"May the seafoam bring you family, and your family bring joy. "
- Selkie greeting, in reference to The Seafoam Festival
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The Northern Plateaus face The Blinding Sea, and consist of, as you might expect, flat plateaus stretching over the icy wastes. Between the table-like mountains, rivers carve like cracks through the stone, and along the water small towns and villages can be found. The selkie people flourish in the cold waters, some carving homes into the plateaus to shelter from the biting frost and others climbing to the vast peaks where the wind howls and snow falls hard. Most prefer to stay closer to the water, where friends and fish are plentiful.
Places of Interest.
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Frosthearth (Village)
Spiral Steps (Town)
Windswept (Town)
Mt. Pinnipae
Mt. Orcina
Bay of Kin
The Blue Coast
Crystalline Reef
The Darkest Point
The Brightest Point
Information Regarding the Northern Plateaus.
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Around 20 years ago, there was a strong effort to mine into the mountains for profit. A few of these experimental mines were funded by the council of the United Commonwealth, but due to the lack of ore as well as the frightful conditions the miners had to endure, these mines were left abandoned.
Every year, the selkie Seafoam festival takes place. This is a celebration of the return of family who, for that year, decided to carry out a pilgrimage around the Continent in their seal form. The festival starts at the Bay of Kin, where the seals emerge, and parades split through the cracks of the plateaus and for one night, the air is a little warmer.
Every ten years, the Seafoam festival invites family from all across the lands, including the Walruk of the Blacksand Desert, the Otterfolk of the Pinelands, the Manaturr of the Mountainside Beaches, and the Stoat People of the Unclaimed Wilds.
One of the deadliest predators for a selkie is the Molebat, a large white bat whose wings have evolved to be incredible at tunnelling. Whether hiding in their caves or above ground, a selkie is never quite safe from a Molebat ambush.
Another predator are the Whalewalkers, the cursed ones who emerge singing and clicking at the moon. The curse can be spread through a bite, and is believed to be a unique strain of Lycanthropy, but selkie legends date its origin as a punishment far further than this, and cite it origins with more divine interference.
In the waters of the Blinding Sea, enormous stone toothed sharks prey upon ships, tearing away at their hull and waiting for them to sink before picking off the crew.
There are rumours of a true Dragon, not a Wyrm or Drake, living somewhere in the Northern Plateaus. Allegedly, a single selkie family holds the Dragons secret from the rest of the world.
Selkies commonly fall victim to Stoneskin, a side effect of spending too much time in the Blinding Sea. This disease afflicts the selkies pelt, slowly cracking it and making it unwearable.
Frozen selkie blood goes for an incredibly high price in the black market, bought by fisherman who are looking to catch more mythical and dangerous prey.
The Catfish Caverns were hidden for many years, eventually the outside world discovered their society hidden from the sky and the Catfishfolk introduced themselves to the wider world. Around 50 years ago, a splinter group of the Me’kon Catfish Mafia family left the caverns as the world opened up to them, and found a very pricey market of selkie pelts as they discovered the Northern Plateaus. Now, this group – the Frostfin Poachers – dominate the market and raid selkie settlements for their hides. They still loosely affiliate with their Me’kon roots, but after such a long time the two organisations have drifted apart.
Of the coast of the Western Plateaus, the Crystalline Reef lays hidden under the water. This enormous reef displays an amazing symbiosis between coral and the ice elementals that lurk in the sea, creating the beautiful sight. Jewellery made of coralglas is incredibly rare and valuable, mainly due to how well the reef is defended by its frozen gaurdians.
The brightest point is a small spot facing the Blinding Sea. At the summer equinox, where the day are long, a ring of stone that surrounds the point glows with an unknown light. The darkest point is very similar, and can be found at the southernmost plateau. Upon the winter equinox, where the day is short, a ring of stone that surrounds the point seeps with unknown shadows.
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A Whalewalker.