The Forbidden Island of Morceor - Location
Lost somewhere in the oceans is a humid island covered in an emerald blanket of trees with large mountains protruding from its center. Shipwrecked sailors, lost travelers, and helpless victims find themselves on these shores, unprepared for the horror that awaits them.
What is the Forbidden Island?
On a distant island are the mad experiments of the archmage Morceor. With a fascination, almost compulsion, of transmutation magic, Morceor spent their time twisting flesh and blending the elements. Grotesque creatures are said to haunt the island, no one creature the same as another.
But Morceor wasn’t just a talented, and cruel, vivisectionist, he was also a talented transmuter. He could use his magic to transform his body into many different shapes, blend materials, and twist energy and matter into a shape that pleased him. However, his greatest magic came from his ability to twist and reform his own physical body.
History
This island was originally almost devoid of life, with only birds and rodents who called it home. Morceor found it generations back and brought all manner of creatures to the island for his experiments. It wasn’t just natural beasts, but monstrosities and aberrant creatures that captured his imagination.
Slowly, the island began attracting visitors—though rarely were these visits intentional. Sometimes shipwrecked sailors would wash up ashore, planar travelers would stumble across the magical pull of the island, and others would be dragged to this island by Morceor and his creations. Some have escaped to tell others of this island, though a few wonder if they were allowed to escape on purpose. To share their story of a mad wizard, to send adventurers to the island, and their eventual death.
As the generations have passed, however, Morceor has been seen less and less. Fewer people seem to be talking about this island, either because there are fewer survivors or because fewer people are finding themselves pulled to it. Those who are aware of this island wonder if perhaps Morceor was killed by one of his own creations and is no longer the threat they worried he might become.
An Outsider’s Perspective
This untamed island is unlike any other that a traveler is likely to visit. The wild forests hold a strange hush, as even the birds are scared to sing their song here. When you walk through the jungles, it feels as if you are being watched, even as the unsettling quiet leads to sound hallucinations. Occasionally, you might hear a cry, or scream, break the silence of the island but travelers have sworn that they could hear the waves crashing even when they were miles from the coast.
In addition, strange silver lines seem to grow on everything like an ever-persistent vine. These silver lines appear like metal, but flex and move, sometimes even wriggling back into place when pulled. When cut the silver lines seem to draw back, but will quickly repair itself if given a chance. No one is quite sure what they are, and efforts to study it have met failure.
A Native’s Perspective
Strength. Hunger. Pain. These are the words that all creatures on Morceor’s island know. If you don’t have strength, you will have hunger. If you are hungry, you are in pain. If you are in pain, you have no strength.
It didn’t always used to be that way. At first, all the inhabitants knew about was pain. They were always fed, there was never the strong ruling over the weak. But there was always pain. Morceor made sure of that.
But with Morceor disappearing into his labs, and nothing going in or out, things have changed. Now there is hunger, and only the strongest survive.
It is a dangerous island, and if anyone knew how to escape Morceor’s bonds, then they would happily craft a raft or attempt to swim away. But even with Morceor disappearing, something is still watching. Still maintaining the island and its population.
Curse of Strahd, 2016 Wizards of the Coast
The vast majority of creatures on the island are the creations of Morceor. From common birds with hands for feet to malformed humanoids with grotesque animal-part additions, almost every creature here has some sign of Morceor. Those who don’t are those with bodies that hold no singular shape.
Doppelgangers are whispered from creature to creature like a boogeyman, servants of Morceor who are said to be his assistants, still conducting experiments for him, but now in caves or hollowed-out trees. Even objects can’t be trusted as mimics take the form of trees or the bones of dead creatures.
Everywhere on the island, things aren’t what one expects. When visitors come to the island, it isn’t long before they are devoured by the inhabitants.
Traits
Traveling to the Island
This island is said to be lost somewhere in the dark oceans, with some even claiming it is adrift, free to float across the waves. This island does not drift and remains in the same place, but the surrounding ocean is treacherous to navigate by ship. From changing currents, terrible storms, and shallow rocks, the surrounding ocean is rife with dangers, which accounts for so many shipwrecked sailors who are washed ashore.
Though, that doesn’t explain the number of planar travelers who somehow arrive here. Treacherous waves and deadly storms don’t often trap those traveling by magic, but that is a more recent hazard that only started when Morceor took over the island.
Deep within Morceor’s laboratories are magical traps and sigils that have been laid over the island. Occasionally, when a teleport spell would send travelers over this island, the magic would be interrupted, the same way a counteract spell can interrupt a spell being cast. When that happens, the travelers are ejected out of their travels and wind up on the island. Some take the interruption in stride and re-cast the spell, if they are ever able to.
However, wizards and sorcerers are often curious creatures, seeking knowledge of what interrupted their magic. This leads them to explore the island, often unable to flee when they journey too close to Morceor’s laboratories where he has laid several teleport traps and planar anchors.
Player Options - Heroes of the Feywild, 2011 Wizards of the Coast / Marc Winters
Traversing the Island
The island is covered in a choking jungle that extends almost completely to the pebble beaches. There are game trails that crisscross the island, allowing explorers easier paths to follow than cutting their way through the vines, shrubs, and trees that clog every inch of ground.
If a traveler sticks to the beaches, they can circle the island, though it takes several days to do so and requires traveling across rough ground and being out in the open the entire time. A traveler could instead cut through the island, and as the island is only twenty miles across at its widest, it shouldn’t take them too long, but thanks to the choking vegetation, it often takes several more days than sticking to the beaches. On the upside, you are hidden by the thick vegetation from prying eyes… almost.
In the center of the island are three juts of rock, the mountains as the natives call them. They are only a few thousand feet tall, but offer a commanding view of the island, and have the fewest trees growing on them. Of course, few of the beasts and experiments of Morceor drift near these rocky outcroppings. They are said to be filled with doppelgangers, mimics, and other foul creatures who work for the mage, ambushing anyone who approaches.
Throughout the island are small lakes of water, bubbling up from hidden water reservoirs or from rivers that flow from the highest points on the mountains. What feeds these rivers is a mystery as the water seems to bubble up from the rock itself.
Silver Lines
All across the island are lines of silver. They grow across trees, over rocks, and through caverns. They can be found at the bottom of the lakes, at the highest points on the mountains, and even out to sea surrounding the island. These silver lines appear like metal, but when touched, they move freely and wiggle slightly. Outsiders and the inhabitants have no idea what they are or where they come from, but most have accepted them to be a natural occurrence on the island.
In truth, these lines are all connected, all extending from a single point like the roots of a tree. Morceor may have disappeared a generation or more back, but he has not left his island. Instead, he is watching his experiments and still experimenting to this day.
Morceor has placed his intellect into the island itself, with the silver lines acting as his eyes and ears. These are his senses flowing throughout the island, and he knows everything that happens here. Like a vast neural network, Morceor has become the island.
Water
The water here is magically created by Morceor and originates from his laboratories. While there was water from storms and clouds before Morceor arrived, he supplemented the limited supply with a limitless amount of magically created water.
This magical water is more than just a gift that Morceor provided to the island but is yet another way for him to experiment with the island’s inhabitants. This water has been laced with strange chemicals and magical charms. Those who drink the water slowly find themselves transforming and gaining the appearance of bestial humanoids.
This magical poison is what has resulted in the few travelers who have survived on this island no longer appearing as they once did. Now they appear like grotesque monsters who are slowly being consumed by their new bestial natures. The longer one drinks this water, the further these transformations happen, before the humanoid eventually forgets all that they were before and becomes truly monstrous with little ability to communicate with others.
Locations
There are only a handful of known locations on the island, though none are safe unless you are powerful. Even Morceor, when he still walked the island, took great care to never travel without his retinue in the wildest parts.
Morceor’s Laboratories
Once, these laboratories saw a lot of people coming and going, with Morceor orchestrating everything. Now that Morceor has pulled back from the island and merely watches over his creations, these laboratories stand empty and dusty. There are a number of secret entrances throughout the island, some are tunnels that have collapsed in on themselves, and some exist at the back of caves, or in the deep trenches of a lake, all lead back to rooms still covered in ancient blood stains and discarded tools of a vivisectionist and corpse stitcher.
Strange vials filled with bubbling liquids cover the walls, strange womb-like sacs hang from the ceiling, and sometimes a shape within twists and moves, as if waiting to be born. On occasion, a noise might echo through the halls, like a long-lost scream finding its voice again.
These laboratories remain empty and devoid of life, but Morceor still walks these halls, but only in his memories. While none travel through these halls, Morceor still recalls his many experiments and relives them, his silver lines crossing the island tingling with the joy he felt when his knives worked his magic onto his victims.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, 2021 Wizards of the Coast
The Dark Wilds
While this island isn’t especially big, there are places that the inhabitants know to never venture into. In the Dark Wilds, a section of the island to the northeast near the beach is where the most powerful creatures reside. These monstrosities have lost all sense of their previous selves and instead focus on fulfilling their ever-present hunger.
Many of these creatures seem to have gained a portion of Morceor’s sadistic nature, delighting in causing pain in weaker creatures and often go on raids across the island when the pangs of hunger become too great and not enough food wanders into their territories.
The Dark Wilds are ruled by an elf with the bestial features of a bear grafted across their body. They have long forgotten their name, and if anyone else knew it, they died a long time ago. Now, the elf simply goes by The Beast or The Beast of Morceor.
Repentance
This village, for lack of a better word, is a tiny settlement situated currently near the largest lake on the island. Repentance was named long ago by the first creations of Morceor who had hoped to one day be released from their horrible circumstances and regain what sapience and birthright they can remember from their past life.
There are no true buildings, but rather nests that have slowly been built up with limbs and tree trunks acting as walls, and the leaves providing a barely adequate roof. The inhabitants are used to living in fear, knowing that they will soon be attacked by The Beast and others like it, causing them to spread throughout the island where they will be easily hunted down and killed. Eventually, the survivors will reunite and create a new Repentance somewhere else on the island, before the cycle will repeat.
One day, they claim, Morceor will return to the island and bring order once again. It is said, almost as a legend, that when Morceor ruled the island, no one was allowed to eat another living creature. That all creatures were forced to live in peace with one another. These legends claim there was no hunger, no strength to decide who lived or died.
Of course, there was pain. But pain is something the residents are used to and expect. They know that Morceor inflicted pain, but their legends have twisted that pain into something good and beneficial. That Morceor was helping their physical bodies reach perfection through experimentation and pain.
People of the Island
Most of the creatures who call this island home are the monstrous humanoid-beasts that have resulted from Morceor’s experiments. There are also darker creatures who continue to follow Morceor’s orders, even without him providing new instructions. They maintain the island, ensuring that the creatures of the Dark Wilds don’t devour all of the experiments that Morceor created, that the other inhabitants aren’t deviating too far from their original forms, and killing trespassers who attempt to cause too much trouble and interrupt Morceor’s greatest experiment.
Morceor, the Mage of the Forbidden Island
Morceor found this island lost in the oceans and decided it would be the perfect place for him to conduct his experiments away from prying eyes. He hopes to one day unlock the secrets of life, of matter, and of energy. With this knowledge, he might one day ascend to true godhood, capable of crafting worlds with his knowledge of mutation and change.
Perhaps that is why he has disappeared into the island itself, sending his consciousness out in the silver lines that feed him constant information about the island. On this island, he is a god, watching over his creations, slowly adjusting how they evolve and transform, and, sometimes, protecting his flock from the terrible creatures of the Dark Wilds.
Morceor is delighted when new arrivals come to his island. Fresh stock for him to experiment on and watch them closely, slowly using his control over the creatures of the island to get them to lose themself into a more bestial nature.
Perhaps, one day, he’ll return to his physical body and take a more hands-on approach to his experiments, but for now, he is happy to simply be the island and watch his great experiment unravel.
Monster Manual, 2014 Wizards of the Coast
Doppelgangers
Throughout the island, existing within the Dark Wilds and the inhabitants of Repentance are doppelgangers. These were the helpers and aids to Morceor, delighting in his goal of creating new species and creatures, all to grow their catalog of creatures they can transform into.
They are hoping that Morceor might one day return to his experiments and finish creating new creatures, and hopefully create something truly unique that grants them even greater powers. For now, they are happy to maintain the ‘stock’ of the island and ensure that Morceor’s island remains on its current path. Even if Morceor isn’t actively cutting and splicing bodies, they can still witness new experiments taking place as travelers arrive and are slowly transformed by the island itself.
The Stock
This derisive name was given to the inhabitants by Morceor who saw them as little more than animals to be experimented on. Everything from humans to dwarves, and from kobolds to orcs can be found in ‘the stock’—though they all have bestial transformations that make them appear like therianthropes stuck in a permanent hybrid form.
Visitors to the island slowly become part of the stock as they drink the water, their minds slowly being undone. Spellcasters who stay here to explore the island slowly forget their spells, and sailors forget how to sail from these shores. They end up stuck and forgotten here.
Those who have escaped sometimes lose their bestial features if they weren’t too far gone, while others retain them. Those who retain their features are often called mongrelfolk, a terrible name by people who have little understanding of what they have gone through and have no care for those who were once Morceor’s stock.
Curse of Strahd, 2016 Wizards of the Coast
The Beast of the Dark Wilds
Long ago, this elf was traveling the planes before they were dragged into the island. Curious as to what stopped their magic, they traveled across the island and found Morceor’s laboratories. They were taken back by the horror they witnessed, but try as they might, their magic would not allow them to travel from this island. Soon they became yet another of Morceor’s stock, gaining the traits and features of a massive black bear.
Now, this elf has forgotten almost everything they knew before. All they remember are the dark laboratories of Morceor, of the blood, of the knife, and the fear they felt when they first began transforming. They shy away from that pain, instead pushing that pain onto others as they now rule the Dark Wilds with blood and strength. They fear that they may one day lose their strength and they will once again be consumed by pain and hunger.
Thanks to their elven heritage, however, they have several hundred years of youth before any signs of age begin to appear. The only thing that may stop The Beast is if Morceor returns to the island and begins his experiments once again. The Beast knows that Morceor won’t let them continue to hunt and kill the other experiments, the stock, but The Beast won’t allow Morceor to ever control them again.
Encounters
Shipwrecked - The ship that the party was traveling on has sunk and they wash ashore on this island. Terrible creatures are hunting them through the jungle and they must find a way to leave, before becoming Morceor’s experiment.
Rebirthed - Morceor has finally found the key he needs to truly understand life and matter. He has begun capturing souls and dragging them to this island where he can trap them in arcane wombs that grow grotesque monstrosities. He is so close to fully realizing his dreams, though clerics and wizards have determined that these souls are being captured and have pinpointed this island.
Planar Interruptions - While traveling through a portal or with the use of a spell, the party suddenly finds themselves in the middle of a strange island. Will they explore their new surroundings or will they attempt to flee? If they attempt to flee, they will first have to enter the laboratories and destroy the magical traps that prevent travel from this island.
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