Kindred Isles

When the people from beyond the eastern mountain ranges first arrived in Vault they found a fertile land, untouched by industry of civilization. Lush forests, sweeping plains, and teeming rivers greeted their arrival -- as did the Kindred.

Tortles, Tabaxi, Yuan-Ti, Loxodon, Aarakocra, Harengon, Lizardfolk, Owlin, Leonin, and all manner of other species that resembled the creatures of the world given the intellect and faculties of any other species. Bears, wolves, and even mice; it seemed the newcomers to the western reaches encountered every animal they'd ever known walking about on two legs, dressed in similar garb to themselves, living in small nomadic communities across the world. They called these people the Kindred, and then immediately set about killing them off.

Of course, that was not entirely their fault. The Kindred turned out to be incredibly territorial and intolerant of anyone attempting to share what they considered rightfully theirs. As more and more people crossed the eastern mountains and entered into the western lands of Vault, the Kindred understood the implications and began violent revolts wherever the newcomers could be found. Unfortunately, those newcomers brought with them weapons, military tactics, and magic beyond anything the Kindred had ever known. And they also had their gods.

Slowly, over hundreds of years, the Kindred were pushed from their homes as thousands of elves, dwarves, humans, halflings and more spread across Vault. And while attempts were made to share the land, the Kindred knew giving an inch would result in a mile. And so they fought. And they lost. Until at long last, the Kindred had been pushed from every land they'd called home share for one -- a cursed island known as "Rotwood." Although many places would become inhabitable in the thousands of years that followed, Rotwood Island had always been a place Kindred and newcomer alike kept clear from. That is until the Kindred were forced to call it home as the last remaining piece of land not taken by the newcomers. 

Rotwood became known as Kindred Isle and it was the final defeat of the once proud people of the Kindred. Many of them left and decided to admit defeat, sharing the lands their ancestors called home with those newcomers who now had ancestors of their own in those lands. The two peoples were now intertwined and there was no undoing it. But many Kindred remained proud of the heritage, and made Rotwood a home.

There, among the putrid trees and turbid waters, they called upon and learned ancient magics to turn the unlivable into the bearable. And then the bearable into the livable. And then the livable into paradise.

For hundreds of years the Kindred Isle became a destination for those seeking old magics and serene, beautiful lands. The Kindred tolerated visitors but would not suffer those visitors to outstay their welcome, and the peoples of the world gave them that, at least. The Kindred established a kingdom, their royalty wielding magics to keep the isle fertile and abundant.

And then the King disappeared. In 2388 the ruling monarch, a Bear-kin named Doxx the Dire, went missing with no clue as to where he'd gone or why. The very next day, the pestilence that once plagued the isle began to manifest once more. The dormant magics that made Rotwood began to return, and over the last couple years have continued to spread across the Isle.

The question of succession, which should have been straightforward, was muddied by the mysterious circumstances surrounding Doxx's disappearance. Kindred began to quarrel and argue. Clans began to form, alliances forged, old pacts and old grudges were renewed. The Kindred Isle erupted into chaos, and from around Vault, Kindred began to return to their homeland to assist and support their families, or simply to try and stop the fighting.

Now, the Kindred Isle suffers not only the rot of an old and unknowable magic but the decay of a tumultuous people who would rather spite their last remaining home than see it fall into the hands of those they consider adversaries.

And the rest of Vault simply watches from afar, content to allow the small island in the Kindred Sea deal with its own problems.