Smuggler's Shiv

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A map of Smuggler's Shiv.

Smuggler's Shiv is a small island in Desperation Bay, off the coast of Vidrian. It is infamous for its reefs and dangerous currents, which have wrecked numerous ships—some of them sailing too close while avoiding the Sargavan navy based in nearby Eleder, as it was known during the nation's previous government.

The island is uninhabited, though it has been believed to be inhabited by cannibals and ghosts, and maybe even worse creatures—passing ships sometimes report sighting strange glowing forms on the shore.

Because of its fearsome reputation, Smuggler's Shiv is a popular place for pirates to bury their treasure. The island gets its name from the knife-like shape of its coastline and the number of smugglers shipwrecked near it.

Geography

Smuggler's Shiv is a small island of the coast of the Vidrian capital of Anthusis. It is approximately 14 miles from north to south and 10 miles east to west,✝ with a large salt-water lagoon in the northern half. It is heavily forested and dotted with numerous small streams, providing plenty of fresh water.

Flora

A large patch of viper nettles, a rare and spiky tropical plant whose red berries are known to have strong antiemetic qualities, grows on the island's northern peninsula.

Fauna

Smuggler's Shiv has numerous animals that live across the island, including giant rats, various birds, fish, monkeys, and jungle goats. Predators are also common, and including dimorphodons, snakes, giant spiders, giant crabs, shocker lizards, shiv dragons, and cave fishers.

History

A small lighthouse was built on the island's southwestern shore by the Chelaxian settlers of Sargava when they first started colonizing the region. It was erected to warn sailors off from the island's dangerous reefs and shoals, and was supposed to be the first building of a larger colony. This project was abandoned due to rumors of ghosts, curses, and cannibalism.

The island played a role in the Vidric Revolution through the revolutionaries' alliance with the Free Captains of the Shackles Pirates, who sent numerous Sargavan ships to their doom by forcing them toward the island. After Vidrian won its independence, the Vidric Council sent expeditions to investigate the island, but all of them ended much as past attempts to explore the island had—with the agents who returned at all terrified by what they had seen.

Hauntings

The island's reputation for being haunted is well-deserved, as hundreds of sailors have found their deaths there. Their phantasmal presences can be seen at night thrashing about in the surf or beckoning to the living to join them below the waves. Their unnatural appearance is enhanced by the presence of the green, bioluminescent plankton commonly seen at night.

Shipwrecks

The shoals around Smuggler's Shiv are littered with the wrecks of countless ships. Most have broken apart or are far underwater, but a few are near enough to shore to be identified. They include the Tattooed Lady, Tears of Grog, Golden Bow, Bloody Doll, Brine Demon, Scallywag, Nightvoice, Windwar, Bearded Harpy, Scarred Maiden, Crimson Angel, Volar's Lash, Wavereaper, Crow's Tooth, Bloodwalker, Alma's Ruin, Redwake, and Thrune's Fang.

References

Paizo published an 8-panel poster map of Smuggler's Shiv in the Serpent's Skull Poster Map Folio, and a map of the island with labeled locations and a more accurate scale in Souls for Smuggler's Shiv.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.