Out of Moon City by the north road, the Dark find Marsa al-Qamar, a pier on the lava Sea of Embers. The ship Al-Jamra, the Cinder Queen, carries them to the Ember Isle and its harbour, Marsa al-Jamr. The Light sail from Marsa al-Shams aboard Al-Lu’lu’a, the Pearl, across the Pearl Sea to the Cloud Isle and Marsa al-Lulu.
The ships keep a timetable every player sees alike: they dock, sail, dock at the island and sail back. Wait on the pier, step aboard, and ride the deck across; the deck is safe ground. The nakhoda sets the crossing, and a scene plays on each leg: casting off, landfall, homeward and the capital’s harbour.
Jazirat al-Ghaim — the Cloud Isle (Light)
A green mountain in the Pearl Sea: Shell Beach, the palm and frankincense groves (a trade good only), the Gorge, the Rose Terraces, the Cloud Forest and the Summit. The pearl fleet came home light, the springs run brackish, and someone packed the falaj with mud. Up on the summit, Hakim the Hermit says something long and heavy has dragged itself over the crater rim of the Cloud Well. The Shaikha of Pearls holds the island; Harbourmaster Rashid and Nakhoda Hamad keep the pier.
Jazirat al-Jamr — the Ember Isle (Dark)
A volcano in the Sea of Embers: the Ash Shore, the Charcoal Wood, the Sulphur Mines, the Ifrit Hollow, the Lava Ledges, the Rim and the Caldera. Smoke hangs over the western sea and the charcoal stopped coming. Collectors in yellow, the Sons of the Ember, take a levy of charcoal so the mountain will sleep; below them the Ember King sleeps in the caldera, chained by the old Sultan’s chains. Wali Dirgham governs for the Malik; old Shaddad keeps the rim and Murrah, a defector with burnt hands, knows the way.
