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[Lore] Puerto Aguila


Bellosh

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Puerto Aguila - An Island of Storms & Pirates

 

Few dens of villainy have earned a reputation as infamous as that of the island Puerto Aguila. Lying off the coast of northeastern Saddle Arabia, the inhospitable Puerto Aguila has been periodically occupied and abandoned numerous times throughout the annals of history thanks to dangerous waters and tropical storms. Currently, the so-called Vile Isle is an occasional sanctuary for pirates and all other sorts of criminal scum, provided they don’t get shipwrecked in the process of reaching the island.

 

Nearly all legitimate mariners fear sailing near Puerto Aguila, for the surrounding waters are among the most hazardous of all seas. Two globe-spanning oceanic currents collide with one another in the vicinity, producing turbulent waves year-round. Closer to the shore, rocky reefs create surf breaks that make the already treacherous waves tower to gigantic heights. Assuming a sailor can navigate through these initial obstacles, they still have to face the final challenge of passing through a gauntlet of craggy seastacks and ship-swallowing maelstroms. One glance at all the shipwrecks around Puerto Aguila‘s outer gauntlet indicates just how many sailors have been defeated by the cruel ocean.

 

Making matters much worse, Puerto Aguila lies directly on the path of storm-bearing prevailing winds. Generated in warmer oceans to the south, tropical cyclones are then guided northwards, frequently striking the island with their full force. For months at a time, a succession of these cyclones besiege the island with relentless rain, fierce winds, and even worse waves than usual. Consequently, Puerto Aguila itself is a barren piece of land; its shoreline defined by rocky beaches and steep cliffsides, and the interior a bleak patchwork of rock formations mixed with caves. Despite its proximity to Saddle Arabia, the Arabian horses wisely choose not to bother settling the island, instead leaving it as a sanctuary for sea birds and other marine life.

 

The wishes of Saddle Arabians have not stopped others from using Puerto Aguila for varying purposes. In the Pre-Classical Era, the island was a stronghold of the notorious Sirens; creatures who bedeviled sailor and landlubber alike with their enchanted voices until their purported expulsion by Star Swirl the Bearded. Generations after these Sirens vanished off the face of the earth, the expansionist griffons of Aquellia turned Puerto Aguila into an outpost for the securing of trade routes. Or at least they attempted to; throughout the centuries, Aquellia would abandon the island after a devastating natural calamity, return years later to try again, and repeat the cycle over again when a particularly nasty cyclone struck.

 

The last time the Aquellian Republic deserted Puerto Aguila a few decades ago, it left behind a military airship field, modest dockyard, and a network of fortified bunkers. Although heavily damaged, this infrastructure remained fundamentally intact, giving nefarious and daring minds the means to take piracy to a whole new level. Ambitious buccaneers from all corners of the world converged on Puerto Aguila, transforming the island into a safe haven for sea and air pirates of all stripes and colors. These brutes lack the means to keep the dilapidated structures of their island hideout well-maintained, and many ships have been decimated while voyaging to and from the Vile Isle, but those pirate captains and crews who do thrive on Puerto Aguila rank among the most hardy and skilled sailors of the known world. From their nigh-impregnable port of call, the pirates of Puerto Aguila stalk trade routes from places as far away as Seaddle, outmaneuver the authorities, and return to stash their plunder in caves and abandoned bunkers.

 

Despite brutal conditions and general lawlessness, life on Puerto Aguila is relatively tolerable for these band of outlaws... so far. The more wise pirates among the bunch however expect that one day, a great power like Saddle Arabia or Aquellia will come to put the bandits to justice. Others spread rumors of sirens taking secret refuge in Puerto Aguila’s sea caves, waiting for the perfect moment to take back their ancestral home. If it is true that the sirens have somehow reemerged back into the world, that does not bode well at all for anyone stuck on the island.....

~Mane's Intelligence Review: Dangers to Global Friendship & Harmony

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