Your own boat
Sail it between Saltholm's harbours. Every harbour pays its own prices, so a hold of fish is worth more in one than another, and the coasters keep their own timetable if you'd rather ride.
Come ashore with nothing but a name
You land at the Long Pier in Brinmouth from the deck of the Gull's Wager. Within the hour Maren the shipwright hands you a boat with your name on its bow, you learn who pays best for fish, and you find out what lives in the woods at dusk. Shops are counters, the bank is a building, and the next job comes from what people say in the tavern.
Made by hand
Pump the bellows, strike the bar where it glows, draw the knife along the line. You make planks, hooks and stews with your own hands, and how well you do it sets the quality. Once you've mastered a recipe, you can make a batch at once.
Known in Brinmouth
Named ships berth and unload and the boatman calls the next passage. Bring in Old Greymuzzle's pelt and the town remembers: passers-by greet you by it, and the pier folk know your boat by the name on its bow.
The first island
Saltholm
Chalk cliffs, heather and dunes at the southern edge of the realm, far from the war. Brinmouth stacks up its hill around a curved harbour; Kelpwick burns kelp and mends nets on the south-west shore; Hob's Ford grinds its corn by the river. Near town it's safe. The woods and downs grow wilder the further you go, packs hunt there at night, and the wreckers' captain at Wrack Cove is best faced with others.
Saltholm is where the story starts. The Beacon Tower has gone dark, its keeper is missing, and something has been dragging bodies down to the sea caves.
Combat
Choose your steel
No classes: the weapon in your hand decides how you fight, and masters teach its techniques as you go. Every weapon's path forks.
- Sword and shield
- Greatsword
- Axe
- Mace
- Spear
- Dagger
- Bow
Time a parry to open a riposte; dodge the heavy blow you can't block. A sellsword on the Hob's Ford road parries you back, the wreckers come on behind a wall of boards, and the hardest fights are made for a group. Alchemy starts with simple brews; later come blade oils and pitch bombs.
The world
A kingdom with two crowns
Seven years ago King Osric died, and two heirs were crowned within a month: his daughter Maud, backed by the Church and the merchant guilds, and his nephew Edmund Vesper, backed by the great landholding houses. The houses pick sides, switch sides and profit. The bankers of Sarrakand hold both crowns' debts. And while the realm fights itself, the forts of the Beacon Line go unpaid, and the Gaunt are coming south for the first time in living memory.
Aldersey and Aldon
The heartland: wheat, rivers and windmills, and the walled capital where the cracked High Seat waits for whoever can hold it. Aldon already stands in the world; its act is being built.
Sarrakand
A foreign sultanate of desert, terraces and bazaars. Its bankers lend to both crowns, its smiths forge crucible steel, and it watches. Its port, Qasr Adim, already stands in the world.
Thornholt and the Sallow Fens
Deep forest under old houses with long memories, and a river delta where the Ostranders, pirates turned merchants, run the smuggling.
The Greyspine and Brennholm
Snowbound mountains holding the road north, and a volcano island famous for its smiths.
The Beacon Line and the Rimeland
A chain of half-empty forts along the northern cliffs, and beyond them frozen, lawless country, where the Gaunt come from.
The Gaunt
Too tall, too thin, grey-blue with frost. They hunt at night and in blizzards, and they call out in human voices. Most people don't believe in them. Yet.
Where it's going
One world, one long saga
Calder Isles is one shared world, not a lobby: everyone plays on the same isles, in the same war. The story runs in four acts, from Saltholm to the capital, across the realm and north to the Line, and the way the succession ends will be decided by the whole server together. Around it is a life worth living on the isles: fishing, farming, smithing, sailing and trade, with no class to lock you in.
Open now
- Saltholm: Brinmouth, Kelpwick, Hob's Ford and the wild country between
- The prologue and Act I, fully voiced
- Combat, crafting by hand, fishing, gathering and trade
- Your own boat, the boatman and the coasters
Being built
- Act II in Aldon: the capital, its court and a choice of patron
- Aldon and Qasr Adim, the first cities beyond Saltholm
- A bank you walk into, and trade you can read at a glance
- A fuller quest journal
Planned
- Act III across Thornholt, the Fens, Sarrakand, the Greyspine and Brennholm
- Act IV: the siege of Vardholm, and the server's choice of crown
- Barrows and sea caves to delve, and the war at sea
- The Wyrd: magic as a rare, forbidden and costly craft
- The Rimeland: the richest country, and the most dangerous
No dates: each part opens when it's good enough.
Questions
Do I need an account?
No. Press Play and you're in, on a guest account kept in this browser. Whenever you like, add an email and a password in Settings → Account to keep your characters and play them on another computer. Two-step sign-in is there too if you want it.
Is my progress saved?
Yes, on the isles' server. A guest account is reached through this browser, so if you clear its site data you lose the way back in. Add an email to keep it safe.
What do I need to play?
A computer with a keyboard and mouse. The isles look and run best in a recent Chrome or Edge, which have WebGPU graphics; other browsers use a slower mode. A dedicated graphics card helps a lot. The check at the top of this page tells you what your browser will do.
Can I play on a phone or tablet?
Not yet. The isles are built for keyboard and mouse.
Do I play with other people?
Yes. Everyone shares one world: other players are on the pier and in the woods with you, and the hardest fights are made for a group.
News
The isles are online for testing
Calder Isles now runs on its own server at play.calderisles.com. Saltholm, the first island, is open while we finish it, so expect rough edges and changes as we go.
Come ashore on Saltholm.
Play free