As South As South Goes

I've seen it oce and only from afar. Made my hair stand on end. I'ts just wrong that place I'm telling ya. Bloody storm drove us right towards it. Evil winds all set on crashing us on its cliffs. Never seen the crew pull so hard on the oars in my life. They were all shitting themselves. Not that I wasn't terrified myself, I'm telling ya, but at least i wasn't calling for my mother like a squirming piglet.
We made it through the storm, that being all that matters now really. Next morning it was all clear sky, calm sea, like the night before had just been a nightmare. But the nightmare wasn't over then, I'm telling ya. We could still see the islands, all those strange green hills. And there were birds circling on high, mighty big birds. Big enough to be preying on people. No sign of the other ships. None at all. We never found a single plank floating on the water. But the strangest thing was this: The sun was all up and bright, but behind the Islands, we could still see the stars. And among the stars, there was something moving. Moving, I'm telling ya.

— A sailors tale

Deep in the southern sea, there is said to be a group of small islands rising from the depths of the sea. Few have gazed upon them and returned. None ever set foot on them and returned to tell the tale.

Whilst there are many that don't believe even in the existence of the islands, there is little doubt amongst sailing folk. The tales of those who claim to have seen them are spread wide and live long, the terror that they carry with them rooted deep in the history of mortals.

For these Islands are mentioned even in the oldest of documents, going all the way back to the Years of Learning, when the high spirits descended from the Spirit Realm to instruct the mortal races. Although the man task of the high spirits had been to bring skills of battle to the young mortal races, they also brought gifts of many other kinds. One of these gifts was the Tale Of Beginnings, the history from the earliest days of creation. This tale is a warning against thoughts of uprising against the gods, for it end with the destruction of the majority of the demons, the first mortal race, after their attempt to overthrow the gods.

The Islands itself are marked taboo for all mortal kind from their first days on the Land. Getting too close to the Islands is considered an attempt to pass over to the Spirit Realm and thus an attempt of usurping the gods. All those that break this law are doomed to die. Needless to say with all such things that are forbidden, there are those that seek them out. Many never reach them, for the Endless Sea is cruel and untamed. How many ever make it, no one knows, for they never return.