from their mothers to give it to their daughters. The women don't stay at home, but go fishing while their husbands are supposed to stay at home.Supposed, because many a husband wants to feel the sea in his legs too. Unmarried men, who did not have a proper living, formed bands and committed piracy along the Dalethian coast. They were also hunting for far away fishing grounds, but thought piracy more satisfying. These pirate ships do attract married men now, as soon as the children of a couple have left home to go to school or go fishing as a mate on the ship of their mother. Related topics: |