The Drowned Sky
Where the Stars Fall, the Sea Remembers
To the east of the known lands stretches a vast and restless expanse of water called The Drowned Sky — an ocean steeped in myth, peril, and ancient memory. From the frozen shores of the Draconis Combine’s northern reaches to the warmer tides where it kisses the Sea of Veils in the southeast, The Drowned Sky is a borderland of foam and storm, trade and treachery. It is no mere sea. It is a frontier between what is known and what once was.
The name is older than the Succession Wars, older even than the fall of the League of Stars. Some say it was once the seat of a vast celestial realm — that the stars themselves fell here in ancient ruin, pulled screaming from the heavens and swallowed by the waves. Others speak of a cataclysmic spellcast that shattered the sky's reflection, trapping starfire beneath the water. Mariners speak of ghost constellations visible only in the sea’s depths, and of sirens whose songs match the forgotten chants of the League’s star-priests. Its waters are deep and often cruel. Tides shift with unnatural rhythm, and storms roll in without warning — vast, slow-moving tempests that rumble like war drums. Currents tear at hulls, reefs shift positions, and whirlpools bloom in still water. Yet for all its dangers, The Drowned Sky remains a vital artery for trade, secrets, and war.
Across these waters sail the fleets of Vaskara, the volcanic island-nation whose warrior-mariners have long mastered the treacherous tides. Their swift ships, trimmed in black iron and sun-slick wood, are a common sight along the trade routes that wind between the Federated Suns and, more tenuously, the Taurian Concordat. Though Vaskara rules the waves in its region, it is not alone. The Draconis Combine watches the northern stretches with steely interest, operating hidden coastal ports and long-range naval outposts among the stormbreak islands. It was across this very ocean that the Ashward Offensive took place — a daring wartime gambit in which Kuritan warships, cloaked by mists and guided by storm-witches, struck at the southern reaches of the Federated Suns, sparking the disaster that birthed the Red Ash Wastes.
Even now, The Drowned Sky bears the scars of old war. Ruined ships drift endlessly through calm waters, their crews long claimed by sea or worse. It is said that certain areas are haunted not by spirits, but by fragments of time — echoes of ancient naval battles, phantom vessels locked in endless pursuit of one another. These places are marked on old charts with simple warnings: Do not follow the stars. For all its dangers, there are those who believe The Drowned Sky holds more than peril. Rogue scholars speak of sunken vaults from the League of Stars, half-sunken temples, and ley-line nexuses swirling in the abyssal deep. Pirate kings chase these rumors. Vaskaran Wavepriests guard them. The sea offers no answers, only waves.
To the powers of the Sphere, The Drowned Sky is a mystery that endures — a border, a passage, and a grave. But to the sailors who brave it, it is a living thing, vast and watching. And it does not forget.
“The land teaches you to stand. The sky teaches you to look up. But the sea? The sea teaches you to pay attention — or drown.” — Wavemaster Seryn El, Ship-Clan Mornvein
Type
Ocean
Included Locations
