The Silver Seas

The Silver Seas is the name for the southern ocean waters between the mainland and the Shiral islands. It is populated densely by nix, who thrive in the warm, shallow waters. Nixie communities along the coasts interact regularly with tellurans, and have become known for their advances in medicine, fueled by the many materials available to them from the reefs, as well as the relative protection they had from the cataclysm which protected them from a complete loss of history and techniques, unlike the vast majority of tellurans. The narrower area of easterly sea, between the mainland and the eastern end of the Shiral islands, is more often referred to as the Silver Sound, but there is no distinct seperation between the two. The sound is an area of common ship traffic, both along the coasts and out to the islands. Ships from the sea rarely venture all the way out to the islands, instead transporting goods and passengers only across the sea to other points on the mainland.

Shiral Islands

The Shiral Islands are volcanic arc islands, mostly populated by humans, as they are environmentally similiar to the tropical Scaled Forests and therefore easy to adapt to. Their relatively short distance from the Scaled Forests further aided this colonization, and the islands themselves acted as a sort of stepping stone sequence, leading humans to settle in the Homonic Floodplains. The Shiral Islands are uniquely isolated from the rest of telluran cultures, and yet not completely distinct, for the continuous ship traffic and trade of goods across the Sound keeps them an integral part of mainland activities.

Naufrage Isles

The Naufrage Isles is technically part of the Shiral Islands, defined as the islands west of the largest- Væeok. The isles are named for the dangerous waters surrounding them, the sharp contrast between warm currents in the sea and cold ones in the ocean drive rapid, swirling currents on both large and small scales. The straits between the islands are prosperous fishing waters on account of the different water masses meeting, but they are also labile and thus dangerous. Eddies are incredibly common, and shoals and seamounts that may not be visible until too late pose a great risk to seafarers. Combine this with choppier waters compared to the smoother waters of the sea- protected from much of the open ocean's wave action by the islands- and few sailors are willing or able to brave the waters, as they have sunk many a ship.

Nixie Reefs

Nixie Reef, aptly named, is the origin of nix. There are long histories of trade and relations between nix, humans, and fauns, and it was fauns who first developed terrestrial Sign derived from Optimana. Most humans on islands and coasts in the Scaled Forests and southern Homonic Floodplains are at least semi-fluent in Sign, and it is broadly used throughout the Arbiter's Moorlands and into the Montaran Foothills.

Unknown Depths

The Unknown Depths, also called the Chimerae's depths or just the Depths, is the name given to the trench system just oceanward of the Naufrage Archipelago and the Shiral islands. It's formed by the subduction of the Austric tectonic plate beneath the Occident and Eastern ones. The Depths often refers to specifically the triple point between all three, where the ocean floor falls dramatically. Here is where the Chimerae reside, though that is only myth to tellurans and even other merfolk. All that is known of the Chimerae is what merfolk occasionally find drifting up from the Depths- nothing more than bloated bodies and the occasional piece of something distinctly humanoid-made. Nevertheless, these mysteries spawn numerous legends that are carried by merfolk and sailors alike.