That seems pretty complete to me. Good selection of factions and hazards unique to the area.

Definitely a coo Idea!

Very evocative! I'd like to play a legerdemainist exploring this place. ;)

White Pine Island sounds good. Probably a sign of something funky down below, albino plants as I understand it generally only survive if they can get some way of stealing nutrients from other plants, so a large stand of albino pines is probably not growing totally naturally.

rhialto wrote:

Blackadder23 wrote:

^
Hmmm... the Sea-Hold rediscovered, fighting between crews, Flotsam built and the council formed, Pike Keep built... I probably need to push the rediscovery back to about two years before the campaign begins.
 

I think six months is better: that sounds reasonable if at least some fantastic treasure has already been discovered, leading to a "treasure-rush" type environment (i.e, "there's treasure in them thar pines!"). If nothing has been discovered, or only moderate wealth, you probably don't have a boomtown. And along those lines: there might be an early explorer who struck it rich with a discovery, leading all the following explorers to rush in?

Good thoughts! There will have been at least one major treasure found, hence the "treasure rush". The reason I was thinking about extending the timeline was because of Pike Keep notionally being built after Ghost Pine Island was identified as the Sea-Hold. But maybe the keep has been there for years? Maybe the only land the "lord" could manage to claim was a shore of this godforsaken island, which he bitterly resented, never dreaming of all the wealth that lay underfoot? And now that treasure has been found there, he's trying to claim the whole island, but lacks the strength to do so as long as the captains' council remains united. That would allow for an older stone keep, with a dungeon underneath that possibly connects to the ancient delvings of the Sea-Hold in some way. Hmmm...

This is the timeline for the megadungeon at this point (I split the difference on the timing of its rediscovery). Little of this is known to the players, of course.
 
Roughly 1500 years ago: Corsairs of uncertain (but definitely non-Hyperborean) origin built a base on Ghost Pine Island, taking advantage of a sheltered cove and the high value of the albino pines for mast-building. Within a decade they had begun to range all over the Hyperborean Sea, raiding shipping and sacking coastal towns. The pirates were possessed of an artifact that rendered them invincible at sea, though no surviving records describe precisely how or why this was so. The crimson banner of the Ghost Pine Island pirates, emblazoned with a crab marked with a human skull, led to their being nicknamed “The Death-Crab Corsairs”.
 
Roughly 1250 years ago: The Sea-Hold of the Death-Crab Corsairs reached the height of its power, with great stone fortresses, bordellos, docks, and storehouses above ground, and the entire island honeycombed with underground treasuries, tombs, shrines, and more, all tied into an existing system of caverns. It’s said half the wealth of Hyperborea flowed into the Sea-Hold, much of it never to be seen again. The pirate kings and queens of the Sea-Hold were second only to the Hyperborean King in power, if indeed they ceded primacy to that august personage. Besides its veil of secrecy, a mysterious fog bank of unknown origin protected Ghost Pine Island from any chance of discovery.
 
Roughly 1150 years: After a century of gradual decline for the Death-Crab Corsairs, a major pirate fleet was caught by a rare Hyperborean punitive expedition and wiped out, the pirate queen being killed in battle. From this point the decline of the Sea-Hold became sharper, with many corsair raids failing and only the protective fog bank preventing the pirate kingdom from being found and destroyed.
 
Roughly 1100 years ago: For reasons unknown, the protective fog bank around Ghost Pine Island dissipated, leaving it vulnerable to attack. An alliance of several other pirate bands, barbarian reavers, and the Hyperborean navy attacked the Sea-Hold, killing the inhabitants to the last man and plundering the buildings on the surface. However, the vast underground works went undiscovered by the conquerors. Some of the victorious pirates occupied parts of the Sea-Hold and made a nuisance of themselves to shipping for a few years. An earthquake and tsunami toppled most of the buildings on the island and destroyed the ships of these lesser pirates; the survivors took to the forest and became the ancestors of the modern forest dwellers.
 
Roughly 1000 years ago: The Green Death struck Hyperborea, killing 90% of the population. The location of Ghost Pine Island, and the fact that it had once been the Sea-Hold of the Death-Crab Corsairs, were lost to history. Forest swallowed the last remaining vestiges of the Sea-Hold on the surface.
 
Roughly 700 years ago: Ghost Pine Island was rediscovered, though widely shunned due to the eerie and unwholesome appearance of its albino pines. According to legend, a mysterious fog bank occasionally concealed the island for weeks or months at a time.
 
Roughly 500 years ago: Under the aegis of Khromarium, a secretive cult of Helios worshippers bult a lighthouse on the north shore of Ghost Pine Island. This lighthouse was known as “The Red Flame” due to its crimson-tinged light (produced by unknown processes). It’s assumed that the lighthouse keepers knew nothing about the ancient history of the island until quite recently. Notably, the mysterious fog bank hasn’t been reported since the lighthouse began operation.
 
30 years ago: Kain Dellos, a fighter of some renown, landed on the east shore of the island with a force of mercenaries and declared himself Lord of Ghost Pine Island. His men reared Pike Keep to support these pretensions, but did little to explore or develop the land. Emissaries seeking a pledge of fealty from the Red Flame were never seen again, and Kain didn’t press the issue. Ten years later, Kain died and was succeeded by his son Kaliban, who bitterly resented being saddled with a “desolate, godforsaken, worthless island” and little gold to go with it.
 
1 year ago: Kimmerian corsair captain Antigonos the Tall discovered an ancient document written by one of the Hyperborean ship captains involved in sacking the Sea-Hold of the Death-Crab Corsairs, which described the unusual stands of albino pines on the island. Antigonos recognized this as a description of Ghost-Pine Island, and realized it must be the ancient Sea-Hold. He immediately sailed for the island on his ship, The Argossa. There he and his crew somehow discovered a buried trove of gold and exotic gems. Despite their captain’s desire that the rediscovery of the Sea-Hold be kept secret, many of the crew boasted about their luck while carousing back in Port Zangerios. When The Argossa again left port, it was pulled down by a whirlpool and lost with all hands. Superstitious sailors attributed this disaster to a curse on the wealth buried in the Sea-Hold, but that didn’t stop their captains from planning expeditions to seize more of it.
 
9 months ago: Ships, many of them crewed by pirates and other disreputable types, began arriving at Ghost Pine Island to ransack it for treasure. After a few tense days, there was open bloodshed between the crews. A truce was called after several deaths, and the captains of the various ships met to work out an accord. “Finders keepers” rights were asserted over any discoveries, and open violent theft was banned on pain of punishment by the “captains’ council”.
 
6 months ago: The town of Flotsam was founded by the captains’ council to provide treasure hunters with supplies, booze, and harlots. Soon afterward, Lord Kaliban became aware of the entire situation, and asserted dominion over the whole island and any treasure found on it. He was ignored, but is said to be augmenting the force at Pike Keep with mercenaries attracted by the promise of a share of the fabulous wealth to come.
 
4 months ago: The Invisible Empire of Atlantis, seeking the ancient artifact, established a hidden base somewhere on Ghost Pine Island.

Excellent. I'm interested in the Helios cult, they seem like a good way to have a little bit of variety in a very sea-dog heavy adventure site.

I do love me a hook horror.

rhialto wrote:

This is shaping up really nicely, and very Hyperborean! Have you consider any kind of weird science-fantasy stuff, e.g. Captain Nebo's Amazing Submersible?

Very possible! If nothing else, an apparatus of the Atlanteans would certainly be a useful item to find...

Also, I'm considering adding the crab-men as another faction and rivals to the deep ones (they could have disguised crab-kin agents in Flotsam), which could be another way for weird tech to get involved in the campaign.

Cool concept, I like it.

Caveman wrote:

Blackadder23 wrote:

rhialto wrote:

This is shaping up really nicely, and very Hyperborean! Have you consider any kind of weird science-fantasy stuff, e.g. Captain Nebo's Amazing Submersible?

Very possible! If nothing else, an apparatus of the Atlanteans would certainly be a useful item to find...

With a manual of how to operate it, of course?

Maybe pieces of one.