Lhazaar Principalities

Tides of Blood and Gold

The Lhazaar Principalities is a loose nation of sailors, merchants, privateers, and pirates. It is made up of a number of separate entities, called principalities, each of which has its own ruler, holdings, citizens, and ships. Lhazaarites make their living from the sea, serving other nations as fishers, merchants, couriers, privateers, and mercenaries.
The Principalities have existed for centuries. They were the first lands settled by the human migrants from Sarlona, and though the famed pioneer Lhazaar led her expedition to these shores three thousand years ago, scattered groups of refugees arrived even before her, some as early as five thousand years ago. These bands were too small and weak to challenge the goblinoids for control of Khorvaire, so they remained on the islands off the continent’s northeast shore. Similarly, waves of migrants arrived after Lhazaar, adding to the population of this area. At the time of these expeditions, Sarlona was composed of a dozen distinct kingdoms, each constantly at war with the others. Some people, looking at the history and the current state of the Principalities, would argue that here, at least, little has changed.
The Seadragon Principality, led by High Prince Ryger ir’Wynarn (LN male human ranger 9), is the nation’s largest—which is to say, Ryger’s personal followers and the twenty ships under their command form the largest fleet in the Lhazaar Sea, allowing them to control the largest swath of territory. Ryger claims descent from the kings of Galifar and dreams of rebuilding a united kingdom. So far, though, he has been unable to unite the squabbling princes to do anything more than present a unified face (Ryger’s own) to the deliberations at Thronehold that ended the Last War and established the Lhazaar Principalities as a sovereign nation. Prince Ryger’s flagship, Dragoneye, makes its home port at Regalport.
The Cloudreaver Principality is in some ways the antithesis of the Seadragons. If Ryger’s rule represents stability for the Lhazaar Principalities as the nation moves forward to a new future, the Cloudreavers represent the violent instability of a return to the old ways of bloodthirsty piracy. Led by Prince Mika Rockface (CE female dwarf barbarian 6), the Cloudreavers are a powerful band of marauders claiming six fast ships and Krag Island, including Port Krez.
The Direshark Principality is led by Prince Kolberkon (LE male changeling fighter 7), who imagines himself Ryger’s greatest rival and hopes to become the next High Prince. Kolberkon has been working to improve his base in Port Verge so that it will rival Regalport, and to that end has made alliances with both the Order of the Emerald Claw and House Lyrandar.
The Gray Tide Principality, in addition to being an unexplained feature of the sea beyond Lastpoint Island, is led by another changeling, Prince Kel (N male changeling rogue 6). He dreams of establishing a homeland for the changeling race and has succeeded in drawing a significant population of changelings—mostly followers of the reality seeker philosophy trying to create a perfect community. The Gray Tide is located on and around Lastpoint, though rumors say that it has a fleet hidden in the tendrils of mist from which it takes its name.
The Bloodsail Principality, led by Prince Shaen Tasil (LE female elf cleric 7 Blood of Vol), includes a large number of elves said to be allies of the line of Vol, who were banished from Aerenal when that bloodline was exterminated. Its base of operations is Port Cairn, at the southern extreme of Farlnen Island.
The Wind Whisperers Principality is primarily made up of half-elves, led by Prince Koulton Brightwind (CN male half-elf ranger 4/dragonmarked heir 4), an expatriate scion of House Lyrandar with a high price on his head. Koulton fled his family in an elemental galleon twenty years ago, and has so far managed to evade the house’s efforts to retrieve the ship and remove him. He has used his Mark of Storm to forge a new principality and pull together a sizable fleet, and the other princes resent him—both for seizing territory some of them had claimed, and for exacerbating the typically strained relations between the Lhazaar Principalities and House Lyrandar.
The Heavenly Fleet is the smallest of the Lhazaar Principalities, though it is growing—in defiance of all predictions. Led by Prince Lorrister (LG male aasimar ranger 4/paladin 4), the Heavenly Fleet is dedicated to bringing justice to the Lhazaar Sea and the rule of law to all its settlements. The prince holds his crews to high ideals and hopes to impose those same ideals on the people of the Principalities.
Even though the Lhazaarites greet Lorrister’s principles with scorn, people outside the Principalities who share his philosophy are attracted to his cause, and Lorrister claims a large number of foreign supporters and suppliers. This influx of aid from such places as Thrane, the Martial Temple of Dol Arrah in Starilaskur, and numerous private benefactors translates into the finest gear and supplies for Lorrister’s ships and crews.
Prince Lorrister might come to the aid of player characters facing the perils of the Lhazaar Sea, sailing to the rescue like some celestial cavalry riding over the hill. However, he is likely to ask characters who are indebted to him to return the favor by striking against one of his many enemies. He is on a perpetual crusade against evil in the Principalities, and he recognizes the Cloudreavers as his greatest enemies. He also bears a particular grudge against the Blood of Vol and actively campaigns in opposition to that cult’s activities.
The other princes scoff at Prince Lorrister’s morals, but they are leery of his strength. In the future they might form an alliance to destroy the paladin and his crusaders, but for now they use their wiles to play him against their foes. For his part, Lorrister may be idealistic, but he is not naive, and he remains fully aware of his rivals’ plans.

ISLES OF MYSTERY

A mighty storm rages above Tempest Isle’s central mountain. It spits lightning and shouts thunder, and its winds make the seas treacherous a mile away from the island’s shores. Some say that storm giants, refugees from Xen’drik’s ancient wars, live on the mountain and maintain the storm to keep their old foes at bay. Other rumors speak of a pirate wizard who arrived on the island with his captain and crew.
After the pirates hid their treasure on the mountain, they betrayed and murdered the wizard, adding his magical possessions to their hoard. The wizard returned as a ghost and slew them all, and now pirate ghosts wage eternal war in the sky. Still other tales say that a rakshasa rajah, one with great power over the weather, lies imprisoned within the mountain, and the storm is a sign of his imminent awakening.
Whatever the case, adventurers and pirates come to Tempest Isle to seek the truth. Most believe that gold, magic, or both wait in the mountain’s caves.
Visitors to Tempest Isle first experience rainfall and winds near the shore. A tribe of particularly large and brutal scrags (8 HD each) lairs there. These aquatic trolls seem more intelligent than others of their kind. They paint designs on their leather armor and prefer to ambush and confuse their prey rather than rush headlong into battle.
The nearby rocky Traglorn Isle is home to a large tribe of cliffwalk shifters who call themselves the Sun-Kin. They claim that their people once inhabited both Traglorn and Tempest Isle, but in years long forgotten one of their kind lost an ancestral artifact to a hobgoblin trickster. The storm set in after the artifact vanished, and the Sun-Kin fled to Traglorn. Since that time, brave warriors from the tribe have set out across Eberron to locate their lost relic, but none have been successful. Strangely, the Sun-Kin wear wooden decorations bearing sigils similar to those the Tempest Isle scrags paint on their armor.
The island of Trebaz Sinara is surrounded by treacherous reefs and is home to terrible monsters, two factors that combine to leave the island uninhabited. Despite these dangers, however, the island (at least according to legend) has served a number of important purposes over the centuries.
The first Sarlonan settlers of the area built tombs here, and indeed some of the monsters that attack visitors to the island, including both undead and construct guardians, seem to be connected to those crypts. In addition, countless pirates are said to have hidden their treasures on the island, but never returned to retrieve them. These tales strain the limits of credulity, but the number of people who claim to have returned from Trebaz Sinara with tangible proof of the wealth they found there is enough to ensure a steady stream of treasure-hunters. Most are not heard from again.
Dreadhold is an island prison maintained by House Kundarak. First established by Karrn the Conqueror, Dreadhold has contained some of the most dangerous criminals the world has ever known. Popular belief says that no prisoner has ever escaped the island, but whispered rumors suggest that the truth might be otherwise.

What Do You Know?

Knowledge (Geography)

DC 10: The Lhazaar Prinicipalities is a nation of factions that vie for supremacy. It's population is primarily human, with a strong gnome, half-elf and changeling presence.
DC15: Dozens of princes control land and ships in the Principalities. Ryger ir'Wynarn is the best known, since he represented the Principalities at the Thronehold discussions. Ryger seeks to unite the Principalities into a true nation, but has met with strong resistance from the other lords.
DC 20: Aside from Prince Ryger's Seadragons, other groups include the vicious pirates of Prince Mika’s Cloudreavers, the mercenary Diresharks, the changeling Gray Tide, the Bloodsails of Farlnen, the half-elf Wind Whisperers, and the well-intention Heavenly Fleet.

Knowledge (History)

DC 10: The Lhazaar Principalities declared their independence from Galifar early in the Last War.
DC15: The Lhazaar-Galifar war started in 28 YK and lasted for a decade before the Lhazaar princes finally became a semiautonomous province of the young Kingdom of Galifar.
DC 20: The Lhazaar Principalities was the site of the first human settlement in Khorvaire.

Knowledge (Local)

DC 15: Laws are lax in the Principalities and vary in each prince's territory. The people are rough and ready; the towns have a frontier feel, full of opportunity and danger.

Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty)

DC 10: House Thuranni is based in the Lhazaar Principalities. The other houses have a minimal presence.

Knowledge (Religion)

DC 10: Lhazaarites have little interest in religion.
DC 15: The Blood of Vol has a disproportionate number of followers in the Lhazaar Principalities, particularly among the Bloodsails.
DC 30: Vol's stronghold is somewhere in the Lhazaar Principalities.

Source: Player's Guide to Eberron

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