About the island

[Cirrus]

Created by Char.

◊-Name of Island: Dance Island

◊- Size of Island: A similar size to Dawn Island

◊- Location: South Blue, quite close to the calm belt.

◊- Flora: Being a largely tamed island, much of the visible flora on the island consists of the large irrigated fields of rice paddies. There is some rather common plant life on the island, but one flower is of particular note;

Dance Flower
A wild growing plant, the Dance Flower is from what the substance ‘dance powder’ is has been derived. The usually warm and sunny environment of the island means that the flower is often in a state of bloom, and it’s pollen contains the very same qualities of Dance Powder, so a substancially reduced degree. However, since the flowers are releasing pollen constantly, the amount in the atmosphere eventually builds to an ambient level that keeps the rain around for a week or more.
Because of this, the island’s farming industry has boomed, particularly that of semi-aquatic plant farming such as rice, since the almost guaranteed cycle of sun and rain allows farms to have multiple harvests in a year. Because of this productive effect, the authorities in Minatsuki maintain a strict balance between farmland and wild glades of Dance Flowers, so as not to destroy the helpful effect.

◊- Fauna: While much of the immediately visible fauna are animals that have been brought over in the form of domesticated beasts such as Ox or Horses, there are some more unique animals indigenous to the island;

Giggling Fox
A practically domesticated animal that will happily live in the shadows of human settlements or in the wild, the giggling fox isn’t remarkably dissimilar from most other foxes physically, aside from a slightly stubbier snout and narrow eyes. The big difference between the Giggling Fox and most other forms is the creatures vocalisations; this animal tends to communicate with others through patterns of high pitched barks. To human ears, this can sound like laughter, which both earned the creature its name and a mythic reputation for being a trickster. Tales are told of these foxes seemingly coming to the aid of humans, only to lead them into disaster as they giggle at the human’s misfortune.

Racoon-Bear
A large tanuki-like animal, the size of a black bear. Despite its resemblance to its canid counterpart, the animal is thought to be a closer relative of the bear. Roughly two meters long and one meter from ground to shoulder, the animals are much less predatorial than one might think, given their claws and power. Omnivores, the Racoon-Bear will eat just about anything edible; often climbing tree’s to eat fruit and berries. Natural gorger’s, they will eat as much as they can of any foodstuff they find so they can live on stored body fat when food is scarce. While not particularly violent, they can be a nuisance to the farming community, what with them trying to eat the crops that they find. They aren’t particularly fierce though, and would rather flee an angry farmer than attack one.

Ohdeer
Huge spotted deer, which are even larger than a moose. They are a grazing animal that live in the forests of the country, not immediately a danger to humans, they are however highly territorial and will fiercely charge intruders with their strong antlers. Considered by many to be the most dangerous animal of the island, the Ohdeer tends to be an actual threat to human’s once aroused, unlike the Giggling Fox or Racoon Bear which are treated more as pests than problems.

◊- Weather: The weather of Rainy Island tends to be something of extremes. Roughly every two or three weeks of brilliant sunshine will be followed by a week or two of constant rain. While it isn’t an exact science, on average tends to roll around on a cycle of warm weather followed by wet weather.

◊- Inhabitants: The people out in the countryside are simple farming folk, interested in harvesting their rice and shipping it out to sell to merchants or the sake breweries. They aren’t really the type of people who eagerly welcome visitors, but they tend to warm up to those with a strong back and the heart to help with their harvest.

The major hub of the island’s population is in the town of Minatsuki, which is largely composed of breweries and bars which sell some of their products. Rainy Island is something of an international icon in the rice wine industry, with many masters of production having establishments based on the island.

◊- Settlements:
Minatsuki Town
A town which has grown up from a gathering of breweries; it has now grown into a large town not simply comprised of the breweries and their workers homes. A home of bars as well now, many astute merchants have taken to buying their sake straight from the source for cheap prices, passing their savings onto their consumers. Consequently, with cheap drinks comes those who love them, and there is a developing element of disorderly conduct within the town, particularly at night. Along with this, there’s also a growing trend for people who would take advantage of the stupor that the bars provide, with reports of criminal behaviour on the rise and the establishment of a small ‘red light district’ within Minatsuki.



Shinen Dojo
The Shuryuu Shinen-Ryu Dojo was established on the island a little over five years ago, built by the Shinen family who wished to create a swordsmanship dojo outside of their native Wa. Through the efforts and resources of the Shinen family, they purchased an area of land a couple of miles west of Minatsuki, and built their own Dojo and family home there. In a land of farmers and drunks, a rural Dojo hasn’t been hugely successful, but they have gained a handful of students.

Sakemura
Sakemura is a small village towards the south of the island, consisting of farms that mainly grow Koji Rice to be used in the creation of Sake.

Shijawan
An western collection of hamlets in a region where the rice grown here is largely used for food; succulent Shijawan Rice is supposed to be especially delicious, and goes well with seafood.

◊- Map:

SPOILER: Click to show

◊- NPC’S:

Shinen Yosuke 

Teacher of the Banzen no Shinen-Ryu Dojo, who happens to be a master swordsman.

Shinen Hinata

The tomboyish daughter of Yosuke, and a dab hand with a naginata, operating as the second in command of the Dojo.

Jumonji Hiroko

Bar owner and a great source of rumours and gossip, provided you pay your tab. If not, her 'iron palm' has cut many a hard head to the bone.

◊- Missions: None At Present

◊- Island History:
Dance Island doesn’t have a complicated or grand history really, given the relative recentness of its habitation by society. It was only a short two hundred years before the current time that settlers came to the island, but it had been visited by some prior to that. However, given the stark contrast in weather conditions combined with the danger that was presented by the aggressive Ohdeer that dominated the islands wild land, prior to intrepid agricultural design the island wasn’t particularly well favoured by the lands that surrounded it.


It wasn’t until a couple of centuries ago that a few of the more hardened folk from the Grand Line learnt of the strange island of rolling weather conditions, and saw that the island might well hold a great potential for growth, given the right crops. These hardy settlers could cope better with the almost bipolar nature of the island’s weather, and weren’t nearly as intimidated by the shows of aggression from the Ohdeer. From a small settlement that would grow into the current day Minatsuki, over a few generations the wild land of glades and foresty of this island was gradually tamed. The native wildlife was slowly pushed back to make way for the rice paddies that people imported to the island.

It was through the colonisation of the island that it’s rather unique weather patterns were observed, and eventually understood. Observation on the varying rainfalls by curious meteorologists, now able to study the island thanks to the protection and hospitality of the small settlements that scattered the land, connections were made between the concentration of the Dance Flowers and the heaviness of the rainfalls. Being the common factor between the places that received the heaviest rain, the push to colonise the entirety of what would soon be known as Dance Island was curbed by all involved. The bounty of the multiple yearly harvests meant that any farm built on the island could easily match, if not outstrip the rice production of other lands. It was agreed by all to take a more conservative approach to the island’s expansion, in order to keep the balance of the Island’s beneficial ecosystem; an act that continues to offer a generous return, even more than a century later.

And so, the prosperity of the farms created growth in the lands of Dance Island, and before long it attracted the brewery industry, keen on taking advantage of the island’s generous source of rice in order to make Sake, and other rice wines. At this point, Minatsuki was still one of many small hamlets scattered across the island, housing the local farmers who worked the lands around her. However, with the first breweries deciding that this close to the port village formed something of a central hub for the flow of resources through the island, Sake production was centralized here and with it, the money and people that it brought.

Further expansion was brought by the interest in the products of these breweries; those with an interest in alcohol began to visit the island to get their drinks straight from the supplier, to save themselves the commission that those who distributed the produce would add. Before long, the breweries saw the potential in offering sale of their productions publicly, rather than deals struck in the offices. Bars and shops selling the alcohol were created at first by the breweries themselves, leased to locals who quickly adapted to the sale of drinks. Drinking establishments became a common sight within Minatsuki, with shrewd managers offering a range of selection from several of the breweries. This spurred in more recent times the development of further ‘amusements’ for those who enjoyed a drink. In out of the way places, those perhaps a little lacking in morality created brothels and gambling houses to snag the remaining coins in the pockets of the drunk for their own means. The once pure farmland of Dance Island had gathered itself a seedy underbelly.

Most recently, a new kind of establishment was brought to the island, different from farming and alcohol, but also from the hardy Grand Line as its initial settlers had been. A samurai of Wa No Kuni named Shinen Yosuke brought to the island the concept of Kenjustu, and built himself a Dojo on the outskirts of Mintsuki. His motivation for doing this is unclear, but perhaps he hoped that the discipline of martial arts could help to restore some of the lost purity of the farming lands. Whether this will happen or not, remains to be seen.