What Are the Secrets of Ataraxia’s Haven?

I always enjoy my runs through Ataraxia’s Haven because it has landscape and coloration that reminds me a lot of the Sands of Menechtarun.  I was taking Erdrique (Level 14 Rogue) through the area earlier last week and as I was running through the quest Sykros Jewel I wondered about the island that Ataraxia’s Haven is on.  Ataraxia’s Haven is a small island not far from Stormreach that Syrkos purchased from the Coin Lords.  His hope was to turn the island into a luxurious resort and his plans were going well until the island was invaded by some duergar.

While running through the quest Sykros Jewel, there is one instance where you come across a pile of treasure and gold that is guarded by some specters of the smugglers who stole the treasure.  There are also a number of other things on the island that makes one wonder who used this beautiful island in the past.  For instance, who built the lighthouse that is located on the island.  There are also two sets of ruins on the island, who built those?  One also has to wonder, how did the duergar get attracted to the island?  Did they have some type of ancient presence on the island that nobody knew about?

Ataraxia’s Haven is a relatively small island.  It is mostly a desert island, there is some small brush and minor trees, but it is primarily composed of dry grass, sandy beaches, rocky areas, and desert like interior.  It has some interesting and amazing natural formations, mostly located along the beachline.  The island is inhabited by some dangerous wildlife including hyenas, razor cats, large scorpions, rust monsters, and large spiders.  The island is also home to two different clans of monsters: wildmen and scags.  And we can’t forget that the duergar have taken up residence on the island now and have created a large camp under the shadow of the light house.

I’m not entirely sure on the location of Ataraxia’s Haven.  Since Sykros bought the island from the Coin Lords, it makes me think the island is close to Stormreach.  The small clues that we have about the island suggest that it was a perfect hiding place for smugglers and pirates.  It makes me wonder if this Island was somehow linked to Three Barrel Cove.  However, if it was it seems the pirates of Three Barrel Coves have decided that Ataraxia’s Haven wasn’t worth keeping.  I doubt this is the case.  I think this island was used more for smuggling instead of piracy.  A place where people could stash goods and supplies and sneak them into Stormreach and other areas of Xendrik.  However, the use of the Smuggler’s Hollow (set of caves that Syrkos Jewel takes place in) diminished greatly when the scrags settled on the island.

Erdrique battling the specters of some ancient smugglers in the Smuggler’s Hollow (Sykros Jewel).

What really interests me though is who built the ruins and the lighthouse on the island?  Our limited information we have, is that these structures seem to be very old, if not ancient.  I guess it is possible that the Coin Lords had the lighthouse constructed years ago to let sea faring vessels know they were approaching the coast.  But what about the ruins?  There is one set of ruins that simply contains and old and dusty library.  Who in the world established that?  As for the other ruins, it hard to determine if the structure was destroyed or if the construction was simply stopped.  Who started this?  The duergar have hinted to Syrkos that he was “trespassing.”  Could it be that the ancestors of these duergar were responsible for these structures?  Makes one wonder.  What else do the duergar think they own?

There are many questions for Ataraxia’s Haven.  I’ll be curious to see if any of these get answered in the future.  Thanks for reading everybody and happy hunting out in Ataraxia’s Haven.