“The sea was eating their city again, one street at a time. Basha could taste it in the air as she raced through the docklands—salt and rust and rebellion.”
The Cross-Sea Lands are a place where history is never still, where the past is swallowed by the tides and rebuilt on higher ground. Rising seas forced the first settlers to adapt, crafting layered cities on stilts, cliffs, and floating platforms. What began as scattered refugee outposts became a thriving archipelago of fiercely independent city-states, each one shaped by the cultures of the people who found refuge there. Some cling to their ancestral ways, while others embrace the constant churn of trade, war, and reinvention. The result is a world brimming with overlapping traditions—clan banners fluttering side by side, dialects blending in the markets, festivals where old rivalries are set aside for one night of uneasy revelry.
In this article, I won’t reveal any major plot twists, but I will pull back the curtain just enough to show how these tangled customs, thriving marketplaces, and hidden enclaves bring the Cross-Sea Lands to life. This world isn’t just a backdrop—it’s a living, shifting force that shapes the characters who call it home.
Origins in Crisis
The Cross-Sea Lands did not rise out of ambition but out of necessity.
Generations ago, rising tides swallowed the coastal settlements of a dozen different nations. The survivors fled inland where they could, but for those whose lives were built on the water, retreat was not an option. They sought higher ground—not on land, but by raising their cities above the encroaching sea, building platforms, bridges, and towering settlements that defied the tides.
The city-states that grew from these desperate beginnings became mosaics of old cultures. No single nation could claim them, and no one ruling power could tame them. Over time, the remnants of sunken civilizations blended, their languages and beliefs fusing or clashing in turn.
Even now, the Cross-Sea Lands remain a tangle of competing traditions. In one alleyway, a fortune teller murmurs an old Mirzadi blessing, while a priest from Kharazan burns incense in honor of the Tidemother. In another, a merchant peddles amulets carved with symbols so old, no one remembers their origin.
The City Beneath: Where Shadows and Secrets Meet
Not all of the Cross-Sea Lands’ inhabitants walk in the light. Below the bustling piers and winding stairways, a different world thrives in the drowned lower levels of the oldest cities—a place known as the City Beneath.
Here, smugglers and outcast nobles rub shoulders with merchants too daring—or too desperate—to trade in the open air. Creaking wooden walkways snake through the flooded ruins, leading to hidden taverns like The Whispering Grotto, where deals are whispered over cups of fermented kelp wine.
To enter these subterranean enclaves is to shed one’s mask—literally. Locals believe that removing face coverings underground is an act of trust, a custom that can be seen as either defiance or camaraderie, depending on the company kept. Want to learn more? Check out the my full post on this dangerous underworld HERE.
Festivals and Dockland Traditions
Aboveground, the chaos of trade is punctuated by vibrant celebrations. Markets roar with the voices of fishmongers and cloth merchants, their wares reflecting the ever-changing tides of cultural influence. A spice vendor might lace their Mirzadi saffron with Al-Zahra floral infusions, while a Daskaran blacksmith etches Kharazan windmill motifs into their steelwork.
And then, there are the festivals.
Perhaps the most famous is the Truce of Tides, an uneasy peace held once a year when even warring clans put down their blades to drink, dance, and gamble in the open. Each city-state brings its own traditions to the revelry: Arathet’s masked dancers swirl beside Vanyr’s mountain singers, while Mirzadi fire-spinners carve light into the night sky.
The City-States of the Cross-Sea Lands
Each city-state bears the mark of its history, its people shaped by the struggle to survive in a world where the land is never truly stable beneath their feet. Want to learn more? Check out the interactive map HERE.
Arathet: The Capital City
Once a modest coastal outpost, Arathet now towers above the sea, its platforms stretching ever higher as the waters rise. A capital in all but name, it is where politics, trade, and old grudges collide.
Elarion: The Valley of Vines
Nestled in fertile hills, Elarion is a land of slow-growing wisdom, where faith and farming intertwine. Its wine flows freely in times of peace and strife alike.
Daskar: The Northern Fortress
Its fleet is unmatched, its warriors feared. Daskar’s harbor laws are as iron-clad as its defenses, but within the city’s salt-crusted walls, even sworn enemies can find common ground over a tankard of seaweed ale.
Mirzadi: City of Silk and Salt
A place of innovation, where foreign ideas and goods arrive with every tide. Its streets are a labyrinth of trade, where silk-cloaked merchants sell clockwork wonders and philosophers debate over strong cups of spiced tea.
Kharazan: City of Wind and Water
Perched on cliffs, its windmills and watermills harness the forces of nature. Its people are scholars, engineers, and dreamers who blend mechanics with ancient knowledge.
Al-Zahra: The Isle of Blossoms
Known for its terraced gardens and perfumes, Al-Zahra thrives on the trade of rare botanicals. Each spring, its Flower Festival draws traders and nobles alike, their attire a reflection of the blended cultures they come from.
Vanyr: Where the City Meets the Sky
High in the mountains, Vanyr’s people live by the rhythm of the wind and tide. Their prayers carry through the mist on flutes, a haunting melody that speaks of legends older than the cities themselves.
A World in Motion
The Cross-Sea Lands are not static. They are as restless as the tides, shaped by every storm, every new arrival. This is a world where history is never buried for long, and where every marketplace, every festival, every whispered deal beneath the docks leaves its mark on the generations to come.
For those who dare to walk its shifting streets, the question is never if they will be changed—but how.
Want More?
The Remnant delves deep into the tangled histories and rivalries of the Cross-Sea Lands. If you’re intrigued by the layers of culture, the clash of old and new, and the characters who must navigate this world of shifting allegiances, stay tuned. The tides are rising, and the story is just beginning.
