Eld'Gammal

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Brine coats the coasts of the Eld'Gammal, the vast inland sea that connects the known world. For centuries, people of all walks of life have stared wistfully at the waves as they crash against packed sands and bleached rocks. Beyond the shallow seaboard is a confluence of colors: ceruleans, indigoes, and emeralds unite in wefts of waves. Sea-green and sky-blue. The sea is dappled by thousands of tiny islets, vast archipelagoes, and imposing islands. Each contains its own unique world and environ. Always, the Eld'Gammal has had a faraway allure to those hog-tied to soil and sod. But for those few that dared to tread water, the Eld'Gammal imparts Kismet.

Kismet: that ancient power that permits destinies and ordains fates. This term—or rather, this entity—is closely tied to the Eld'Gammal. Kismet weaves the future. Anyone who sets sail onto the Eld'Gammal has been weaved to the sea. This concept is what gives the Eld'Gammal its nickname: the Weft. The name doesn't just refer to the way the tumultuous waves look like a woven fabric, but also the way Kismet weaves the webbed thread of sailor's destinies that are tied together by the Eld'Gammal itself. Of course, both the rigging of a ship and the intricate knots that sailors tie add to this symbolism. Macrame is common among sailors as well, as worshippers of the Weft itself.

There is another concept closely tied to the Eld'Gammal and Kismet. On the seas, stars' importance reach further than their beauty. They're also vital to the navigation of the waves. The stars must cooperate for a journey to be successful. Thus, the stars have also been associated with Kismet and with the Weft. To be favored by Kismet is to be well-starred. To be disdained by Kismet is to be ill-starred. Sailors tell dubious, fishy tales of especially clear nights at sea. On such nights, the Eld'Gammal reflects the stars so purely, so fully, that sky and sea become one unit, indistinguishable from one another. On such nights, it seems as though you are sailing through the cosmos itself. On such nights, ships vanish.

Art: Waves Music by Nataliia Chernous

Alternative Name(s)

The Weft

Type

Sea