An-Dwfn

A Blue Hole located just offshore from Meld's Mouth, as soon as you get to open ocean. No one is supposed to go there, but of course, extreme travelers have taken to tourism there and Saesonaid and Sednae have taken advantage of this.

An-Dwfn

An-Dwfn, meaning “The Very Deep”, is a name to refer to the underwater cave system along the continental slope of Meld’s Mouth Bay. It is known as the boundary between the Island and the Otherworld - however it has been too dangerous to fully explore. There have been attempts to research it in order to create a subterranean and underwater path to the Morvoren Archipelago, or to see if indeed the Outpost exists in an unexplored path - however, even the most Hagsbreath expertised mancers struggle to emerge from An-Dwfn in one piece.

What are your non-earth-like geographical features in your setting?

-  There are different layers of water to the sinkhole with various properties, and this is similar to earthlike conditions but the lack of knowledge surrounding open water makes this extremely otherworldly to the people of the Island of Woad
- Several layers of water containing different minerals and densities - starting with freshwater, then saltwater, and then an anoxic area at the very bottom of the hole.
- Hydrogen sulfide and silt clouds, as well as what people perceive as ghosts - edible, organic creatures and preserved remains from aeons gone by
- A petrified forest of stalactites and stalagmites in one of the more shallow caverns, that resembles a dungeon at the bottom of a well and has air pockets containing various unknown materials and atmospheres

 
What’s the general “lay of the land” of your active worldbuilding area?

There are only a few discovered and recorded parts of An-Dwfn, as well as some secret passages - such as the aboveground cavern Meld’s Womb which has a hidden passage into the underwater cave system, but has not been discovered.

• Caer Danno, one of the more shallow and accessible caves that was once abovewater, shown by the stalagmites and stalactites which have formed a still and silent forest. It is considered an incredibly sacred place, but the air pockets in it are unstable and unsafe. There is more to explore in it, with other paths leading to many places but few recorded as accessible. This is named by locals after Danno, who is an underworld deity.
• The Paper Floor is a route and pathway to another large room, it is directly below Caer Danno by a few hundred feet and plans have been made to try and connect the two (unsuccessfully). It is full of trash, mainly plastic and paper refuse from aeons gone by.

And what is the climate or environment like, in your active worldbuilding area?

• Surrounding An-Dwfn is shallow coastal waters, as An-Dwfn is part of the continental slope, and is likely a former cave that collapsed with rising waters. There is a community of artificial small islands, though these are not luxurious and contend with a lot of rocky waters and storms, traveling between each other like a small thassalocracy.

Next, What is the ecosystem & habitat like in your active worldbuilding area?

- An-Dwfn is a sinkhole surrounded by a shallow continental slope, so there are coral reefs, particularly perfect for redweed farming as well as general aquaculture. However, things get a bit wilder as you head closer to the hole itself.
- Unlike the surface, where chlorosynthesis allows life forms to evolve, the creatures here evolve through chemosynthesis, which is a more pure lithomancy as it relies completely on inorganic compounds and chemical energy.
- There is a theory that the Saesonaid come from here and this is their home of origin, evolving through a lack of oxygen which allowed them rapid evolution when coming into contact with the carbon lifeforms - but chemosynthesis is still very misunderstood among even the Glendatis, who are thought to be descendants of it
Microbial Creatures- often confused with Plankton due to being near-microscopic, are actually their own source of magic that is under-researched.
- Tiny Dancers - whitish-irridescent microbial mats that cling to the rock or float in the water loosely, often conflated with plankton, but often people who see them apply animist values to them and believe them to be the ghosts of women who were drowned by male monarchs.
- Boundary Weavers - the halocline and chemocline microbial mats which hang between the density boundaries are seen as having magiferous properties and used in some foods, though it’s not easy to harvest
- Remipedes are an important creature and are seen as great omens of fortune (either good or bad, depending on the priest), with their carcases often being preserved in temples. This is common among the Glendatis and communities of Morvoren  and Meld’s Mouth as well. Part of why the Glendatis are partial to the Cynipina is because they think they resemble Remipedes.

Finally, what natural resources are found in your active worldbuilding area?

-- The top layer is freshwater and rainwater, and only species such as the Glendatis and Saesonaid can rehydrate with anything but freshwater - so they often bottle and sell it
- Same with the saltwater for Brine magicians
- A major source of redweed aquaculture popularized by the Glendatis and Loumierae
- The archaic trash found in the Paper Floor is the modern seeker’s treasure, but the current islanders have very little tolerance to the chemicals in the preserved items such as magazines, vinyl records, and plastic bottles and bags.