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lethesomething · 5 years

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DND Resource: The Underwater nation of Cuicapan

This is an extensive location I created for the Sea Elves, which in my campaign are based on a homebrew sub race of elves (I'm using this write-up by @dnd-5e-homebrew).

In general, this is meant to be a pretty unique and alien sort of world, with a lot of practical issues (underwater!) and a strange immigration policy. Above the water, it has some highkey Pacific Island vibes.

A remote location

The location of Cuicapan, seat of the Sea Elven nation, is a well-guarded secret. The city and its inhabitants are notoriously isolationist. But in a time where nations rise and fall, where the slave trade booms and land is taken by force, it is hard to blame these long-lived people from taking a step back.

Those who have heard of them, know that the Sea Elves don't trade with the many ships and nations that sail the ocean of the Southern Blue. Most will even tell you their existence is a myth, that their city is no more than an old wives tale, a mirage of a sunken capital full of gold and silver.

But buy enough drinks for old sailors, listen to bards sing songs of old, or, perhaps, find an piece of map in a waterlogged book, and you may very well discover the coordinates of Cuicapan.

(I went all out on this, so it's Long, like, 5k word long)

The Triangle of Death

The Sea Elves make their home in the Triangle of Death, so named for the dangers of sailing into it. This is an area of about 700 square kilometres in the middle of the Southern Blue, bordered by three islands that are seen as waypoints beyond which ships should not go.

To the north, there is the Lighthouse Atoll, an egg shaped island consisting of about five land masses, just above the water. The largest of these is about 300 feet wide and 20 feet long, with low vegetation. A small tower, built out of granite, is built here, warning sailors to steer clear. The eastern point of the Triangle of Death is made up by Derringer Cay, a rockier coral island. Finally, the South-West, rising out of a boiling sea strewn with sharp peaks, is Saddleback Rock. Within these islands, sea currents are notoriously treacherous and the water is a shallow maze filled with razor sharp rocky outcroppings, half hidden by the waves. The weather here is unpredictable, and large fleets have been known to meet unexpected storms and maelstroms, losing several ships before turning back to clearer waters.

This setting is no coincidence. The sea elves chose this place specifically because the massive coral reefs and rocky shallows make the area almost impossible to reach by boat. The only way in appears to be to swim, or to take a flat rowing boat. Anyone stupid or brave enough to try this approach will be met with heavy wind and quickly building waves, as if the sea itself is warning them away. Should they persist, this will turn into full fledged storms and dangerous maelstroms. The weather gradually gets worse, until a hapless adventurer either drowns or washes up on one of the atolls dotting the sea, to be met by Sea Elven guards. Then, just as fast as the storm came, it dies down again, and the sea becomes calm and clear.

The Nation of Cuicapan

The whole area of the Triangle of Death is ironically, once you go underwater, full of life. Forests of seaweed and kelp grow on the ocean floor, weaving gently in the calm waters and providing cover for seahorses, turtles and crustaceans.

Much of Cuicapan is furthermore built into, or around, a giant coral reef. The ocean floor blooms with colour, bright yellows, oranges, reds and purples. The place is swarming with shoals of colorful fish that make it their home, away from large predators.

It is quite the sight, especially near the edges of the Triangle, where the ocean itself is fairly shallow. The light filters through several feet of water to cast the whole area in a perpetually flickering gloom, like it's dusk even in the middle of the day.

Further towards the center, however, the ocean floors gets deeper, with rolling hills and valleys, and occasionally a few deep crags tearing into the rock. It is darker here, but many of the deeper areas are illuminated by a mixture of softly pulsing orbs and several shoals of fish hat emit a gentle greenish yellow glow. These are so-called 'glowfish' and the elves keep them as pets. They swim in large groups across the reef and sometimes, when the elves need to go on a trip to darker areas, they'l bring a few in a cage with them, before releasing them again.

The City of the Sea Elves

It is in one of the large valleys, in the very center of the Triangle of Death, that Cuicapan sits. While Sea Elves live all over this region, and in small settlements on the ocean floor throughout the Southern Blue, Cuicapan is their capital, and their largest city .

The architecture of Cuicapan is a mixture of carved rock, repurposed shipwrecks and organic growths such as coral and seaweed. To outsiders, it looks like an ancient city being reclaimed by nature, like ruins overrun by the jungle, only at the bottom of the ocean. The wards on the south side tend to be built around, or underneath, the many rocky islets and outcroppings that litter the area. These are cave dwellings, or they started as such, that have been added to with mosses, grasses, shells and carvings.

In the sandier valleys to the east, dwellings are usually made out of weaved kelp, ancient bones and pieces of shipwrecks, embellished with piles of shale or rocks. You would expect these to look primitive or haphazard, but oddly enough they do not. The Sea Elves have excellent craftsmen, and an innate sense of beauty that turns even a pile of rocks into something very deliberate looking.

The Northern and Central wards, finally are usually made out of rock and coral, hewn and grown into a myriad of shapes. These are, perhaps, the strangest looking parts of the city, because they are so very much alive. The coral is a true hive of life, filled with creatures, and somewhere in that maze, there exist houses for the elves themselves.

Diversity and isolationism

The Sea Elves try hard to dissuade people from coming their way, through an extensive PR-campaign (Triangle of Death, anyone?), and via the use of natural defenses, such as coral reefs, in conjunction with storms of a magical origin. This sort of advanced border defense means that no one gets in without them knowing. However, the Sea Elves are not an evil race. Any outsider caught floating or drowning within the Triangle will be swiftly picked up by the border guard, healed and, if they turn out to be non-violent, treated with kindness.

In order to keep its secrets, Cuicapan does have one very simple rule: once you get in, you may not leave. This has naturally led to a population of non-sea elf people within Cuicapan.

As it stands, The Triangle of Death holds about 80.000 Sea Elven people and 2.000 'other people'. A majority of these are tribespeople native to the larger islands within the area. These are human tribes that have made the Southern Blue their home for generations, and the ones living within the Triangle have long since allied themselves with the vast nation underneath the waves. These Islanders number about 1.200. Finally, a small chunk of the population, about 800, is made up of 'visitors'. These visitors are mostly shipwrecked people, either sailors, pirates or escaped slaves. Since those that come here are not permitted to leave again, these survivors en up living in mixed settlements on the atolls or in special quarters on the ocean floor.

Insiders and outsiders

An important part of Cuicapan culture, then, is the difference between these different members of society. This difference is even reflected in the language, which makes a point of classing people as Morani, Hirani and Hiroki. In some severe cases, they may also be considered Hitash. Morani are the Sea Elves themselves, the underwater natives, so to speak,

while Hirani are 'friends' or 'allies'. This word was originally used for the Islanders that live in the area, but it has expanded to incorporate all non-Sea Elves that are considered allies, specifically those that can water breathe in some way.

Hiroki, then, are 'outsiders' or 'guests'. They're not treated particularly badly, but it's harder for them to become a part of society, for the rather simple reason that most of that society exists underwater. It must be noted that Cuicapan considers most everyone a visitor that cannot breathe water. This even includes half-elves born from a coupling of Sea Elf and other humanoids. If they are born without gills, they will, for the most part, live life as 'hirok'.

Hiroki have a choice of where to settle, and most will go to the islands above where they can move (and breathe) more freely. Some can also choose to live within special dwellings outfitted with air bubbles trapped on the ocean floor, using devices such as prototype diving bells or water breathing potions to get around.

Hitash, finally, are enemies. These are the pirates and slavers that sail the ocean, military vessels but also, very specifically, merrow, who are considered mortal enemies and attacked on sight.

Breathing under the sea

What with the whole 'underwater' bit, a main issue for many visitors to Cuicapan will be breathing. Several wards in the city have 'hirok buildings' for this specific purpose. These are places where those who cannot breathe water can stay on the ocean floor. They are usually built above volcanic exhausts, with the gasses filtered to be breathable. In the case of one meeting room within the central palace, it is even a specifically made chamber where air is manually brought in and trapped.

A lot of these dwellings are built in caves and the hulls of downed ships, either through some misinterpretation of what would make the sailors feel comfortable, or as a rather mean joke. While these guest buildings make it possible for those without gills or magic to reside on the ocean floor, they do take some getting used to. The air bubbles are, by their nature, humid and warm, and they smell a little sulfurous. Not poisonous, but not exactly fresh air either.

Quirks of living under the sea

Sea Elves can breathe both water and air, but most, especially the more traditional or pureblood ones, prefer to stay under the sea. This means a lot of their culture is adapted to this specific environment.

An obvious example of this are potions. It's impossible, or at least very difficult, to drink underwater, but the Sea Elves do use potions. They are usually brewed on land, by the Island Tribes. These people make batches of highly concentrated potions and store them in a sort of small water balloon, usually made out of the swim bladder of a specific fish. The bladder is filled with a potion and tied off on both ends, and stored carefully for travel. When needed, the potion is swallowed whole. It will burst open within the stomach of the patient, releasing its load.

Another important part of sea elf production deals with resins and oils. Sea water is fairly corrosive, so most traditional warriors use armor and weaponry made of bones and scales. However, those tend to be less tough than metal, so they need to be treated to harden them.

At the same time, a lot of the fastings used in Sea Elven clothing and armor are made out of underwater vines. These are supple and strong when wet, but they can quickly become brittle when left to dry. These must then be treated to withstand the air.

The whole thing has led the Sea Elves to being experts in several types of 'proofing'. The craftsmen of Cuicapan work with several resins and oils to achieve this, but have in recent years also started a process that is essentially 'precious metal coating'.

One side effect of all the shipwrecks, you see, is a pile of gold and silver and even some platinum that the Sea Elves have no real use for. As such, they started a small forge, located on one of the rocky islands in the territory. It is here that a lot of the gold and silver taken from downed ships is stored. A combination of magic and existing resins is used to turn these already precious metals into a hardened coating that can withstand most corrosion and is as strong, if not stronger, than steel. This coat is then applied to the bone armor and bone weaponry that the Sea Elves crafted themselves, or to some of the nicer pieces of weaponry that they have found.

This has the strange side effect that while Sea Elves don't really care much about wealth, they do, to outsiders, look like an incredibly wealthy nation.

This is in part where the 'sunken city of gold' myths come from. Elves might not care about money, but they do care about beauty and craftsmanship, so a random shipwrecked sailor will find himself visited by strange warriors with expertly carved gold tipped spears made out of whale bone, with elaborately decorated silver plated wristbands beset with precious gems, and exquisitely engraved and decorated shields.

Cuicapan economy

As hinted at, Cuicapan may be large, but it is still mostly tribal in economy. The place doesn't have traditional shops, or much of a money based system, choosing instead to give people a job they would be good at, that can be of use to their society as a whole. This can be tending to the coral, protecting the borders, educating children or becoming expert craftsfolk.

Sea Elven goods are therefore generally very well made. Craftsmen here spend a lot of time turning basic materials such as rock or bone into small, beautiful pieces of utility. Elves in general have quite a respectable way of dealing with their environments, and Sea Elves are no different. Their hunters spear large fish and sea creatures, and they use a majority of their parts. The meat is eaten, while the bones are prized for crafts and, in the case of larger fish, weapons and armor. The hides and scales are turned into bags and clothing.

Underwater Magic

Cuicapan is an old society, and while much of magic knowledge has disappeared from the areas around it, the sea elves do keep with their old ways. There are quite a few magic users within their population. Several of these put their talents to use for the upkeep of their lands. To put it bluntly: they summon storms and waves to capsize ships that get too close.

A number of magic users also work on equipment: hardening bone armor and spears to stand up to iron, enchanting the gold and silver foil that surrounds their smithed items, and generally waterproofing or protecting different materials from the more eroding effects of the environment they live in.

One very specific position, usually taken up by a single Sea Elf but never left unmanned, is that of Bond Enchanter. This is the one that enchants jewelry, usually a necklace or a ring of some kind, that couples give each other upon bonding. For morani, this traditionally holds a small blessing or a heal spell. When morani marry a hirani, however, the enchantment is almost always a water breathing one, ensuring that the two need not be apart for long.

A Watery Language

Being notably reclusive, the Sea Elves haven't had a lot of contact with their land-dwelling brethren for several centuries. As such, the inhabitants of Cuicapan do speak Elvish, but they use a rather strange dialect.

This is reflected in their specific words (such as 'hirani') and in the fact that they have a myriad of words for water temperatures, sea currents and the like. You can also, however, see it in their use of verbs. Centuries of living under the water has made their sense of time more fluid, and Cuicapan elves appear to use mostly continuous tenses.

Examples: 'What is your name' would sound something like 'Names being?' 'How did you find this place' becomes 'How finding the city?' Etc.

It's a fairly basic change that doesn't truly impede understanding too much, but that still befuddles most visitors.

As such, any visitor entering Cuicapan will be able to understand the people here on a basic level if they speak Elven, but there should be some difficulty having deep, nuanced conversations. This specific grammar also bleeds through in their use of Common, in the few Sea Elves that speak it. The Cuicapan elves do, however, employ visitor guides that will usually speak Elven and some basic Common or other languages. A lot of these guides will be either Islanders or Hirok themselves, people that are part of this society, but can form a buffer for any culture shock a visitor might have.

A note on Islanders

The Triangle Tribe, or Islanders, are a small but crucial part of Cuicapan society. They long ago allied themselves with their underwater neighbours, and have a tradition of diving. Like pearl divers, they learn from a young age how to hold their breath and how to move swiftly under the water, earning them a sort of 'honorary sea elf' status.

Their culture, while overlapping slightly with that of the city beneath the waves, is generally more friendly and relaxed. This is a human tribe, which automatically makes them a little less stuck-up than the elves, and they put great stock in hospitality. This is a good thing, considering most of the 'hiroki' end up on their islands one way or another. Luckily, they have thrived from the influx of stranded traders, sailors, and ex-slaves that have found their way into the Triangle, learning and adapting many new technologies and infrastructures.

Several tribespeople have therefore taken up a job as a visitor guides, accompanying the border patrols and guiding any stranded folk with their superior knowledge of languages and customs.

Specific islander tech includes potions, but they also have some diving implements of their own.

One particular gnomish inventor that settled on the islands years ago, has invented someting akin to a snorkel, and he makes sacks that store air. The idea here is that young children can bring them with them when they're learning to dive.

Notable locations within the City of Sea Elves

The Coral Palace: In the center of Cuicapan stands the Coral Palace, the seat of power for the Sea Elves. This unique structure consists almost entirely out of living coral. It is tended to by specialised farmers and gardeners, who keep it shaped and within some semblance of control. Still, it looks nothing like the buildings made by man. Instead it's a mass of spires and blooming domes, seemingly unbothered by gravity, and it is very clearly alive. The Coral Palace is splotched with color, like the reef around it: reds and oranges and greens and blues and bright yellows. It is also swarming with little fish and sea creatures, some glowing, moving in and out of the porous walls and floors.

Wisdom: The sea elves have written language but they choose, for the most part, not to use it. Books are not a practical underwater endeavour and writing in general is seen as a fleeting form of knowledge. Instead, Cuicapan's own history, laws and customs are kept via oral tradition and this is handled by Wisdom. This structure is a large bowl, almost like an amphitheatre, built specifically to send sound waves across large swaths of the city. Here, the Tellers sing a never ending song that weaves the stories of the Sea Elves together. These tales go from very old, composed in Ancient Elven, to very new, in the modern dialect, speaking of recent events and technologies. As part of their education, children are expected sit in the amphitheatre and listen while they weave or play or work on other things.

The Third Hirok House: One of several 'hirok houses' that are used as a visitor centre, and a likely entrypoint for adventurers. This is a downed ship on the outskirts of the Triangle, turned over on the sandy ocean floor to form a building of sorts. Seaweed and vines cover part of it, and on one side a large hole in the hull is fitted with a sheet of transparent crystal or glass. Visitors enter the place via a small water lock. Once inside, there is air: damp, sulphurous, smelling lightly like a gym locker room, but air nonetheless. Wooden planks have been laid down on the ocean floor, and several rugs in different styles give the place a cozy if eclectic feel. The walls and ceiling are vaulted, obviously, making the place look like a low gothic cathedral of sorts. A single, huge cystal chandelier hangs from the high ceiling in the very middle of the room. It does not hold candles, but instead small orbs that glow with a soft blue light. Through the crystal window, you can look out to the softly rolling hills of the ocean floor, and to the forests of kelp making up most of the surface here. The rest of the walls are stuffed with a strange assortment of curios and furniture that has obviously been taken from downed ships. Shelves hold boxes, tea tins, sacks of grain and assorted goods. There's dried and cured meats, and barrels of assorted crockery. A wardrobe holds a bunch of old, frayed clothes, while a cabinet on the other wall has a number of nautical implements. There is a diving bell here, that looks like a large brass bell with a little window on the side. There's also an old fashioned diving suit, which to most adventurers would look like a suit of armor made of copper and leather, with a very unwieldy looking rounded helmet that has a set of lenses bolted all around the front. In the middle of the room, a mismatched set of furniture is placed to look like a parlour. A nice, mosaic inlaid table stands in the middle, surrounded by a low felt couch, some stuffed chaises in very differing styles and a few carved chairs. This is the waiting room for any visiting hiroki.

The Library of Hirok and The Room of Fallen Treasures: A large part of Cuicapan resources are scavenged from the many shipwrecked boats that dared to enter the triangle. Several of these boats have been rigged together on the ocean floor and set up to form a strange kind of museum. This is where you will find the Library, a set of rooms with air trapped within them, that hold whatever waterlogged books could be saved. Most of these are ship ledgers and the occasional map or diary, but there's a few novels and possibly a magic book here or there. Next to the library, the sea elves also keep a Room of Fallen Treasures. Fancy but decorative weaponry, jewelry and visually pleasing but ultimately useless pieces that survived a trip to the bottom of the sea are kept here. Sadly, anything the elves and hiroki can actually use has been taken out, so don't expect water breathing stuff.

The Skyforge: On a rocky, volcanic island to the south of Cuicapan sits the Skyforge. This whole island is basically a large smithy and workshop. It is here that most of the waterproofing and all of the smelting of gold and silver is done. The forge itself is tended to by a strange assortment of Sea Elven craftsman, and a handful of Hiroki, including two Dwarves.

Characters

Nimue: the Master Teller. An old, very frail looking elven woman with white, almost translucent hair that is as long as she is and flows freely around her in a cloud of white tendrils. She has pale blue skin and wears flowy robes that are cinched around her ankles and wrists and set with little shells. Her eyes are milky white and she appears to be blind, but her voice is a high, melodious, crystal clear and, even in her old age, unbroken.

Lotha: Another Teller and a woman with teal coloured skin and dark mossy green hair. Her eyes are a deep blue, almost black. She is dressed in a blackish green weave of kelp that forms a short sleeveless dress of sorts. She wears a necklace of a mother-of-pearl oval with a spiral carved into it and appears friendly but very serious, as if she carries a deep sadness within her.

Ruehnar Envaris: The authority in Cuicapan. The Sea Elves do not have a traditional king, but they do have a Leader that has to make day to day decisions. Ruehnar is that leader. He is fairly tall for a sea elf, with greyish skin and very long anthracite coloured hair. Notably, he wears… very little. His formal wear consists of a short, stiff skirt made out of shark skin. His torso is naked but bedecked in jewelry. Several rows of shell cord line his chest and are tied around his upper arms and weaved into his hair. Bangles hang around his wrists and ankles. Ruehnar is a stern sort of man, who will naturally assume the worst about the intelligence of any Hiroki placed before him, but he is not unkind when they prove themselves. This is one of the few Cuicapan that, when confronted with outsiders, will not speak the typical dialect. He speaks Common and Elven, and does so in a very formal, bookish sort of way.

Kindrith Izel: A seemingly young Sea Elf with bright golden hair and an almost purplish, dark skin. She wears a scale armor top that reaches across one of her shoulders and comes down to the middle of her thigh. Underneath are fairly tight pants made out of some kind of netting. She's a very jovial sort of person who is, especially for an elf, quite relaxed in her manners. This is probably one of the reasons that she's been made a visitor guide. This is one of the people that will happily rescue and escort drowned adventurers. She's usually accompanied by Cualli in her work. Kindrith speaks Sea Elvish and Common with a Very Heavy accent.

Cualli: A brown skinned woman with long black hair tied in braids across her head. She is one of the Islanders, a native to the region and a good friend of Kindrith, usually accompanying her when dealing with visitors. She's can hold her breath for Very Long and is a fast swimmer, but she does remain human, so she will need to come up for air. She appears to wear loose, cropped pants made out of woven fabric and has a simple boob tube top. Friendly in nature, and polite, but a bit more serious than Kindrith. Cualli speaks flawless Common and Elvish

Naesala Torxin: A purplish pink sea elf with very dark blue hair, cropped short. Naesala is a commander of a group of border guards, and potentially one of the first Sea Elves that adventurers will meet. He wears greaves and bone armor wristbands, but keeps his chest bare. Due to the nature of his job, he is careful and untrusting of outsiders. Talking to him is difficult because of this, and because he speaks only the very heaviest of Sea Elven dialect.

Ko Jae-Sun: An older trader that has been living here for 20 years. Jae-Sun is a human man in his late middle age. He has pale, olive tinted skin, and long white hair tied together in a ponytail that falls to below his waist. His face is round, wrinkled but friendly looking, with long, wispy white eyebrows, pale grey monolid eyes, and a long goatee, white, tied with a green bead just below his chin. He wears long robes that look like they might have started out as simple wizard's robes, but that have since been embellished with jade jewels and added embroidery down the panes to the front. Jae-Sun appears very much to be a man set in his ways, sipping tea and accumulating 'land' art and furniture, even while sitting at the bottom of the ocean. He tends to the Third Hirok house.

Cuisine

As with many things in Cuicapan, the food here has a certain duality to it. Underwater, the sea elves mostly subsist on raw fish and underwater plant life. A staple of life in Cuicapan is 'mon', a traditional dish that is essentially called an old elven word for 'meal'. The islanders and outsiders have also taken to naming this the Cuicapan Sandwich. The dish is a type of thin layer cake, and it consists of very thinly sliced raw fish or seafood, layers of spread sea urchin or fish eggs, and fragrant plant life. The whole thing is usually wrapped in a thin sheet of edible kelp for easy storage and safe-keeping, which makes it look a little like the lembas of their land dwelling brethren.

A great deal of variety and craft is put into these mon, with the makers trying to outdo themselves on flavours and the thinness and numbers of their layers (ideally, the fish slices are so thin you can see through them).

Above water, meanwhile, the Islanders have a rich and varied food culture, based in part on their relation with the Sea Elves and the environment, but heavily influenced by tribal traditions and an influx of outside food. Islanders don't have too much room for agriculture, but they keep chickens and a breed of small pig. They also grow several root vegetables and beans, and cultivate the many fruit trees that are native to the islands. A typical island meal consists of dried meat or smoked pork, fruit, 'coleslaw', poi biscuits and 'rolled fish'.

Coleslaw: Shredded cabbage and seaweed, salted and spiced, usually with a little bit of lime juice for dressing.

Poi biscuits: These are small round biscuits, usually somewhat sweet. They're made of root vegetables such as the taro root that grows everywhere on the islands. The tubers are cooked, stamped into flour and turned into dough by adding water or coconut milk. In some case also eggs and spices. They are then shaped and cooked on a griddle.

Rolled fish: this is a slightly simpler variant of the Cuicapan Sandwich that consists of slices of fish or seafood, rolled together with herbs or spiced oils and seaweed. In a lot of cases, the fish isn't even rolled, but cubes or slices of it are mixed with vegetables, herbs and dressing in a small bowl. It's still called rolled fish though.

Other traditional dishes:

Hime Hime, or Fish Soup: the rather irreverent name for a delectable dish made out of coconut milk, lime juice, fresh raw fish and vegetables. The lime 'cook' the fish in this dish, and the other ingredients are added later for taste.

Don, or Chicken and noodles: Brought over by sailors from the Deishasa continent, where they're usually made out of rice. Islanders make their noodles out of taro or mung bean flour, and cook them in a broth with chicken and usually some coconut milk. The broth is comfort food, but it is also considered to have medicinal properties, and traditionally given when you're sick.

Barbee: another one heavily influenced by Hiroki. The act of roasting things over an open fire has been turned into an art by the Triangle Tribe. Feasts and celebrations tend to involve barbee of some kind, with roast fruits and vegetables, whole fish speared on sticks over the fire, pieces of chicken and pork, and crabs, which are usually cooked whole within their shell.

Noi noi, or Nut Cake: a traditional dessert made out of sweet potato, with dried coconut and various jungle nuts, baked in a mold in an underground oven. It's quite a hardy dish, and is usually served with a fruit jam or syrup.

DM notes

Going under the sea to meet with the sea elves should be a weird and wondrous experience, so I did make this place fairly unique, I hope. Characters entering the Triangle of Death will almost invariably meet with a storm and if you're lucky, almost drown, starting off this adventure with a sense of danger and fear, only to come upon this bewildering, beautiful and kindof atmospheric landscape. That is at least how I set it out to be. The sea elves are, in this incarnation, very curious, as most elves are, but also a little reserved. They're not evil, by any means, but they do, uhhh, crash ships as a way to dissuade visitors, so there's that.

A major quest for a party, once they get here, is to get out again. This could either be some kind of jailbreak thing, or a trial of some sort, in which they prove themselves to be trustworthy, or work themselves up to be agents of Cuicapan in some manner.

#campaign resources #d&d 5e #dm stuff #world building #sea elves

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