For the Wolf Pirates of the Threestep Isles, I use inspiration from a couple of unrelated sources.
But the Loskalmi returned. They set up a fortified trading post on Vendreog,
one of the Yggling holy islands. This provoked another revolt in
turn, led by Orstando Black Wolf, one of the Ygglings who had participated
in the first revolt. Using concepts both of the Dormal ships and the aldryami
design, he devised a new type of ship, which surpassed both old designs,
and the ships of the Loskalmi fleet. Orstando waged a guerilla war against
the more numerous Loskalmi while building up a small fleet of his new ships,
crewed with fierce warriors. After a while the Loskalmi had been annaoyed
so much that they sent an entire fleet after Orstando, who had little chance
but evade his pursuers - even his human kinfolk asked him to leave their
land to make an end to the hardship. Using up all the favours his merfolk
kin still owed him, Orstando defeated the Loskalmi, but then he turned
away from his homelands and searched for a new place to live.
After a couple of raids, he and his followers finally settled on the
Three-Step Isles, off the richest shore in all of seagoing Genertela.
When the Closing struck, nobody worried about these barren rocks. They
came to importance only when Dormal the Sailor used them as a landmark
on his first journey. But apart from the shrine Dormal set up there, nothing
of interest remained.
Besides three major islands with numerous rocky bays and promontories, numerous skerries dot the water, forming twisting mazes of canals. The entire group is situated on a rise in the ocean floor about 200 km long and 120 km wide. The rock of the islands is of a dark grey colour and has the tendency to break into plates.
The main island lies to the southeast of the archipelago. It is almost 120 km long, and up to 40 km wide. Most of its coast consists of vertical cliffs between 20 and 120 metres high populated by myriads of seabirds. Debris fallen from the cliffs and occasional needles jutting from the tearing waves make almost the entire southern coast unnavigable and inhospitable.There are however two bays which boats and small ships can use for anchoring or even beaching. These bays can be reached by passways across the island's central rise. Both bays have a small settlement of farmers and fishermen mostly left to themselves, except when foraging captains come to take their (lion's) share of the meagre crops.
The inland of the island is broken, but there is a general tendency for the land to rise from north to south. The hills rise up to 400 metres above the sea. The gentle slope away from the Homeward Ocean is covered by hardy grass or even heather. There are two small bogs in the western part of the island whose excess rainwater feeds the only notable creek of all the islands. There are nnumerous small pools which get replenished by rain almost as fast as the steady winds which blow over the islands dry them up again.
The north coast is a lot less steep than the south coast, and is sheltered
from the worst waves by the skerries and other islands in this direction.
One major bay opposite to the two northern islands offers safe anchorage
and several useful beaches, and a couple of lesser bays are manageable
by smaller craft as well.
The two other main islands are about as unfriendly. The too slope slightly
from a higher south coast to a lower north coast, but in their case the
north coast is open to the inbridled waves coming in from the Solkathi
Sea. There are numerous beaches - often occupied by seals - which a skilled
captain can reach, but there are no harbours for larger craft, and the
treacherous tides make beaching risky as well. Along their south coasts
there are a few anchorages, a few with beaches reachable by boat and with
trails up the cliffs.
Plant life on the Three-Step Isles is tough. What little soil covers
the rocks is held together only by hardy grass, heather and lichen. The
most sheltered places inland of the large islands sport some shrubs and
stunted birches, but generally there are no trees to be found here.
Climate is harsh, though not cold. Not even in Dark or Storm Season
frost or snow are seen, although an occasional hailstorm can beat the islands.
The sea winds keep the air cool and moist in summer, even throughout the
height of Fire Season.
Beast life of the islands is not very varied. Few mammals live here - stray cats and dogs brought by the pirates prey on seabirds, rabbits and rats, the latter two also brought here by the pirates. Sheep graze the coarse grass and the heather, stolen on raids on the mainland. Other husbandry doesn't thrive here, and usually is kept penned near the main settlement until slaughtered.
Along the shores, otters and seals populate the beaches, sharing them with flightless birds and the various seabirds. Gulls of all sizes and coloration, albatrosses, loons, puffins populate every protruding bit of the cliffs above the wave lines, while ducks, geese, cranes and other birds nest on the inland as well. Since the arrival of cats on the main island, ground-nesting birds have suffered there, and have been forced out to the lesser islands as well as to the smaller skerries, some of which get drowned in storms in bad years.
Due to the steady winds, insect life is mainly restricted to ground-dwelling bugs.
The sea beyond the beaches is overgrown with kelp where there is shelter
from the worst breakers. There are murthdryami (blue elves) in various
places around the slopes of the islands, but they avoid contact with the
surface. Ludoch come here to hunt, gather, and trade with the blue elves,
but maintain no permanent population here.
The pirates have a peculiar notion of a comfortable life. There are many drinking halls which offer some sort of crude entertainment - beast fights, wrestling matches, mud wrestling, eating and drinking contests, and whoring. They dominate the "main promenade" of the settlement. In the back alleys, there are hovels providing the housing for the sailors. Used to sleeping in open wolfships or crammed crew quarters, the pirates enjoy their relative freedom and privacy in small appartments usually inhabited by two or more crewmates.
After a few devastating fires which cost several lives and many seasons worth of bounty, the council of captains ordered the instalment of wide streets in the settlements. As a result, four "highways" separate the settlement into five quarters.
To the east, upon a small ridge reaching out into the bay, is the Captains'
Quarter. This section is clearly the richest in town, and consists largely
of custom-built houses or captains' cabins.
Only crewmembers or their immediate family are free on the Three-Step Isles. Everyone else had better have a master to protect them from other pirates' attention. A lot of the captives are owned collectively by a ship's crew, especially those operating the farms or herding the sheep.
The proprietors of the various businesses in Black Wolf Harbour - be they innkeepers, craftspeople or whoremasters - usually are former crewmembers still in good standing with their crew, or otherwise are owned by influential wolf pirates whose reputation - or crews - provide sufficient protection.
Unfree people unfit for profitable work often get deadly work assignments (diving for oysters, climbing cliffs for bird eggs), or are given to the sorcerers for use in their ceremonies (often that means tapping, or sacrifice). Given the mixed gender of the wolf pirates, good looks often earn their bearer a position as pleasure-toy. Ownership of such attractive toys often generates challenges or duels, and often the meanest pirates end up with the prettiest toys. Many toys don't last long...
Skillful captives often are employed in their speciality skills. If these are of direct use to the pirate business (like smithying, or any ship-building craft), they might even be accepted as crew members, i.e. freemen.
Wolf Pirates without a crew are in a difficult position. They have noone
to back them up or avenge them in any of the numerous conflicts between
the pirates. Such personal conflicts between members of the same crews,
or crews of equal strength or resolution, often end up as pit-fights in
one of the public drinking halls.