Casting Shadows

Our journey through the initial people and places a group of travel-weary visitors, or daring adventurers might encounter upon arrival at the Windlet Islands, for the Ubiquity Game System and great games like Hollow Earth Expedition, and Daring Tales continues with really lengthy sentences and:

 

3. The Tart Banana, Windlet Settlement, Greater Windlet Island

The absolute closest commercial building to the pier, and its associated freight storage facilities and small labour service offices, is a watering hole for the dock workers, fishermen, islanders of ill-repute, and those who like their beer wet, and their poker dirty. Just one look at the exterior will tell any serious alcoholic or gambler that there is likely no better place on the island to have a good time, sans judgement or too much attention from the authorities. As long as the mayhem is contained within the weathered walls of the Tart Banana, a person can expect to sin in peace.

 

From about 4pm onward the strains of a mostly tuned piano, and the occasional sing-a-long chorus of liquor-enhanced cheer can typically be discerned from the narrow dirt street outside the bar, but service actually starts at 11:29am daily – even Sunday. A sign over the door reads,

 

“It is always Friday night somewhere in the world… and if it isn’t – it should be. Amen”

 

Heavy foliage surrounds the rear and left side of the bar. The entrance is found in a recess set in the corner of the building, across a wide, railed porch that runs around the left front, left corner, and left side of the two-storey establishment. The door has an ornate stained glass image of a very green banana/woman with a shapely curve, and a come-hither look. If you like your women green, and with a peel, then this is the spot for you.

 

Usual Characters: Virgil Adonidas

The owner and host is a virile, sun-weathered man who stands a portly 5 and a half feet tall in his sock feet, with a wild mass of greying hair rioting back across his head as if it were in full retreat from his cheerful face, and a mouth enhanced in its gleam by a complete set of gold teeth. He looks like nothing more than a reformed pirate with a deathly fear of barbers. He dresses impeccably, and serves good, hearty food with a decent variety, and healthy portion size. All meals come with far too many courses, a lot of personal attention from the garrulous host, and a price that… really is not so bad. Virgil’s passion is cheese, and can be distracted by the talk of fine cheeses for hours, unless there is a lovely lady about, or a good game of cards. He doesn’t play cards – anymore – but he loves to watch the ebb and flow of lady luck across a poker table more than anything else in this world.

 

Virgil, often called Last-Call within the confines of the Banana is in his late forties, but has the bright blue eyes of a precocious child. He likes to dress well, eat well, and maintain good conversation with interesting and well-mannered people. He has a passion for music, but his eyes always flit to where the poker chips and cards make their sweet symphonies across the carefully kept green velvet of the card tables.

 

Rumours:

Potentially heard over time at the Island Mission Church of God where it seems they do nothing but pray and gossip, among the island’s cargo loaders at the pier, or among the constabulary

• People believe he has a wife somewhere to whom  he sends all of his money
• People believe he vowed never to gamble again in hopes his wife will return to him
• Some wonder about the large number of Germans who meet terrible fates after visiting the Tart Banana. Others wonder why the Germans still go there.
• No one has seen him pass out or grow maudlin from drink, if anything, it seems to make him more of the man he is…just with larger arm gestures.
• Virgil is thought to allow prostitution in the Tart Banana, but no raids discover anything!
• Virgil is said to imprison debtors and defaulters in the basement of the bar for weeks, and then put them to work for him to pay off their debts.
• He talks often of shaving his head, and getting it over with, but…
• He could have been a professional tenor anywhere in the civilized world

 

Truths:

Stay tuned!

 

Statistics:

Coming Soon!

 

Usual Characters: Atiu (more often called Ariki)

Ariki is the Big Man among the local workers, and takes a protective view of the island, its people, and its way of life. He respects the Administrator and the industry and lifestyle that the companies bring, and he enjoys meeting people, so the sailors and visitors to the Windlet Islands give him plenty of diversion, after he has ensured that all the work has been done safely.

 

Ariki likes to work, but he does not like to work fast, and he believes that work should not distract a man from the little blessings that life brings. Lunch breaks may extend too long sometimes, and it is not uncommon to see rows of workers with heavy loads on their backs, suddenly stop, put their burdens down, and watch the sunrise, or a meteor shower, or a flight of birds bound for other places. Ariki likes this lifestyle, and has little patience for uppity mainlanders who might want to complain.

 

His laugh is one of the most contagious things known to man, and his fists can crush rocks, break stones, or caress a baby so softly it will giggle itself to sleep. Man island women envy Ariki’s wife, and many young men hope to be half the man he is.

 

Rumours:

Ariki’s life is actually an open book, and he will often be the one to open it. He has a family of 4, a lovely wife who is one of the best fisher-folk on the island, his house faces the sea, and he once killed a wild boar with a stick, a stone, and a lot of luck.

 

It is expected that when he gets a little older, he will be taken up to the main office by the Administrator and put in charge of many things.

 

Statistics:

Coming Soon!

 

Background  Characters: Labourers and Loaders

The working men and women of the island are mostly immigrants like everyone else, but the first generation to grow up on the island and join the ranks of its workforce are just now appearing.

 

Specialists come from pretty much anywhere in the world, and will be covered on their own as this project goes on. The generalists, are essentially home-grown, and used to a slow island pace, in tune with the surf and seasons, and not too interested in time tables, except when they impact on the business of the Administrator and his private companies.

 

Work details are formed to deal with storm damage and harvests, but typical routines involve the loading and unloading of the cargo ships which anchor off the island’s protective reefs, and the airships and airplanes which have begun to be involved with the island’s private export businesses.

 

A number of families focus on fishing, while others devote time to patrolling the jungle for predators and other island dangers. The community has grown up with an attitude of caring for each others’ safety. Community spirit is high.