An area in the collaborative world of Settle Ayassis | Higher resolution [Link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mytb6wwQMvBh46BrIXuogksOAYzaEWAE/view?usp=sharing)

The Shepii Islands are a chain of islands in the southern Eigi continent. The main islands - Nakura, Erahua, Silu'a - contain a dense tropical rainforest, one which made the Shepii people stay on the coast for millennia. They employ crab-claw sail ships to traverse the thousands of islands that the mouth of the Inner Sea has to offer. As expert sailors, the Shepii people span the entire archipelago with their city-states both old and new, housing humans, merfolk, and... some sheep-people too. These states are organized as The Shepii Republic, where each city-states receives the title of Lord, a silver crown, and a seat at the Dual Council in the half-underwater capital city, *Damunadamun* ('many people').

Valuing freedom above all, the Shepii people adhere to a loose and unorganized religion simply called by many "*Parka*" ("Tradition"), or the Shepii Folk Religion. The main figures of the belief are the wind spirits, who live in the material world and make its winds, tides, and seasons function. They are benevolent, and seek to elevate humans to their mother's - *The Windmother* \- heaven behind the sun. Frequent worship, offerings, and most importantly exploring, please the wind spirits, and bring one closer to the ever-unknowable Windmother. Merfolk mystics are the religious leaders in most villages and cities.

Throughout the ages, this gateway to the Barrier Ocean was used by the northern empires of Eigi to sail eastwards - to plunder and explore distant continents. About \~1000ya an empire ravaged through this land, forcing the Shepii tribes to either assimilate, be enslaved, or abandon their islands. They sought to return to their original lands in the eastern continent, and their stepping stone was to be the Shepii Archipelago. So came a dark period on the early tribes of the islands, as some fled - becoming naval raiders in the eastern continent - and some assimilated, choosing to continue building ships for the empire. The empire brought modernity and technology, building new cities in the south. But with time, the empire fell and a new national reunification movement came. This movement brought the human tribes together to form the Republic, but excluded many merfolk tribes. The Republic grew southwards, to the tribes of Silu'a, and eventually learned to tolerate the merfolk, accepting their cities to the republic. To commemorate the end of decades of conflict, the new capital city was built half-underwater, in the ancient ruins of *Damun'api* ('People's throne').

The Shepii Islands | drawn in Krita, with a real 16th century map as inspiration