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Port Luskan was founded by Celelond Windang as a home for his House and his companions. The original island, located far to the north and buried in all seasons by a blanket of snow, welcomed a community of many races. There were three realms: the hamlet of Solice, founded by the humans KW Hern (later known as KW Jie) and Taylkusha Fairymeadow; Edonil Drathir, a forest by the sea where the elves dwelt; and Edonil Rendan, the underground realm of the drow.
A tumultuous year followed the founding. Both Edonil Rendan and Edonil Drathir underwent changes of leadership, and treaties among the realms were forged and reforged. Invasions and abductions followed the appearance of portals on the island, and residents were often hard pressed by the attacks of so-called monsters. In addition, during the first year islanders faced pirates, a demon, a lich, and perhaps worst of all, children.
One very distinguishing fact about Port Luskan was the light, or rather, the absence of same. When the islanders arrived, all was in darkness. Day and night were the same, but the people adapted, most probably assuming that this was a normal wintertime phenomenon for a region so far north. After a few weeks, Celelond magically brought daylight, and the islanders settled into a more normal existence, but this was not to last. Around midsummer, in the wake of the raising of the lich, the sun disappeared from Luskan skies, never more to be seen.
Despite all this, the island's commercial endeavors succeeded well. Solice grew and prospered, and when a new island was discovered nearby, the hamlet, now a burgeoning town, laid claim to the new territory and moved onto it. Edonil Drathir quickly seized the land freed by the move and expanded into it, while Edonil Rendan moved boldly beyond their traditional Underdark to establish a surface community as well.
The new island brought its own challenges. A cave system housed a community of dwarves, whose mining operations uncovered trouble as well as treasure. Then, mere months after its discovery, the second island sank beneath the sea. Shortly thereafter, the first island followed suit; the islanders barely had time to escape with their lives and belongings before it was enveloped by the waters. Deep underground, they waited while the leaders made a search for another island; then they undertook the daunting journey through the caverns to their new home.
The new island seemed at first a paradise, albeit a winter one: Solice was rebuilt atop the great mountains that rose above a central lake; deep woods gave shelter to the elves in their new realm of Drathir, and the drow founded Rendan, where Celelond built his tower on the plateau above the Underdark. Then the great mage disappeared, leaving House Windang in the hands of his protege, the bard Alyra Moondancer. In addition to the cavernous Underdark, a mysterious underground city was discovered. Islanders dubbed it "The Hollows," after the area on the first island where the lich had her lair.
One fact which became immediately, and to some, painfully, obvious, was that this Port Luskan, like the last, had no sun. Or, more correctly, one never saw the sun. The island was in perpetual darkness, brightened only by the moon and stars and whatever lighting the islanders devised. Fires, torches, lanterns and lamps, some ordinary and some magical, bathed the island's living areas in a warm glow. The realms below ground were illuminated by phosphorescent plants and other lighting, some of it of unknown origin. The darkness extended well beyond Luskan's shores, and no one seemed to think it strange, except perhaps for the few who remembered when the sun had vanished in old Port Luskan.
Through the following two years, the islanders discovered more in common with their former home; in particular, monsters and portals were frequently encountered, and a lich was rumored to be living in the Hollows. Throughout the two years of Port Luskan's residence on this island, the dark presence of Abiorn Thor, Lord of the Hollows, haunted, threatened, and puzzled islanders. His doings and those of another sometime nemesis, the goblin mage Velendar Halberd, along with the earthquakes which periodically rearranged the island's topography, provided ample material for The Port Luskan Beat, the newspaper Alyra founded to report on island happenings.
The new Port Luskan did have one feature which the old one lacked. Not long after their arrival, some of the islanders discovered a mysterious object on the docks. Exploration (accompanied by an "oops!") led the discoverers to a great "island" in the sky above, which they learned was built by artifice and was called a "space station."
After half a year's time, Celelond returned. In due course he leased the lands above the Underdark from Rendan and became Duke of Edonil. So matters stood until the earthquakes reached a degree of intensity which many feared would shake this island apart. Rather than put his people through another desperate search, Celelond sent the islanders away. Most went to the mainland to begin new lives, but a few never reached their destination.
High above the port, a space-going slave ship dropped its nets and took aboard a "catch" consisting of the last few who remained on the island. Weeks later, after a traumatic rescue in space, those who had been captured were deposited on a new island, which they also named "Port Luskan." True to their history, the new Port Luskanites almost immediately found themselves facing something sinister. The condition of their new home hinted of untold danger. In addition, something held them prisoner: No one could leave the island by ordinary means without being brought back almost immediately. In desperation, Alyra and a small group of her friends conjured a portal to attempt to escape the island. They ended up in a place called the Age and Country Hotel, which was itself something of a nexus of worlds. After a few months, they had dispersed to various planes, and Port Luskan truly was no more.
Or... was it?
The Port Luskan forum is the Dream Home of Port Luskan. Celelond has issued a call to all of us to reconnect in this realm.
The Plane of Dreams is available to anyone who can dream. Thus no matter where our characters have landed since leaving the port, we have a place here where we can meet and interact.
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That was no crash: That was a premature landing at an unfavorable angle. - Charlie Sotich, U.S. kiteflyer
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