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Western Sea. Those few
surviving maps dating to the Andul
Allyra period, label the great western sea toryd
hirgydra (sea of the monster) for it was told that
all ships that sailed into the West were devoured. The
first maps detailing portions of both the east and
west coasts of the ocean were made early in the 1st
century HK by Dekàlan cartographers. The
sea-spanning empire's name was often written over the
sea in these early maps and was later adopted by mapmakers
from Tasserus to Vulmura.
The Dekàlan Sea is notoriously
difficult to navigate
in the best weather and treacherous in all other conditions.
Strong winds and shifting currents vie to pull
ships off course. In the south, sudden and violent
storms are common in the spring and summer months. These
storms move northward in the autumn and winter carrying
heavy snows and plummeting temperatures to otherwise
temperate coasts. The most dangerous element encountered
on the Western Sea are the frays, where the Tapestry
has been undone. Even without sailing directly
through a fray, it is speculated that these phenomenon
contribute to the erratic nature of the sea. To
combat these and other obstacles, the Dekàlans
developed a series of waypoints through which their
ships might safely navigate from one port to the next.
The waypoints allowed ship captains to navigate
through a series of "harbors" until they reached
their desired port. For much of the Old Empire's
span, these positions were closely guarded secrets.
Since its fall however, some of the waypoints
have been re-discovered, mostly from ancient map fragments.
A merchant captain that knows his points
can reach his destination more reliably than those that
do not.
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