Shos’alai, the Bluest Storm

The Shos’alai is an expanse of open water in the easternmost of the world. It is an ocean that lies off the east coasts of Nyss, Stychia and Nira. It is so named for the violence of the open waters, thick with storms and waves that capsize and destroy vessels that are brave enough to try and traverse it. However along the coasts it is relatively safe, lacking in reefs and rocky islands.

The stormy waters make it impossible to safely cross, and so it has never been crossed. Where the two oceans meet is said to be a constant wall of storms making circumnavigating the world impossible. Even stranger is the reports that deep out in the Shos’alai are continents and lost lands - despite this being disproved by the sciences.

The Shos’alai skirts around the edges of the continents, and that is fortunate as the tempestral waters beyond the coast are extremely dangerous to trade. However there are a number of seas fed by the Shos’alai that are relatively safe; the Misted Sea, the White Shield, the Black Shield, the I’elae Sea, the Litan Sea, the Eoucian Sea, the Aoshi Sea and the Heavenly Sea.

The Misted Sea, a stretch of water spanning the entire eastern coast of Nyss. It is a cold sea, frozen in the northern reaches and icy in the southern reaches. It gets its name for the almost permanent, thick mist that lingers over it. It is not safe for ships, the entire sea is wracked by frequent storms or obscured by mist.

The White Shield, between the east southern coast of Nyss and the east northern coast of Stychia. It is a cold sea, regularly icy and sometimes with icebergs floating off the northern shores. The northern shores are rocky, pillars of stone rise from the water - carved from the cliffs - and it is plentiful with fish. The southern shores are also rocky, but do not get ice and do have wetlands.

The Black Shield, stretches between the north eastern coast of Stychia and the western north coast of Ys. It is a warm sea, with deep waters and an ashy black sea floor. It is a stormy but relatively traversable barrier to the deeper and darker Shos’alai, with some of the largest fish and schools of sea life. It is one of the most reliable sources of sea turtles, a delicacy in Rohvana and Auel.

The I’elae Sea, a stretch of water off the north coast of Ys. It is a warm sea, heavy with nutrient rich sediment that washes up on the shores of Ys and provides much of the fertility of the I’elae region. The many small inlets around the coastline provide excellent shelter for fishing vessels and for farmlands. With so many nutrients in the water, sea life grows extremely large.

The Litan Sea, a sea on the eastern coast of Ys. It is a warm, bitter sea. It is so saline that the rains it forms and that falls over the coasts leaves the earth salted. The salt tolerant sea-life that lives here is unique, and is a delicacy if you can handle the salinity.

The Aoshi Sea, a sea on the eastern north coast of Nira. It is a temperate sea with plentiful safe harbours that protect the fleets of fishing vessels from the seasonal monsoons. The sea is relatively safe, which is fortunate as the fisheries here provide one of the single most important food resources for the people of the surrounding regions. A number of deep trenches between the islands provides local sea-life safety and so it is common for deeper sea fish, large fish, to seek refuge here.

The Heavenly Sea, a sea on the south coast of Nira. It is a cold sea, unnaturally calm compared to the surrounding waters. It is named for the proximity to the Heavenly Seat in Nira though it lives up to the name itself. The sea is home to an abundance of bioluminescent creatures, from fish to jellyfish, plankton and sea flies. At night it sparkles like the night sky and during the spring it glows.