The Arch Sea

Filled with strange magics and beasts, The Arch Sea is not to be underestimated. It contains raw, untamed magics that The Ourvorax has blessed The Mortal Realm with. The reason why such magics are in the Arch Sea is obscured. Many believe one of The Forgotten was struck down in The Arch Sea by The Arxi and the spilling of its power made the sea more fierce and more violent than other bodies of water.

Geography

The Arch Sea is the body of water that encompasses the continent Oculus, a circular twisting of landmasses. Not many people get to leave Oculus because of the harsh conditions of The Arch Sea. The waters, reefs. and storms are incredibly difficult to navigate even for the most experienced sailors. People say The Arch Sea stretches until the storms end, which is true, but storms move all time. Cartographers like to think The Arch Sea ends at the furthest island out from the central landmass of Oculus, Numina.

Ecosystem

The Arch Sea is home to many creatures magical and not. Most of them are unlike anything else on Altus because they have adapted to the unusual enviorment of The Arch Sea. Magic pollutes or purifies the water, depending on your perspective. Beneath the sea's surface, there is a diversity of coral that provides homes for thousands of sea creatures. Some coral is considered magical in nature, which is why it is able to survive such harsh conditions. Many creatures are bigger than their normal counterparts.

Localized Phenomena

Compass efficacy is tested beneath the shrouds of The Arch Sea's tempests. Globular lightning is suspended in the air, attracted to any living being on the sea's surface. The globular lightning teamed with the deceptive nature of the tempest tainted compasses leads many sailors astray. North becomes south, left becomes right, up becomes down.
Time becomes intangible during the worst of storms. Sailors sometimes find that they can get to their destination faster if they ride the storm's edge. This is very dangerous technique that gets many sailors killed. These storms also tend to mess with the sailor's mind. Sailors claim to have seen dead loved ones walking on the surface of the water. Others claim they hear screams of people coming from the storm.

Climate

Unlike most of Altus, Oculus and The Arch Sea only experience two seasons, the storm season and the shrivel season. During storm season, it is as you can guess: violent, unpredictable storms. The outer islands and landmasses are affected by these storms but the central landmasses aren't. This is assumed to be an effect of the magic that permeates Oculus. Shrivel season is when plants of both ocean and land wither due to unknown reasons. Food becomes scarce during the shrivel season.

Fauna & Flora

Bozzulbeb

The Bozzulbeb is a large fish that has a long tube for a mouth and is a filter feeder. It uses the tube to search the sea floor for plankton and other small organisms that it can eat. This creature is only found in The Arch Sea because it requires a certain amount of power from The Ourvorax to live. Magic diffuses across their scales giving them a glowinig hue. Their scales are considered a powerful magical resource to boost the pontential of spells. For this reason, they are endangered because of traffickers of poachers.

Blood-Run Algea

Blood-run algea is red and looks like the blood vessels in a vascular system. To the unseasoned explorer, it looks to be ordinary red algae. To the locals, it is a dangerous. When anything gets too close, the algea lashes out and traps whatever it is in the blood-run algea's sticky tangle. As the victim struggles more, the tangle becomes tighter. The algea slowly releases acid to break down its victims body so it can absorb the nurtients. It gets its name from the blood that runs over its vines when it traps its victims.

Brackish Briar

A mesh of thick, multi-colored fibers that have formed a symbiotic relationship with something the locals like to call prickly star. The prickly stars attach themselves to the fibers and get nutrients from the fibers. In return, they filter out salt and give it to the fibers so the fibers don't have to compete for space. The prickly stars eventually form a hard shell of salt around them for protection. Sometimes the salt forms into spikes, protecting both the stars and the fiber.

Stained Colossus

You ever seen a koi fish, dear reader? Imagine a koi fish that is the size of a whale, around 90 feet long, that only appears once in a generation. The Stained Colossus brings good fortune to the locals because schools of fish follow them due to the size of the Colossus warding off predators. The locals follow the Stained Colossus to find and catch the most fish. It is considered taboo to hurt a Colossus because then it will dive and the fish will follow, leaving the fishermen with empty nets. It is extremely rare to see a Stained Colossus, and I have been lucky enough to see one.

Water Drakes

Water drakes are small creatures that like swim and fly along the surface of the water. They have thin, skin-like wings that allow them to glide above the surface of the water. They use their tail to propell themselves out of the water. They live in nests made of dead coral and typically live in what we call a swarm. There can be as many as 20-500 water drakes in a swarm. They are prey animals but their quick nature and salivary glands that secrete a toxin allows them to survive.

Monsters

Kraken

A kraken is one of the deadliest foes in the Arch Sea. Those who have seen it describe it as a ginormous octocpus. Their bodies are so massive that they creates tidal waves if it gets too close to land. Some of their bodies have biolumenscent markings. So far, sailors have identified 7 different krakens in total within The Arch Sea. Kraken's can grapple and pull ships underwater in under a minute, giving sailors little time to react. They can shoot boiling water from their beaks.

The Almagamation

Those who look upon this beast claw their eyes out in horror. Those who don't dig too far into their brain tell the tale of a beast that is hideous. They describe a creature that is sewed together by seaweed and other plants of the deep, you can imagine the smell, dear reader. When it's victims are blind, the only thing they hear is its terrible moaning. Apparently, the number of heads it has it not countable and each is a visage of death of a different animal. It's body is made of web-like structures and abcesses. No mortal alive has recounted what it looks like underneath the surface of the Arch Sea.

Sentient Species

The Seira

The Seira are a mysterious sentient species. Mortals of the land have had very little communication with these mortals of the seas. They have a magical song that is rarely heard but when it is it, it shows the listener their deepest desires. I will have to do more research on this species because not much is known about. Sailors fear them because of tales of them luring people to their deaths to feast on their bodies.

Natural Resources

Remnants

Deep in the sea, there are the tiniest shards of magic most likely left over from the power of The Forgotten that was struck down. They are called Remnants, which are extremely rare and hard to get. Species that can breathe and move quickly underwater are able to get Remnants more easily, but the journey to get to the shards is long, treacherous, and sometimes fatal.

Gardner's Gold

Because of the years of mineral slit setting, plant and animal decay, and of course, Remnants, the dirt at the bottom of The Arch Sea is so nutrient rich that, when removed of the ocean floor, anything can grow in it. In fact, crops grown in the rich, dark, soil yield two to three times what they would in normal tilled earth.

Alternative Name(s)

The Sacredos Aqualae, The Briny Expanse, The Surges of Storms

Type

Sea