The Liminal Sea
▶Contents
"The sea we're used to batters the cliffs of shores, wearing them down over eons. This one is similar - it wears down the soul of any being but over the course of a few brief moments. For that reason you should always be weary of the Liminal Sea."
While typically nothing from the material realm can survive there various people and groups have found ways to explore it with relative safety. Liminal riders use magic to create bubbles of stability in order to explore and settle within the sea.
Entering the liminal sea always means appearing at a different, random area. Each area (in fact, it is thought that each infinitely small point) in the sea has a specific frequency of magic to which it responds to. Tuning forks can be fashioned in order to focus the magic for opening a portal to the sea at a desired spot. This is a skill most rare and difficult to acquire and must be learned from someone who already knows it.
While leaving is possible from any location within the sea, due to it's instability exiting even from the exact location where it was entered means coming back into an entirely different place. The differences can range from appearing across the street to another continent but in general, without the aid of magic, will never be exactly where the sea was entered from.
To even enter the realm a team of highly specialized mages is required:
- Navigator - the person responsible for creating a gate to enter and exit the realm, as well as orienting within it, typically a motus mage. The navigator places an anchor at the location where they entered which is essential in allowing them to exit back to their previous location.
- Guardian - guardians are individuals whose sole purpose is to create an area of stability around the party. This is a bubble where the effects of the dimension are countered and kept outside its borders, while magic within it becomes stable and follows its typical rules. A guardian is essential as without the barrier the entire party would perish. This role is assumed by one person who acts as the focal point for the shield. They are most often war mages or motus mages.
- Amplifiers - while a typical mage can create a bubble of stability for a couple of people exploration parties are often larger. Amplifiers are mages that can extend the range of the stable zone and take over from the guardian should they become indisposed. A party typically has 1-5 amplifiers depending on the space needed.
- Shapers - shapers are illusion mages who can manipulate the space outside the protected area. As the liminal sea is in constant flux illusion mages are able to shape it to their will, not unlike mist benders on the material plane. Typically this is reserved for removing obstacles on the party's path. However, their abilities are used as a last resort - the liminal sea does not always adhere to the commands of the shapers and can become something else entirely. "Creating" items in the liminal sea is likewise dangerous and attempting to shape something (such as a powerful weapon, rare alchemical ingredient, etc.) is deemed not worth the risk of creating some unspeakable horror.
- Others - other members of the party, mages or otherwise, may be brought along for their skills. Fighters, healers, alchemists and the like are often there to provide protection and aid. Clerics and paladins, however, are not brought along as the might of their gods does not reach this place.
Lighthouses
Over the course of centuries certain groups have managed to create settlements (referred to as lighthouses, regardless of shape or size) within the liminal sea. They are typically towers that resemble lighthouses or settlements that contain such a building, which house crystals (called liminal beacons) that give off light. They act as powerful stabilizers which prevent the effects of the liminal sea from entering the area under their protection. Entire settlements have sprung around them with homes, farms, taverns and all the comforts of a normal life.
These pockets of normality within the liminal sea are few and far between, but given its infinite nature there is most likely an uncountable number of them as well. One might come across the ruins of such a settlement, a stark reminder of the hostility of the realm. Some of these settlements are ancient beyond measure or comprehension and house the remains of temples to unknown gods and peoples. They are often sought out for what treasures have managed to survive the torment of the liminal sea's onslaught, but are a danger in and of themselves with unnamed horrors that lurk within.
Liminal storms
Liminal storms are moving areas of spacetime instability that can occur anywhere in the Liminal sea. They are sometimes highly destructive and can affect thousands of people and entire settlements. Their effects vary - they can move people, buildings and objects through time, either to a different period, by de/aging them or both, teleporting them across short or impossibly long distances, changing their size and so on.
It is thought that each storm is connected to another of matching size but in a different place and time. Some attempt to utilize this in order to "jump" across the Liminal sea. This is seen as reckless at best and life-ending at worst by most.
Denizens
The Liminal Sea is home to certain groups that have sought refuge from planes, dimensions and places distant or unknown.
The Maahes
The Maahes are a people from an unknown world that have entered the the Liminal Sea in order to evade an enemy that has brought ruin to their home and is so terrifying they refuse to speak of it or even name it.
They live in symbiosis with a fungus like organism which takes the appearance of different colored patches of skin, hair, sclera, etc. until it covers everything. When they die, the organism takes control over their body, while still carrying the experiences and memories of its host. To this process they refer to as being born again. The organism and the original individual fuse together into a new identity. Their stories say that the fungus like organism is older than even them or their own home. They believe it originated elsewhere before being forced to merge with members of the Maahes in times that have long since passed.
Their bodies do not age physically beyond maturation into adulthood. For the Maahes it is their soul that slowly degrades over time, causing them to lose mental acuity, but this is due to them commonly living to a very advanced age, often numbering in centuries and not decades. Once the organism takes control upon the host's death they are essentially immortal.
They can of course be killed. Weapons of any kind work on them as they do on any other being but magic practiced by the mages of the material plane seems to have a very reduced effect. It has not been observed whether the Maahes practice magic. What is known is that they can travel the Liminal sea with ease and can navigate it without issue. Their means of doing so remains unknown.
The Maahes are not conflict prone. In fact it is considered good fortune to come across them or be visited by them in the Liminal sea. So long as you don't pose a threat they will provide aid and assistance. Crossing them is not recommended; not only is it counterproductive to one's efforts (whatever they may be) but also because of the incredible reflexes of the Maahes. They can move at speeds that are barely observable by most mortals of the material plane (save perhaps for the Elawen) and what they lack in strength they make up with speed and precision.
The Cnidaria
The Cnidaria are a species who claim to be from a collection of worlds they call Kyloaevqae. They take various different shapes and are thought to be able to change the shapes of their bodies to some degree. There is little consistency among their members: some are bipedal and over 3 meters tall, others are shorter than most mortals or quadrupeds. Their flesh is viscous and allows for their organs to move around at will, typically to protect them from harm. Reportedly they are even able to split their bodies into multiple parts and reassemble them later.
They are always seen traveling alone and are more resistant to the effects of the Liminal sea, whether because of their unique biology or some magic is unknown. They tend to be hostile and seek to exterminate any living creatures they come across. What is known about them comes from imprisoned members and limited communication that was possible.
The Pretakians
The Pretakians are an aquatic species that can be met in the the Liminal Sea. They originate on the world of Pretak where they have evolved as a species without predators or threats. They are generally regarded as cooperative, inquisitive and without malice. Their main purpose is exploring and learning about the world beyond their home. While one might assume they are gullible due to their kind nature they have learned not to trust outsiders too much. They are direct and always honest; lying is not something they understand as a concept.
While not aggressive nor conflict prone their greatest trait is their adaptability and they prefer to take the most pragmatic approach when it comes to all things. They will attempt to reach compromises with everyone and have been known to make multiple attempts at communication with other species. If they cannot find a shared solution they will retreat and find other ways to reach their goals rather than enter a fight with the other side. Once someone has crossed their lines however, they will not hesitate to retaliate. When they do one should note that "mercy" is not something that the Pretakians understand nor care about.
They can fashion vehicles that can travel underwater and survive great depths. They possess technology to manipulate entire oceans and ocean currents. Likewise they know a great deal about the stars and cosmos beyond and are happy to share knowledge about them. They have learned to discern which information should be kept secret from others, lest it come back to haunt them. They are however vulnerable to the effects of the Liminal Sea as much as any creature from Salaraan.
Communication may be difficult, however. The Pretakians communicate without visible gestures, using ultrasonic frequencies that are audible only to the Elawen and to a certain extent the Naar Elves, when it comes to the species of Salaraan. Their language is regarded as simple but colorful and expressive.
The Progenitors
The mysterious entities that refer to themselves as The Progenitors are thin and tall beings, often reaching 5-10 meters in height, that stalk the fields of the Liminal sea. They are seldom hostile but also do not seek to establish contact or communication with any of the species they come across. If someone is to approach them it is recommended to show utmost respect and reverence for their time and the opportunity to speak with them. They see themselves as above others (literally and otherwise) and refuse to engage with those who would slight them in the most minor of ways.
It is not known why they refer to themselves as the progenitors, nor what they are supposedly the progenitors of. Confusingly, they have revealed that they have been either created or uplifted by another, earlier, species which is somehow deeply connected to the Liminal sea itself. They speak of these beings with great reverence and deem them to be godlike entities.
Unlike most of the other denizens and visitors of the Liminal sea they are trapped within it. They seek ways to leave and when offered aid they outright refuse it, insulted, that a "lesser" being would think they needed their help. It is theorized that Salaraan magic does not work on or for them for some reason, or that perhaps they are chained to the Liminal sea, rather than lacking a means of escape.
They typically move slowly when traversing vast terrain but can move extremely fast in short bursts if the need arises. They can walk on two or four appendages. The Progenitors refuse to learn the languages of other species. Their language is compared to mathematical formulas and is seen as dry but precise and leaving no room for doubt about their intent.
They do poses great knowledge about the Liminal sea and the cosmos beyond, hinted to be greater than any other of the beings in the Liminal sea, but getting them to share that knowledge is an exceedingly difficult task. They also do not seem to suffer the effects that the sea has on beings from Salaraan.
For reasons unknown they see the Draumek anywhere between a scourge to be eliminated and their greatest threat.
The Rhaxid
The Rhaxid are a species of short, bug-like, predominantly subterranean creatures, reaching about 0.5m on average in height. What is know about them comes from the Progenitors, as the Rhaxid do not communicate in any way that is recognizable to the species of Salaraan. They are the result of another, older, species experiments. They have been abandoned and left to fend for themselves in the Liminal Sea, where they have built underground colonies where each is centered around mysterious obelisks made of a red crystal like material. They will flee and avoid confrontation, unless someone tries to force their way into their colonies, uninvited, in which case they will be swarmed by the Rhaxid. Some have been known to conduct simple barter and trade.
The Progenitors deem them of no importance or consequence.
Draumek
The Draumek are a hostile species that is known to have a presence in the Liminal sea. To what extent they delve there is unknown. Likewise, their origins, language and intentions (beyond killing any living thing they come across) are not currently known. They often appear to be searching for something but it is not known if this is truly the case. Even their name is known only from the mysterious Progenitors, who regard them as a scourge that should be killed on sight.
They stand anywhere between 3 and 4 meters tall not counting their horns which differ in size and shape. They are as strong as the giants of Salaraan and can use their horns for offense, defense and even movement.
Connections