I’ve been finding reasons to linger around the Principles and the Fathomking’s court, not because I want more scintillack, or drowning pearls and strategic information (stop giving me scintillack!!), but because the atmosphere there from the art, stories, and music was pretty much tailor-made to make me happy.
And I would go live in Khan’s Glory given the chance, despite my total lack of Mongolian, those worrisome officials, the odd hunt obsessed neighbors…er. But I’d settle for more quests there![li]
Are there any islands that your captains favor, either in or out of character?
Mine would have to be the Principles of Coral as well. The atmosphere and the music that plays there is incredible.
Another favourite is the far north. The feeling of dread when Mt. Nomad is observed for the first time close to the Avid Horizon was bone chilling for me.
For myself, the interest is twofold, first in what the port actually looks like, and then in the flavour and feel of the port itself once you land.
For appearance, Khan’s Shadow gets an easy win, I love the China Mieville story “The Scar,” and the description of a floating island made of nothing but boats with a single anchoring point around them, a hub of piratical activity where anyone with the Iron is welcome. However, the Chapel of Lights and the Iron Republic are very close second. Both of them have that level of presence that you could imagine seeing them from a distance and marking both time and distance to them. I like the idea of the principles, if not the place itself, particularly with the still visible wreck in the near vicinity, but of the wrecks that interest me most, the Nocturne still holds her dark secrets and I like the idea that things have not yet been investigated fully (Like the Godfall tunnels), and that brings me to the contents of the locations.
In terms of the flavour and feel of the port itself, I like Hunters Keep, there’s a sense of the Victorian spirit there, in that whatever may approach, we will overcome, no matter how far from civilisation and how long it would take help to get there, we are here and here will we will remain.
I also like the Salt Lions, there’s something of the Neverending story about them, two sphinx’s staring at each other with nothing all around them, from which searing Enigma’s can be gained (Although if the Empress suddenly needs a new name, I’ll be wanting a luck dragon as the reward), and the idea that even after they’re gone, they still remain. I like that a whole lot.
Of places I don’t like, the Isle of Cats, Codex, The Fathomkings Hold, and the reason is not for any aesthetic reason, but that nothing good comes out of them, and by that I mean that all the results that you can get from them comes with a price in misery or madness, and for me, as a captain, as a person, there is nothing good that comes from the suffering of others, and rich though the rewards may be, they’re not worth the price paid to get them.