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Geography of Ixinos

• Location & Physical Dimensions
• Terrain
• Climate & Weather
• Flora & Fauna
• Crops & Natural Resources
• Map of Ixinos
• The Southern Uplands
• The Central Lowlands
• The Northern Highlands

"There is perhaps no more fascinating nation in Faerûn than Ixinos, the Isle of Women. The oldest surviving nation in the Vilhon Reach region, this island realm is tiny, surrounded on all sides by the bustle of commerce, crime, and occasionally war, and occupies an outlandishly strategic position at the very gate of the Reach itself. Yet for all that, Ixinos has passed fewer than five of its fifteen hundred years of history under the yoke of foreign invaders. Moreover, it has managed to remain almost totally isolated from traffic, or even communication, with other nations. Most travellers know of the island's legendary Warrior Women only through fearful or lurid sailors' tales, which describe them as anything from buxom beauties waiting to shower their passion upon some lucky wayfarer, to fanged harpies who enslave all men cursed enough to fall into their clutches, keeping them in filthy pens like pigs or sheep. Which is the truth? Search me; either way, you'd never get me anywhere near the place."

--Billeus Harles, Professor of Geography, Academia Vilhonus
Excerpt from a lecture, Spring Term, The Year of the Sword

Ixinos, the Island of Amazons, was first mentioned in the AD&D® Forgotten Realms® supplement Gold & Glory, by Tim Beach, as being the home of the She-Wolves mercenary company. A bit more information was added in Jim Butler's The Vilhon Reach accessory. This presentation builds upon those cursory bits of information and expands Ixinos into a fully detailed locale (and society) within the Forgotten Realms setting.

Because the "Amazons" who rule Ixinos are xenophobic and unwelcoming to strangers (especially males), and because they have a baleful reputation enthusiastically earned over the course of many centuries, precise information about the island and its people is scarce and often obscured by rumor and legend. Unless they are native to the island, have somehow secured permission to visit it, or are bold enough to infiltrate it by stealth or magic, adventurers will have to rely on the reports of others for their initial information about the place. Note that any "Amazons" encountered abroad will resolutely refuse to answer even the most innocuous questions about their homeland (unless they have an overpowering reason to do so), and may well become hostile if pressed too closely on the matter.

Any character who is native to, or resides permanently in, the Vilhon Reach area is 70% likely to know each of the following pieces of general information. "Vilhon Reach area" is defined as Turmish, Chondath, Sespech, the Shining Plains, the Eyes of Silvanus, the north coast of Chessenta, the Pirate Isles, and the Whamite Isles. Characters who are not from the Vilhon, but have adventured there or spent significant time there, are 50% likely to know this information. Any sage who specializes in Geography or History of the Vilhon Reach will be 100% likely to know it (for a fee).

• Ixinos is an island in the mouth of the Reach, located between and a bit to the south of the Eyes of Silvanus (Ilighôn and Wavecrest).
• Ixinos is ruled by warlike women.
• The people of Ixinos shun outsiders and do not welcome most visitors to their shores.
• The women of Ixinos are extremely dangerous in battle, and are the bane of the pirates in the area.

The following bits of information are 50% likely to be known by Vilhon residents, 30% by former visitors, and 90% by appropriate sages.

• Ixinos is the oldest nation in the Vilhon Reach area.
• The queen of the island is named Elissa Tarixon.
• The chief town is named Tazixor.
• The "Amazons" have a centuries-old alliance with the Emerald Enclave (the druidic organization that controls the Eyes of Silvanus), but not with any other nation, government or group.
• A few female merchant captains are allowed to land on the island and trade with its inhabitants. Any other outsiders caught setting foot on Ixinos are in serious trouble.
• A mercenary band known as The She-Wolves is made up entirely of women from Ixinos.
• The men on Ixinos are much fewer in number than the women, are treated as inferior, have no roles of authority or true responsibility, and may in fact be considered slaves.

The taverns and festhalls of the Reach (especially in seaport cities) are filled with rumors of a somewhat predictable nature, ranging from the fearful to the lustful.