Tavaru - The Beast Isle

South of the pirate-choked waters of Thunder’s Point lies Tavaru, an island as ancient as the breath of gods, shaped like a leviathan of old, its spine crowned in forest and bone. To outsiders, it’s the Beast Isle, a place of wild magic, roaring storms, and creatures from the world’s dawn. But to those who dwell beneath its canopy and mist-shrouded cliffs, it is sacred, living with memories.   The island is home to the Tavari Druids, who claim descent from the first breath of Eluvemar. They do not tame nature, they bind with it. Between hatchling to death, a Tavari soul is tied to a beast, a tree, or even a whispering spirit, though very rare, in the bone-deep ley lines that thread through Tavaru’s soil.   Originally, there was only one tribe known simply as The Rootbinders a unified circle of druids inhabiting the sacred island of Tavaru. They honoured their bond with the island’s beasts and revered the cycles of memory, growth, and decay together.   But the arrival of The Pirate King from Thunder’s Point forced a divisive and desperate choice upon the Rootbinders. Under threat from pirate raids, the tribe's leaders negotiated a controversial pact: allowing pirates limited coastal access and alchemical trade in exchange for safety and survival.   This decision shattered the unity of the Rootbinders and a faction within the tribe fiercely rejected the compromise, condemning it as betrayal and weakness. These dissenters broke away entirely, becoming known as The Skyclad, ascending to Tavaru’s cliffs and highlands to live in proud isolation, bonding to the fiercest predators and sky-riders. This event is remembered and named bitterly as The Broken Binding, and it forever divided their paths.   Now, 75 years later, the two druidic tribes dominate the island: the Rootbinders of the southern lowlands and the Skyclad of the eastern cliffs and high reaches.   The Rootbinders, guardians of life and decay, make their homes in and around Little Ivywood . This lowland village is a labyrinth of bark-grown huts, elevated walkways, and fungal towers. The air hums with insects and warm rain. Here, swamp-beasts roam freely through the flooded glades, and herbivorous giants are revered as walking temples. Little Ivywood is where eggs are guarded, beasts are healed, and rites of bonding are performed under the glow of luminous spores. Though isolated, the Rootbinders maintain uneasy relations with the pirates of Thunder’s Point, honouring an ancient pact in exchange for protection and silence.   High above, carved into sheer cliffs and spiralling peaks, lies Galson, the roost-town of the Skyclad. Unlike Little Ivywood, Galson is almost impossible to approach on foot. Stone pathways wind like talon marks across narrow ledges, while rope bridges swing wildly above mist-filled chasms. This is where the Skyclad dwell — warrior-seers, beast-riders, and death-marked prophets. Here, raptors roost in spires, their riders scarred and silent. From these heights, the Skyclad launch into the skies on Skyscreamers and Thunderbeaks, patrolling the sacred nesting grounds and warding off intruders. They see the Rootbinders as too soft, too compromised, and the pirates as little more than plague-flesh.   Some whisper of a third force awakening in Tavaru, something older than even the tribes. A bone deep in the heart of the jungle, where the ley lines converge. Where the beasts speak with dreams.   And there are others who say that one day, Tavaru itself will rise , not as an isle, but as something else. A final breath of the Old World, unleashed.