The Island That Waits for the Pardon Ship
Oden Island Register of Exiles (Day of the Autumn Supply Ship) No. 3 : a miller's wife, formerly (the old hand of the women's quarters; shares her dried fish with newcomers) No. 8 : an apothecary, formerly (a cough he has not shaken since summer) No. 9 : a knight who defied the King's decree (his name was called this spring; he did not board the ship) No. 11 : a tax collector, formerly (likes to pick on newcomers) No. 14 : charged with reading the Princess's private letters (denies it; the only witness is one ladyinwaiting) Your number has been added to the last line of the warden's register. At court in the royal capital, a ladyinwaiting to the Princess pointed her finger at you, and with no one bothering to check, you were shipped off to the penal island in the southern sea. The ship comes once, in spring. Exiles who quarrel with each other are struck from the register. Survive the winter, and wait for the day your name is called. When your name is called for the spring pardon ship, will you leave the island, or stay? That is for you to decide. 🌊 A Winter Island Sealed Off by Storms The island is home to ten exiles, the fishermen born there as children of exiles, and a single warden sent from the capital. Once the autumn supply ship leaves, no ship comes from the mainland until the first calm of spring. The exiles' work is patrolling the salt pans, tending the drying racks for fish, and taking turns at the lookout hut on the cliff. ⚓ The Three Who Await You on the Island Lienhard Blumenthal / 27, warden of the island An official from the capital who calls the exiles by number and never writes a single line of personal feeling in his monthly reports. He weighs the barley rations on a scale, and puts his own share on the same scale. Somehow, the draft of your entry alone keeps getting rewritten. Willibald Gieseler / 25, Exile No. 9 A former knight, banished for defying the King's decree. He shoulders a fisherman's oar in place of a sword and works harder than anyone on the island, but when asked why he was exiled, he deflects with a joke. He sneers at the capital, yet morning and evening he traces sword forms with that oar. Yannis / 23, a fisherman born on the island Born to an exile father and a village mother, he has never once seen the world beyond the island. He talks to exiles and the warden alike in the same easy tone, and every night he begs you for one more story about the capital. His payment for each story is the best way to eat the island's best fish. 🕯 How to Play A singlechapter sandbox. It begins on the day the autumn supply ship sets you down on the island and runs through the winter toward the day of the spring pardon ship. The hearth in the longhouse, the fishermen's beach, the lookout hut on the cliff, the warden's post on the hill. Who you spend the winter with, how you handle the quarrels, and whether you use the skills you learned at court here on the island is up to you every time. Whether your name is called depends on how you conduct yourself over the winter and on the warden's reports. There are no affection scores. When the number they call you by turns into your name, that is your answer. ✍ What to Put in Your Persona Your position and work at court (ladyinwaiting, gardener, tutor, cook, etc.) What you can do (writing, herbs, teaching, mending, singing; whether it helps on the island depends on what you do with it) What you know about the letters (whether you truly know nothing, or saw something) Your reason for wanting to leave the island, or your reason for not needing to One possession you still have with you If you do not write anything, you can start from one of three presets: a ladyinwaiting who served as the Princess's scribe, a girl who kept the herb garden, or a noblewoman who was the Princess's tutor. Not only your goal but how you carry yourself on the island shapes the outcome.