The Eleven Seas

The Eleven Seas are distinct subdivisions of the Cleothalassa, the great, dark sea that Cleocadia became following the Cascade.



The Aureatic Ocean
This north-eastern ocean divides Cleocadia and Hyn-Rest. There are few islands on the Aureatic, a fact attributed to the belief that the land there was low-lying. Why Hyn-Rest was largely spared from the Cascade is unknown, though scholars suspect that the higher being presiding over the land - Hyn - somehow mitigated its effects.

The wind in the Aureatic tends to blow southerly, making it ideal for travellers from Sylvestris to sail to the Whale Road.

Camanaiada
The sea north of central Cleocadia is called Camanaiada - meaning 'the bed of naiads' - sharing its name with the nation of Mer who live undersea. However, the area of sea labelled 'Camanaiada' is much larger than the nation itself - likely a hold-over from its older, larger borders which were later conceded to monsters from L'Empieta and Withersea.

Many of the Mer structures built in Camanaiada are along a continental shelf north of Sylvestris and east of the Waterlands, leading scholars to hypothesise that this area was already sea prior to the Cascade.

The wind blows easterly across Camanaiada, so travellers from the Wallows tend to head towards Sylvestris.

The Narrow Gap
The Narrow Gap is central patch of Cleocadian sea. It is believed that Imara, the island at its centre, was already an island between two continents before the Cascade. It lay in a 'narrow gap' between lands, hence the name. Thus the Narrow Gap is believed to be one of the deepest seas in the world.

The Narrow Gap is most heavily controlled by Coalition fleets, replacing those of Ulthir in the Age of Piracy.

The Palace Road
To the north-west, connecting Satyavarsha, the Waterlands and the central islands, is the Palace Road. Also called Saraya, (literally meaning 'palace road'), this stretch of sea gets its name from the Nakesvar - a travelling fleet of ships that makes its way across this sea, yearly. Along the way, they set up Castiserai - 'ship-palaces', havens for weary sailors. This, along with the warm weather and clear skies, makes the Palace Road a popular route to travel for working seafarers.

The Scaled Sea
To the west of Cleocadia is the Scaled Sea, so-called for its traversal by Naga, Mandrakes and Lizardfolk. Given the historical conflicts between Mandragoras, Yan Guo and Satyavarsha, it is considered by many Cleocadians to be a dangerous place to travel, if without an escort.

The Sulter Sea
Southmost in Cleocadia is the Sulter Sea, also called the Hungry Sea or, more literally translated, the Starving Sea. It freezes into ice floes as one approaches Sulterland, and although these tend to melt in the warmer seasons, they make it a dangerous place to travel. Falling overboard in the colder parts of the Sulter Sea can prove fatal without an adequate way to warm oneself.

The Trenches
Officially called the Deorsa-Alstice Boundary, and unofficially called the Sundered Sea, the Trenches are known for their namesake - their huge, undersea rifts. More seismic and volcanic activity occurs beneath this sea than any other, and strange things are said to emerge from the deep. People tend to avoid the Trenches, if it can be helped.

The Wallows
Locked between the Palace Road, Camanaiada and the Narrow Gap, the Wallows consist of the sea (and islands) that surround Titanbath. It is also called 'the Pig Sea' or 'the Mudbath'. While the name partially corresponds to the swamp-laden surroundings of Titanbath, it is mostly a joke on the Dwarves who live there. During the early years following the Cascade, many Dwarves became seafarers, naming the new islands they came across. They called their ships unnsvín, literally 'wave-swine', so the Wallows is supposedly where the 'seapigs' are happiest. The sea, however, is murkier here. The asteroid that impacted the area, creating the crater that Titanbath would be built from, churned the land and sea together. At points, sailing is slower here.

The Whale Road
The Whale Road, or the Wælsway, is the long, cold sea that defines the south of the South. As the name implies, it traces the travel of often-hunted whales, though the fish are just as plentiful along the same path. Travelling along the Whale Road is somewhat of a rite of passage for hardened sailors - the sky is grey and the waves are huge, holding monsters beneath. Storms are common. The camraderie amongst Whale-Road sailors, and 'soothners' in general, is believed to be iron-forged in these circumstances.

Withersea
The northmost sea, as the Cleothalassa approaches the influence of Miasma. Also called 'the Miasmic Sea', or, less officially, 'the Black Dot Line' (or 'dotted black line') from how most maps depict the boundary. This is a band of sea that stops most sailors who are travelling too far north. It's a gradual change, but the waters turn darker, and ships begin to rot and disintegrate, even if black Miasma rain isn't falling. No one should, and does, travel the Withersea.

Zilverzee
The western sea that separates the central islands of Cleocadia from Koninkrijk. It is usually translated as 'the Silver Sea'.

Rijk poets would tell you that as the light catches the waves of the Zilverzee, it looks like flecks of silver in the sun. While the water is clear, the sea is not that silver.