from The World of the Wilderlands:

Once home to an ancient and advanced elven realm, today the lands of the Ebony Coast are a backwater of petty kingdoms, minor city states, and wandering Karzulun clans. The elves still rule the deep woods of the Great Ebon Forest (so named for the rich, black woods that can be harvested there from), but the lands along the eaves are the domain of exiles and other races. The northern lands are a mix of forest, fields, and low, craggy peaks and hills, with Karzulun wandering the debatable lands between the various independent settlements. Most of the men of the south are an offshoot of the Skandik and Valonar races, whose ancestors settled here with Tharbrian, Tharbriana, Altanian, and other slaves in the age of chaos following the collapse of the Dragon Empire. Men of other races have settled here and there in small numbers, for this forgotten land is a good place to lose oneself and one’s enemies. There are also no few half-elven realms, descended from these human invaders and their elven subjects. Were the local lords able to unite under one banner, their location on the borders between the Wilderlands and Karak would be quite profitable; as it is, most trade passes them by to the north, through Tarantis (city), or overseas, through the westernmost province of Karak, Piguzhou (consisting of Moonstone Isle and Blackwell Isle).

All but forgotten by the Emperor’s bureaucracy in far-distant Koin, this minor satrapy claims responsibility for taxing all sea-faring trade between the Wilderlands and Karak, a claim usually ignored by merchants of West and East alike, save when the satrap’s mercenary Skandik marines board their vessels. The southern Winedark Sea is contested by the pirate merchants of Tarantis (city) and the privateer traders of Rallu, when Skandik raiders or tax-men are not on the prowl.