The archipelago
Sixty-two islands, seven reaches, one chain.
Ironsound is a small chain of 62 islands in uncharted backwaters — the theater of an ongoing battle for resources and survival. Each reach has its own character, and its own reason to be worth holding.
The Emberreach
Where the Cinderfleet's fires are closest to home water.
The Rimeward Skerries
Cold, scattered rock at the chain's edge.
The Gallows Reach
Hard ground, harder crossings.
The Rustwash
Shallow, iron-stained water that eats hulls.
The Boiler Straits
Narrow passages where fleets cannot avoid each other.
The Foggrounds
Low visibility — scouting matters more than guns.
The Signal Line
The relay spine of the archipelago.
62
islands named and grouped across the seven reaches. The full roll of names is held in the Ironsound Island Gazetteer.
Why islands matter
Ground is only worth what it's connected to
Claiming an island pushes your offensive front deeper into enemy territory. It also lengthens the line behind you — and a Defense Command Center only replaces its losses while its owner holds a Factory and a Resource centre on the same supply network.
So the map is never simply about how much you hold. It is about whether what you hold still talks to itself.
A crossing, as it plays
Plying its way towards the island of Pyre Shoal, the SS Dreadnought shed rivets and scales of rust as it heaved and crashed its way through the restless waters.
If he could just get close enough to deploy a Tideram and establish a defensive base before the opposing Cinderfleet could cut off his tenuous supply chain…
If the mighty SS Dreadnought can push its offensive front into enemy territory, claiming islands one by one, perhaps he can lay waste to the fierce Cinderfleet and claim the entire archipelago of Ironsound.