Information
Body of Water Vast Mediterranean-Style Continental Sea World Eraedal Surrounding Realms Western Empire (West), Old Kingdom (Southwest), Timiro Kingdom (South), Eastern Territory (East/Northeast) Key Bays & Straits Bay of Ptolus, Straits of Thunder, Passage to Sea of Scarlet Waters Dominant Traffic Imperial Merchant Fleets, Eastern Caravels, Timiro Grain Barges, Koerdian & Pirate Privateers Hazards Megalodon Pods, Deep-Trench Leviathans, Sudden Squalls, Pirate Raiding Flotillas
🌊 Overview: The Lifeblood of Eraedal
The Inland Sea is the expansive, salt-water heart of Eraedal, separating the civilized realms of the known world. Stretched across thousands of nautical miles, its azure waters connect the fractured majesty of the Western Empire, the rising merchant principalities of the Eastern Territory, the agrarian coastlines of the Timiro Kingdom, and the dark, forbidding cliffs of the fallen Old Kingdom.
For thousands of years, whoever commanded the Inland Sea commanded continental trade. Raw timber, tin, and grains flow westward from the Eastern Territory; luxury textiles, enchanted glass, and imperial wine flow eastward from the Western Empire; while exotic spices and ivory voyage northward from the Floenry Isles and Timiro ports.
🗺️ Key Basins, Bays, & Approaches
- The Bay of Ptolus: A sheltered, deep-water sound nestled beneath the monolithic basalt needle of the Spire on the eastern bluffs of the Tarldet Plains. It acts as the primary western terminus for trans-continental merchant convoys and pilgrimage fleets bound for Holy Emperor Rehobath Ylestos’s court.
- The Southern Narrows & The Sea of Scarlet Waters: South of the Scarlet Mountains, maritime channels narrow into the geothermal, red-algae waters dividing the Empire from the Baalgor Wastelands and Mount Nimro.
- The Straits of Thunder: Treacherous northern narrows separating the civilized coasts from the stormy waters of the Sea of Despair and the frozen kingdom of Bizantium.
- The Old Kingdom Littoral: The desolate southern and central coasts where the ruined cities of the Elves and Dwarves crumble into the surf. Sailors give this coastline a wide berth, as ghost ships, reaver longboats, and mutated sea-beasts plague the shallow reefs.
⚓ Maritime Powers & Hazards
- Imperial Fleets vs. Insurgent Privateers: The outbreak of the Three-way Civil War in 702 IA shattered unified imperial naval patrols. Today, rival naval squadrons loyal to Empress Lasha Itomas, independent merchant syndicates backed by the Council of Coin, and Commissar Igor Urnst’s harbor cutters vie for control of western sea lanes.
- The Corsair Scourge: Raiders emerging from the coves of the Koerdian Mountains and pirate nests among the offshore archipelagos prey relentlessly on unescorted cogs and grain barges.
- Abyssal Leviathans: Beneath the sunlit surface lie trenches plunging thousands of fathoms down. Sailors tell whispered tales of ancient krakens and dormant Old One behemoths sleeping in the abyssal trenches, stirring whenever chaos surges on the surface.