Mathe Bay
Wide mouthed and deep, Mathe Bay makes one of Tarien's best natural harbors, supporting both the sprawling city of Mathe on its northern shores and the smaller, grittier town of Morin to the southeast. The bay itself forms where the mighty River Prydith empties into the Darsiac Ocean on the southwestern shores of the peninsula for which the mighty river was named. Its deep waters run close to the shoreline, dropping as much as a hundred fathoms a dozen paces from the shore around Mathe, making it an ideal harbor for the great ocean-going ships that ply the trade from Gartcha to Rathgar. Scholars have long argued about the formation of these underwater cliffs, though most assume some sort of cataclysm like the one that deepened the harbor at Phelandria was the cause. Stranger still, two large islands guard the mouth of the bay, providing excellent protection for ships and the cities beyond from ocean storms. The islands are, however, a maritime hazard, the sharp rocks and shallow sandbars that extend around them for what seems like an unnatural distance has claimed many ships over the years. Despite the lives and coin lost, however, the King of Mathe has, for generations, refused to install a lighthouse, making it nearly impossible to sail into the bay at night.