Since the island is far away, and largely underdeveloped: 2100 villagers and maybe similar amounts of neandertals and phanatons, neither of which does naval.
Anyway, what is there to plunder?
Sure if placed in the realms.. somewhere SSW of Chult.. NWW of the corsair domains of zakhara, there would be potential trade -south faeurun-zakhara to plunder, but relatively far away still.
Sure pirates can travel, and a secret port on a island "noone else" has ever heard about -ie safe from authorities, is nice. A bit extortion/trade with the natives, 2 glass pearls for every real pearl, should pay off nicely aswell for said pirates :D
So there is hope for a workable model. Atleast if it isnt too far away, just a few months travel or so to more used waterways
Anyway, thoughts?
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I looked at the original module, and it says they are from another island, raiding for slaves. They also seem to be equipped with metal weapons, and they have outrigger canoes with collapseable masts. I don't think they sound too seaworthy, but I'm not exactly that salty of a dog, so my opinion on that is kinda useless.
What I was thinking about them, I have tied to something else.
I think the authors said not to expect rakasta anywhere in the AP, so I was going to inject them anyway. The rakasta are explorers from the "Savage Land" in "Antarctica."
The aforementioned pirates came far south to find refuge from pirate hunters, and found a place to lick their wounds. They heard rumors of the rakasta lands further south, and once their vessel was seaworthy and they were all feeling shipshape, they decided to raid down there. They got their butts handed to them, and their ship got damaged, and though it could limp back to the Isle of Dread, they don't want to risk a run of 2100 miles back to civilization. So now their offspring raid the nearby villagers in dugouts with their heirloom metal weapons and armor.
Now, along come the PC's with their nice seaworthy ship...
The old Dungeon issue featuring Isle of Dread makes the natives descendents of the Olman Empire who have descended into poverty, and thus, savagery.
Pirates are attracted to places like Isle of Dread by (1) remoteness from the naval forces of law abiding states and (2) rumors of treasure hidden in the ruined city in the hinterland. (3) Slavetaking might be another piratical sideline, and (4) if the pirate captain gets tired of the seagoing life, he can make himself king over the poor savage natives with his wealth and magical/technical prowess (think Madagascar circa 1700). What pirate captain would scoff at the idea of having his own kingdom, as many wives as he wants, on an island with the timber to build a fleet of pirate vessels for his followers to plunder the shipping lanes and bring back a cut to him.
Don't discount the seaworthiness of outrigger canoes--the Polynesians made it from Tahiti to Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand on the things. Long as you are lucky enough (or have navigational skills) to find land in the middle of the big pond before your supplies run out, and you avoid tropical storms, you're OK.
oh, so not regular inhabitants.
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As for your very own kingdom, with all those mountains, its just destined to become a kobold empire. 20 million+ strong, all descended from 1000 colonists :D
All in a mere decade..
Since the island is far away, and largely underdeveloped: 2100 villagers and maybe similar amounts of neandertals and phanatons, neither of which does naval.
Anyway, what is there to plunder?
Sure if placed in the realms.. somewhere SSW of Chult.. NWW of the corsair domains of zakhara, there would be potential trade -south faeurun-zakhara to plunder, but relatively far away still.
Sure pirates can travel, and a secret port on a island "noone else" has ever heard about -ie safe from authorities, is nice. A bit extortion/trade with the natives, 2 glass pearls for every real pearl, should pay off nicely aswell for said pirates :D
So there is hope for a workable model. Atleast if it isnt too far away, just a few months travel or so to more used waterways
Anyway, thoughts?
May as well ask why LeChuck called Monkey Island his home port. Sure nobody else could find their way anywhere near the island, but there's a certain charm to parking your ghostship in an underwater sea of lava YAARR!