IceAndWave/WhiteSea

The White Sea

Wracked by storms, littered with ice, the north-western ocean is a dangerous empty place, where the weather can change in an instant, and a man falling overboard has mere minutes to live before the frostwyn drain his warmth away, leaving a cold corpse to sink below the waves. The few sailors brave enough to sail into these waters do so for brief periods of time, encased in seal- and mammoth-fur wraps, to fend off the eternal biting cold of wind and spray.

Such islands as exist in this gods-forsaken place are rocky crags jutting from the choppy sea, home to a few lonely gods and elementals, and the occasional insane hermit subsisting on crabs and seaweed. There are, of course, sailor’s tales regarding lights seen on the horizon, telling of bewitching sounds heard coming from far below the water’s surface, but these are generally dismissed as the artifice and machinations of the Fair Folk.

The Jewel Islands

One of the major reasons that sailors brave the far Northwestern ocean, the so-called Jewel Islands are a small archipelago over 1500 miles away from Coral. Formed from jagged black basalt, and permanently ice-capped, it is here that the winds from the Pole of Air blow gemstones down, the frequent storms and blizzards carrying diamonds, sapphires, topaz and other, rarer, precious stones into the nooks and crannies of these islets. Unfortunately for many of these treasure-seekers, these islands are also home to a variety of inimical beasts and spirits, most of whom see the mortals arriving within their territory as either food or interlopers.

Similar tales are told of fields of gemstones in the deep ocean, places where diadems glitter in the inky blackness at the bottom of the sea. The hostility of the islands and their inhabitants is as nothing compared to the sheer loathing that the creatures and gods of the deep ocean have for those who would raid their homes, and very few of those brave or foolish enough to venture into the black abyss ever return, and of those even less are willing to return.

The City of Lights

The skies above the White Sea are almost always covered with roiling grey clouds that threaten storm or rain or both. Sometimes these clouds clear, however, revealing the cerulean skies and it is on those days that sailors return with tales of a city, barely visible on the Northern horizon. The stories are remarkably consistent, speaking of bright, steady lights visible at the very edge of sight, far beyond the sailing range of even the hardiest ships that sails the oceans of the Second Age. Several expeditions have set out to reach this city over the last few centuries but, without exception, none of those who left on the ships have ever been seen again.

Frost Phoenix’ Pavane

Frost Phoenix is a Fair Folk noble who left the Wyld many years ago, taking a shape and entering Creation for reasons known only to himself. He sails the White Sea in a ship of glass with gossamer sails, accompanied by many others of his kind (although not his station). Whenever the Pavane encounters other ships Frost Phoenix politely insists that the crew watch the latest play that he and his band have written – an offer that a wise ship’s captain accepts. Using his glamour-weaving magics Frost Phoenix conjures a stage and seating from the icy water and for the duration of the play the ship and its crew are the guests of Frost Phoenix, and for all the fear and awe that the Fair Folk inspire amongst the peoples of the West they are safe.

However, for all his courtly mannerisms and showmanship Frost Phoenix is a Fae and stories are told of ships that refused the offer of a show being slaughtered to a man, while others who were in a hurry found that the sea itself turned against them, with wind and storm sending them hundreds, if not thousands, of miles off course. The truth of these tales is not known.