The Lalvican Sea
The Lalvican Sea is a massive body of saltwater that stretches throughout most of Verden's interior. It connects exclusively to the Eastern Ocean. It is home to numerous temperate-to-tropic islands.
History
The Lalvican Sea has been the transit hub of Verden since the dawn of civilization. The bulk of Verden's population lives along the shores of the Lalvican, and every society uses the sea to quickly travel between regions.
Maritime trade dominates every nation's economy. As such, the Lalvican has always been a place of piracy, merchant house rivalries, state-sanctioned privateering, and full blown naval warfare. Nearly every war in Verden's history has depended on coastal raids and invasions by sea, as marching an army around the perimeter of the Lalvican can take months. Coastal cities have fortified themselves accordingly.
In the last hundred years, Olimandias has steadily locked down maritime trade. Every trading vessel must belong to one of Olimandias's sanctioned trading companies. Trading goods without company membership is a criminal offense, so ships and cargo can be seized by authorities. The only city which accepts third party trade vessels is The Free City of Hatena, resulting in political tension with Olimandias and its allied nations.
Olimandias now concentrates its efforts to reduce piracy on the open seas. To combat this unified threat, many pirates have allied under the banner of The Forsaken Fortress, a floating black market trade hub and literal fortress that roams throughout the Lalvican Sea.
Several Zora cities also exist at the bottom of the Lalvican, though most "surface dwellers" remain ignorant about their approximate locations.
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