Somewhere in the great space of the Shining Sea, there is a mysterious archipelago of beautiful islands. It is known as The Shrouded Isles and it will be the focus of most tales and adventures.

It is a set of isles surrounded by a strange and mysterious Mist, whom legends told can make ships sailing upon its water dissapear, never to be heard from again. Each island possesses its own unique character. The weather of the archipelago tends to be temperate to tropical, with frequent storms and thick mists and fogs. Verdant jungles and forests filled with all manner of life blanket some islands, while others are craggy rocks or barren strips of sand. High mountainous peaks support an ecology of its own, with coniferous trees and forms of life that have adopted to the cooler temperatures. Elsewhere, the lack of fertile soil and fresh water makes for desert-like conditions.

Plants and animals seen no where else in the realms can be found in this archipelago: products of ancient magical experimentations, throwbacks to the far primitive past, and the result of mutations and evolutions unique to the archipelago.

Due to both the danger and the protection that the Mist offers, the Archipelago has often been visited by smugglers, corsairs and other devils of the seas. Of note is the xenophobic City of Old Port ruled by an enigmatic Count known as Zaruno Senuspur. A haven for piracy in the region, it controls most of the traffic in and out of the Shrouded Isles. The Isle of Ymph, the largest isle of the Archipelago, is the starting point for most characters. With colonists from Old Port known as the Sharboneths having recently arrived to the Isle, a small Colony under Old Port has slowly grown into the ruins of an ancient and mysterious city rumoured to be of Netherese heritage.

Most likely the largest isle of the archipelago, the Isle of Ymph has remained roughly inhabited by human civilization until recently. Its dangerous climate coupled with the variety of savage beasts and race that populate the isle made it a become a last resort destination for most travelers of Old Port. Only a few hermits, exiles, and the native tribes of Stargazers lived upon the isle. Hunters from Old Port who saw the isle of Ymph has a challenge sometime came by boat to hunt for the fur pelts of the Great Cats that populate the Isle, although they never ventured too deep into the inner parts of the Isle.

No one knows for sure the reason of this arcane manifestation, but many have hypothesized that the Isle of Ymph was once a penal colony during the golden years of the Netherese Empire and that this magic was a mean to bring prisoners and rogue archwizards to the Isle. Nevertheless, the sudden display of powerful arcane magic from the ruins was enough to attract the attention of colonists from Old Port, whom arrived on Ymph recently and intend to colonize it as a mean to increase their influence in Old Port and wealth.

The island is known to be covered with luscious forests, wetlands, and a chain of vast mountains always covered in the mist. Travel upon its surface is dangerous even for the most experienced of adventurer and always should be organized in groups. Most of the isle has not been fully explored, but it is rumoured that a passage to the Underdark can also be found upon its grounds...

Founded by House Sharboneth of Old Port, the colony has been established within the ruins of the ancient city taking a part of the refugee and victims of the Ziggurat's teleportation as its inhabitants. House Sharboneth were denounced as traitors by the Count, and command and rule of the Colony has passed to Duke Antoine Trenada.

The Duke has begun to turn the once floundering Ziggurat into a haven of civilization, and a prosperous trading post. Establishing The Trenadan Code has brought rigid order and civility to the people, and is enforced by his mercenary company, Stygian Armada, a once large force decimated by war and conflict in the Isles.

The rights of the Patrician are expanded upon as one can hold land, slaves and have access to a variety of other luxuries only available to them. This dual class structure of the colony has given rise to ostracism and conflict between citizens and patricians which led many an individual to sell fake or authentic patricianship papers on the black market...

In the eastern ruins of the ruined city, a tribe of goblin squatters has established themselves since sometime. Led by a wizened goblin chieftain, known as Chief Pogglit, riding a hulking ogre-like creature, these goblins have a fanatical obsession with acting civilized.

They often worship the cargo that drifts ashore with fervor thinking it to be a message from their gods. A clever half-drow known as Valara took advantage of their beliefs to establish an Inn called the Hanged Goblin in the center of their meager settlement which harbored hunters and other exiles before the foundation of the colony.

Remnants from the ancient civilization can be seen spread all around the ruins. Their most notable legacy being the Nightrisers, these militaristic undead guardians which come out every night bound by an Oath to remove all outsiders from their beloved city for eternity. Little is known about the arcane power that is ensnared within the ruins, but the Scholar Zyphaem and his followers have managed to revive a few old systems of the city such as a sending process to provide telepathic messages to all denizens of the settlement.

Very few are said to have travel down these parts and survived to tell the tale, but the few that did speak of ancient wonders to be plundered and horrible mutated remains of experiments roaming the sinister tunnels...

The Count proceeded to close down most of the trade routes of Old Port and limited non-citizen to the Visitor's Quarters, solely. Slavery and trades with the neighbouring Underdark cities are common sight in Old Port as the city quickly became a safe haven for piracy, smugglers and corsairs from all over the Shining Sea, the Trackless Sea and the Sea of Swords.

Old Port is now seeing an increase in the worship of Umberlee as the priests of the Bitch Queen now tighten their influence and power over the poorer inhabitants of the city. Some say that a conflict between the worshipers of Umberlee and the Count is inevitable in the years to come. In the meantime, many are seen leaving the city to establish themselves inside the Sharboneth Colony with the hope of making a fortune and a name for themselves in these new lands.

The Kraken Society and the Iron Throne have also established small outposts inside its walls. Many shadier sea travelers also stop by Old Port frequently to trade tales, buy or sell raid bounties or simply stop by the Great Arena to enjoy the finest gladiatorial events of the Shining Seas.

Although many of the locations and regions of the Archipelago have yet to be fully explored and map, Zyphaem and his followers were able to fashion this interesting documentation for newcomers to see and learn from... Some inaccuracies may have slipped into this work of cartography.

It is rumoured that an ancient gateway to the Underdark built by the Ilythiri is still active on the Isle of Ymph and that it leads directly to the Drow city of Traensyr amongst other locations.

Some inhabitants of the Sharboneth Colony speak that they once belonged to the town of Sanctuary, a refuge for ex-slaves in the Underdark established in the ancient deep gnome city of Dunwarren. They speak that they were forced to flee their home as the great evil that lay dormant in Dunwarren, the Appetite, woke up from its century-long slumber and ravaged the city with rat-like creatures referred to as The Chosen. Few survivors remain in the silent tunnels of the Underdark and many feel someday will be the time to return to the Underdark to save them or scavenge artefacts from the history of this fabled city.