Smiletown

At the edge of the Sea of Zoth, carved out of the thorns of the Razorgrove Coastal Forest, we see bold, wealthy Smiletown, a magnificent city bridging the people of the sea with the people of the land. This two-tiered city, half above water, half underwater, was created by the eager to please Carp people, a brightly colored humanoid fish people, who live short lives and breed rapidly. These structured and organized people have developed beautiful, elaborate underwater architecture alongside their native coral reefs. Smiletown is the first Kingdom of the Carp, the first planned of many.
               While surface dwelling species find the Carp alien and strange, the Carp find all land-living species inherently fascinating. The Carp have done very well underwater, and they created the Kingdom of Smiletown as a sort of embassy to the folks of the surface world. At first, a few Carp settled here after approaching some humans on the surface out of curiosity. Slowly, Smiletown became known as a meeting place between ocean dwellers and surface dwellers. This sprang up into a fully fledged Kingdom over time.
               In the present day, the Kingdom of Smiletown is a very wealthy place. They are rich from the sale of their own caviar, and their city is full of elaborate and expensive decorations. This surplus wealth has been funneled into outreach to the humans, causing them to build large hotels, settlements for humans, but humans just aren’t interested.
               The main religious figure of the region is an individual known as the Big Kahuna. That is the premier religious title around these parts. The Big Kahuna wears board shorts, is fat, and is a bloated, pufferfish looking Carp. The Big Kahuna ages slower than all the other fish and has a short metabolism. He is the mediator between the surface and the ocean world. Most Carp view humans with pity, as they think they are sad and miserable because they live so long, they neither enjoy it nor spend it correctly. To make up for that pity, the Carp often invite human children to study at Carp schools or academies underwater, which humans find terrifying.
               If you want to know who really runs Smiletown, ignore what the government says, hell, even ignore what the people say. There is only one organization that has any control in Smiletown. They are the Amiable Society of Friends, a primitive boardroom of executives who make all decisions for the Kingdom in secret. To them, it is dark and unforgiving in the ocean. The surface doesn’t seem that bad, and they must try hard to fit into a gentler world. The members of this group are former merchants who made massive amounts of wealth in the early days of trade and retired young to cement political control in Smiletown. However, this secret organization’s intentions are not entirely malicious. Their motivation is simply to be liked by those on the surface.
               To assist them, the Amiable Society of Friends maintains control of a large monstrosity in the region. A massive, biblically sized Oarfish can exclusively communicate with these individuals. However, the creature hasn’t responded in years…