The Mare Nostrum

All of civilization is built around the Mare Nostrum, the great ocean where three continents meet. The coasts and waters of the Mare Nostrum are held firmly by the Empire, which profits greatly from keeping shipping safe there. The Mare Nostrum is attached to a northeastern sea by a passage framed by the Gorgades chain of islands on the western side and a zone of horrific clashing rocks rendering the eastern side impassable, though a very narrow clear channel divides these two extreme hazards to navigation. Ironically, the western section of the Mare Nostrum that leads to the Great Ocean is framed by the Melqart Pillars, imposing but immobile rock formations that are used by navigators to identify which body of water is which-east of the Pillars is the Mare Nostrum, west is the Great Ocean. It covers an approximate area of 965,000 sq miles, but its connection to the Great Ocean is only 8.7 miles wide. The Mare Nostrum has an average depth of 4,900 feet and the deepest recorded point is 17,280 feet. Its west-east length, from the Strait of the Great Ocean to the Gulf of Iskenderun, on the southwestern coast of Anatolia, is approximately 2,500 miles. The sea's average north-south length is approximately 500 miles. The Mare Nostrum has a surface area of approximately 970,000 square miles.

Geography

The coasts of the Mare Nostrum vary greatly. The southern coast is beautiful beaches with friendly appearing natural harbors. There are great port cities here but few and far between fishing settlements as the south is largely tropical desert save for a patch of very rich farmland west of the Hapy. The east coast is almost entirely urban, with great ports connected by smaller fishing communities. The north coast ranges from the rocky Hellas peninsula to the gentler beaches of Terraconensis, past which the Mare Nostrum joins with the Great Outer Ocean. The typical Mare Nostrum climate has hot, humid, and dry summers and mild, rainy winters.

Fauna & Flora

The waters of the Mare Nostrum are warm, the climate temperate in the north and subtropical in the south. A huge variety of sealife dwells here, supporting the coast dwellers, which will be further entailed under specific settlements where the species primarily ranges.