Preserved records of an older sea.

Collected from fragmented annals, sailor logbooks, and temple records. S. Thalwen, Historian of the Inner Archive. Now preserved in the Archives of Kingshaven, capital of the Crown Isles.

Ancient Age: The Leviathan Orb Discovered

The Leviathan Orb was not forged by mortal hands. It was found by a pearl diver in the deep, near the strange beds later remembered as Leviathan Pearls.

Later Ancient Age: The Four Components Forged

In an age now lost, unknown makers fashioned four companion relics: the Crown of Tides, the Abyss Needle, the Heart Core, and the Seafarer Base, blending ancient craft, forgotten science, and magic.

Ancient Age: Birth of the Leviathan Compass

The Orb and the four manufactured pieces were joined, forming the Leviathan Compass: a device able not only to locate Leviathans, but also to call them from the depths.

Ancient Age: The Tyrant of the Deep

A cruel ruler mastered the Compass and bent Leviathans to his will, using them to dominate seas, ports, and rival realms.

Ancient Age: The Five Pieces Hidden

Benevolent leaders overthrew the tyrant. To prevent such power from ever returning, each took one piece of the Compass and hid it in secrecy, unknown even to the others.

The Long Age of Leviathans

Though the Compass passed into myth, Leviathans still roamed the seas for centuries. Trade endured, kingdoms rose, and wars were fought, yet the great beasts remained a source of fear, disaster, and legend.

Year 0: The Great Calm

Suddenly the Leviathans ceased to surface. The seas softened, storms lightened, and the weather grew gentler. Thus began the Great Calm, and with it the long peace that opened Selquorath’s golden age.

Thus ended the old terror of the seas, though whether the Leviathans truly vanished, or merely fell silent, remains a question for wiser ages.

Set down by Brother Marnor, Scribe of the Tidal Library. Year of Salt and Silence, 2 A.G.C.

Know ye, that Selquorath once sprawled beneath storms that none could master, and seas that rose in wrath. Yet now, by Providence or by fate’s long turning, the waters have grown still.

Still, the old records speak of great shapes in the deep, and of realms half-remembered.

Of the Seas

The Great Ocean lies hushed, its tides gentle and its tempests stilled. Mariners yet speak with reverence, for true slumbers may wake.

Of the Realms of Selquorath

• The Frozen North. A land of ice, endurance, and old strongholds. Its folk are hardy, and its snows guard secrets older than kings. Cities: Frostheim (capital), Stormvik, Bjornheim, Iskard, Skallvik.
• The Western Reach. Broad in soil and rich in harvest. Many nations dwell here, trading, building, and watching the sea. Cities: Kandiraya (capital), Akgaran, Sarova, Demirkale, Altinova.
• The Pearl Isle. Jewels of the Azure Strait, seat of learning, faith, and ancient lines of wisdom. Cities: Qasr Al-Noor (capital), Al-Miraj, Bahran, Zafirah, Velikent.
• The Jade Falls. Lands of mist and waterfalls, forests deep, and rivers that carve the stone. Cities: Langting (capital), Haiyuan, Jinhai, Fengdao, Yunshan.
• The Crown Isles. A scatter of storied isles, where sailors meet, oaths are sworn, and old banners still fly. Cities: Kingshaven (capital), Ashport, Stormhaven, Ravenshire, Blackmoor, Whitecliff.
• The Golden Main. Gleaming coasts and wealthy ports, where gold flows as freely as the rivers. Pride and profit both run deep. Cities: Puerto Dorado (capital), Santa Velora, Castillo del Mar, Porto Esmeral.

Waters of the Chart

The Great Ocean. The Northreach Strait. The Northern Passage. The Shivering Sea. The Whispering Sea. The Azure Strait. The Southreach Strait. The Coinwater Sea. The Southern Expanse.

Note to Mariners

Though the sea is tamed, grow not complacent, nor blind to one calm year. Mind the wind, mind the waters, and give thanks for every safe return.

From the Records: Even in the calm, old testimonies speak of shadows beneath the waves. Let no mariner be arrogant before the deep.

Thus is Selquorath set down, not in certainty, but in memory. May those who come after add truth where we have only record, and may wisdom guide their passage.

Of the Leviathan Orb

Not of mortal making. Discovered long ago by a pearl diver of the Leviathan Pearls, in a pressure-cave where light did not reach. It pulsed even then. He did not dare touch it. The Orb was preserved by the Wardens.

A device both wondrous and terrible. When the five are joined, the Compass awakens: it locates leviathans in the vast dark, calls them forth, and by will, once controlled them.

Thus it was wielded by an ancient tyrant who bent the ocean’s kings to his dominion.

After his fall, the benevolent leaders of Selquorath sundered the Compass into five and hid them in distant places, that none might again enslave the deep.

The Five Pieces

• 1. Leviathan Orb. The heart of the device, and the only part not made by hands.
• 2. Crown of Tides. Forged of deepsea bronze. Channels the ocean’s force. Its inner runes speak in currents.
• 3. Abyss Needle. The Needle does not point to north, but to the call of Leviathans. It spins when they stir.
• 4. Heart Core. Beats like a heart of light. Draws leviathans forth, directs the Needle, and steadies the whole.
• 5. Seafarer Base. Foundation and anchor. Inscribed with oaths of binding and warding. It keeps the Compass from sinking into madness.

Marginal Note: The runes upon the Base are not known to living scholars. Perhaps they were never meant to be read.

Some say the Compass still whispers. I do not doubt it.

Let this record remain sealed until such time as the ocean calls a guardian worthy.

Verified by Archivist Meathys. Sealed in the Deep Archive. Seal of Selquorath. Let it sleep.

Among the relics of the deep, and carved upon the works of a forgotten age, there appear certain characters: old, deliberate, and unlike any tongue now spoken. These runes are found upon the Seafarer Base of the Leviathan Compass, on the walls of sunken ruins, and upon scattered relics drawn from the abyss. No people living remember this speech. We call it the Forgotten Tongue.

The script flows like the tide. Lines curve, interlock, and return upon themselves, as though thought was cast into spiral and depth.

Examples of Characters

ka · el · ru · tha · en · vel · or · sel · ma · un · zil

dor · yth · ara · kel · as · ner · il · thal · vu · nas · ox

pa · ven · gur · hal · thael · os · ir · zan · mor · ul · rey

Noteworthy Forms

• A form that may signify the sea, endlessness, or the deep.
• A form often seen beside words of binding or oath.
• A form perhaps denoting leviathan, ward, or ancient authority.

No full lexicon survives. No grammar is known in completeness. Modern scholars can only render fragments and approximate sound. Much is lost to time, corrosion, and the cruelty of the deep.

Of Its Nature and Use

The markings suggest a language of many purposes:

• Past sacred vows, sworn to powers greater than man.
• Past engineering notation, precise and unyielding.
• Past binding language, used to weave magic into metal and stone.

In all these, it served to unite the sciences of craft with the mysteries of sorcery.

A Fragment of Vow (Translated)

Protect Selquorath. Calm the storms. End the beasts. Preserve the world.

Inscribed within the Seafarer Base and repeated in lesser form across relics of the deep.

Observations and Studies

• Band fragment recovered from the ruins of Thalass Lor.
• Portion of the Seafarer Base, engraved with binding script and cardinal sigils.
• Detail of the central clasp. The script flows into the beast core, as if feeding it with intent.

Marginal Notes (uncertain)

• May denote sea, flow, tide.
• May denote pulse, heartbeat.
• May denote binding, oath.
• May denote warning, peril.
• May denote depth, abyss.
• May denote leviathan, deep one.

These are guesses only. Certainty is drowned in silence.

Final Archival Note

All evidence suggests this tongue is extinct. Its last speakers are lost beneath the waves, their voices silenced with their works. It remains only in stone, in metal, and in the deep memory of things. Thus do we name it: the Forgotten Tongue.

Archivist’s Reflection: To read these marks is to hear a whisper from an age that was not meant to be forgotten. May we be worthy of the secrets we do not understand.

For countless centuries before the Great Calm, the seas were thought boundless and unknowable. Many believed the Leviathans to be but myth: tales spun by storm-mad sailors or priests drunk on oceanic fear. Yet scattered accounts endure, inked in margins, whispered in ports, and carved in drowned stone. No witness agrees. The records remain disputed.

All charts lie. The sea remembers what men forget. Catalogue Index I to VIII, verified sightings.

I. The Starback Leviathan

Seen where the deep meets the sky. It is said this whale swims the constellations beneath the waves, its back lit by stars no sky has named. Sighted in the cold reaches beyond the Shattered Ocean. Some claim it guides lost ships; others, that it devours them whole. The truth is veiled.

II. The Kraken Sovereign

No chart shows the shape of its shadow. Called king of the ink-deep trenches. It is said entire fleets vanish without wreckage, borne down by arms like coiling islands. Sighted near the Maelstromic Deeps and the Coiling Trench. Some pray to it; others blame it for tides of madness.

III. The Atollback Leviathan

A moving island, or an island that moves? It bears on its shell what appear to be ancient ruins: homes, temples, perhaps entire peoples long gone. Sighted in the Midway Expanse and the Coral Labyrinth. Some accounts claim the cities are alive; others, only memory.

IV. The Abyss Wyrm

From the cracks where light never reaches. A thing of living darkness and impossible jaws. It is said to rise from depths where pressure breaks reason. Sighted in few and fractured places, most often moments before catastrophe. Some say it is not alive, but the sea itself uncoiling.

V. The Veiled Manta

Glides between thoughts and tides. A silent shadow wrapped in shifting veils. It is said to mask entire ships in its passage, leaving no wake or trace. Sighted near fog banks in the Veil Shoals, and by those who never returned. Perhaps it hides more than it hunts.

VI. The Lantern Maw

Lights to lure. Teeth to end. It dwells in the darkest trenches, where faint lights bloom and fade. Sailors speak of lures like stars, then of emptiness. Sighted in the Gloombreaker Trench and the Silted Abyss. Some think it feeds on hope.

VII. The Choir Eel

Their song is a net woven in madness. Many-headed, many-voiced, it sings in harmonies that unmake the mind. Those who hear it, it calls by name. Sighted in cold trenches and under still seas. Some accounts claim entire crews followed its song willingly.

VIII. The Duskcoil Basilisk

Older than memory. It waits where empires forgot their fear. It slumbers in drowned ruins and forgotten deltas, where rivers surrender to the sea. Its gaze turns stone, its jaws unravel kingdoms. Sighted in the Sable Estuaries, the Sunken Jagamond, and where maps grow quiet. Some say it was here before the first kings.

Let no scholar claim certainty. The sea erases what it reveals.

Recorded in Selquorath, in the Year of Salt and Silence, by Scribe Marvien of the Tidal Library. More accounts locked in vaults of the Deep Archives.

Collected from fragmented annals, sailor logbooks, and temple records. S. Thalwen, Historian of the Inner Archive.

In the last days of the Tyrant of the Deep, when the seas rose and kingdoms trembled, five benevolent leaders stood against the darkness. They did not seek power, nor glory, but freedom, for all. Together they overthrew the tyrant and parted the Leviathan Compass, each taking one piece and hiding it in secrecy so that such power would never be used again.

The Tidewarden

Guardian of coastal kingdoms, defender of harbors and the common folk. Master of the waves and their tempers.

Fragments of name or title: “…ren of the Tides”, “High Warden of…”, “Voice of the Shoals”.

The Starseeker

Scholar of the heavens and paths unseen. She read the sky’s ancient language and the silence between the stars.

Fragments: “Sev…ra the Seeker”, “Luminant of…”, “Daughter of Quiet Light”.

The Oathkeeper

Sworn to truth and balance. He kept the old covenants and broke the chain of tyranny with steadfast honor.

Fragments: “…lder Trueheart”, “Keeper of the Oath”, “Bound by No Crown”.

The Deepwhisper

She spoke with the creatures of the deep and knew their griefs. Through compassion, she turned the tide.

Fragments: “Yssa of the Deeps”, “Whispering Tide”, “Heart of the Abyss”.

The Farstrider

Wanderer of distant lands, he saw beyond maps and borders. He carried hope where none believed it could go.

Fragments: “…rien the Wayfarer”, “Stride Beyond”, “Last of the Road”.

Legends say they parted ways at the edge of the world and were never seen together again. Some whisper they yet watch over the pieces, unseen. Others say the sea remembers their names, though none can speak them whole.

Thus ends the record of the Five, whose choices shaped the peace we know, and the mysteries we still seek to understand.

Copied faithfully from eyewitness accounts logged in port records, sea logs, and personal letters. Compiled in the second year of the Great Calm, in service to truth and remembrance. S. Thalwen, Historian of the Inner Archive.

Testimony of Tovan Reiksson, Fisherman of Northreach

It was in the third week of Stormwane when I cast my nets and heard nothing beneath the waves. No grinding of stone. No deep roar. The sea lay still as glass for three days and three nights. We feared the calm more than the storm. The fish returned in numbers we had not seen in years, yet many of us prayed the silence would not break in rage. We do not know what slept, or what is gone.

Northreach logs speak of bountiful catches, yet also of unease. “A quiet sea is not always a kind one.”

Log of Captain Merrowell of the Crown Isles

We had chased tailwinds from King’s Haven to Southpoint and not once did the seas rise in fury. In all my thirty years at sea, never have I known such stillness. The charts speak true: the leviathans are not stirring. Some of my crew say we have been blessed. Others think it only the deep holds its breath. We keep a sharper watch than ever.

Captain Merrowell’s log, dated in the Year 2 of Calm. Margin note: “Blessing or deception? Time will be the judge.”

Words of Selaen of Saltspire, Sailor of the Pearl Isles

The old men say the Leviathans were the breath of the world. When they vanished, the storms softened, and the reefs no longer shake the hulls from below. We make quicker passage now, and the winds are gentler. Yet the pearl beds shine brighter, as if the sea rejoices. I do not know if we should thank the gods, or fear what made the beasts withdraw.

Record of Harbormaster Durnic of Goldreach

The trade has flourished since the Calm took hold. Ships that once feared the deep now come freely to the Golden Main. Storms that broke our piers now pass like summer rain. Yet I have seen old sailors stare at the horizon long, as if expecting the sea to wake in wrath. We keep the bells, the offerings, and the wards. Not in faith alone, but in wisdom.

Goldreach Council Minutes, Year 2, seal appended. Note: “Continue vigilance. Prosperity must not dull prudence.”

Archivist’s Closing Note

Thus have the voices of many been preserved. Some see salvation in the silence. Others wait for the roar. The truth of the Great Calm remains beyond our knowing. May future ages judge what we can only witness.

Collected from fragmented annals, sailor logbooks, and temple records. S. Thalwen, Historian of the Inner Archive.

The oldest tideshapers tell of a diver of the Pearl Coast, who sought wealth upon the floor of the deep.

He dived beyond the reach of sunlight, where the waters press heavy and cold, and there among strange spheres that lay like stars fallen from the sky, he beheld an Orb unlike any other.

It was not forged by mortal hands.

It sat within a ring of great pearls, smooth and pale and veined with light, unlike all other pearls known to man. Later ages would call them Leviathan Pearls.

The diver reached for the Orb, and in that moment, the sea was still.

What he saw, what he felt, and whether he returned: the stories differ.

Notes of Scholar S. Thalwen

• This account is copied from tide-worn tablets and storm-faded drawings, said to be thousands of years older than the founding of Kingshaven.
• The drawings, though broken, consistently show the Orb resting among many great pearls of similar make, which later ages named Leviathan Pearls.
• No toolmarks. No seams. No sign of crafting. The Orb was not manufactured. It was always, already, there.

Marginalia of Later Scholars

• Were the pearls truly cold? Old Captain Marrow’s log claims they were warm to the touch, as if alive.
• Did the diver return? Some sages say he came back changed and silent. Others say he never rose again.
• Did the Orb pulse before it was touched? A monk of the Tideshrine writes that it throbbed like a heartbeat, but no other account agrees.

Thus do the oldest waves speak: never plainly, never all alike. Truth sinks slow, and memory shifts like sand.