The Islands of Sina Una

The Islands of Sina Una is an 3rd party Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting created for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition that draws upon the rich but often neglected/ignored history and pre-colonial mythology of the Philippine Islands and its myriad of indigenous cultures.

It was published in 2020 by Hitpoint Press.

Setting

Several islands worth of adventure

The campaign itself is set amidst a vast archipelago located in the midst of an unnamed sea. There are seven major islands -- Timanduk, Kandaya, Puthawanan, Nasirakna, Adlawdto, Talunan, and Kotabalon -- who are in turn sometimes bordered by much smaller islands. In every island there are established towns and villages, and trade routes between islands, but far beyond the village centers, there are stretches of wilderness where danger lurks to snare the unwary.

And what lies beyond the blue seas that surround the islands? Herein begins the realms of the sea peoples, but even they speak of places further beyond -- of a deep ocean trench that serves as the grave of the snake abomination that regularly chases the moon across the sky, and of a place haunted by giant crustacean monsters.

And beyond even that? No one is really sure -- the campaign itself posits that the entire setting is located inside an unfathomably large open clam, with the skies contained in the top half, and the lands and seas on the inside of the bottom shell. Indeed there's even an "edge" to the world, where the ocean waters tumble off the edge of jagged cliffs ala-Discworld (or Eric the Viking), and where a gigantic eagle lurks to snatch up the boats of foolish explorers who've managed to get that far.

Cosmological mega-clam aside, the Islands are essentially pre-colonial fantasy Philippines, though the writing team went out of their way to make sure that they didn't lean too hard into local indigenous stereotypes.

The People of the Isles

The campaign brings in many of the "standard" player character races of 5th Edition, but given slight tweaks to make them fit in the local mythology; in most cases, this means that, rather than being the products of interbreeding or direct creations of specific deities, they are instead descended from incarnated nature spirits who entered the Mortal world at the dawn of time.

• Humans: The most widespread and numerous mortal race. Much like real-life Filipinos, they're everywhere in the Isles.

• Half-Orcs: Called "balatkayo" (lit. disguise or mask), these are not half-breeds, but rather a fullblooded people whose features come from the tusked war mask worn by their moon goddess patron.

• Dragonborn: Called Umalagad, these tall snake and crocodile-people are the reincarnations of people who had already passed away. WHY they get reincarnated as scalies only the gods know, but none question the second chance they had been given.

• (Volcano) Dwarves: A short but robust and industrious people who believe themselves to be descended from volcano spirits, they can temporarily coat themselves in armor made from molten magma for protection.

• (Balete) Elves: A long-live fey race that were "born" into the islands at the dawn of time when nature spirits crossed over into the living world via the roots of the Balete trees, though these days they breed well enough with each other. They revere the trees they are "descended" from as if these were respected ancestors.

• Half-Elves: Not half-breeds, these incarnated nature spirits manifested onto the Islands via the wildflowers of the fields rather than the Balete Trees that the elves used. Have a choice of being more "human" or "elf" in appearance, but otherwise has no bearing mechanically.

• (Gold) Gnomes: A people descended from incarnated earth spirits who have an affinity with Gold. Have a racial ability to enhance items through gilding these with gold trim.

• (Mangrove) Halflings: A short and agile people who believe that they were created by the spirit of the mangrove forests that they call their home. Otherwise they mostly keep to themselves.

• Tieflings: Rather than having an infernal heritage, these instead are people born with carabao or deer features, and with a strong connection with the spirits of the land. Carabao tieflings are big and strong, while Deer tieflings have an affinity with fire.

Introduced Player Classes

The campaign introduces two new player classes -- the Babaylan a spellcaster that prepares their spells via the aid of spirits, and the Headhunter, a martial class that hunts down transgressors with the help of their ancestors.