The Steaming Sea

Overview

The region of the west Vreabian sea known as the Steaming Sea is famous for the amount of shipwrecks and sailors that have never returned from voyaging there. Shrouded in myth and superstition as to why this is so. Many believe the stories, such as The Myth of the Steaming Sea, that the region is home to some horrible beast that drags the sun down from the sky. They might not actively believe that it eats the sun, but they believe in the existance of the monster itself.
The truth is quite different. The region is tectonically unsound and is rife with small underwater volcanos and vents of boiling gases. So many in fact that it has raised the water temperature to a dangerous degree which gives the region its name.

Features and Misconceptions

Under the water’s surface lies a multitude of thermal vents, and spouts of volcanic activity. So many in fact that the surrounding temperature of the water has risen to a high degree. These spouts pump out boiling water and boiling vents of poisonous gases near constantly. There has been little research done on the area to find out exactly what is coming from them. What people have learned, however, is that it is very harmful to breathe.
After a short period of breathing them in, they cause psychosis. People experience hallucinations, usually seeing what stories have led them to expect. In this case, some evil tentacled monster. The cylindrical chimney structure of the vents reaches high through the water, whatever materials it makes them from lending them increased structural strength to any see elsewhere. These are constantly mistaken for tentacles.
They also suffer from delusions, frequently turning on crew members in a perceived fight for survival. Crew suffering from this cause many of the shipwrecks, killing one another before letting the ship drift.
The few survivors also mention seeing a light from deep in the water, often mistaken for the sun being eaten by this mythical beast. This is in fact just a magmatic leak under the water, a volcano spitting for glowing hot material and more poisonous fumes.