Despite this ruination the ancient city has proven to be a sanctuary for foreigners ending up on the island. As well as proving a haven against native incursion, the ruins themselves have provided both pre-quarried stone for the construction of housing and a source of valuable treasures, seemingly ageless household goods of exotic design often formed from semi-precious materials. The original walls of Kapala still stand, which also helps to prevent attack from the more mindless monstrosities which wander the island. Much of the efforts of the colony’s populace are expended in gathering food, fighting off attacks, trading with suspicious natives, and mining the overgrown hillocks. The following cultural descriptions are written with the assumption that the colony has been formed to conquer and pillage the island. It is a newly founded settlement, still resupplied from the outside world in exchange for the treasure it exports.
Race
A group of human races, who are struggling to survive or to exploit the deadly lands.
Society
The colony is a rather disreputable collective of disparate peoples all drawn together in search of riches, adventure, escape from persecution or a combination of all three. Many are desperate, others obvious criminals and a few are seemingly out of place, erudite intellectuals – the usual hodgepodge mix always drawn to rumours of limitless wealth or new lands where one can start over. Due to the eclectic nature of those arriving on Monster Island, the colony has the feel of a frontier settlement. It is dirty, rough, and social order is only held together by the iron-will of Lord Greystone, the governor, and the intimidation of his bodyguard of crack troops. Few families have journeyed to the colony, those that do tend to run one of the small businesses. Most of the colonists are instead lone adventurers: prospectors, hunters, traders, mercenaries, deported thieves, ne’er do wells, and even the odd scholar or two. What relationships that develop are usually between small groups seeking to scavenge within the ruins, or those more foolhardy souls who strike out into the interior. With the discovery of treasure, a definite feeling of gold fever has struck the colony; with all the associated social issues it brings. Yet despite the greed this has awakened, the colony still draws together in the face of adversity; namely the rest of the island with all its despicable natives and horrifying monsters. Status amongst the colonists is somewhat unusual. Rather than being based upon social class, the colonists give respect to positions of leadership, personal deeds and earned wealth - a sort of egalitarianism that forms when everyone needs to join in and get their hands dirty.
Law
The laws of the colony follow the human standards of forbidding murder, theft, arson and so on; all the normal crimes associated with urban living. In addition however are two specific laws created especially for the colony. Firstly, all trade goods and treasures brought back within the walls of the colony (rather than those of the city within which the colony is built) are subject to a 50% tax, payable either in coinage based upon the material value of the object, or half the items gathered. Since there is no way to descend to the port without going through the settlement, there are few alternatives for treasure hunters to sell their finds without paying the tax. The proceeds raised by this levy are used to pay for the construction of new buildings, the maintenance of colony guards, and the outfitting of expeditions to explore the island. Tax evasion results in being stripped of all assets. Secondly, when the colony is attacked all able-bodied men and women are legally required to defend the walls of the settlement. Refusal to help fight off a monster or native incursion is punishable by death by public execution, assuming your fellow colonists don’t take matters into their own hands first.
Politics
Since the colony is under the autocratic rule of the governor, what politics exist are based upon the relationships (or lack thereof) developed with the neighbouring savages, and the exorbitant tax rate. Three main factions have formed amongst the colonists: those advocating peaceful negotiations with the local tribes to establish trade and send them priests to teach them civilised behaviour; a second group bent on subjugating the savages then ravaging the island for its natural resources; and the last who wish for the total extermination of the indigenous population, opening up the lands for human settlement. Somewhat fortunately for the long-term survival of the colony, no one group has yet won an absolute majority. This has probably been ensured by the governor’s diplomatic juggling, that personage having a better feel for just how tenuous their continued existence continues to be.
Communications
Since everyone lives within the colony itself, there is no need for an official messenger guild. The closest things to it are half a dozen young children who can be paid a copper coin to run up or down the cliff path at breakneck speed with wax tablets or scrolls. Confidentiality is guaranteed since none of the kids knows how to read. Lookouts are stationed in roughly repaired watch towers around the cyclopean walls. Supplied with horns that are blown whenever something breaks out of the jungle and approaches the city, each horn blower has a unique set of codes to represent the size and numbers of the threat. This gives the scavengers in the ruins a chance to fall back to the colony, which can be better protected.
Trade
Little regular bartering as yet exists between the colonists and the neighbouring savages, though the potential to establish trade links is possible, provided the tribes are not alienated by the colony’s actions. Within the colony itself, merchants offer coinage for almost anything brought back from the island. The most sought after items are ancient artefacts excavated from the rubble of the ruins, which have a value melted down to their raw materials, or as bizarre curiosities when exported. Secondary trade items are those natural resources which have a discernible use and can be gathered or harvested.
Warfare
The colonists are guarded by a professional unit of warriors loyal to the governor. Known as the White Death, each member of this forty-strong unit of troops wears mail and the skin of a white Smilodon. They are armed with great axes, swords and shields but remain within the limits of the city ruins, their sweltering cloaks and heavy armour proving to be a serious hindrance within the deeper jungle, away from cooling ocean winds. The colony’s military strength is further augmented by a scratch unit of ranged weapon specialists known as ‘The Stingers’, formed and trained from colonists who were hitherto herders, hunters or scouts. They are armed with a bewildering assortment of bows, crossbows, slings and javelins, but wear little or no armour to speak of. Numbering eighty in total, they garrison the outlying watchtowers and make occasional forays into the jungle to hunt for fresh meat. Other than these two units, there are no other full time warriors defending the colony. However, one day every month the entire populace of the colony are gathered together for militia practice. This teaches the attendees the basic arts of fighting. Of course, leading such a paltry military force against one of the tribes in open warfare would be suicidal. Used as a coordinated defence of the colony walls however, these numbers are a sufficient display of force to give a raiding party of savages second thoughts.
Customs
Due to the radically diverse background, social standing and race of the colonists, they as yet lack any unified traditions apart from the normal festival celebrations carried out elsewhere.
Religion
The colonists have brought with them a bewildering number of faiths, and many small shrines litter the dark alleyways of the colony. No attempt has yet been made to build official temples, space being at somewhat of a premium. Neither are the cults persecuted in any way, for the worship of even morally questionable gods serves a purpose, if only for propitiation. Worship amongst the colonists is a rather ad-hoc affair, the formal rituals often cobbled together by clueless lay members. Some cults have a few initiates or acolytes able to provide nominative support for those requesting miracles, but it all depends on someone amongst the arriving colonists being able to consecrate a truly sanctified shrine to that deity, or staying alive long enough to tend it. Due to this lack of ‘official’ support from the other areas of Hyperborea, many colonists have taken to visiting some of the still intact structures within the ancient ruins which once served as worship places, desperate to find spiritual guidance or divine power, whatever its source. Most of these temples have long since collapsed or become overgrown over the passing centuries, haunted by still-functioning wards and animated sentinels. This is in part why no natives ever venture close to the rubble of Kapala, frightened off by well-founded superstition. Not all their gods took mortal form; some remained aloof within their inner sanctums but have likewise fallen from power due to the collapse of civilisation, their overgrown ziggurats still holding the sparks of long-quiescent deities, who can be woken with the right sacrifices.