Valley of the Boiling Sea

The Valley of the Boiling Sea is a region on the ocean floor of the Sea of Resona where molten metal regularly flows into the sea from deep under the crust of the Seafloor.
This region houses Scaraqua's biggest mother lode of iron, tin, copper, and occasionally more rare precious metals.

Localized Phenomena

The Valley of the Boiling Sea has not one, but four vents Geothermal mineral vents periodically spewing molten metal into Sea.
None of the four vents are constantly spewing metal, in fact most of the time none of them are spewing anything. When no new metal is surfacing, the water becomes cool enough that Scaraquans who are not cyclopes can survive there but they are uncomfortable. Some daring Scuttlers occasionally enter the area to mine the rich ore from the surface of the sea floor, but they risk being boiled alive if there is a new unexpected surge of hot metal.

Fauna & Flora

There are very few living plants here and even fewer fish, so food is scarce here. Some of the plants can be harvested carefully as reagents.
While the biggest limiting factor for most Scaraquans are the extreme temperatues, the biggest limiting factor for the aquatic cyclopes is the lack of food and cyclopes tend to have prodigious appetites.

Natural Resources

Only seaclopes can (barely) survive the extreme temperatures without powerful magic and harvest metal while it's still cooling.
That is normally not necessary as most of the ore present is cooled on top of the sea floor. Anyone brave enough to risk a sudden temperature change can theoretically mine the regular motherlodes here.
Most of the people who work the are are Scaraquan cyclopes. At least five different clans of seaclopes regularly use the area to gather and shape metal ore.

What do Scarterrans know about this area?

Not much.

Scarterran sailors have noticed that the water here is unusually warm. They also know that the fishing here is terrible. Warmer waters are normally teeming with fish.
Given that the water here is mysteriously warm here, yet oddly devoid of most life. There are lots of crass jokes about one or more of The Nine choosing this spot to urinate which would explain both the fluctuating warmness and the relative toxicity of the water here.
A few Scarterrans have loaded themselves up with water breathing magic and tried to explore this area. The lucky ones don't find anything and come back empty handed. The unlucky ones are accidentally boiled alive by a sudden molten metal eruption heating up the water, or they are caught and eaten by a hungry aquatic cyclops.

Type

Valley

Location under

Sea of Resona

Inhabiting Species

• hagfish