Great Ocean

The Great Ocean is a massive body of water West of Samvara and East of Inahng. It is so enormous that many cultures have assumed that crossing it is simply impossible. It is the Unconquerable Ocean, a place where no sailor or vessel returns from.    Even as nautical technology advances, this ocean remains impassable at its widest points. The Northern expanse of the ocean is incredibly deep, an ideal spawning ground for Leviathans. While open-ocean travel is dangerous because of sea monsters just about everywhere, Leviathan attacks are a guarantee in the northern waters here.    The only reasonably safe passage across this ocean is a route from Garadel to Loanua to Nafena in the southern hemisphere, and even this route can be perilous. The Elder Leviathan known as the Howling Melody often roams this path, and is known to extract tribute from all ships it comes across - but at least it doesn't simply destroy all trespassers like its lesser kin.   An unknown number of Cephapeople live in the depths. Many are mutated and strange from their reliance on Leviathan magic and generations of thralldom. Others simply drift over the inky depths foraging and hunting to survive in small bands. Larger groups make homes around the occasional small island. Cephapeople from shallower depths call this place "the great abyss" and consider its inhabitants to be animalistic barbarians. This is an unfair assessment, of course, but it is worth noting that this ocean is considered spooky among among the aquatic species.   There are a number of tiny islands across the northern expanse. Some of these are inhabited with small communities that are incredibly isolated, but are said to be of the same ancestral ethnic group as the original Khilaian Isles.    The Contaminated Isle sits at the widest point of the northern expanse of this ocean, far from any other island or from land.