The Island of Fortuna

(From "A Side Exit" in The Scrolls of Nef)

"Fortuna was by reputation the southernmost free island. It was so far west into the great emptiness that Godlian navy ships mostly navigated north and south without bothering to patrol the Fortuna shallows

... a vast picturesque island of the Godlian authority, self-sufficient in grain, livestock and vineyards but without export or outward prosperity. There was also said to be a celebrant refuge somewhere on the island, hidden somehow from the official census.

The capital town of Zor had no single harbor that could be policed or encircled; in fact the whole island was bounded by navigable coves, thousands of natural harbors and good stashes for light ships such as ours. . . .

A dream-woman in Aval had told us Fortuna was shaped like a whale, and that the belly of the whale was the safest place; so we decided to risk the main town. Rabjam spun Mordec's sword three times, and three times it came up Peace."