Athos A World Without Oceans

Athos is a world without oceans. Millennia ago, the Council of Eight brought all the kingdoms of the world together to fight demonic armies that were emerging from the depths of the oceans. But even the combined might of all these armies was not enough. In a desperate bid to save the world from annihilation, the Council sacrificed themselves in a ritual that rent the very crust of the world. All the world's oceans rushed down through a giant tear in the mantle of the planet, dragging the demonic armies with them. Once the last of the demons fell into the depths, the crack in the world closed forevermore, though where it tore through the ground is a twisted and evil place, now called The Rend.   Though the demons were banished, the world was left without oceans. What plants and animals that weren't sucked underground soon perished on the drying floor of the ocean, now exposed to sunlight.   The surface of Athos is only about 20% water. 10% in lakes and rivers, and 10% in dead seas - water so acidic, no ships can sail them, no animals can live in them, and no plants can grow near them. These mostly exist near The Rend, at the lowest points on the surface of Athos.   Where once oceans divided continents, endless tracks of strange, densely forested wilderness now grow, called The Abyssal Plain. Folk that lived through The Cataclysm wanted nothing to do with those cursed lands where the ocean once lay. As millennia passed, the strange forests that grew from the bottom of what was once the ocean, were rightly avoided by all civilized folk.   According to legend, the oceans of the world still exist deep underground. Called The Black Ocean, it is a place of great peril. In contrast to the surface, The Black Ocean has almost no dry land. Seas stretch through perfect darkness, with massive pillars stretching up from under the water to the ceiling far above. Few people have ever seen The Black Ocean, and any that claim to, are generally considered mad.