Warmtide Reef

Warmtide Reef is a massive underwater metropolis and the Northern seat of power of the Kingdom of Orpora. The metroplex sprawls across the entire straight of Kanasar, the 7 by 8 mile stretch of water between the islands of Kalu and Vralhu, and occupies a critical stretch of water for both the surface and aquatic worlds. While the rest of Deluja's waters must deal with storms and seasonal current changes, Warmtide is insulated, stable, and safe. Warmtide is, for many in the surface world, a stabilizing influence that prevents regional wars, keeps the tradeways safe, and provides helpful signage to keep foreign ships out of the more dangerous waters. To the aquatic world, Warmtide is a tyrannical seat of military order, an impregnable citadel of power whose tendrils wrap across Delujan waters with equal parts sadism and greed.
To those who live there, Warmtide is either a bastion of enlightened order or a vicious and terrible prison. All who achieve legal recognition as a full citizen are allowed to live safe lives in a prosperous trade hub, as long as they do their civic duty, follow the True Culture, and obey the state. All who are trapped as thralls or helots (unfree labor tied to specific jobs, aristocratic titles, or plots of water) find that life is a miserable slog of surveillance, violence, and dangerous labor conditions, and that only by surrendering their children to state indoctrination can families hope to find them a better life. Even those sent as children into state service and training aren't full citizens, though they can get their children absorbed into a community if they are obedient, ruthless, and have a bit of luck. This is all only "enlightened" because the system is just as willing to allow Squiddles and Cephapeople into the ranks of their citizens as Octopeople, and because citizens have access to some small bits of community democracy. Even the local citizens militias and moots that theoretically give a voice to the commonfolk are de-facto ruled by the lower elites. Freedom, rights, and a good quality of life are promised, but are always just out of reach, an endless race that pits families against one another in a competition rigged in favor of the state. But hope drives many forward, and drives many desperate souls into Warmtide from Southern Orpora.

Warmtide Districts

Sandwiching both sides of Warmtide are the two military districts: Tideway Reef in the North, which is the center of Blue Ring (standing army) power and recruit training, and Blackrock Reef in the South, which has more connections to the merchant elites and is slightly more commercial and industrial.
Entering into the city from the South, two districts immediately catch one's eye just past Blackrock's fortress and military markets: The Plumes and Nexora. Nexora probably is the more notable one: it is a massive spire of igneous rock, a mountain with large painted holy symbols and capped with white-and-black temples. The Plumes rise from Nexora's base, a series of red-and-white clouds, with great chitin-and-stone structures clinging to their source.
Nexora is a beautifully decorated religious district, home of the engineering college and warlock training. A large temple known as Leviathan's Rest sits at the heart of it, nestled right into the peak and with proportions large enough for a grand leviathan. This is a bastion of two elder Leviathans, both of whom have a special magical attachment to the place.

• There is the Moonhunter, the younger and weaker of the two, also known as the Profane Beast. He seeks to exert strength and dominance over the Lunar Pantheon by inverting their symbols, breaking the faith of their followers, and mocking their power and rituals. Warlocks of the Moonhunter tend to be provocative and blasphemous towards Lunar Gods, and often frame themselves in "diabolical" terms. Those who frame their disconnect to the world in terms of violent rejection of the world and its ideologies find a welcome home with the Moonhunter.
• And then there is the Tideweaver, older and stronger of the two. She is an old creature, the veteran of many battles and the scourge of many coasts. She has calmed over the centuries and now seeks to prove her strength intellectually rather than physically. She has been known to let ships go if they can solve her riddles or prove themselves in a game of philosophy or wits, and she has taken on many warlocks. Her servants tend to be scholars, demagogues, philosophers, or others who frame their disconnect through the world in intellectual terms.

Nexora is a work of art, intended to invoke awe and wonder from all who see it. Its magical lights and architectural splendor can be seen for miles, and is intended for viewing from any angle. It is even for the surface - the roofing is arranged to be a holy symbol of Elemeer that is looms from the watery depths on days of clearer water. Even on cloudier days, the magical lights of Nexora make it seem as if the water is glimmering with distant treasure.
The Plumes, meanwhile, are industrial slums built around the base of the Nexoran mountain that exploit the volcanic activity there for mining, smelting, and gas harvesting. It is dangerous work even on the best of days, and when tremors pass through the area the Plumes can suddenly burst with boiling water in events of mass death. This is the forge of Warmtide, materially and socially - metals are smelted and forged AND thrall families rising into full citizenship can earn the chance at moving to a better neighborhood through generations of lethal and painful work.
Beyond Nexora and the Plumes are the many component districts of Warmtide, a mix of autonomous reefs and settled sandflats transformed into squiddle-filled urban townships. There are ten of these districts, half of which are free citizen's districts, and half of which are unfree 'tributaries' of helots. The free districts cover a range of incomes and statuses, from poor farmers and workers to middling artisans and merchants. 
The free districts are:

• Crabtown, the most prosperous squiddle-majority district, with a large Crabcow processing plant and a robust artisanal sector. Known for its very popular and outspoken militia. 
• Spawngarden, a sandy reef that is a mix of squiddle and octopeople. It is densely packed, highly populated, and largely poor. It is a mix between agricultural workers, common labor, and lower-income artisans, and contains a smattering of farms and workshops. 
• Turtleway, a more prosperous reef in the North that houses artisans, lower merchants, clerks, teachers, and other middling occupations. It has a small island that attracts migratory sea turtles during summer months.
• Ringreef, an experimental honeycomb reef built in the style of Farwater Reef to maximize population density and space efficiency. Built on the ruins of the old Mootroof (the old clerical reef), it is a symbol of the kingdom's power. It is also the industrial reef, where experimental technologies are employed using the poor labor housed here. 
• Tidegate, a mixed district of peddlers, service workers, and agricultural workers that was once squiddles-only before coral was seeded in small clusters across the district. Known as the place where incoming soldiers and outside merchants go to find entertainment and waystations.

The five helot's districts are kept in constant flux to prevent them from forming local identities or specialties. They also tend to do the same things: farm food and provide free labor for the mines and workshops. Each helot reef is tied to a free district, and the free district is allowed to scoop off a sliver of the profits in exchange for helping police and 'improve' it. The five unfree tributaries are: Bluesands (essentially a prison, the lowest), Summerside (the one by the Plumes, polluted), The Stricken (a full-on reef that is being refashioned into a Honeycomb style), Orporslove (a kelp-harvested manufacturing district), and Risingtide (highest status of them, a mixed species sandy reef). 
Beyond this patchwork of free and unfree labor are the Hub and the Citadel District. The Hub is a large market made of massive stone-coral layers, that sits at the heart of Warmtide and next to a chain of tiny islands used as surface trade outposts. The Citadel District is the rich district, surrounding the royal citadel at the North end of the reef. It is unusually ascetic and militarized for an Orporan rich reef.

Demographics

500,000 sentient beings live in Farwater; 65% are Octopeople , 35% are Squiddle, and below 1% are Cuttlefolk.

Government

The ruler of Warmtide is the Prince or Princess, who is chosen from among the monarch's siblings or children. Beneath the Prince is the Reefguard, who act as bureaucrats and military police, and the Garrison Captain of the Warmtide Blue Ring (standing military). The Warmtide Reefguard is led by seven Reefguard captains, though one swims above the others: the Captain of The Whispers.
The Whispers are an institution nominally under the Reefguard and are unique to Warmtide and its surrounding waters. They are best understood as the secret police, who run spy operations and gather intelligence on political or cultural dissent in Warmtide. The Captain of the Whispers has a position above the other Reefguard captains, whom the Whispers constantly monitor. The current Captain of the Whispers is a cuttlefolk by the name of Kalma Risenblood (of the only family of aristocratic cuttlefolk in all of Orpora), known for her quiet and unflinching efficiency.
Also unusual to Warmtide's governance is the power of the priesthood. In Orpora, the priesthood is typically seen as an academic organ of state power, but Warmtide's priesthood has never fully conformed to that vision of Elemeer. Instead, the Warmtide priesthood is more mystical, more involved in magic education, and more willing to involve themselves in politics and common affairs. During the 2017 Orporan collapse, Warmtide's priesthood seized significant power within Warmtide's splinter state, and the current Elder Priest and Arch-Warlock are now significant reef leaders at the level of the Captain of Whispers or the Blue Ring Captain. The current Elder Priest is an Octoperson by the name of Lellim Porasblood, an idealistic inventor-priest with a passion for foreign ideas many find unsettling. And the Arch-warlock is a Squiddle by the name of Mepra Nelablood, who is known as a rowdy reformist with a bone to pick with the other major reefs.
The current Prince of Warmtide is Bellemo Orporsblood. Bellemo is one of the royal siblings appointed to be prince of Warmtide by his mother, Queen Ungala. When Ungala died and her primary heir betrayed the Kingdom to the apocalypse in 2017, Bellemo entered open rebellion and crowned himself King of Orpora (with a little prompting from an aggressive priesthood and secret police). Bellemo is an isolationist content to do his job, self medicate with whatever substances his position will afford, and generally go with the flow of things. When he does act independent of his advisors, he acts in extremes - not just jailing dissenters, but murdering their whole families and any passing neighbors, for example. While his single-minded approach to problems has actually helped on a few infrastructure projects, most of the court agrees that it is better to keep him away from delicate things like the budget or minor rebellions. And he is all too happy to delegate, and watch the various highbloods compete for his favor.
The last major part of government is the conservative branch, the Blue Ring standing army. While the Blue Ring is meritocratic by South Orporan standards, they tend to clash with Northern cultural quirks (like cuttlefolk or squiddle aristocrats) and have closer ties to Farwater Reef. The current Magister Militum of Warmtide is an octoperson by the name of Borlem Sorilblood, a cynical and sharp man with great experience fighting abroad.

Defences

Warmtide's natural position is extremely defensible: hidden between two islands, with enough small islands and rough currents on either side to limit oncoming troop movement. Two large fortresses guard the reef, one for each entrance: Tideway Fort in the North, and Blackrock Fort in the South. The Prince's palace is also a castle in itself, known as the Royal Citadel.

Guilds and Factions

The Temple of Elemeer: The Temple of Elemeer is the religious body of Warmtide, as well as the city's center for research and magical training. Most of Orpora treats religion as an academic branch of the state and most Orporan priests must justify their status by contributing to magical or engineering research, but not in Warmtide. Here, the priesthood holds great bureaucratic and popular power. They also manage technology and magical training in Warmtide like anywhere else in Orpora, and do train more warlocks than anywhere else in the region. Their base of operations, the Sunken isle of Nexora, is a place deeply tied to two elder Leviathans and serves as a place of innate pact-making power. Candidates for warlockery flock to Warmtide to study and train there, and the Warlocks act as their own faction within the Temple. The current temple culture is one of experimental openness and dangerous reform-mindedness, and it has been on bad terms with the rest of Orpora for years now. 
The Highblood Merchants: Aristocratic merchants who manage trade to Farwater Reef, Delujan cities, and the Aquatic states to the West and Northwest. Pragmatic, compromising, and willing to handle matters of foreign influence, the highblood merchants care for profit and prestige above all. They also run the surface-trade outposts, so any talking with the surface world generally goes through them. 
The Common Militia: The Common-Keepers manage reef community and common day-to-day problems across Orpora. In Warmtide, they have an additional function: to organize emergency levies among all citizens, to train local farmers and artisans, and to hold meetings when the community is in disagreement. This is a more democratic system, even if most of the Keepers remain aristocrats or upper middle class families. The militia training, arms, and meetings are all kept exclusively in the tentacles of loyal, cultured, non-helot members of the reef - these are rights to be earned through service and in-group membership. The militia's primary purpose is to assist the reefguard in repressing the helots and slum population, though they also train to support the Blue Ring in case the reef is attacked. The militia tends to support local community rights and privileges, more for neighborhood elites and middling families than the poorest of the reef. 
The Reefguard: The military police of Warmtide. They suppress dissenters, collect taxes, run the infrastructure, and enact the will of the Prince and Monarch. They tend to have a patchy relationship with the Militias, who they see as helpful but ornery, and they see the common masses of the reef as latent threats.
The Whispers: The secret police of Warmtide, who manage matters of espionage and who monitor the elites for dissent or cultural deviance. They are a small group, but well-trained and well-equipped. Underneath them, common spies known as Politicals are embedded in the military, reefguard, priesthood, aristocracy, keepers, and even in the lower classes. A subtle presence, patient and only vaguely known about by most people. 
The Blue Ring: The superior warriors of Orpora, the Blue Ring are better armed, better trained, and respected as death and order incarnate. The warriors who guard the city have a superiority complex and totally different loyalties than even the Reefguard, and answer only to their magister militum. A conservative political force manned by a large number of octofolk and squiddles from the Southern parts of Orpora.

History

Warmtide was known as 'Coldbridge' for much of its existence, a reference to its South-facing trade and cooler waters; 'Warmtide' was only its name to the Southern reefs of Makal. This old name is a reflection of the reef's former life. It was once a totally different society, more attached to Izekra than Farwater Reef. The connection to Makal was first forged by religion. Warmtide exiled their Elemeer subjects in 1511, and the exiles fled to Farwater. This exodus led to a series of social changes and centralizations that eventually led to the Kingdom of Orpora, and led to Farwater continuously sending missionaries into Coldbridge from 1514 to 1600. In 1600, Coldbridge finally converted to Elemeer. A military regime took over the reef, and warrior-dynasties traded control of Coldbridge across the 1600s. Coldbridge also developed a strong, independent Elemeer Temple connected to the priesthoods of Northern Sonev and Izekra, which fostered strong ties to the merchant elites.
In 1630 ME, the nearby island of Nexora, who had long traded with Coldbridge, sank beneath the waves during an earthquake. A rising Leviathan, known as The Moonhunter, scooped up many of the desperate refugees of Nexora and made them into warlocks. The Moonhunter, hoping to assert their dominance over Ishkibal, took residence in the local submerged Temple to Ishkibal and began encouraging profane inversions of that God's rituals. The Moonhunter ignored Coldbridge for the most part, and Coldbridge tried ignoring him. But the Moonhunter's bravado attracted rivals, notably an older and more powerful Leviathan known as the Tideweaver. The Tideweaver fought the Moonhunter for dominance over Warmtide and Nexora in 1636 and made him her servant after three days of brutal fighting. Nexora became a summer home for the Tideweaver, and even more warlocks were made. From 1630 to 1750, at least one of these two less-violent Leviathans was always perched right above Coldbridge, always eager to make warlocks and attract minions. A vibrant community of warlocks emerged among the communities of the reef, and the Elemeer priests encouraged and regulated them.
With more warlocks and Leviathans effectively guarding the reef, the military's influence fell and the priesthood rose. In 1690, the military was ousted outright and replaced by a commercial theocracy. Even after the Leviathans finally got bored of the reef in 1750, the theocracies remained. While these regimes had occasional moments of instability, they ultimately only fell to outside conquest. In 1829, the Eba dynasty of Farwater was able to conquer Coldbridge, and they immediately set to work trying to "correct" their deviant cousin's culture. The reef was renamed Warmtide, all non-Octopeople were enslaved, and a brutal caste system fell over the reef. Warmtide tried to resist, but the Eba were brutal and stubborn. One of the major district-reefs, the Mootreef, a religious bastion and population center, was outright killed - hacked apart, all its residents butchered. Over decades and generations, this brutal suppression broke the spirit, culture, and language of the old Warmtide. But while the Eba could destroy their reefs and their culture, they could not calm the building rage. In 1860, a massive slave revolt broke out across the North of the Eba's empire. Warmtide promptly exploited this by rebelling against the Eba, defeating the garrison, and slaughtering the occupiers. A new society, marked by hierarchy and trauma, set about trying to heal.
Warmtide only had a few decades to try and recover before Farwater came back. This time, Farwater was led by a military savant. King Orpor Godsblood, founder of the Kingdom of Orpora, personally led the invasion of Warmtide in 1902. Orpor was brutal, but less wantonly destructive than the Eba. He forged a totally different hierarchy in Warmtide than in Makal. Instead of pushing down the Squiddles, he incorporated them as equals in Warmtide. He allowed many of the reef's quirks to remain as long as they contributed soldiers, merchants, and poisons to Imperial expansion. Warmtide became the military crucible of Orpora, where recruits or auxiliaries could rise in status and prove themselves in the battle-waters. There were many wars waged by Orpora in the North over the 1900s. Dwelet, the other major reef of the area, always needed a little more subjugation; the Merkeeper reefs always were ready to skirmish; there were border skirmishes with the Freewater Federation to fight. And squiddles in the military gravitated to Warmtide, where they could live as equals and retire as merchants or artisans.

Geography

Warmtide occupies the 8 mile gap between the Delujan islands of Kalu and Vralhu. The waters here are choppy and the currents on either side of the straight can be fierce, and many small islands and reefs make navigation difficult. The islands block most of the force of oncoming storms or hurricanes, though, making Warmtide uniquely safe for its underwater residents. 
Warmtide is actually a series of reefs connected by sedentary squiddle towns that come together to form a suburban sprawl. A number of these reefs breach the surface, and small contraptions placed on top of them direct surface sailors towards the safer routes (and toward the reef's trade outposts). 
On either side of Warmtide are surface cities: Arsadra to the Northeast, and Kafia to the Southwest. Arsadra is a city state on the island of Kalu, and has been willing to pay Warmtide tribute periodically, especially for protection from Kafia. Kafia, meanwhile, is a city under the rule of the Kingdom of Vralhu, the eminent regional power of the surface. Both cities swap goods and populations regularly, and there is constant traffic across the water in small canoes and fishing boats between the two settlements.

Natural Resources

Warmtide has access to unique underwater volcanic gasses, minerals, and obsidian. The volcanic and tectonic activity has also exposed more valuable minerals for extraction and trade. The minerals and obsidian have been scattered across the area, but are densest in The Plumes - the dangerous, volcanic region in the South. The Plumes also allow for underwater smelting, as the super-heated plumes of gas are both hot enough to make melt metals, but they also can be collected into "permanent bubbles" of burning gas that make for much more convenient smithing conditions. The collected gasses can also be used for the creation of new chemicals and gaseous compounds, which makes up a thriving industry here. From nonlethal airborne poisons, to slightly acidic poisons that can even irritate Prisms, all sorts of specialty brews are made here thanks to the priest-engineers and the volcanic Plumes.

Founding Date

-1200 DE

Alternative Name(s)

Coldbridge

Type

Metropolis

Population

500,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Warmtider

Location under

Deluja

Owning Organization

Kingdom of Orpora

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