The Pirates of Tarroon

Far, far to the west, beyond the Blue Mountains and the Great Scrub desert, lies the exotic land of Tarroon. It is ruled by a powerful king who is a greedy and grasping man.

The kingdom of Tarroon lies on the west coast near the Sultanate of Sunsia. There is one large city which is a great center of trade and piracy. This city is an excellent port which lies at the mouth of a great river which empties into Black Bay, the river is navigable far inland, beyond Sunsia City where the Sultan of Sunsia is Lord.

Black Bay is a wide bay  which is often filled with many small sailing vessels with distinctive triangular or lateen sails. A lot of these ships come from Tarroon, which is a strong and successful seafaring nation.

The king of Tarroon, being such a greedy man, encourages his people to rob and plunder ships of other nations all up and down the west coast. They range from as far north as Dagban and as far south as Zing.

Since the ships of Tarroon are fast and strong 'Xebecs,' which have three triangular lateen sails, they are effectively kings of the sea. No other ships can match them for speed and agility, which is why they are such successful pirates.

Now the King, who is fat and wears a great turban upon his bald head, charges all of the sea captains and merchants of his city heavy taxes in return for permission to plunder the ships of other nations. This they pay readily. For, more often than not, the loot was easily acquired in the first place.

Obviously, the King of Tarroon is now a very rich man indeed. Some say he has so much wealth that he has a chamber each for jewels, gold and silver and that all three are piled high with chests and barrels of booty. But he is stingy with his treasure and loves to count it an gloat over it often. The entertainments in the King's Palace are not worthy of note for he is so mean as to keep every silver penny to himself.

Clearly any traveller would be well advised to give the Kingdom of Tarroon a wide berth, especially if you be going by sea!