Seafaring Orbs

Saviors of the Sea

Rough seas are a part of life for those who choose the open waters as their home. Storms and winds whip the waves into frenzies, rocking ships hanging on for dear life as they follow their routes to the next port. Calm days are welcome and prayed for to Caspian, but the days of friended, white-capped waves are far more common, a reality as true as the sun dictating their direction.
Mortality is also a part of life for those who sail the high seas. Open waters, roaring waves, illness, lack of food, and any number of other things can claim the life of a sailor. More often than not, one would die of illness, something like scurvy or a fever that could simply be prevented if only these people had chosen a life on dry land. Dying to the sea could also have been prevented by living on land, but this malady still too often claimed lives.
While not originally designed for this purpose, the Obsidea were all too eager to share their Seafaring Orbs with sailors, if only to keep their waters clear of the corpses that were far too common on the rough waters. Sailors would fall overboard, lost to the raging waves, before slowly finding themselves trapped in the land of the Obsidea and other water dwellers, their final resting place being the sea.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

Seafaring Orbs are enchanted items that can be attuned to a specific ship or location in order for a lost sailor or other person to find their way back to a given location. These items are activated by coming into contact with water and were originally intended to lead Obsidea through the dark, murky waters of their homeland.
These orbs were modified once they were given to sailors to serve as life preservers and beacons if the sailor were to fall overboard. Upon touching the water, the orb would light up and begin to flash, creating a marker of where the sailor was. This would allow their ship to find them easily. The orb would also serve as a floatation device, keeping the sailor afloat until rescued.

History

Some versions of the Seafaring Orbs existed in the lands of the Obsidea for centuries, it has been in more recent years that the water dwellers chose to share these items with others. Those well-versed in magic among the Crystal Sands would create directional orbs for those who traveled through open waters between different villages, keeping people from getting lost. Over the centuries, these orbs would change and expand their uses as others tried their hand at creating them.
Once the Obsidea began trading with Fire & Gold, Inc. and were more open to interacting with the land-dwelling races, the need for a similar item for sailors became obvious. As the seas became rougher after the Eldritch War changed the world, more and more sailors were finding watery graves in places that were once undisturbed places in the Crystal Sands.
With the help of Oskar Zelatross and his company, the Obsidea began exporting a modified Seafaring Orb to the surface to aid sailors. This quickly became one of the largest exports of the sea outside of the coveted stone, Prismarine.

Seafaring Orb

Seafaring Orb by Image via Midjourney, created by Riverfang

Created to help the Obsidea traverse the underseas more easily, Seafaring Orbs were offered to sailors as a way to keep the seas clear of the corpses that were inevitable when people went overboard.

Item type

Navigational Aid / Instrument

Manufacturer

Crystal Sands

Related ethnicities

• Obsidean Culture