Aquallor

Aquallor stretches as an endless ocean of crystalline depth, but unlike the storm-wracked seas of the Maelstrom, it is serene, luminous, and eternally renewed. The waters shine with a turquoise glow during the day and with soft starlight by night, reflecting the celestial vault of Arvandor. There are no true horizons here, the sea seems to curve upward, meeting the heavens in a seamless embrace where tars shimmer both above and below.  

Isles and Shores

Scattered across the waters are drifting archipelagos, isles formed not from stone but from coral that blooms into natural temples, pearl-studded groves, and reefs that hum with song. Some islands are little more than spirals of sand where palms bear fruit that never spoils, while others rise as vast atolls with lagoons so clear they seem like windows into dreamscapes.   The Emerald Shoals are shallow, sun-touched regions where schools of radiant fish weave patterns like living constellations. The Moonwater Straits are channels that glow silver under Sehanine’s light, becoming sacred thoroughfares for lovers, poets, and pilgrims who seek visions.   The Choiring Reefs are coral vaults tuned by the tides, where polyps hum in subtle chords that steady the hearts of those who rest nearby; fear fades to courage when you linger long enough to listen.   The Wandering Isles are living atolls that drift with pilgrim currents, grazing the sunlight and sheltering travelers. Crews who honor an isle with work and song are rewarded, as the waters around their course calm into gentle weather for days to come.   Above the waves lies the Overblue, a high Aether stratum where cloud-roads condense. Here sky-galleys ride the rising thermals between storm-ports, skimming the steam like ships over water.   Far below yawns the Midden Deep, a trench where relics of wars and weddings drift together, swallowed by centuries. Scattered among the silt are memory-pearls, opal beads that glow warm in the hand and replay a true deed when held with intent.  

Palaces Beneath the Waves

Far below lie palaces of shell and light, suspended in domes of breathable air or woven wholly from enchanted water. The grandest of these is Pearlheart, a shifting palace of nacreous domes and mother-of-pearl halls, said to house the covenant between The Seldarine and the Asathalfinare. Its corridors echo with whale-song hymns and are lit by lantern-corals that never dim.  

Currents and Pathways

The waters of Aquallor are never still but form living currents known as Songstreams, which bear travelers gently toward where they most need to go. Sailors who surrender to the Songstreams find safe passage, while those who fight against them are set adrift into long, spiraling journeys of reflection before they may return.  

Notable Locations

The Pearl Parliament

A circling flotilla of barges and living shells where sea-kings, azata admirals, and reef-queens keep open council. Oratory is art; lies taste of brine and impose penalty on the creature.  

Harbor Everkind

An oath-bound port that appears in a storm to any crew that rescued strangers this season. Mooring here mends hulls as make whole once per vessel per visit.  

The Glass Girdle

A ring-reef clear as air, patterned with lex tidea—etched tide-laws: aid the wrecked, honor parley, count the dead. Reading them aloud grants a 24-hour bonus to all diplomatic attempts.  

The Thalassarch’s Hold

A basalt keep on a whale-back isle; trials here are fought as storm-duels (first lightning wins), and the victor must grant safe-conduct to the loser’s folk for a Sehaine.  

Cathedral of Waves

A pelagic cloister whose nave is the ocean itself. Hymns in Old Pelagic calm squalls (see Harmonic Squalls) and bolster oath-magic.   Lantern Shoals. Bioluminescent sandbanks that write route-runes when a true story is told at the prow, granting advantage (PF1: +4 circumstance) on Navigation/Survival for the next leg.  

Access

Aquallor brushes against the Crescent Grove through silver rivers that flow backward into the sea at night, while its depths conceal trenches that link to the Elemental Plane of Water. Along the outer 'edges', where tides roar against the unknown, the realm sometimes merges with the Limbo and Arvandor, though in Aquallor the chaos is gentled into revelry rather than ruin.  

Portals

From the Outlands' Sylvania, lantern-towns that celebrate three nights of revel without strife see their fountains spill brine that opens into Sea-Steps leading to Aquallor.   On equinox nights, the Auroral Lockers shimmer as aurorae sink into the surf, opening color-lit paths between Arvandor’s canopy and Aquallor’s seas for those who sing a shared vow.   The Star-Wharf forms at midnight beneath clear skies, a pier of starlit mist reaching into Ysgard’s fjords, passable only by travelers who can tell how they kept mercy while winning glory.

The Vengeful Squall dogs oath-breakers who spurned Wreck-Right, manifesting as a brief storm cell of howling winds, errant bolts, and the shameful mark of salt-scars.   Harmonic Squalls sing with wind and rain. Voices raised in chorus can calm them, and the act grants goodwill in future dealings with those who overhear.   The Pilgrim Current is a boon that carries those who aid strangers farther than their course should allow, guiding them onward with gentle speed and sure navigation.   In the Midden Deep, memory-pearls lie among the wreckage, each capable of replaying a true scene when warmed in the hand.   The Sargassum’s Embrace restrains raiders with living weeds, entangling the cruel but parting for those who honored the Lifeline Rule.  

Living Tides

Waves rise to shield those who offer mercy, and they crash with sudden wrath when cruelty or greed is shown.  

Star-Falls

Occasionally, stars sink beneath the surface rather than crossing the night sky. When they dissolve into the sea, they become pearls of prophecy, found only by those with a true question in their heart.  

The Breathless Calm

Rare, mirror-still waters appear where sound is muffled and even magic grows hushed. Here, the only way forward is through honest reflection, for force or guile leaves one circling endlessly.  

Magic

Shanty Casting weaves spellwork into work-song and hymn. It steadies concentration at sea, though the boon fades if the magic is wielded in cruelty.   An Oath-Swell strengthens vows of rescue and fair dealing: spells that bind protection, clarity, and courage linger longer and bolster those named within.   Within consecrated harbors, the Storm-Ward turns calming magics into communal guardians, suppressing rage and wrath even in the unwilling if it preserves peace under the Salt Oath.   The Fountain’s Gift of Aquallor’s sacred wells grants those who drink with reverence one flawless inspiration tied to beauty or mercy, but never to cruelty.

Inhabitants

The seas of Aquallor are home to Azatas, storm-riding bralani, song-keeping lillends, and ghaele way-judges who measure valor and mercy alike.   Among them move sea-folk petitioners, sailors, lifeguards, pearl-divers, healers, and even honest corsairs, reborn in their prime to rescue, reconcile, and remember.   Fey of foam and spray weave joy into their mischief, while civic companions such as tide-wardens, chart-singers, and oarmasters of truce ensure the laws of the sea are upheld.   Yet not all dwellers honor the tide. Oath-pirates who fly false pennants, joy-leeches that feed on applause, and chain-mongers who seek to bind ports in fear are scorned foes of Aquallor.