History of the Shimoshi Isles

A beautiful land of soaring mountains, ancient forests, and stormy seas, the Shimoshi archipelago has long been a region dominated by powerful nature spirits, feudal societies, and strange extraplanar influences.

The Myrani Daimyos and the Ostorian Shogunate
During the early days of the world, two societies quickly took an interest in Shimoshi. Ambitious elven figures from their empire of Tel Myra established feudal holdings within the isles, creating prosperous trade cities and centers of scholarship within the warm northern lands of Shimoshi. The giants of Ostoria, lead primarily by the legendary cloud giant lich Desukaurudo, crept from his floating fortress and their holdings in the frigid southern isles and volcanic peaks, establishing a powerful slave army to oppose the elves.

As the Dawn War erupted across the Planes, the Myrani Daimyos and Ostorian Shogunate clashed in the War of Thunder and Tears. While the giants’ onslaught was fierce, the elves had long protected the ancient nature spirits of Shimoshi, and these beings aided them in the brutal war.

The elven Hikarian Dynasty claimed rulership over Shimoshi, with their emperors and empresses living for thousands of years and exerting massive arcane might to maintain their rule. Many of these mythic Hikarians eventually traveled to the Feywild, ascending into immensely powerful Archfey worshipped as leaders of the kami and minor gods.

The Shadow Shoguns
As the dynasty gradually turned their attention to art, poetry, and arcane experiments, shoguns in their isolated mountain holds hatched a plot to claim power from the Hikarian Dynasty. Lead by a mysterious figure named Hitoboro, secretly a mind-flayer named Grelt, and the leader of House Ueda, the Witch Queen Zhenyi, they launched a massive rebellion against the Hikarians.

Grelt and Zhenyi promised immense arcane secrets, and they delivered, and the Shadow Shoguns reclaimed the ancient strongholds of Ostoria. All the while, Grelt and his illithid allies struck from the shadows, bringing the shoguns and their allies under their thrall. They funneled thousands of slaves into the Underdark, where they constructed an immense illithid city known as Desgorosk.

Zhenyi allied with the newly-ascended god Vecna, serving as his standard bearer to claim a new section of his dark empire within Shimoshi. Zhenyi and her family were brilliant inventors, and they crafted powerful construct bodies known as warforged. Zhenyi and many of her kin transferred their essence into the warforged, and Zhenyi promised that they would be nearly invincible. Secretly, Zhenyi turned them into mindless slaves of her and Vecna.

Eventually, the alliance between Zhenyi and Grelt crumbled, and Zhenyi marched her undead and warforged legions into Desgorosk, sacrificing most of her might to break the back of the illithid empire.

The Star Shoguns
As Zhenyi and Grelt’s power faded from Shimoshi, two powers competed for control, The survivors of the Hikarian Dynasty rallied around a religious revival of the Path of the Azure Star and claimed the Shimoshi Isles. But as the mind flayer’s gith slaves rebelled across the planes, they lead similar revolts within Shimoshi. The githyanki of Shimoshi fought fiercely against the eladrin of the Hikarian Dynasty, seeking to claim the islands for Vlaakith’s as part of the Infinite Constellation. While the githyanki fought the eladrin, the githzerai supported them, training their soldiers in their powerful martial arts and establishing monastery fortresses across Shimoshi to fight both the githyanki and the mind flayers.

Eventually, most of the githyanki were driven from Shimoshi, but they have ever maintained hidden fortresses, spies, and hunting parties.

The Years of the Sun
For millennia after the fall of the githyanki, the eladrin of the Hikarian Dynasty ruled the Shimoshi Isles in peace. It was a high point of culture, art, spirituality, and magic. Troubles still struck the islands, such as constant struggle against the drow of the Underdark or criminal strife from the Yazoran and pirate lords, but for the most part Shimoshi prospered.

The Years of Broken Blades
As the tiefling empire of Bael Turath established holdings throughout the globe, they also hoped to seize power within Shimoshi. They bribed and infiltrated the nobility, enticing many into pacts and tieflinghood themselves, and eventually assassinated a number of key governmental figures, including the emperor.

Unfortunately for the tieflings, so many houses of Bael Turath and clans of Shimoshi nobles were involved in the plot that instead of smoothly seizing power, they split the land into a dozen squabbling kingdoms. The land became demon-haunted and ruled by tiefling bandits and warlords.

Eventually, the most powerful force of Turathi loyalists emerged and claimed power over much of Shimoshi. Known as the Iron Kingdom of the Oni, they were made up of the numerous mountain clans of orcs that allied with the mysterious cabal of pit fiends known as the Dark Eight. From their massive flying fortress, the Immortal Bastion, they nearly conquered Shimoshi.

The War of the Three Flames
But Bael Turath wasn’t the only empire interested in Shimoshi. The dragon empire of Arkhosia whisked away Hikari Sarcan, the only surviving heir to the throne, and educated him in the ways of Arkhosian and Shimoshi nobility and the faith of Bahamut. But as Sarcan returned to Shimoshi with a dragon army to reclaim his throne, a new power appeared to oppose him.

Calling himself Hikari Nisha, he claimed to be Sarcan’s older brother and the true heir to the throne. And he gathered a massive chromatic army of Arkhosian separationists under the banner of Tiamat, alongside a massive force of githyanki. Sarcan and Nisha and their Bahamut and Tiamat worshipping Arkhosian allies clashed with each other and the Turathi Iron Kingdom of the Oni for control of Shimoshi.

The Warring Kingdoms
Together, the “brothers” reluctantly allied and drove Bael Turath from the islands and the orcs back into their brutal mountain tribes.Since that time, their kingdoms exist as mirrors of each other. The Kurohi Empire rules the north and is a fractured land of tyrannical warlords that nevertheless prospers through trade and a massively successful invasion of mainland Lao.

The Hikarian Dynasty rules the south, which prospers with the arts and arcane, but many of the ancient tribes, isolated cities, and rebellious warlords still chafe under any pretense of central authority, no matter how beneficent.

The kingdoms have clashed constantly, and various warlords have arisen and nearly claimed the title of emperor for themselves, but none have convinced the shoguns to support their rule. Over the 1500 years since the War of the Three Flames, descendants of both claimants to the Hikarian line have continued to lead their respective kingdoms. Meanwhile, their githzerai and githyanki allies have maintained a cold war against each other, constantly assassinating each other’s leaders and launching brutal attacks against their hidden monasteries and fortresses.