The Grey Sea

The only known gap in the Kashin Baya, the Grey Sea is a large valley that cuts through the mountain range and leads to Maka-Tho.  

Geography

  Despite its' name, the Grey Sea has no water or liquid of any kind. No rivers, streams, or lakes are to be found anywhere within its borders. It gets its name from the strange material that makes up the ground -- a hard, indistructable stone that is perfectly flat covers the land. Geologists have tried digging at the south edge of the Grey Sea to see if anything lay beneath the surface, only to find that digging simply unearthed a slanted side made of the same stone. No matter where they dug anywhere along the edge of the Grey Sea, they found the slanted side. The current theory is that the Grey Sea is simply the top of some giagantic structure.   The geologists also discovered that the Kashin Baya mountain range must predate the Grey Sea. Along the west and eastern edges, the "floor" of the Grey Sea lay below what could be called "ground level". All along both sides of the Grey Sea it's as if the sea had been dropped from a great high, shearing through the mountains before coming to rest. At some points the cliffs are so tall they get lost in the clouds.   For a time there were arguments about why the Grey Sea hadn't been filled in by sediment brought by rain or wind. The reason is something anyone who has travelled across the Grey Sea could tell you: anything solid left upon its surface is absorbed. Once a solid object is placed upon the surface and left alone, after 4 minutes and 28.43 seconds exactly the object is absorbed. The rate of absorbtion is constant, at about 1 square meter of material per 10 minutes. What material the object is made of doesn't seem to have any impact on how long it takes before being absorbed or how long it takes before its fully absorbed.  

Fauna

  Due to the properties of the stone making up the Grey Sea, almost nothing lives or grows within the region. There is one noteable exception: the Tree, also known as the "Impossible Tree".   For more information, refer to the Grey Sea Tree.  

History

  Up until recently, the Grey Sea was simply an odd place that explorers traversed on their way to the greater mystery that lay beyond the northern edge of the Grey Sea, the Maka-Tho mists. Occasionally someone would come to the region looking to join the community at the Tree, but most folks passing through the area are itenerant.   With the mists having disappeared, some changes have come to the area.   The first is that the Sable Hegemony has built a small fort at the northern edge of the Grey Sea. The trade outpost at the southern end has been secured as well, with the army surrounding the outpost with a palisade and a barracks. Due to the uncertain nature of the Maka-Tho region, the Sable Hegemony is keeping their eye on the Grey Sea. Their greatest fear is that the Voz Dynasty will find a path from their lands through Maka-Tho to strike almost at the capital. Many regiments have been re-tasked to garrison the cities near the Grey Sea.   There has been talk among some of the great cities of the Sable Hegemony that the Grey Sea needs to be better fortified. Some say that the army wrights should be given the task of boring tunnels through the mountains on either side of the Grey Sea in order to create safer highways to the Maka-Tho border. Some agree, but take the notion further and envision each side of the Grey Sea studded with forts and gun emplacements to ensure that no foe could pass through unharmed.   For now the Queen is willing to play a more risky game, waiting to see how the region develops -- particularly Ararholm.
Type
Megastructure
Included Locations