Safari Island has gone Wild

 As a sort of follow-up to my ideas about the Kingdom of Ierendi, I have thought a little bit about Safari Island. In Gaz4 it is described as a mixture of managed wilderness and arenas where mock adventures can be played out. Personally I'm not keen on the latter - I'm not interested in "adventures" where neither the threat nor the rewards are real even for the characters. In Gaz4 Safari Island gets several pages so I'm not going to quote it all here. 

Cartography by Thorfin Tait, source

My ideas about Safari Island

The set-up described in Gaz4, with the arenas with the arranged adventures was put together about 50 years ago by the archmage Dhammon who partly viewed it as a business venture, but also enjoyed thrilling guests and audiences, and for about 40 years this worked well. Powerful enchantments kept the captive monsters in the arenas and adventure parks well behaved. The villages of Kodos and Calatupos were renowned destinations for thrill-seeking tourists. Connections with Ierendi island were strong and business was good. There was even a demand for captured monsters from distant lands, particularly dinosaurs from the legendary Isle of Dread, which some brave adventurers attempted and a few even succeeded. The Velociraptor exhibit would always draw large crowds. 

Then something went wrong - horribly wrong. The enchantments that held the captive monsters in check somehow dissipated or maybe were dispelled. A hill giant in a hill-shaped arena that should pretend to capture and devour a young boy actor suddenly lost its temper and flung the poor boy down the steep hill, killing the poor lad. Trolls that were in the same arena and should just scare visitors decided to tear one "adventurer" apart, and almost did the same to his terrified colleagues. 

Monsters that had not previously been recorded on the island started to turn up. Foul play was suspected, and they were right. One of Dhammon's apprentices, Irden, became resentful at always being bossed around by Dhammon and being treated worse than the exhibits (at least in his eyes). He became a Twisted Summoner and one fateful summer he undid all the safeguarding enchantments using Dispel Magic, while unleashing his own chaotic minions. Safari Island descended into chaos and destruction, with boatloads of tourists fleeing the island. Another of Dhammon's apprentices, Arnoth, and his bodyguard the fighter Rogar of Muldune were killed while trying to rescue tourists from the dinosaurs. 

No-one is sure what happened to Irden - some say he was killed by rampaging monsters but others say he still survives in his fortified hideout, guarded by chaotic minions still under his control. 

Ten years later and some stability has come to the island. Calatupos and Kobos are both inhabited but also a lot more fortified to fend off wandering monsters. Pupami has been abandoned as it was considered too isolated and vulnerable. There are tourists and visitors, but the rules and atmosphere have changed considerably. Any visitors have to sign numerous liability waivers and disclaimers of responsibility - anyone leaving the safety of the two fortified compounds is taking their lives in their own hands. Hunting licenses are for sale if the tourists want to take trophies. Killing monsters in self defence is understandable but if killed without a license the island authority claims any treasure and the monster's body. 

The villages are home to both hospitality staff, local guides, fishermen, merchants (some of whom sell tabards for tourists with the motto "I visited Safari Island and survived") and a garrison of well-trained mercenaries (all fighters of at least 3rd level) whose job it is to defend the village and occasionally rescue tourists from trouble. The local guides are mostly reliable but are definitely not heroic - if they see an angry or hungry monster coming for them, they will yell a warning but will still try to run faster than the tourists. The more ruthless guides are generally not so brutal as to actually kill a lone tourist but may well let them be killed by a monster, then loot the tourist's body. 

Despite the proliferation of large predators, there are still a lot of wild herbivores roaming the island including giant boar and aurochs as well as various herd animals and even some rhinos. These support the predator population (and also the humans - local guides will often hunt antelope for food). The island has a range of habitats and as such a wide range of monsters. Close to the villages the monsters are not too dangerous (relatively speaking), and include carnivorous apes, lizardmen, rock pythons and giant chameleons. Further afield, particularly in the mountainous areas, there are more serious threats including wyverns, manticores, hill giants, trolls and of course dinosaurs. Most of the local guides have their limits (regardless of how much money is offered) and will only venture within 10 miles or so from each village. 

The Cliffs of Para on the southwestern coast have many coves, inlets and tidal caves. These have become hidden havens for pirates who have gradually developed some of these harbours into sophisticated bases. They use these to launch expeditions against Thyatis, Karameikos and further afield even into the Sea of Dawn. The pirates do need to be careful when sailing around this coastline for wyverns, pteranodons and small rocs, all of who will pick pirates out of the crows nest or off small rowing boats. These pirates will often visit the ports of Vlaad, Nula and Jortan where there are fewer monsters, but more rivals and less privacy than these secluded coves. Some of these pirate bases are believed to include slave pens - although slavery is officially outlawed in Ierendi, these pirates don't care. They will sometimes raid coastal settlements around the northern Sea of Dread and then sell the slaves to Thyatis or further afield.  

The village of Calatupos often encourages its tourists and visitors to enjoy the warm, clear, calm seas that surround it. This has been popular since the days of Dhammon, but recently a spate of shark attacks has made everyone afraid to go in the water. This is bad for business. At first the village authorities tried to dismiss this but then  several tourists in rapid succession were killed in sight of people on the shore. One particularly large great white shark is suspected, and the authorities would appreciate it if adventurers would hunt it down and bring evidence of its demise. A local fisherman did offer the use of his canoe, but the mercenary captain said "We're going to need a bigger boat".  The shark is not a natural predator but actually a wereshark, a local islander who lives in Calatupos but who goes missing on moonless or new moon nights and returns (resurfaces?) a few days later. 

Sindaba tower is not a tourist destination but a fortified lighthouse maintained by soldiers to guide tourist ships safely into Kobos. It can act as a safe haven for visitors fleeing from monsters in emergencies but this is rare. Similarly North Tower performs a similar function for Calatupos. North Tower used to be the home of Dhammon, Irden and Arnoth and functioned as the headquarters of Safari Island's management. Although it still works as a lighthouse, there are no resident wizards here trying to keep the monsters under control, though rumour has it there are secret passages leading to laboratories and libraries where biomancy research was conducted years ago by Dhammon, Arnoth and Irden while the island parks were being set up.