To the windswept and storm-battered Roundwards edge of the Palaan Sea, off the coast of Sudhrai and Chintrabad, is a cluster of several hundred islands, ranging in size from small rocks to a little less than a couple of hundred square miles. These are the Vakh Isles, home to a small but hardy population of fishermen, sailors and those in less savoury occupations, and ruled over by the Island Lords.
Even in the days of the Magnapuri Empire the archipelago was renowned as a lawless and widely overlooked place, home to a great many escaped slaves and other criminals. Several Magnuses attempted to rein in the Isles, but with limited success - though they could potentially clear out a handful of the larger islands, it was all too easy for the criminals to quietly escape to one of the many other islands and vanish. Magnus the Strict, a militant lawmaker and enforcer, in spite of numerous attempts, eventually gave up on bringing the Magnus' Peace to the Isles, describing the task as "making war on the sea itself". Many consider it one of his few significant failures in his campaigns for enforcing his control over the Empire.
In the civil war and revolution following the Burning of the Book of Names, though nominally ruled from Pundrapur by Menveg of the Pundran Magnacy, the chaos allowed the Vakh Isles to quietly gain de facto independence, serving as a haven for revolting slaves, and elves from disgraced or overthrown families. It is around this time that the first Island Lords emerged. How the Island Lords came into being varied wildly between the different Isles - some such as the orc pirate Skincloak simply conquered Denhak by power of might makes right, while others like the high elf Glimmersong, a former courtier of Sanja Fairmaiden displaced by the violence in Pundrapur, bribed his way to power in Malicum, and others islands such as Ponjit elect their Island Lord in a form of rudimentary democracy. Nevertheless, the role of the Island Lord was much less variable than their means of ascension. Each Island Lord has near absolute power over their island and those on it, ruling as they see fit. It is for this reason that Island Lords rarely visit each others' holdings - to do so would be to be seen as an act of submission. In very rare cases, usually only with faced with a major outside threat such as the invasion of Sudhrai or the attack by returning crusaders from the Balsifiri Crusade, the Island Lords have submitted to the strongest Island Lord, usually determined by naval strength, though at least once it has been decided diplomatically or by pure magical power. This has usually been the Lord of Denhak or Malicum, the largest and most populated two islands. In these cases, the strongest Lord has often hosted a court of the other Island Lords within their own capital, instead of the usual more neutral meeting place of on board ship that is traditionally favoured.
Culturally, the Vakh Isles occupy a strange position as being largely populated by former slaves, but not being significantly influenced by the Bookburner faith, having neither been significantly influenced by the religion in the revolution, and having avoided crusade since. Without the religious objection, and with a large population of wreckers, pirates and other criminals, many islands of the archipelago still practice slavery, though few to anywhere near the extent of the old Empire. Several Languages are spoken, notably High Magnapuri and Tondran, but the majority of the population speak a strangely accented form of Low Magnapuri.