Whip of Fire

The Whip of Fire gains its moniker from the great number of volcanic islands that pepper the ocean, from the Devil's Stepping Stones in the north, to the largest volcano in the world at its southernmost end, Draconus Mons, near the eastern tip of Ragnarok, forming the shape of a long whip. Its name is also symbolic, named by demon-kind as a reference to the punishment they received through Lucifer's curse after the Divine Civil War. When Ragnarok was ripped from the oceans many hundreds of millennia ago, it was done so with such reckless fury that the continent brought with it great clouds of ash and volcanic activity. This great, unnatural shift of tectonic activity formed volcanoes from the sea bed in mere tens of years, rather than millions. This great unnatural upheaval and reshaping of entire landscapes became a great scar that would later take on the name it has today. Whip of Fire is now a massive expanse of water that borders the north of Ragnarok and the south of Meyland, separating the two continents. Near its islands of volcanic activity, the air is thick with clouds of ash, and the sea is warm, but toxic with not just salt water, but traces of sulfur. Because of this, the waters of the Whip of Fire are darker than other oceans of the world. Ash and firestorms are frequent here, and very few sailors choose to sail here, let alone able. Only the most foolhardy and skilled can navigate these volcanic seas during one of the Whip's infamous storms. Many trading ships that sail through the Devil's Stepping Stones to access the bustling port town of Morkney must travel through the Whip of Fire's northernmost tip, but most keep to the southernmost coastlines of Meyland in order to avoid much of the Whip's otherwise deadly phenomenon. Elemental energies are potent here and are often malevolent. Angry fire elementals have been known to prowl volcanic islands during eruptions, spilling from volcanos during lava flows. Great fiery salamanders are also a common sight, often seen basking in the hot air on rocky or obsidian outcroppings. Sometimes they will battle with fire snakes for territory.

Hellfire Trench
Jagged marine plateaus of rocky spires reach hundreds of feet from the seabed to the surface, creating deadly fields of sharp rocks, to which many foolhardy sailors and their crews have lost their lives. These jagged plateaus drop into the deepest place in the world: Hellfire Trench. None have yet fully explored its depths, but some say it descends into the crushing depths for tens of thousands of feet.

Very few expeditions have been made into the trench, and of those that have, fewer have returned. Only a small number of books have been published by magi skilled enough to brave the depths, and their authors describe life in the trench as uniquely primordial and alien, having adapted to the waters' toxicity. Due to the crushing pressures, creatures are able to grow much larger than in the world's comparatively shallower oceans, and the plentiful geothermal vents provided great sources of heat for life to thrive. The bottom of the trench is littered with the wrecks of many ships; those who sought to cross the waters of the Whip, only to meet their end in a boiling, watery grave. These wrecks are home to much of the trench's larger marine life and unique flora, and rumors of sunken treasures within tempt the brave and the foolish to add their own ships to these underwater graveyards. There are tales written of the denizens of the Hellfire Trench. One particular story makes mention of enormous predators called krakens that prowl the trench's depths. One such creature is known to have spurred the naming of Kraken's Spire.