Typhoon Isles

The Typhoon Isles are a storm-swept archipelago off the eastern coast of Vorith. Having experienced relative isolation from the mainland for hundreds of years, the races of the Isles, collectively called the Typhoonese, have developed a distinct culture unlike any other in the world.

Geography
Much like the rest of the world, the Typhoon Isles lost all of its forests to arcane radiation during the Bright War. Since then, however, its native fey creatures have rejuvenated most of the forests and purified the waterways. Altogether, the archipelago is comprised of over 300 hundred islands, but its four major ones are Obanaka, Toshiyama, Ryokage, and Hachimoto. Each of them are ruled by their respective clans of the same name. Many of the islands are volcanically active.

The Forest Kingdoms
Little is known about the early history of the Isles, except that tribes of wood elves formed small kingdoms that warred with the oni of the mountains and the orochi of the rivers.

The Fanged Empire
For 1104 years, the Typhoon Isles were ruled by the sinister orochi and their immortal leader, the Fanged Emperor. Most of the world looked upon the orochi with disdain for the cruel treatment of their slaves and their general treachery. During the Bright War, however, a fatal plague ravaged their population and forced their emperor into hiding. Oddly, this plague only proved to be dangerous to the orochi.

Rise of the Four Clans
In the wake of the orochi’s fall and the end of the Bright War, four human clans came to power. They established a strict feudal society and outlawed slavery and the use of arcane magic after having experienced the horrors of both firsthand. In 164 ABW, a samurai general named Obanaka Hisheki united the four clans into the first human empire of the Isles. Without the orochi’s magic to keep them at bay, however, the oni resumed their raiding of the lowlands, beginning a new chapter of warfare. The citizens of the Typhoon Empire are wary of mainlanders, distrustful of wizards, warlocks, and sorcerers, and do not readily permit foreign merchants to do business within their country.

Religion
The wood elves and humans of the Isles primarily worship the Nine Spirits. The Spirits take the forms of animals and act as the guardians of certain sacred places, such as volcanoes or waterfalls, though they haven't been seen in centuries. Meanwhile, the orochi worship the three snake deities Dendar, Merrshaulk, and Sseth.