Fakpalin
Fakpalsin is the largest and most populous island, about 70x20km. It is mountainous and covered with dense jungle, in which there is a little amandelwood. The staple food is a fruit native to the islands, known as the "Klaa", the size of a man's head, which grows on enormous blackskinned palms. There are also plentiful fish, but no commercial fishing as the distance to markets is too great. Some gem coral, medicinal starfish, and poison urchins are collected. Most of the settlement is along the north coast, where 3000 Kalamen and 200 T'sai Lho live in small settlements; besides these Fakpalsin is the site of the only real town in the Isle, Fakpal Hev (2800). The population includes 1000 humans, mostly Lhomish traders and Tixryni sailors, 1000 Kalamen, and 800 T'sai Lho. The town is built on a breathtaking circular harbour that can hold a thousand warships with ease - it is mostly of rather shabby wooden buildings and kalamen hovels, the only stone buildings being the T'sai Lho Changehouse and a curiously baroque citadel in the hills above the town. It has a number of raucous inns and brothels for the amusement of the trading ships who stop here for water and supplies; everything is very expensive and controlled by a small group of T'sai Lho merchants.
Back to Map of the Isles of SerimRaxa Gashnik
There is a largish uninhabited island off the south coast of Fakpalsin, rising sheer and green out of the surf - it is called Raxa Gashnik.
The other inhabited islands are to the east, the closest 190km from Fakpal Hev.
Back to Map of the Isles of SerimBoro Fnin
Boro Fnin is another mountainous, jungled island. It was formerly the seat of the Serim-Kaan, tribal leader of the Isles, and has a few strange ruins atop cliffs in the interior. The current population is 1000 kalamen and 100 T'sai Lho. Northeast of it are the uninhabited islands of Klupnik and Kransnik, both of which are riddled with caves.
Back to Map of the Isles of SerimTikonsno Tikonsno (1000), T'sukkla (1100), and Fnimoro (700), stretch out like mouldering bony fingers NE of Boro Fnin. They are thickly jungled, with many dangers both on and off shore, and are inhabited mainly by Kalamen. There are 500 T'sai Lho dwelling on T'sukkla and 100 on Fnimoro; The three islands are less populated than they once were, having had in former times as many as 10 000 inhabitants between them. At the little bay called in Tixryni Sukkla Hev there is a little settlement of about 50 souls, some rather depressing ruins, and a run down T'sai Lho Changehouse. The T'sai Lho merchants hold these islands in an iron grip.
Back to Map of the Isles of SerimVlakugu
To the NNW of Tikonsno lie the isles of Vlakugu (1000, S) and Gartok (2300, N). These are less rugged than most of the other isles, being hilly rather than mountainous, with considerable regions of cleared marsh/farmland. They are the wettest islands in the archipelago, seeming to act as magnets for storms, which has precluded human settlement despite the fine twin harbours of Gartok. There are only about 50 T'sai Lho in the islands, and perhaps as many humans. Gartok is the home isle of many of the Northern Kalamen of Hasaba, who send money back to their soggy birthplace and retire here when they are old.
Back to Map of the Isles of SerimN'Arr
The last island of the Isles of Serim is hilly like Gartok and Vlakugu, and lies apart from the others. It is called N'Arr, measures about 10 km in diameter, and is home to 1400 Argandarri of Nargan. They discourage visitors and pay their taxes to the empire in giant crab shells; their fields, villages, and monastic complexes all lie in the interior of the island in a series of shallow valleys. They have the curious status of being an independent Barony of the Empire; they have their own Baron, Staameral the Castrated, and a standard showing two red eyes on a field of black, with silver bells around the edges.
Back to Map of the Isles of Serim
