The Eight Hundred and Thirty Three islands were formed over a thousand years ago after a simultaneous eruption of the three underwater volcanoes of the Sea of Octhoros. The islands rose or were created by falling lumps of rock, and settled into the ocean. The oracular priestesses of Octhoros saw the eruptions as a highly positive sign, and sacrificed the last of the unicorns in commemoration, before encouraging the settlement of the Islands with master craftsmen and tradesmen. The artificial peopling of these islands, and their excellent trading position in the centre of the sea made them amazingly profitable, and the people lived blissfully and in harmony. The University of Teekeean was founded one hundred years after the original foundations of the settlements, and remained one of the greatest centres of learning in the world.

The priestesses remained on the coast of the mainland, reading oracles from the great underground caves where the Ocean swells and speaks, making known the will of Octhoros. The eruption had announced eight hundred and thirty three good years for the islands, but no more.

During the Bloodstained Aeon, raiders from the south west invaded, taking the unwarlike Octhorians by surprise; destroying their high-walled cities and enslaving the people. Most Octhorians suicided, rather than to live under the yoke of another nation. Many raiders stole women from the cities and took them as their wives, and gradually, a new race was born, the pirate race which holds learning in such high esteem while terrorising the seas with their fast ships, plundering and pillaging mainland towns and merchant vessels who chance to come too close to their ships with too great a cargo. The Sea Dwarves, who were small in number in the Islands, did little to help the humans, and much emnity has remained to this day.

However, the Octhorian women had instilled a respect and fear within their captors, and they had taught these barbarians not only the ways of craft and knowledge, but also a deep and profound understanding of the god who ruled the islands, and thus, his oracles, and the towns they preside over, remain untouched by the pirate terrors of the Sea.

Over time, the Sea Dwarves have become more numerous as the great clan/fleets have gathered there to trade and travel, and even claim some land among the many unmapped islands. Memories run deep, and the humans there are torn between trade, and memories of how little the Sea Dwarves were there when needed. Yet, it appears the god of the islands blesses them as well, and the priests of the Sea Dwarves and human residence have the most congress between human and Sea Dwarf.