World's Scar & Cliff's to Land's Edge

And when one of the mer allowed the stranger's desperate blue eyes to move her cold, hardened heart, a love bloomed between them that would be forever ignited. The world would see it, and to their shame envy it, for the perfect love cannot go on forever without inviting more misery and despair from those who cannot hold onto their own loves. The End of the first adventure!
Above is the ending to To Love a Mer, one of the most successful pulp fiction romances between an innocent, drowning "criminal" and a mer that lives under the ocean.

Geography

World's Scar is a natural foundation, under the ocean, where there is ledge with a steep drop off. This area is also home to a quick current. Getting there takes a ship and there is a possibility that even if a ship anchors out side of the current (seen from above by a rippling pattern of water going against tidal waves), that the drag may be enough to pull them out. 
This is a great beach area to watch the sun rise or set as the atmosphere tends toward brighter oranges instead of wispy pinks. The beach sand is a mixture of different colors (black, white, yellow, and pink) due to the current, shells from different oceans can be found here.

Ecosystem

This area is very rich with sea life, mostly because the mer population makes sure that the fishing can be sustained here. 
The hierarchy of the area has clams, oysters, and other bivalves, scavengers such as crabs, shrimp, and lobsters, then fish, and finally predators. Not too many "true" predators remain in the area though. Mers will fight off most sharks, some whales, and will tolerate dolphins if the mammals are just passing through. 
Common mammals in the area include otters, but not sea lions or seals. However, depending on the cultural norms of the mer living nearby, it's possible to see seals and sea lions being kept as pets.

Ecosystem Cycles

Winter brings a slight chill to the area, but for the most part life under the water doesn't change. 
The biggest change to be seen is with the area's mer. Winter is a time when they usually go exploring the cracks and crevices around them. This includes cave systems, because caves are how mers give birth in the spring, so winter checks are to make sure the places are sound and to begin prepping for birth. 
Spring is the Hunting season due to the increase of animals in the ocean, and autumn is the planting and growing season, where fish are kept in underwater pens to grow fatter and bivalves are farmed for nourishment during winter and spring.

Localized Phenomena

World's Scar (landname) / Cliff's to Land's Edge (mer name) talks about the same phenomenon, the current in the area. 
This current brings warmth to the area and is deadly, pulling in creatures/beings from the land's side and sending them out to sea. It's a natural lightning current, one that stays in the area for most days.

Fauna & Flora

While there area several types of plants and animals, not all of them are listed here because that would take about a book.
Flora

1. Shorelore - known to mers for being a sign that an island of land is close by. Long, stringy, a light green, and easy to wrap around things. 
2. Thort - a thorny brown & khaki seaweed that is harmless when kept in water, but become poisonous when dried. 
3. Plagueweed - named this for two reasons; 1 it's considered a "plague" since it takes over space and doesn't leave any room for other flora. 2, it can be steamed and used to better a person's breathing (recorded during the Red Plague).

Fauna

1. Stirugo - a fish of average size (fat as a closed human fist, as long as a mer's tail). Coloring is a deep blue on top with a paler blue on the bottom, with a bit of black freckling all over, and black edges to navy fins.
2. Cheirot - a small fish as tiny as a mers ear, they swim in schools and are the basis of many food chains in the ocean. They are covered in translucent scales that are easy to shed. [Note: these are what the locals call "Fairy Wings" on shore]
3. Kunes - a tiny crab that makes its house everyday from bits of the Thort that wash up on shore. About the size of an oak seed, they are very easy to miss.

Natural Resources

Fishing from land-dwellers is not allowed anymore in this area due to the different species that can be found here and the fact that a mer colony lives close by (fishing would be harmful to them and would result in a decline of their own food resources). The focus has moved on from execution and food. Currently there is trade going on between the two groups - mer trade seafood, shells, and other ocean products, Treford exports wood spelled against water and salt, dyes that can't be found in the ocean, and other small things. In addition, the focus of the city is now on toursim and other entertainment services ("horror" cafes, etc.), so there are more mer employed as lifeguards in the ocean now. Most seafood is either mer-captured or from another area.

History

When the lightening current was found, it was immediately used for travel, aiding weary travelers in quickly moving to new locations on the ocean. 
Later on the location was used by the local government to condemn criminals. Once caught and put on trial (most records show that these trials were farces), a boat went out to anchor at the lightning current. Hands and feet were unbound, and a promise was made. If the Sea Gods took pity on the person and sent them floating towards shore (and the person reached shore), then they would be cleared of all crimes and allowed to rejoin society with a new name. 
However, they the Gods decided they needed to pay for their crimes, then they would be swept out to the deeper seas and deposited there. 
Records show that in the long history of condemned criminals (more than 2,000 names in records over thirty years), there were several that escaped, and then "The prisoners used to swim, but now they were pushed into the waters, and the waters carried them under, out of sight." 
The above line was from one of the sailors on the boat. For a few years this continued, and then the mer population was discovered [Note: they announced themselves].

Tourism

There was not much tourism in the past (especially with the thought of tripping over a corpse half-buried in the sand), but with the mer folk announcing themselves and bringing a halt to the practices for condemned criminals, there are a lot more visitors in the area (and the city has grown a lot as well). 
Places to Visit 

1. The underwater mer town of Craustou
2. Time's Lighthouse 
3. The Phoenix Building (as a reminder of hubris and for academics to showcase that spells can go wrong)

Food to Eat 

1. Surf & Turf burger (a slice of fish, slice of chees, thin patty of beef, and a thick patty of shrimp)
2. Ailsopsu (a mer dish with different types of fish on a coral stick)
3. B.J.'s BBQ shack (seafood only, with delicious BBQ sauces)

Experiences to Enjoy 

1. Festival of the Moon (held over 8 days)
2. Friends of the Library book drive and sale (brings all the bookworms into the area)
3. Swimming in the ocean (made safe because even if the lightning current brings people out to sea, the mers stop them from traveling too far)

Alternative Name(s)

World's Scar, Cliffs to Land's Edge