Carcini

Carcini is a large island of the far Western Threshold, beyond the Roiling Abyss & Port Foul, close to the edges of Creation. The energies of the Wyld ebb and flow around the island, but the presence of a Jade Pillar keeps the island itself stable. The shipping routes to and from the island are not so fortunate, suffering increasing dangers in certain seasons, but lucrative trade means many merchant vessels dare the trip.

The jade pillar of Carcini is, however, flawed... while it repels the chaos of the Wyld, it does not entirely repel its power to change: those creatures who dwell on the island shift slowly overtime, all in a united direction: they become crabs. The role of the Crab God Bashixun in this is sometimes debated in the halls of Yu Shan... did the Lord of the Surf engineer this state to serve his purview, or did he merely exploit the opportunity it offered? And exploit he most certainly has, for the island's transformation of creatures into crabs (the Claw Rats and the Crabbats perhaps best known to the peoples of Creation) has allowed his Crustacean Convocation to find new jobs for unemployed allies and expand its influence in the Bureau of Nature's Hierarchy of Type.

The natives of Carcini are warriors and craftsfolk of great renown. Mutations are common among them, with nearly all having some form of chitinous plating and many bearing claws. They dwell in the Scarred Shell, the gargantuan remains of a long-dead crab Behemoth which overlooks the island's large sheltered port, its massive claws reaching out to serve as breakwaters. The Carcini are crab worshippers, praying to Bashixun foremost but also to numerous lesser gods of the Crustacean Convocation and to the Unyielding Warden, the Three-Clawed Sage who rules over the island's elemental court.

Almost all crabs extant in Creation can be found on the island, and many which appear nowhere else. While the locals do not consume crabs, they sell them to traders, making Carcini a profitable destination for those supplying Creation's gourmands. The tribesfolk also craft beautiful jewelry and armour from the shells of crabs who have passed on, highly valuable fashion in the West and well-regarded enough to even have trended for a time in the halls of the Scarlet Dynasty.

The close links between the island and crabs have on occasion brought the interest of the Lunar Exalted, particularly those who favour crustacean shapes, but the tribesfolk and their divine patrons work to repel such arrivals. The last such encounter occured some fifty years ago, when the Lunar Unassailable Shell emerged and was slain by a Wyld Hunt led by Cynis Odassa and Cynis Tiburon.