Croc Tooth Isles

From above, the archipelago resembles a necklace of jagged fangs - hence the name. No sandbar rises more than 10 m above the tidal line, so wind and spray sculpt every shore. The climate is hot, wet, and restless; afternoon squalls are as reliable as sunrise.   After the Veiled Wave scoured the archipelago decades ago, dunes and brine‐pits replaced jungled ridges. Today, flat coral flats, salt-cracked mud tongues, and shallow blue-green lagoons dominate the landscape. The real height of the Isles is no longer measured in metres of ground but in skyrunner masts that drift far overhead.  

Post-Wave Ecology

Life hurried back - or crept ashore - sooner than anyone expected:  

• Glass Anemones: Carpet every exposed rock. Their transparent fronds snap shut on insects, small birds, or fingers that linger.
• Skein Mosquitos: Swarm in shimmering clouds; their iridescent wings attract starfish predators.
• Star-Hunters: Plate-sized land starfish that scuttle on dozens of tiny feet and ambush shore crabs.
• Sand Sharks: Slate-grey cartilaginous fish that swim through dry sand, tracking vibrations. They burst up like breaching dolphins - usually beneath unwary boots.
• Bloom-lure Anglerfish: Amphibious hunters that anchor in tide-pools, dangling bioluminescent petals to draw prey (or curious explorers) within bite range.

  Paradoxically, the lagoons and coastal shallows are safer; most predators stalk the interior flats or lurk in anemone fields.  

Society and Culture of the Khajari

The Khajari count years from The Day the Sea Stood Tall, dividing history into Pre-Wave and Sky-Age eras. Every survivor considers themselves twice-born: once from their mother, once from the storm.   Khesura’s Pact still shapes daily life. Each season the tribe performs the Tithe of Voices: twenty-four hours of communal singing released into the upper air. Every skyrunner hull bears a tiny feather-rune as a reminder that slavery or forced passage would break the covenant.    

Notable Figures

  Khesura, Daughter-of-Tempests: Elder air elemental who empowered the skyrunners. Appears as a thunderhead full of rainbow lightning when she chooses to listen.   Captain Oru “Jawbite”: Pirate king believed drowned, but rumours place him as a ghost admiral commanding wreck-spirits in midnight fogs. His hidden ledger still inspires treasure hunters.  

Relations With Nearby Lands

Dashan

Once allies in sail-weaving and spice routes, always divided by creed.   The Dashani are gentle mystics who pray to the goddess Aziz, yet factions loyal to retired generals now contest theocratic rule. Khajari merchants find Dashani ports unpredictable: one week open-handed, the next bristling with militias. Nevertheless, Dashan remains the safest source of grain and linen the Isles cannot grow; the Khajari trade storm-crab shell and sky-salt in exchange. Skyrunner captains often carry refugee monks away from violence - quietly, to avoid angering the war camps.  

Zaxi

A glittering desert of broken towers south-east of the Croc Tooth isles. Its people vanished in a catastrophic spell centuries ago, leaving relics that hum with unstable sorcery. Khajari scavengers glide in on skyrunners, pluck treasures from half-collapsed observatories, and race the inevitable sand-storms back to the sea. Few linger; Zaxi’s wards and artifacts twist time and gravity, and more than one crew has returned with fewer hours in their memories than when they launched.     GM info / spoilers / plot hooks.

This is GM information