Latica Ocean
The Latica Ocean is a large ocean found between continents Aridara and Alarma. Its breathtaking expansiveness is combatted by an oversaturation of dangerous lifeforms and unusual landmarks.
The ocean's surface is inhabited by around three million adamnans, in small floating cities known as Sea Cells.
Geography, Location & Climate
A small fish, only about an inch in length, swam up to Josi's window. She looked back and their eyes met. Their eyes locked through the glass for about a minute, in complete silence. Then a giant mouth clamped down on the fish.
The Latica Basin sits on two continental plates, the Aridara Plate to the east, and the Alarma Plate to the west. Cutting through the basin is the Mid-Latica Ridge, where thermal vents fizz and bubble up to the surface.
Several small islands exist on this ridge, where the seabed has lifted up and volcanoes have formed, magma hardened on the surface of the ocean.
Colourful biomes form three different levels in the Latica Ocean.
Biomes on the seabed make use of solid ground. Many biomes feature striking features such as underwater volcanoes, brine pools, thermal vents, and complex labyrinths of caverns and tunnels that run for miles under the ocean.
The floating islands of the Latica Ocean are around halfway down from the surface. They run along currents flowing throughout the ocean, crashing into one another. They are populated by small plants and organisms that seek refuge in the chaos, hiding from predators by darting between large rocks.
The surface of the Latica Ocean are covered in floating weeds, classified as entire biomes. They span thousands of miles and host many different ecosystems. Some colonies of plants and protists dangle hundreds of metres below the surface, flowing with the tides.
History
The Latica Ocean has been perceived as an undiscovered, untraversable region for hundreds of thousands of years by native norrabians. Creatures of myth and legend were once commonly spoken about along coastline settlements, and stories of capsized ships rung through marine communities.
This giant expanse of undiscovered ocean hadn't been explored much until adamnans arrived on Norrab. Adamnan ships that could slice through the thick fields of surface kelp were in major use. Few were sail-powered, while most ran on coal and other flammable fuel sources. This caused a massive amount of pollution in the Latica Ocean, but nothing compared to what was to come.
Sea Cells
My goodness, this life... is horrible. It's the same, day in and day out. I can't keep living like this.
The invention of Sea Cells was an impressive feat for adamnans, who already had their foot in the door. As a species adamnans are highly advanced, with many technological wonders that rivalled the top position in the Cheem System. It was just a matter of retrofitting machinery and technology for a planet with different climates and compositions.
Sea Cells were an invention designed to tackle overpopulation in certain areas. These massive oceanic bowls are tethered to the seabed to avoid them floating away and crashing into something. The definition of hyper-brutalism, Sea Cells are a bland white or light grey hexagonal city sticking hundreds of metres below the surface of the ocean. Large lips on the edge prevent waves from rolling over into the city, and with an open top, civilians have access to sunlight at all times.
Apartment buildings run along the walls of these cities, with windows to admire the open oceans all around. Many residents dislike this lifestyle, claiming it to be tiresome, gloomy, and entirely tedious.
Sea Cells have caused massive amounts of metal poisoning in the Latica Ocean, and littering have decimated local ecosystems. In the last hundred years, almost 45% of kelpfield biomes within a 100 mile radius of a Sea Cell have gone extinct.
Ecology
Lifeforms in the Latica Ocean are diverse. Like most oceans, the vastness and weightlessness of this ocean supports truly titanic organisms.
The amphicians are the largest animals found in this ocean, with the white whisperer reaching lengths of up to two hundred metres.
Creatures both large and small frequent the kelpfields of the surface. The Blackfields is one such kelpfield, comprised of black sargassum. Many jellyfish float just below these kelpfields, their tentacles disguised as the environment they inhabit.
Waveskippers are a small dinosaur species with hydromagical tendencies, capable of running across water. They are often seen migrating between Aridara's westernmost islands in gigantic herds of up to ten thousand.
Farther down below the surface lurk much more massive creatures. Large fish, some approaching ten or twenty metres in length, glide peaceflly through the oceans as predators stalk just behind them. Even farther down scuttle various crustaceans along the floating islands. Drifting through the currents they create an unpredictable environment that few choose to live in.
On the seabed are millions of microscopic benthic organisms, waiting for their next meal to float down. They feast on carcasses - the bigger the better. Larger carcasses, such as an amphician, can last hundreds of years before fully consumed. The collapsed skeleton then becomes part of the seabed itself, stripped of any nutrients and becoming nothing more than the sand itself.
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As if our oceans weren't terrifying enough D:
Nyehehhehe >:)