Continents in Focus: Roaring Tide

Of the seven continents of Valresta, Roaring Tide is said to be the oldest in regards to human civilization.

All life originates from the deep, or so the Tiders say.

Aquarii aether is the name of the game on Roaring Tide, it is flexible, unfathomable and said to hold the balance over life and death more closely than any of the other types of aether.

The Roaring Tide continent is unique in the sense that there is barely an arid ecosystem anywhere on it. No matter where you go there is some source of water.

Lakes, rivers, seas, swamp, marshlands, it doesn't matter, all sorts of waters flow here.

Surprisingly there are no small powers on this particular continent, but seven grand states that divide the continent by its waterways.

Well...five on the mainland and two, technically one, in the form of island chains.

[Note: Some of what's written here is a mix of what was in a proper history book and me just...making observations. Shit is weird here, and i'm trying to convey that with accuracy.]

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To the east of the contient is an archipelago locked in eternal winter, to the west an archipelago locked in eternal summer.

These two archipelagos compose the twin kingdoms of the Polaris Seas, led by the Twin Chiefs, Solaris and Lunaris, yes I am aware of the weird aliteration, fucked if I know why.

Now you're probably wondering how the fuck two archipelagos on the opposite sides of a continent can even be remotely connected to each other, but the answer to that is really simple: portals.

In the central islands of both archipelagos, are these portals made of Aquarii aether that is large enough to let ships through them, about frigate size, meaning it is surprisingly easy for people from one side of the continent to hop on over to the other. 

This has lead to an unusual phenomenon where two distinct cultural identities that would normally be considered conflicting in other parts of the world, blending together seamlessly in a most exquisite fashion, with a cuisine to match

[Yeah, this place is like...Polynesian Vikings...if that at all makes sense. I never thought I would ever eat Coconut and Mango Elk Curry with Juniper chutney, but here we are...weirdly good...]

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Located in the continent's heartland, the Endless Swamplands is home to a vast number of bloodliner tribes who can trace their lineages to all manner of Progenitors that called this swamp their home.

The Purple Toad Emperor.

The Red Fanged Tyrant.

The Skyripping Crane Queen.

And that's only the top three out of ten other tribes.

However, while of these tribes and chieftains seem disjointed on the surface, together they form the Swamp Kings Coalition, and on the top of this coalition is a warrior known as The Swamp Mother.

As such, there are three truths to the swamps.

1. Don't poke a gator in the eye.

2. Assume mosquitos are everywhere.

3. Don't. Fuck. With. The. Swamp. Mother.

[She scares me.]

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The city state of Flowgan can best be described as...super Venice.

The thing about Roaring Tide is that it is absolutely covered in rivers that go every which way from end of the continent to the other. However, for some weird reason, all the rivers end up flowing through this one central lake, where the city state of Flowgan is set up.

Literally all of the commerce of Roaring Tide floats through Flowgan's vicinity and all sorts of businesses have at least one office or shop set up here.

Thousands upon thousands of gold coins flow in and out of city, and the ones overseeing it all is none other than the Chum Consortium, a collection of businesses led by Great White Freighters, lead by the Progenitor: Don Thresher.

If you are on the Consortium's good side, there is nothing you can't find with their aid.

If you're on their bad side...well, you won't even have a chance to sleep with the fishes, because a liver goes for three thousand easy.

[And yes, they're essentially the Mafia.]

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In the flood plains of Roaring Tide, there are no permanent buildings.

However, there is life.

Doting the plains are several tribes of Floating Nomads, people have developed special raft houses that go with the flow of the floods.

An especially useful feature to heave, especially when one's livelihood depends on caring for Floating Sheep, a type of sheep that has developed in such a way that allowed them to safely ride the floods without even moving their limbs to go against the water.

Apparently their wool make excellent socks and underwear that will never get wet when worn.

Leading each of these tribes are people known as maliks, essentially kings or chieftains, that help steer the course of the tribes.

They used to be significantly more united, under the leadership of someone who was once known as the Flowing Khan.

Under his banner, the Floating Nomads once had an empire that extended a majority of the Roaring Tide continent...until he expectedly died due to -#+4;+°&+n!

Regardless, ever since his death, no one dared to try and reclaim the title of Khan, because no one could match up to him.

In more ways than one.

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Out of all the ruling powers of Roaring Tide, none is as old as the Pearl Scale Empire.

For over five hundred years, under the guidance of the Pearl Dragon Emperor, a literal dragon and Aether Demigod, the empire has prospered and evolved with the times.

Territories and lordships changed with the times, but the emperor remained.

Sometimes shrinking, sometimes growing, but stable all the same, the Empire has always been and always will be.

It wasn't always like this, however.

When the emperor was younger and significantly more brash, he attempted to unite all of Roaring Tide under his banner by brute unyielding force, joining hands with the Flowing Khan.

Enslavement, pillaging and rape, all of it was the result of the Emperor's ambition at the time.

Thanks to his strength as an Aether Saint at the time, very few if any other powers in the continent could rise and match up against him.

However, one group of warriors did rise up against him and humbled his ass, hard.

While there is no written records of this battle taking place, there is one physical record.

If one wanted to know why the emperor the mellowed out, all they would have to do is see his face.

For a missing eye and a massive scar across the head is significantly more telling than a simple scroll.

[Yeah, my clan is from here. Or at least, from a territory inside of here, it's complicated...]

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The Undertow Kingdom is unusual for two reasons.

First, it's technically located deep underwater, literally in caverns under the entirety of Roaring Tide.

Second, and more importantly, it is a kingdom of nothing but undine aetherii.

Lead by the Undertow Council, the Undertow Kingdom has prosper for centuries thanks in part to the riches of the caverns and the density of the aether.

Now, it may seem weird that such a potent kingdom would be content with just living underneath the continent as opposed to on top of it, but there was a good reason for this.

A long time ago, the undine were once small time villages, the kind that would routinely get enslaved and exploited.

But one day, a halfblood born among them rose up and lead a rebellion that freed the undine.

Wind, tide and storm were hers to command, and she used them to break the shackles of their oppressors and established a kingdom under the deep, where no mere mortal would ever come, lest they be crushed by the pressure.

The name of this half-blood was lost to time, but the title she bore was one all of Roaring Tide and knew feared above all else.

The Invulnerable Storm Queen.

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Tian Yu shook her leg as she waited on the return of two of her swiftest warriors.

Standing on her left and right were a pair of armored warriors that bear the visage of sharks. The one on the right had a pair of maces and had a helmet akin to a hammerhead shark, while the one on the left looked a sawtooth shark, with a pair of sawtooth sabers to match. However, if one took a closer look, they'd notice that the helmets were more like...heads.

[What's taking him so long?,] the hammerhead growled, [I swear if they ended up becoming fish food, I'll be pissed as hell!]

[Cool your fins, Hammerfang,] the sawtooth one growled back, [Marlancer is way too fast for even the chummiest of the Emperor's scouts. They'll be back any minute.]

As if to prove him right, a knight carrying the visage of marlin appeared before the three of them, kneeling all the while.

[Marlancer reporting from the front! The Emperor has sent Scarlet Koi King and Verdant Crocodile King, each accompanied by two legions of Scaled Berserkers! What are your orders?,] Marlancer quickly reported.

Hammerfang and Sawfang looked shocked at the news, they were expecting the Pearl Scale Emperor to keep his word...their lord however had other thoughts.

Expecting this news, Tian Yu quickly stood from her seat, summoning forth a vicious looking trident.

"Gather the others, we march on these bastards and remind them that the biggest beast in these waters are us!"

"ROAR!"

As Tian Yu exited the tent, her form began to grow larger, as an armored exoskeleton with storm and wave patterns began to form.