A city-state on Survivor's Island, in the heart of the Sea of Sharks. Founded by people who couldn't leave, built by people who learned to thrive where nothing should survive.
Position
Survivor's Island sits in the middle of the Sea of Sharks—those waters so infested with aggressive sharks that normal ships avoid them entirely. The island is equidistant from everywhere useful and accessible from nowhere safe.
- North: The central Shattered Sea, beyond the shark-infested waters
- South: The Islands of Gold and their walking stone creatures
- East: Distant Mueras and the Rimihuica coast
- West: The Ember Isles and deeper shark waters
Getting to Teku requires crossing some of the most dangerous ocean in Alaria. Getting away requires the same.
The Sea of Sharks
The waters surrounding Survivor's Island are death for unprepared vessels. Sharks here grow larger and more aggressive as you approach the center. The smallest are merely dangerous; the largest can—and do—chew through wooden hulls to reach the crews inside.
No one knows why the sharks here are so aggressive, so large, or so numerous. Theories include magical contamination, breeding populations isolated for millennia, or something in the deep that drives them to feed constantly.
The Gruynmar's impenetrable ships can sail these waters safely, but even they avoid lingering. Anyone who falls overboard is dead within moments.
How Teku Exists
The city exists because of desperation, adaptation, and spite.
The Founding: Centuries ago, a fleet of refugee ships fleeing some forgotten war was blown into the Sea of Sharks. Most were destroyed. The survivors—hundreds of people from a dozen cultures—washed up on the only significant island. They couldn't leave. The sharks made that clear when they destroyed the first escape attempts.
So they stayed. They adapted. They built a city on the one place the sharks couldn't reach, and they learned to live with the monsters swimming around them.
The Adaptation: Generations of Teku inhabitants have developed techniques for surviving shark waters:
- Ships with metal-reinforced hulls (expensive, heavy, effective)
- Poison and repellent compounds that discourage shark approach
- Trained shark-hunters who can kill the beasts before they kill you
- An intimate knowledge of shark behavior—when they feed, where they mass, how to move without triggering attack
The Economy: Teku survives by being the only stable settlement in the Sea of Sharks. Ships that need to cross—carrying goods between the Shattered Sea and the southern regions—stop at Teku for supplies, repairs, and guidance. The city charges premium rates because it can.
The City
Teku is built into Survivor's Island's rocky interior, away from the shoreline that the sharks patrol. The harbor is an engineering marvel: a protected lagoon with underwater barriers that keep sharks out while allowing ships to enter through a maze-like channel.
Population: ~8,000 (fluctuates with trade seasons)
Notable Features:
-
The Barrier Harbor: Metal grates and stone walls create a shark-free zone where ships can dock safely. The gates require precise timing to enter; mistakes mean sharks.
-
The High Town: Built on the island's central hill, where the original survivors first camped. Now the wealthiest district, as far from the water as possible.
-
The Hunter's Quarter: Where the shark-hunters live and train. These are Teku's elite—warriors who go into shark waters and come back alive.
-
The Salvage Markets: Where goods recovered from wrecked ships are sold. Teku salvagers are experts at finding and retrieving cargo from shark-infested waters.
-
The Memorial: A wall carved with the names of everyone who's died to sharks since the founding. It's very long.
Government
Teku is ruled by the Shark Council—representatives from the founding families who've held power since the city's desperate early days. The Council manages the harbor, sets trade fees, and maintains the shark defenses.
Current Council Head: Admiral Kess Ironhull, a woman who's personally killed more sharks than anyone else alive. She earned her position through demonstrated competence in shark waters and maintains it through the same.
The Shark Hunters
Teku's most respected profession. Shark-hunters venture into the surrounding waters in reinforced boats, armed with specialized weapons, to kill sharks before they threaten shipping or the harbor.
This isn't sport—it's survival. The shark population must be controlled, or the creatures would eventually breach the harbor defenses. Hunters are well-paid, well-honored, and frequently killed.
Hunting Methods:
- Harpoons and spears designed to penetrate shark hide
- Poison-tipped weapons that kill slowly but surely
- Bait traps that lure sharks into killing zones
- Diving hunters who attack from below (the most dangerous, most honored technique)
The Crossing Trade
Most of Teku's wealth comes from ships that need to cross the Sea of Sharks. These vessels pay for:
- Pilots: Guides who know which routes are safest at which times
- Escorts: Armed ships that can drive off shark attacks
- Supplies: Fresh water, food, and shark repellent compounds
- Repairs: Reinforcing hulls against shark damage
- Information: Which shark masses are where, which routes are clear
The fees are enormous. The alternative is dying.
The Islands of Gold Connection
South of Teku lie the Islands of Gold—rich in precious metals but inhabited by colossal stone creatures that hunt ships. Treasure hunters heading to the Islands stop at Teku for supplies and guidance; survivors return to sell their finds in Teku's markets.
This creates a steady flow of desperate, wealthy, and frequently dead adventurers through the city. Teku takes their money either way.
What Brings People Here
- Crossing: Ships that must traverse the Sea of Sharks
- Trade: Goods moving between the Shattered Sea and southern regions
- Treasure: Adventurers heading to the Islands of Gold
- Salvage: Recovery of cargo from wrecked ships
- Escape: People who want to disappear somewhere no one will follow