Raqazza, where the Drowned Gods dwell

During the Time of a Thousand Gods, the seas spawned many gods. Each of these sea gods were tempestuous and suspicious, and each god jealously guarded the waves they claimed belonged to them alone.   Fiercest of these godlings were the children of Nautilo the Navigator, Emperor of the Ocean Waves, Keeper of the Far Horizon. Together with his consort, Atlanta of the Deep, he raided and conquered the wide seas and oceans, forging a mighty seafaring empire.  Six and sixty were his children, every one powerful in their control of wind and sea, waves and storms. While he lived, Nautilo imposed a Mark of Peace over all of them, that should even one drop of blood be shed by another, all would be punished and destroyed. Nautilo warred and conquered the seas and made his home upon an island covered in deep red grasses and blood red trees. He named his island Raqazza and raised up a mighty fortress made of volcanic glass and held court on a throne made of seastone. For many years, his watery empire prospered.   In the fullness of time, Nautilo grew old and frail, and his children began to bicker as to who would succeed him. Absolon, his eldest, known for his long golden hair that shined like flashes of sunlight off the curling wave, declared that he would take his father's seastone throne. His brothers rejected Absolon's claims and Nautilo's children girded themselves for war. Alone among the six and sixty did the youngest, Suliman the Peaceful, beg his brothers and sisters halt their warlike preparations, but they ignored his pleas. In the halls of their father, Abolon and his siblings fought each other for the throne.   But at the first cut of a blade and the first drop of blood striking the stone pavement, a rumbling shook the very foundations of Raqazza. The island began to sink into the sea, drowning noble and commoner alike. Suliman dropped to his knees and prayed to Raya, goddess of peace and hope, to spare the people of the islands. But still Raqazza sank beneath the waves. Yet Raya heard Suliman's prayer and permitted the island to rise from time to time, so it could once again drink in the light of the sun for a brief time. Thus were the Drowned Isles made.

While no first person accounts have ever been found to verify the legend of Raqazza, scattered records have reported seafaring cultures during the Second Age.  The name "Nautilos" appears in two separate accounts, both discussing naval battles in which the forces of Nautilos were the aggressor.  This lends plausibility that Nautilo or "Nautilos" may have been a living person, either a leader of an island nation or perhaps a pirate chieftain.  It is also possible that Nautilos refers to a nation, or nationality, rather than a person.  Historical records are unclear on this point.   No historical record exists of an island sinking beneath the waves, but many cultures have legends or myths that are similar.  Some historians believe the myths are created to explain the extinction of a seafaring people that a particular culture had come into contact with in the past.  Other historians point to destruction of the island of Olokopelli in the Boiling Sea, sundered by a massive volcano eruption, as the basis for such stories.   Modern sailors have reported seeing hitherto uncharted islands through a hazy mist in the Blood Sea, which later cannot be found again.  These reports have occurred frequently enough during the latter part of the Third Age and into the Fourth Age that there must be some truth to the legend of the Sunken Isles.  Whether they lead to a fabled undersea land loaded with treasure is entirely another matter, one most serious scholars conclude is simply fanciful story spinning by sailors.