The Mouth of Ortega

In the western seas, ships are always warned to never stray out of sight of land due to currents which tend to draw vessels westward. The source of these currents is said to be a massive vortex which is inescapable once you're close enough to actually see it. While many doubt the existence of such a phenomenon in the world, mariners and arcanists are painfully aware it is not only real - it seems to be slowly growing in strength as years pass. Various attempts to explore into the area around the vortex had failed, leaving there to be no concrete knowledge of the source of such a thing in nature. That does not mean it is unknown entirely. A few ancient manuscripts from the Dark Era describe a calamity which consumed many cities of "godless sorcery", and devastated the world. From those manuscripts there is a name which has endured for the vortex: the 'Mouth of Ortega'.

"The Mouth Opens"

The accounts of the ancient manuscripts are near impossible to verify with other sources, but they have become generally accepted as the truth of what happened back then. Stripping away various beliefs of the time, and prejudice against wielders of magic, has yielded a fairly detailed description of a calamitous period which scholars have assumed is when the Mouth of Ortega was formed. Immediately prior to the event in question, there are accounts of great and powerful strongholds belonging to sorcerers and mystics which simply ceased to exist in torrents of arcane energy. Attempts to locate the sites suggested at by these manuscripts have been unsuccessful thus far.

More interesting is a description of a "wall of water rising well above the level of the tallest peaks" advancing on the western coastline, crashing down with enough force to tear great portions of the land free into the ocean. Those in current years who have visited the coast admit there is a disturbing semblance of such along many places, where the land is scoured clean to stone and descending to the ocean level as a sheer cliff. Similarly, it does explain the presence of a saltwater lake on the far side of the mountains in the western provinces of the Empire. Thus, circumstances suggest this event did happen and the account is genuine (and accurate).

Manifestation

As noted, the ocean to the west of Erisdaire has a current which draws vessels westward towards the vortex. The few who have actually seen the vortex through aerial travel, or divination magic, note it resembles "nothing so much as a hole in the sea which devours anything which comes close to it". This is where the name 'Mouth of Ortega' originated from, to bring to mind such an effect. These currents have an effect on weather patterns, causing storms to whip into existence over the western seas without much warning.

Localization

The 'Mouth of Ortega' is centered on a point in the western ocean, though what might exist there (or existed there prior to the vortex) is unknown even now. Rumors abound, but there is no evidence to suggest any of them are true. The currents which draw the water of the ocean towards the Mouth cause other patterns of currents to form, and as such the western ocean is fairly reliable with regards to how stable such things are most of the year. The trouble largely comes from underestimating the "inward" pull of the vortex, and keeping the course steady during a voyage. This is the primary reason ship captains have long held "stay within sight of the shore" as the first rule of navigation in the west.

Type

Natural