Sea of Seas

Overview

The Sea of Seas is an interior body of salt water on Arbre. It is described in The Dictionary as relatively small but complex, connected to the planet’s great oceans at three points by straits, and traditionally regarded as the cradle of classical civilization. Its convoluted shoreline and centrality to early travel and exchange give it outsized cultural importance relative to its size.

Notable Features

• Three narrow straits link the Sea of Seas to the surrounding oceans, making it a navigable but distinct maritime basin.
• It lies amid multiple continental landmasses; historical accounts note that early explorers working outward from its shores shaped how those lands were named and grouped.
• Over time, some lands once named as separate “continents” proved to be lobes of a single landmass continuous across the polar regions; common usage nevertheless preserves the older distinctions.
• The coastline is characterized as complex and highly indented.

Associations

• The island of Ecba lies within the Sea of Seas. Classical tradition places the Temple of Orithena there, remembered as a center of early theorics associated with Orithena.
• Classical-era physiologers linked with Cnous are said to have voyaged by galley and sail from around the Sea of Seas to a harbor on Ecba’s southeastern coast; that harbor was later buried when Ecba’s south slope collapsed in a major eruption dated to -2621.
• Cultural histories commonly treat the Sea of Seas as a heartland from which “classical” practices and stories radiated to surrounding regions.
• Concents are located on its shores; contemporary accounts mention a theoric hailing from a concent on the Sea of Seas.

Recent Activity

• Current references point to a large, long-running archaeological excavation on Ecba aimed at exposing and studying the buried remains of the Temple of Orithena. Observers describe a walled worksite with a cloister-like arrangement and a central pit traced with orderly grids.

Status/Access

The Sea of Seas remains an identifiable maritime region. Its three connecting straits provide access to the world ocean. Travel between the continental units surrounding it generally requires documents issued under the Saecular Power; this has encouraged some overland routes across contiguous polar land when papers are unavailable. From far northern inland sledge ports, roads run south across ice, tundra, and taiga to meet the highway network that reaches the Sea of Seas. Another described approach is to pass west through one of three mountain passes to icebound coastal ports, travel by icebreaker to Mahsht, and then continue overland a few days to the Sea of Seas. - One described approach to reaching Ecba is to drive vehicles down a ramp onto a ferry from a mainland beach and cross by water.