Brackenwake
Chapter 03 · Marsh and islands
Reed marsh to the horizon, then a thousand islands, each with one tree and one wreck.
A sense of place
Two lands in one realm. Inland, a fen: knee-deep water, sedge to the shoulder, eel weirs, will-o'-wisps. Seaward, an archipelago: a thousand islets of sand, palm and coral running out into the Caldera Sea, channels between them, the first open water you sail.
On the horizon
The Red Queen's Harbour: a pirate city built across a dozen islets and the wrecks between them, joined by planked bridges and chains, its lighthouse a ship's mast a hundred feet tall with a fire in the crow's nest.
The paths within
Great landmark
The pirate republic's capital across a dozen islets, chain bridges, a mast lighthouse.
Queen Maravel, Grey Tancred's barge fleet at anchor, the boat you are given, sailing and fishing training, salvage market
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Settlement
A stilt-house on an old mill in the fen, the wheel standing in dry sedge.
Aldo Reeve and the eel family, the safe paths through the sedge, Long Sarah fed monthly
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Wild country
The open fen, sedge and standing water, wisps at night.
Bog crawlers, ghouls, Long Sarah, the Eel-Man checking his traps
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Dungeon
A sea cave under the largest isle where the last sea-wyrm lies, tide-filled.
Crabs, drowned, a mire troll, Thalassa the Sea-Wyrm
2 dungeon levels · Boss: Thalassa the Sea-Wyrm
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Sea
The archipelago itself, sailed not walked, channels, shoals, wrecks on every reef.
The Red Sail race, the Ghost Tide on moonless nights, the Stack-Queen's rock, kraken shoals
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Ruin
A graveyard of ships driven onto one reef over three centuries, hulls stacked into a maze.
Salvage, drowned crews, Little Sorrow walking the tide line
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Mine
A cut in the largest isle's cliff, iron and silver, the yard washed at every high tide.
Iron and silver, crabs in the cuts
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Road
A drowned causeway from the fen to the first isle, dry for an hour either side of low tide.
Crabs on the stones, drowned in the pools, the only way to the Harbour without a boat
The tide clock is real: on the causeway when the sea comes in you swim or you drown, and the drowned rise with the water.
Camp
Three islets with caves at the waterline, boats hidden under nets.
A pirate crew that has broken with Maravel, contraband, a fence for anything
They fly Maravel's colours to strangers; the Red Queen pays for their heads or for their silence, and the player chooses which trade to run.
Wild country
The deep fen at night, lit by will-o'-wisps that move as you move.
Wisps that lead to drowned treasure or to a bog crawler, and no way to tell which
Follow a wisp and it leads true one time in three; the eel family sell a lantern that shows which colour lies.
Sea
Shallows between the outer isles where the water goes black without warning.
The kraken, once, if you anchor there at night; the best pearls in the isles
Anchoring is a choice: pearls by day, the kraken by night, and a boat it takes is a boat you replace at the Harbour.
Out on the road
From the world plans. Encounters and events may change during development.
Lives woven through the land
The characters, secrets and dragon’s journey through the Saltmarch and the Thousand Isles.
Reed marsh to the horizon under a white sky, then the marsh breaks into water, and the water into a thousand islands, each with one tree and one wreck. A boat with a red sail beating between them, and something with a fin longer than the boat following it.
Two places in one realm: the fen inland (knee-deep water, sedge, eels, will-o'-wisps) and the archipelago beyond it (sand, palms, coral, the first open sea). You get a boat here. Sailing is a zone.
The Isles are the pirate republic of Brackenwake and the only people on the continent who do not fear the Legion, because the Legion cannot sail. Their queen wants the dragon for the same reason: a dragon on a mast would make the Isles unbeatable. The Sunken Kingdom's ghosts rise on certain nights from the deep water between the islands, and the Leviathan that follows your boat is the dragon's cousin: the last of the sea-wyrms, dying, and it has something for the dragon.
The Leviathan's Rest: a sea cave under the largest isle where the last sea-wyrm lies. Crabs, drowned, a Mire Troll, and Thalassa the Sea-Wyrm, a Hydra promoted with a name, who is not fought unless you fail to bring Aldo: with him she lets the dragon close and gives it the tail, and dies. Without him she is the realm's boss.
The Ghost Tide, an event: on moonless nights the drowned of the Sunken Kingdom walk up out of the sea between the isles in ranks and board any boat at anchor. Long Sarah, a Bog Crawler grown beyond its kind in the fen. The Red Sail, Maravel's own ship, which challenges yours to a race once and pays in charts.
Eats fish and crab, and learns to swim. Takes back the tail from Thalassa.
