The Aeliph Sea
The Aeliph Sea is a freshwater lake spanning roughly 85000 square kilometres. According to the Merfolk, the depth of the lake exceeds 500 meters, although said depths have not been reached yet due to lack of oxygen, increasing pressures and lack of light which makes areas below said depth difficult to explore safely.
The Aeliph Sea, despite being a lake, is vast enough and pivotal enough for the cultures surrounding it to be named a sea, in order to denote its grandeur and significance to the lives of those who live around it.
Surrounding the lake and governing these lands are five city states. These city states have their own governments and rules of law, and have sizeable differences between them, but trade and camaraderie is common enough that one could say a global culture has emerged from it, distinct from others. The city states control the land around it, beyond which is controlled by no one, save for the cruel hand of nature, a handful of miscellaneous warlords and the occasional dragon.
The five city states surrounding the Aeliph Sea are as follows:
Tosna, the Glimmering
Abens, the Beautiful
Aphios, the Enduring
Lesima, the Blessed
Velencei, the Bountiful
Inside the lake, the Merfolk live with in their settlement, known simply as the Merfolk City. Not much is known of their governing system and culture due to their relative isolation and limited contact beyond trades, commerce and news. Their neutrality is a famous one across the seas, with all knowing that a Merfolk will never step into a conflict between any of the cities or its peoples, leaving us surface dwellers to our own devices.
Geography
The Aeliph Sea is a giant freshwater lake, estimated to have been created as a consequence of glacial events some thousands of years in the past during which retreating ice carved a massive gouge into the bedrock as it receded back into the mountains and further north, presumably into uncharted lands. This resulted into the Aeliph Sea. Smaller lakes around the sea confirm this, having the same markings and grooves into the bedrock below the sediments as the sea (as confirmed by Merfolk findings).
Aeliph is fed by over 150 tributaries that vary in size and discharge. The most notable of these tributaries include The Gleamway, the Verderun River and the Roskum River.
Aeliph contains an innumerable amount of islands, with a great deal still unknown to records. Although sailors like to claim the existence of many islands not written in our data, such claims cannot be taken seriously until sufficient proof and data on their existence is acquired, other than here-say and bedtime stories.
The great size of the lake helps mellow out the climate of the city states and surrounding areas. Artificers and sages predict that without it, the climate would be much more severe, with colder winters and warmer summers. The lake does, however, contribute to the large amounts of snow seen on its eastern shores during the winter relative to its other shores. The cause of this is largely unknown, but current theories suggest it has to do with prevailing wind directions and the moisture evaporated from the lake.
Storms are common on Aeliph and have claimed the lives of many sailors in the past. They will no doubt continue to do so, those who think a lake cannot produce such dangers will surely meet their deaths.
Type
Lake
Included Locations
Included Organizations
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