The Shimmering Sea

The Shimmering Sea is quite warm, the areas around it temperate and comfortable. It is for this reason why empires and kingdoms are built near its coasts. Trade ships sail between ports, with the Iron Navy and the privateers of the Jeweled Cities doing their best to keep the seas clear of pirates. Most captains fear the Sea Dragons, Shimmering Whales, and Hardbacked Turtles, for those may appear even in the most peaceful of waters. The Shimmering Sea is vast and bountiful though during the Seasons of Storms, it can turn violent and many a ship has been sent to its floor.

Geography

The Shimmering Sea is the largest body of water on the maps of the Iron Empire, though legends speak of a Great Eastern Ocean if one was to reach the other side of Kar'ack passing through the Mistlands, home of the Mistwalkers. From above, the sea is at parts a deep dark blue and in others it shines green, but there is almost always a glittering light that can be seen just below the surface of the ocean during the day as the sun hits it, giving the sea its name.
The Shimmering Sea is fed by countless river basins but most noticeably the Great Scar, the long and wide river that cuts through the Jungles of Kar'ack and flows from the Mistlands. There are dozens of islands within the Shimmering Sea. The people who dwell there are often left alone, offering little in the grander scheme of the political or military games of Terraneus. However, there are some that are claimed as naval ports of the powers around the Shimmering Sea.

Ecosystem

The Shimmering Sea is full of life and has some of the largest megafauna in Terraneus. From the Shimmering Whales who can grow to be the size of a ship to the Sea Serpents that drag entire boats to the seafloor and the Hardbacked Turtles that can at times be mistaken for islands, the Shimmering Sea needs to be brimming with enough food to support not only these giant animals but the cities and nations that share its border.

Localized Phenomena

Near the 'center' of the Shimmering Sea, there stands the 'Wyrdtower', a mountain that rises from the seafloor that rises towards the clouds. The Record of Storms indicates that when the Storms would come, they would center like a hurricane around the peak of the Wyrdtower. Even to this day, when the Wyrdwinds are strong, they will cycle around the Wyrdtower, making the sea around it dangerous. Few humans dwell on this island and those that do are often noticeably strange, like the people of the Mistlands.

Alternative Name(s)

The Wyrdsea, the Sea of Storms, the Mirror of the Stars

Type

Sea

Included Locations

• Crystal Mother's Forest
• Firelands
• Ivory Savanna
• Jungles of Kar'ack
• Peninsula of the Stormwatcher
• The Gold Coast
• The Wyrdtower

Inhabiting Species

• Blue Lady
• Hardbacked Turtles