Isquarra’s Maelstrom

This is a massive counterclockwise moving pseudo whirlpool; in that, it creates a vortex-like current rapidly speeding up the existing currents around it but does not dip very far in the center. However, any ships that have gone into the center have never come out again. Despite the dangers it is a standard practice of Ormirian merchant ships to launch themselves off the increased currents of the edges, it takes some skill to not get pulled in further, but it also drastically reduces the time to their destination. The Maelstrom itself is a mystery to most but it is widely accepted as a place of weakness between the elemental plane of water and the material world. It is not known if the reason ships go missing at the center is because of a sea monster that lives there or they are lost into the plane of water, in either case, it is considered haunted as every so often a ghost ship will come out of the center and sail the seas of the world once again seemingly at random. If one of these ghost ships arrives at a port it is supposed to be an ill omen is on the horizon, and sometimes ghosts of the dead sailors can haunt the port in a form of horrible shore leave making the nights in such a place a true terror.

Only six ghost ships have ever been ‘taken’ where a force has defeated the ship and banished the spirits bound to its hull. They are said to have treasures of all kinds of exotic goods taken from ships of places unknown. No race of Savorah produces the wares that can be found on those ships and thus are extremely valuable and some suspect that they took those wares from other worlds connected to the plane of water, while others simply believe they found some small nation in the seas somewhere as Belthuran is largely unexplored.

History

If the Shivus Mountains are what brings water into Savorah the Maelstrom is considered what takes the water away draining it back into the plane of water for new water to be taken back out. That is the leading theory behind the Maelstrom and it has merit given how much Belthuran relies on a balance in so many aspects. The only other information about the Maelstrom comes from sailors, who are prone to tall tales so it makes reliable information hard to come by, as far as anyone is aware no one has made the trip through and come back alive to talk about it.