Sea of Bile

The following excerpt was written by Cristova Garupe, famous cartographer from the Drunig city of Segaltar.

"*As many o'ye have heard, the Sea of Bile is a vast body o' water located somewhere to the vast southeast of our world's ocean. It humbles me to say that, as far as we know, me and my crew were the first ones to report this strange phenomenon, some thirty years ago, during the maiden voyage o' me ship, Lucilla. As we were tasked on mapping the waters beyond Leng, we noticed that the once clear blue sea began to take on a sickly green hue, that soon turned to a yellow and then a red tint.*

*The water was thick and viscous, like oil, and it stank of decay and death. We had to navigate carefully, for fear of getting stuck in the muck. The crew grew restless and uneasy, but I pressed on, driven by me desire to map this uncharted territory. We saw no other ships, no signs of life beyond the twisted and mutated creatures that now called this place home. Flies the size of seagulls and vile, nightmare hailing mosquitoes were only some of them. Plenty o' my men fell to these wicked creatures, but, by God's will, we repelled their attacks.*

*We had set sail to return home when some of my men reported something peculiar; they saw a white, massive form on the horizon, claiming it was a whale, but only ten times larger, its rotting carcass being feasted upon by the same creatures that attacked us. They were paralyzed in fear, and this soon spread to everyone in the crew. I was the only one unphased, thinking that scurvy must have gotten hold of my men. By God's grace, we were able to return back to Segaltar, and since then, I've devoted my life's work to this "Sea of Bile", as we started calling it.*

*I made many voyages, either returning back to the Bile, or sailing to places in search of knowledge. Years and years I was met with failure, until a queer dusted scroll fell on my hands, during one of my excursions in the wasteland known as the Merfolk Empire ruins. This scrolll was not alike anything I had ever seen. Written in strange, otherworldly runes, I initially thought it a farce, and ordered it to be burned down. Fortunately, one of my partners, the late Esteban Chalkos, was a scholar well versed in ancient Merfolk history and culture. He recognized the script as one used by the Merfolk elite thousands of years in the past, and urged me to reconsider. Convinced by his words, we paid a visit to one of his collegues, who at the time was residing in Picaea, capital of Elanxa. That eccentric man was able to decipher the scroll for me, and I was astonished at its contents.*

*It contained an old legend, rooted deep in the culture and mythos all across the Merfolk Empire. It talked of a massive sea monster, as big as an island, known simply as the "Leviathan". This sea creature was said to be the only mortal being in the entire world that resisted Uun's influence, and saw to ascend to immortality, dethroning Uun. According to the scroll, Uun placed a curse on this creature for its defiance, blessing it with eternal life, as it wanted, but that was merely a trick. The Leviathan would be damned to watch for eternity as fish and crabs would nab on its flesh, unable to die or ease the pain, its pus and blood filling the ocean around it.*

*The details of this ancient legend and the similarities to the Sea of Bile shook me. I saw some truth in my former crew's sightings of a large, white whale's carcass stranded in the ocean, but despite my many voyages back to the Sea of Bile, I was never able to confirm this theory. Could it be that this phenomenon had occured in the past, and that was what led to the creation of the legend? Or was it really a powerful creature cursed by a long forgotten god? Whatever the truth is, I've met my peace that it'll never be known."*