Mushi Umi
the Steaming Sea
Mushi Umi, the Insect Sea, Imni Kaki, the Inner Sea, the Na Boon Sea, or the Steaming Sea, is the deep-water sea that the Na Boon archipelago surrounds. A warm mist often covers the waters, especially during the winter. This is caused by the sea staying a constant 80 degrees fahrenheit throughout the year. At its deepest point, some 2000 feet down, it can reach up to 90 degrees. Its warmth is the reason the archipelago dwells in an eternal sub-tropic climate, despite its far north latitude.
The warm sea of Mushi Umi are teeming with tropical sea life, including extensive coral reefs throughout the waters and nearby oceans. These reefs, along with the mountains of the surrounding islands, help shelter the sea from the harsh storms of the Piercing Ocean, farther regulating the weather of the Inner Sea.
Mushi Umi is in fact the caldera of an ancient super-volcano simply known by the unoriginal name of the Na Boon Super Volcano. The volcano has been recorded erupting at least twice in history, both causing the near extinction of life on Aldern. The first eruption known was at the beginning of the Randagri Period. An eruption of which is believed to have formed the islands that now make up Na Boon.
Today the super-volcano is considered dormant, but not extinct. The Na Boon people hold the belief that it is the sacred life-giving womb of Aldern. It is the warmth of the volcano deep below the waters that create the paradise conditions and the fertility of their islands. Their cultural myths surround the volcano, and their end times see the world consumed in the fire of its final eruption. To them it is a blessing, even in the end. They will vanish in an instant; it is the rest of the world that will suffer in the aftermath.
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