Silent Sea
The Silent Sea used to mean smooth sailing...now it means "watch for pirates!"
The Silent Sea is a small sea off the coast of Asuria defined by a chain of mountainous islands. These outer islands provide shelter for the entire sea, breaking up storms and making the waters of the Silent Sea unusually calm. Thus, the sea is peppered with natural harbours, including the leeward side of the barrier islands, and artificially expanding those harbours by building seawalls can be done quite easily.
Maritime Activity
The Silent Sea's calm nature has made it a locus of maritime trade for milennia, at least as far back as the early days of the Asurian Empire. The city of Caestor was a major shipyard and trade port for the empire, and the city of Caelester that was built on its ruin remained dominant in both fields until a disastrous earthquake eight years ago.
Border Forts
Caelester claims the entirety of the Silent Sea as its territory, maintaining a number of border forts on the barrier islands to enforce control over access to the sea. Armed with catapults, trebuchets and the recently invented cannons, they are a formidable barrier to any naval force attempting to enter the Sea, or leave it.
After the earthquake, the forts were largely left to fend for themselves, and one by one they resorted to piracy in order to make up for the lack of supplies and pay being delivered from the city. Over the years since, most have since sold out to individual merchant concerns, some based in Caelester, others based in rival cities, allowing certain ships free passage while striking at their rivals' shipping. While the waters immediately around Caelester's harbour are generally safe, most of the rest of the Sea has become a hotbed of pirate and privateer activity.
Ecosystem
The Silent Sea is a notable region for much of the natural world as well. Its sheltered waters provide an excellent habitat for fish to spawn in, with a number of species, including whales, turtles, sharks, and a host of smaller fish flocking to the region at different points in the year. The sheltered waters also support a large and dense kelp forest, which covers the northern two thirds of the sea. This provides shelter for a huge variety of fish, and supports a thriving population of sea otters.
Several of the smaller gaps between islands are largely blocked by ragged stone reefs, along with the remains of all too many ships whose captains thought they could manage the passage. While it lacks the diverse colours of the coral reefs found in southern lands, the cracks and crevasses support a variety of mollusks and cephalopods, creating a popular spot for Caelestran divers to visit during times of plenty.
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