Editing D&D 5E: Smallfolk of Dragon's Reach (section)

== The Islands of the Archipelago ==

===<u>Alichokka</u>===

Alichokka is the main island of the archipelago and virtually all smallfolk are represented here. Like most of the islands of Dragon's Reach, the northern shoreline of the island is made up almost entirely of cliffs. The center north-western portion of the island rises sharply to a single green peak.

* '''The Hall of the Mountain King''' - Underneath the single high mountain of Alichokka lie the warrens and labyrinths of the gnomes and the small dwarves of the reach. Kobolds and Goblins also dwell beneath the mountain, but far lower than the dwarves typically go.
* '''Brightwater Bay''' - The central bay that branches out into the halfling fjords. A bustling fishing community. Known for it's plentiful fishing and unique biosphere, between the Northwest and Northeast halves of the great isle is a long and deep four-pronged fjord, the edges of which are inhabited by the coastal halflings, but the bay is home to the towns and villages of many cultures. It is one of the most cosmopolitan places of the archipelago.
* '''Blackwater Brake''' - The south-western cape of the island is a great swampland, primarily inhabited by the Grippli. Goblins live here as well.
* '''The Eastern Moors''' - Nearly the entire eastern side of the great island is the province of the lowland clans of human folk, mostly fishers and farmers, but small settlements of gnomes and halflings can also be found.

===<u>Faer</u>===

Faer is the most cosmopolitan of the isles of the Reach, with the races of many small folk living shoulder to shoulder. Faer's prime purpose is as the archipelago's primary ports of trade.

* '''Trader Down''' - Located on the deep harbor in the southwest corner of the island, Trader Down is the major port of Faer and the closest thing in Dragon's Reach to an actual city. Goods from all over the archipelago may be found in Trader Down.
* '''Carcasca Eyrie''' - At the northern approach to the bay where Trader Down and its surrounding settlements are located is the island of Carcasca Eyrie. This extinct volcano is the domain of the ancient copper wyrm Carcasca and some few of her descendants. A trading settlement and its supporting communities - populated largely by kobolds, but also by halflings, gnomes, and an assortment of other peoples - serves Carcasca's needs and whims and manages trade through the surrounding seas. Commerce and peaceful visitors are welcomed by the wyrm, territorial encroachment and clandestine exploitation of the island are not.
* '''Northport''' - Located in a tight bay at the northern end of the island, Northport is dug straight into the sea-facing cliffs and has an underground Harbour that the tallest ships can only access at low tide. Northport is primarily an expansive fishing village, but it is said to be a place to receive illicit and smuggled goods.
* '''The Midlands''' - The center of Faer is lush farmland primarily cultivated by human clans settled in small cooperative villages.
* '''Polygnostic Academy''' - The highlands in the northeast of Faer are the location of the Polygnostic Academy, a repository of knowledge and learning open to all who come with peaceful intentions and open minds. Academicians of all races are represented here, and the institution draws visitors from the length of the archipelago who are seeking after particular pieces of lore or solutions to difficult problems.

===<u>Ki</u>===

Ki is the smallest and wildest of the islands that are more than rocks standing up over the waves. Halflings and gnomes have been known to land there to resupply or - rarely - to trade, but it is mostly inhabited by goblins, Kobolds, and a small tribe of wood elves.

* '''Ijon Tower''' - Ijon Tower is a monastery perched on the north cliffline of Ki. It takes adherents of all races.
* '''Ghostlight Tower''' - Hidden deep in the jungles of Ki, the Ghostlight Tower was once the home of a legendary kobold wizard (or possibly a sorcerer, or maybe a warlock - different tales tell different things). He was said to consort with spirits from "beyond the sky", and disappeared one night as the tower blazed with green flame, never to be seen again. Now, the land around the tower is known as the '''Mad Place'''. Distances are slightly off, and the proportions of the plants and animals seem subtly wrong - leaves grow in odd shapes, and animals leave tracks that suggest they are somehow abnormal. Sleeping there brings eerie nightmares; staying there for a week or more can bring madness. Naturally, the locals avoid this place, but there are persistent rumors of treasure or great magical knowledge to be found in the tower... as well as the source of all this weirdness.

===<u>Rune</u>===

The Island of Rune is inhabited almost entirely by a moiety of sea giants and coastal halflings whose lives and tribes and lands and professions are so closely intertwined that it is believed that neither could long survive without the other. The Giants are small for their kind, standing only about 9 feet at maturity, and are said to be great practitioners of elemental magics. Particularly magics of air and storm and sea. Suspended walkways of wood and land roads of stone connect every home and village on the island, none of which are named.

For centuries, some of the world's finest scrimshaw has been found on Rune, where halfling artisans produce exquisite and sometimes magical works of art from the bones and ivory of whales and sea monsters hunted by their giant friends.

===<u>The Outer Reach</u>===

The islands to the north-east are mostly uninhabitable, bearing only the hardiest and shortest vegetation. Mostly it's just violent seas and rock and dragons.

* '''Wandering Isle''' - Occasionally seen among the isles of the Outer Reach, the Wandering Isle is a perfectly normal island, small and roughly diamond-shaped, bearing a sturdy stone house at one end. The chimney of this house always trails smoke, and at night, yellow lamp-light glows through the windows. This island has been reported in numerous places through the Reach, appearing seemingly at random; it has never been observed disappearing or appearing, but its location has been noted, only for it to inexplicably vanish the next time anyone checks. Once, a small merchant vessel was found adrift and derelict; the last entry in the captain's log spoke of putting ashore at a small, uncharted island, empty save for a stone house, and the entire crew heading ashore "to find what manner of man might be living here."
* '''Gaira''' - This long island between Alichokka and the Outer Reach is mostly flat land used as pasture for sheep and cattle by the people of Alichokka's Eastern Moors, being thick in grass and thin in predators. At its northern end, though, the land rises sharply into a rocky promontory. At the highest point of the island, almost atop the windward cliffs, there's a huge cairn, a dome of mossy, weather-worn boulders piled thirty feet high. It's said to be the burial mound of an ancient giant hero, or of a legendary monster she slew. Most nights, and especially during storms, it's crowned by greenish foxfires so large and bright that sailors use it as a beacon.