Porphatys

Porphatys is an oceanic realm, but one of no safety or sanctuary. The waters are shallow, freezing, and mildly acidic, causing 1d6 acid damage per round of exposure unless magically warded. Yet it is the psychological effect, the searing sting that feels deeper than it is, that slowly drives visitors toward madness.   An infinite black ocean stretches beneath perpetually stormy skies, dotted with islands and ruins half-submerged beneath waves of eternal sorrow. Every soul imprisoned in Porphatys is bound within its own personal torment, continuously reliving their emotional failures and the heartache they've inflicted upon others.  

Noteable Locations

Sea of Eternal Tears

An endless ocean of saltwater, bitter as tears. Storms of grief wrack its surface, waves crashing against the souls imprisoned within, forcing them to confront their worst emotional pain repeatedly.  

The Drowning Isles

A chain of islands perpetually sinking beneath waves. Each isle imprisons souls who abandoned loved ones. Travelers risk being drawn into the prisoners' memories, forced to experience abandonment.  

The City of Lamentation

A once-grand metropolis half-submerged, where towers weep seawater eternally. Souls here wander through flooded streets, reliving memories of betrayal and heartbreak. Entering requires confronting one's deepest regret (this effect lasts until leaving Porphatys).  

The Abyssal Whirlpool

A vast maelstrom at the ocean's heart, eternally pulling everything inward. Legend says it leads directly to deeper layers of torment. Ships caught in its pull face destruction  

The White Caravel

Also known as the Ship of One Hundred, this spectral vessel drifts from orb to orb, harboring 100 ivory sarcophagi in its hold. Legend claims that opening even one causes the entire ship’s crew to vanish, no one knows where. Some believe it’s a vessel of punishment. Others think it carries the dreams of failed immortals.  

The Ebon Archipelago

A scattered cluster of cave-ridden islands rising barely above the waterline. Fierce battles erupt over these sandbar refuges, as they offer shelter from the acidic snows. Some caves are rumored to descend into dry crypts, untouched by the sea, haunted by memory-wraiths.  

Inhabitants

Porphatys is home to the souls of the shallow, the self-centered, and the vain—those whose lives were spent in pursuit of surface-level fulfillment, praise, or comfort. These petitioners are immune to the acid, but not to the pain it inflicts. They feel every sting, every freezing current, a reminder that their shallow pleasures have become eternal suffering.   Driven mad by their condition, they turn on one another with horrific cruelty:

• Pushing others into the acidic surf;
• Baiting them into caves only to collapse the entrance;
• And in the worst cases, cannibalizing their fellow souls for imagined relief;

  Many have lost the ability to speak, communicating only in whispers and glares.   In addition, Among the ghost-haunted waves of Porphatys drift the Mournful Mariners, spectral sailors cursed by their own betrayals, mutineers, oath-breakers, and those who turned on their crews and kin. They move silently across the acidic tides in phantom vessels or broken rafts, their touch cold as regret. Victims who encounter them feel their hearts pierced by old wounds, their fears laid bare.   Haunting the storm-lashed islands and flooded caverns are the Forsaken, sorrow-wrought undead born from abandonment and betrayal. Each wail from these desolate spirits carries the weight of forgotten promises and discarded souls. Their cries ripple through the realm like a dirge, inflicting crushing despair on the living, those who hear might collapse into emotional collapse and despair.

Summoning and Binding

Summoning creatures from Porphatys demands tokens of emotional betrayal. Summoned entities manipulate enemies emotionally, causing despair and confusion.  

Entry and Escape

Entering Porphatys is done typically through Plane Shift using emotionally charged tokens: Love letters, tear-stained keepsakes, or memories of abandonment.
Escaping Porphatys is done by confronting and overcoming one’s deepest emotional betrayals, redeeming oneself through heartfelt reconciliation or acts of true empathy.