Xidao

This shallow sea known as the Xidao Gulf separates Minkai from mainland Tian Xia. It is frequented by superstitious fishermen and merchants, ever careful to pay homage to the creatures beneath. The shallow shores of the sea are home to many shellfish; crabs, lobsters and other shellfish abound here and act as a draw to fishermen. Xidao’s pearls are famed throughout Minkai for their beauty, and black pearls of great value are often found here. Those who would travel upon or take resources from the Xidao Gulf are well advised to pay for the honour, however, by placing an offering in one of the countless “trade spires” scattered atop reefs and atolls throughout the gulf. These stone obelisks feature numerous small shelves onto which offerings of ceramics, glass, gold, metal tools and weapons, and vegetables like tubers can be placed. Travelers or fishermen who fail to place these offerings do so at significant risk, for the gulf is far more than a mere waterway — it is an aquatic nation.

The primary denizens of Xidao are the fishlike humanoids known as locathahs. Other creatures, such as the octopoid cecaelias and the benevolent tritons, dwell in Xidao as well, but the locathahs are the rulers of this nation. They monitor the trade spires and the offerings placed there, and in return they help protect air breathers who wish to use Xidao for travel or fishing. They generally take no aggressive action against sailors and fishermen who fail to place offerings, but neither do they come to the aid of those people when the more sinister denizens of Xidao inevitably take advantage of the lack of locathah protection.

Xidao itself consists of numerous undersea city-states; each has its own government and leaders, but all operate under a treaty that ensures not only that no city-state shall take hostile acts against another, but also that if one city-state comes under attack, the others will come to its defence. Local politics and outlooks are varied, and while a few of Xidao’s city-states have little interest in “air gulpers” (a term of disdain the locathahs use for non-aquatic races), most are willing to trade with sailors and fishermen on neighbouring coastlines.