The Broken Barrows

"Barr" is a word among mers, and it means to lend and receive later on. Knowing that, any child can tell you to stay away from the Broken Barrows. It's in the very name, you see, that shows a promise to give back is broken. The area will take your heart and give you nothing in return.
Kelping Class teacher, Mer Rouesai

Geography

The area known as The Broken Barrows describes an area of the sea which, upon first glance, looks very much like the sea surrounding it, but with a closer look, is an underwater desert. 
To the north there are the land dwellers when one reaches far enough out of the sea. The nearest city is Treford, and the average land dweller there is bipedal (though possibly not a human).
To the south are the coral reef and shipwreck mazes. This area is well known for inexperienced shipment to run aground and has many wrecks attesting to the treachery of reefs. Both out of water and under water, these places have been stripped of everything the beings using it needed and left to the elements. Mers will explore the undersea vessels on dares, coming home to show off an item that proves they were brave enough to go inside the sunken darkness.  
To the east are the nearest island. In mer they are known as "Seaweed Dances" due to the many underwater tunnels that have been carved out of the earth, and to the land dwellers they are known as "Pig's Kiss Islands" since the shape of them has a (if a person squints) shape like a pig's snout. 
To the west are many of the mer settlements. This is where, primarily, the whale-kin and shark-kin live, but there are fish-kin and others outside of those three groups living there as well. The biggest settlement holds about 2,500 mer, spreads over a large area that includes reef, coral, and seaweed forests.

Ecosystem

The miniature eco-system that happens here is that Konkov are born, they live for about three days, and they die. Their bodies interact with the ground to leave behind small "pools" of encrusted salt. As for Reth and Rech, the plants, they tend to have a much slower growing period, and will break off piece by piece when they die. 
Other than that, any other flora and fauna that swim (or are pulled) into The Broken Barrows, die within minutes.

Ecosystem Cycles

The passing of the seasons doesn't happen in The Broken Barrows, and it's easy for the mers guarding the area to lose track of time. Because of this, their schedule has been set so that they are in the area no longer a full moon.

Localized Phenomena

This area is actually a plane of salt at the bottom of the sea. There's little understanding of why or how the salt stays in such a concentrated section (most salt and other substances are diluted due to the amount of liquid the ocean is made of). 
Theories range from religious (Aaeris, the Salt God's wife, died here when trying to find her kidnapped wife) to scientific (possibly something to do with magnetics and conduction), or even legendary (this is where dead mers are floated to by the currents if they're not eaten by their friends and family). 
What's known, even with years of study and information gathering, can be talked about in three sentences. 

• The area is toxic to all water breathers (fish, mammal, crustacean, etc.)
• Land dwellers in suits have been able to stay in the area (taking no harm) for up to three hours. 
•  Swimming into the area leads to bleeding from the eyes, troubles breathing, and finally death. 

Fauna & Flora

Not much lives in this section of the sea, but there are two know seaweeds and one known creature that call this area their home:  Flora: 

1. Reth - A short, scrubby type of underwater moss. Where these live, Rech can usually be seen in the center. 
2. Rech - A taller piece of seaweed that spreads out as it floats; colors range from 

(There are thoughts that Reth and Rech are actually the same plant in two different growth stages, but as it's still deadly to enter the area, no scientist has been able to confirm a linkage between the two.)
Fauna:

1. Konkov - a minuscule shrimp that glitters if hit by light, it feeds off of the salt, living and dying in cycles of little more than three days. Their corpses are what make small "pools" of salt that pocket the bottom 

Natural Resources

There are no natural resources to gain from this area. The Konkov live and die in their over-salted area, and the only items that might come outside of the coral circle are floating bits of Reth and Rech. 
While they could be considered a natural resource, they are mostly scooped up scientists looking to study the rare plants flourishing in such an inhospitable place. At this point, it's known that they are not edible, there are no healing properties, and they cannot grow in areas outside of The Broken Barrows. 
Rocks just outside the area tend to have a much higher concentration of salt. There is one mer who claimed to have stolen several rocks and ground the salt up to poison land dwellers, but it's believed he was lying as 1) at that point in history not many mers interacted with land dwellings and 2) he should have been found by Heart Guards if he was that close to the barrier. Still, the idea has been set in the minds of scientists that studying the rocks in the area (and possibly the coral that was set down as a barrier), might provide an insight into these items.

History

The area was discovered by accident, and when its horrifying effects were realized, word quickly spread to swim elsewhere and avoid falling into the same trap.
A group of mers were leaving their home and setting out for a new settlement. The adult survivors remember that a total of 113 mer perished that day, with only a handful, about 25, able to escape and tell the tale.
The fore-guards of the group had moved in first, followed by the quicker moving teenagers eager to explore the world around them. As parents came last, coaxing their small children to keep swimming. At the rear were several sharp-eyed guards who noticed when the first swimmers began to clutch their throats and writhes. Alarm spread, even if they didn't know what was happening, and the parents at the back gathered their children in their arms, whispered a final loving message, and swam as quickly as they could away from the bodies of their friends and families.
It was too late for them, however. With the exception of two parents, they lingered for hours with a mysterious malady (salt concentration in the blood), and one by one they died. Their children, on the other hand, had been far enough away that when their parents pushed them at the rear-guards, they were able to escape with minor maladies that, on average, disappeared after their teenage years.
Years later, scientists found that the phenomena had a specific range, give or take a wave, and they outlined the area with dead coral, indicating that danger was in the area.
As time passed, the area became a draw to those in the grips of depression or pain. To help those seeking a quick death in the middle of The Broken Barrows, a station was set up near the area and ways to detect mers coming to the area were set up at different intervals [Note: the information about how the detection process works has purposefully been kept out of these notes; if you or a loved one are thinking about taking a trip to The Broken Barrows, please talk to a professional in your settlement, or go to the Heart Guards stationed around The Broken Barrows].
As of this date, the Heart Guards has established five stations around the area, are looking to another another, and have assisted more than two hundred mers in changing their destination. If you wish to work for them, please talk to your local recruiter or doctor.

Tourism

The area does receive a lot of tourists, but mostly from two groups with very different end results in mind. There are scientists, mainly mers with one or two land dwellers, who are interested in studying the effects of The Broken Barrows on bodies and the environment. Then there are those looking for The Broken Barrows to ease their pain and suffering.
The Heart Guards welcome both groups, and those few in between who want to be able to say "I've been there!" Each station is equipped to berth twenty beings at a time and extra supplies can be delivered so that the guards themselves don't need to leave their assigned areas.
For those that are only looking at bragging rights, a quick InkAnk is enough to send them on their way. The scientists usually know how long they'll stay, though it can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, but for those who are being called to the depths, the time they'll spend in the Heart Guards' stations is unknow.

Type

Sea

Location under

TO BE NAMED Sea

Inhabiting Species

• Rech