Strakewater

The Strakewater is a wide, shallow tidal lagoon on the Modrinian coast, situated just west of the mouth of the River Helvander. The city of Hakoris, seat of the Helvandrian League's Prince-Palatine, stands on the strip of land between the Helvander's western bank and the Strakewater's eastern edge. This location makes the city highly defensible; prior to the founding of Hakoris and the League, the site was occupied by a large Asgali fortress which controlled the river mouth and the movement of ships up-river towards Thandrium. 
The northern edge of the Strakewater is connected to Orphan-Bird's Bay, but a belt of rocky shoals and sandbars along the margin make it impossible for any but the smallest boat to enter it. Thus all ships coming to Hakoris must instead sail into the Helvander's mouth and approach the city from its eastern side, where extensive docks sprawl along the riverbank at the foot of the walls. However, fishermen from Hakoris and the surrounding area do use small, flat-bottomed boats to harvest the wealth of fish, crabs, oysters, eels, and mussels that can be found in the Strakewater. Along its southern, western, and eastern edges, the lagoon's shoreline is a mix of wide, sandy beaches and rockier areas pockmarked with tidepools. 
The Strakewater is several miles wide but generally no more than ten feet deep. In many areas it is only hip-deep or even knee-deep at low tide. The exception to this is the so-called Titan's Tomb, an enormous and very deep circular depression on the lagoon's bottom. It is situated almost exactly in the lagoon's middle and is over a thousand feet wide and several hundred feet deep. This strange feature forms a dark blue abyss at the center of the Strakewater's shallow turquoise expanse. Its name stems from a popular legend that it was formed in ancient times before the Schism Wars when a great hero or demigod (or, some say, Kothaur himself) slew one of the Ghuludrim by smashing it down into the bed of the lagoon. Those who believe this legend claim that the primordial titan's huge bones, splintered and broken, still lie half-buried in the sandy silt at the crater's bottom. Whatever the truth, the fishermen who work the Strakewater regard it as an unlucky place and usually avoid it, although some are tempted by the huge groupers, ling-cod, sand bass, and other large fish that can be caught around its edges where the shallow waters suddenly give way to reef-encrusted underwater cliffs dropping down into the abyss.