Circle of Souls

The spirits rose from our frozen breath, and encircled the ship beneath the eternal twilight. Each of us knew a name among their ranks, and wished we did not, for they howled bloody murder all night long. No-one slept, and no-one laughed, till the spirits faded without warning, as fast as they appeared.

— Excerpt from the travel log of Vyuqannyu Ulbyi'aluz

The Circle of Souls is a region within the expansive Xaqulbijwa Ice Fields where the ghosts are fully visible and partially corporeal. Its exact limits have not been mapped, lending it a mythical quality among northern sailors.
 

Appearance

Reportedly, nothing physically distinguishes the Circle from the fields of ice that surround it. Composed of the occasional rocky outcropping and frequent icebergs, the pale sea does not signal its secrets.
  Once within the Circle the air is said to shimmer and shift, like being surrounded by steam. Ghosts - some resident to the Circle and some accompanying the living - become visible, first as indistinct smears and then as translucent humanoids, audible and partly corporeal.
 

History

While ghosts have played a role in myths and stories all across Thurásin, there is no evidence that this region was a particular hotspot for the supernatural. If anything, the prevalence of worship of the sun god Qiliind may have limited the prominence of ghosts, since burning bodies is said to calm the spirits of the dead.
  Tales of the Circle seem to arise in the post-Collision era. These initially centred around the former location of the island of Hiy'u Pwalu, though this could be attributed to a desire for answers as to its disappearance, as this region is demonstrably not part of the Circle in the current day.
  Records of the region become more concrete during the expansion of Xiy Kiiquldast during the Era of Discovery, as naval action became more intense and involved travels further and further north in an attempt to gain an edge. These records describe it as being west of Iinjuva and north of Qariy, but its eastern reaches aren't clear.
  With the arrival of the Wūlséd'ok, and their proficiency with Necromancy, it has been proposed that the region be more concretely investigated with their expertise. Given no merfolk has travelled north of the mainland continent, much less to the Xaqulbijwa, these plans remain theoretical.