Casting Shadows

The entry this week for Serial Setting 1 for Ubiquity adds a new layer of mystery to the beautiful yet deadly Windlet Islands. The Serial Settings series of posts is intended to provide usable setting material for busy GMs. Series 1 is for those looking to run Daring Tales of Adventure or Hollow Earth Expedition.

40) South Pacific Anomaly, South Pacific

The Windlet Islands, until claimed by the Ghast family, and forced kicking and screaming into an environment capable of sustaining a thriving community almost ready to rival any comparably populated North American town, are not well-known, nor are they to be found on most navigation maps currently in circulation. They are not actively protected from discovery, nor shrouded in secrecy, but rather cloaked in a natural ignorance. While this is slowly changing as the known borders of the world expand and are refined, and as carefully accrued expert and local knowledge is formally transmitted in ever-more academically taught nautical professions, to the public at large, the islands are unknown.  This is not the case for those privileged few who lead dual lives as members of Secret Societies with aspirations to rule, or at least dominate the elite of the world’s upper echelons.  These groups encounter the islands through many channels, such as the wealthy and influential Ghast family, the mysterious reports which occasionally stem from research done there, academic papers published by local experts, and of course… the also little known South Pacific Anomaly. So little known is this mysterious feature of the Earth, that it lacks even a dramatic and evocative name consistent from one group to the next.

Those societies with significant occult and scientific knowledge, and broad-based resources are very likely to have calculated to a high degree of accuracy the theory that at one point in the history of the world the Windlet Chain lay near the centre of the anomaly, but now lies much closer to its edge.  Still, much is suspected about this region and nothing has been proven. More troubling is the lack of success agents sent to the islands have in either reaching it, or staying alive once they get there. Prone to seeing conspiracies and threats everywhere, groups like the Thule Society see this as a sign that Ghast and his family are taking steps to keep what is on the islands to themselves, and are working hard to keep their agents alive, hidden, and in a position to hear things. The war confuses loyalties, however, and no society can really boast of agents planted on the islands in a position to observe what needs to be observed, and assess what needs assessment.

With all the things coming to a head in the next few years, it is time for that to change.

Usual Suspects: Kang, Won-Ho   –  “Karl Kang”

Won-Ho Kang, called Karl by his ‘betters’ in the Thule Society and “dog” by his commanders in Japan is a loyal associate of Erich Reinhardt, and a man of very deep, and complicated motives. Squat, with a broad and powerful torso; short, strong arms, and legs bulging with muscle, the displaced Korean, and personal servant to members of the Japanese yakuza seeking to maintain a balance of power between themselves, the ruling elite in Japan, and the distant Germans, is an expert in languages and lies. In unguarded moments, of which there are very few, it would be obvious that he himself has doubts now about what is true, and what is expert fabrication. His youthful face smiles and laughs easily. His dark brown eyes – which he calls black – see everything and seemingly judge nothing. With his short hair and simple clothes, he can easily pass himself off as an Asian of means, or a simpleton hoping to secure a job washing dishes. His demeanour is as elastic as it is resilient, and his dedication to the cause of stopping evil men from obtaining power is as resolute today as it was 28 years ago when he first committed himself to it as his country finally disappeared inside the expanding borders of Japan.

The current push to obtain agents on at least one of the islands has fallen to “Karl” as a chance to prove himself to superiors in Germany who as yet have no reason to suspect that his efforts with the assistance of Reinhardt have foiled the previous attempts.

His method is simple. He receives loyal agents of the Society, trains them faithfully, and tests them cruelly. If they pass his rigorous tests and never question the goals of the society, he pairs them, up with guides and specialists loyal to his cause, and sends them on their way. The agents never return.

Kang Won-Ho (family name is Kang, given name is Won-Ho) one day hopes to return to a free Korea, and see the yoke of the Thule society broken, but fears that such a sight will not be his to see.

He is currently in Boston, training a new batch of agents, and looking for a few good men and women to make sure they never get where they are going.