Welcome to our Worldbuilding Wednesday! This series, Mapping the Unknown, focuses on creating your own world, and how best to make it believable while still filling it with wonder. It's a limited series meant to give advice to budding writers and worldbuilders about the best practices in developing your setting!
When building your fantasy world, worldbuilding coasts and seas offer endless opportunities for storytelling, trade, exploration, and conflict. These regions form natural borders, connect kingdoms, and inspire both wonder and danger. Whether your seas are tranquil waters dotted with merchant ships, or wild, storm-tossed expanses hiding monsters and ancient ruins, coasts and seas are essential parts of any map. Seafaring civilizations rise where land meets water, forging connections through trade routes, naval power, and exploration. Meanwhile, coasts shape the identities of towns and kingdoms, their people turning to fishing, shipbuilding, and commerce—or defending against raiders and invaders drawn by the riches of the sea.
Seas and coasts are natural highways. Merchant ships cross waters faster than land caravans, making coastal cities hubs of trade and culture. Ports become melting pots where goods, ideas, and people from distant lands meet and mingle. But coasts can act as both gateways and barriers. Islands or peninsulas may remain isolated, developing unique cultures, while coastal cliffs or treacherous reefs can protect kingdoms from seaborne invasion.
For coastal kingdoms, naval dominance often determines a kingdom’s strength. Control of key seas, trade routes, and port cities can make or break empires. Naval battles, piracy, and privateering are natural conflicts in a coastal world. Furthermore, coastal regions have distinct cultures shaped by their relationship to the sea. Fishing, shipbuilding, and salt production often dominate their economies, while myths and legends of the sea inspire art, religion, and folklore.
As for the sea... It is vast, unpredictable, and full of secrets. From sunken ruins to colossal sea monsters, oceans are the perfect setting for mysteries, lost treasures, and forgotten civilizations waiting to be rediscovered.
The seas play an essential role in the geography and cultures of Teidar. From bustling ports to untamed shores, the coasts of this world are alive with trade, danger, and opportunity.
The kingdom of Abreldin on its namesake peninsula, separated from the mainland by the Mist Divide, is one of Teidar’s most renowned coastal regions. Its culture revolves around the sea, shaped by the peninsula’s long and jagged coastline and the wealth of the Sunburst Sea. Abreldin’s ports are bustling centers of trade and exploration, sending ships to distant lands in search of riches and discovery.
While much of Teidar relies on land routes, Abreldin’s mariners have become masters of the waves. Their merchant fleets bring goods from far-off kingdoms, while their explorers push the boundaries of known waters. Yet, the seas are not without peril—Abreldin’s sailors tell stories of sea serpents, mysterious islands that appear and vanish in the mist, and wrecked ghost ships that drift aimlessly beneath stormy skies. For centuries, the farthest point known to Abreldinian explorers was the Crush, a remote rocky atoll used as an inescapable prison for Abreldin's worst criminals. But in the sixth century of the Fifth Age, a prison ship lost its way and shipwrecked on the coasts of another continent; the discovery led to attempts at setting up a colony on what appeared to be unclaimed land, but which turned out to be the continent of Malgaria.
This connection to the sea has also fostered a unique culture in Abreldin, distinct from its neighbors. Its people are independent and adventurous, often turning to naval commerce, shipbuilding, and exploration to sustain themselves. In times of war, Abreldin’s fleets become formidable weapons, capable of defending their shores and projecting power across the waves.
To the north, Argilin hugs a rugged coastline where cliffs plunge into stormy seas, and jagged reefs claim ships that stray too close. This is a land of both opportunity and danger. Its small fishing villages and trading ports depend on the bounty of the seas, but the unpredictable waters breed hardship. The people of Argilin have adapted to this wild coast, becoming skilled sailors and raiders. Corsairs and pirates are common here, preying on merchant ships that traverse the southern seas. Coastal forts dot the cliffs, their lighthouses warning ships of reefs—or marking safe havens for those who pay tribute to the pirate clans.
Legends speak of ancient ruins hidden beneath the waves, remnants of a forgotten age swallowed by the sea. Sailors tell tales of ghostly cities seen shimmering beneath the water during calm nights, their spires glowing faintly under the moon. The Argilinians regard these ruins as cursed, warning that those who disturb them risk unleashing the wrath of the deep.
When incorporating coasts and seas into your setting, consider these key elements: where are the major ports? What resources and goods flow through these coastal hubs? How do they connect your kingdoms? Are there pirate threats, rival naval powers, or contested seas? What role do navies play in maintaining control or projecting strength?
How does the sea shape the people of the coast? Are they explorers, fishermen, traders, or raiders? Do they have legends of sea gods, monsters, or lost treasures? Think about natural features like cliffs, reefs, and coves. Are there dangerous waters that ships avoid, or secret harbors used by smugglers and pirates?
Finally, what secrets lie beneath the waves? Sunken ruins, shipwrecks, or entire underwater civilizations might add layers of mystery to your seas.
Next time on Worldbuilding Wednesday, we’ll dive into islands. Until then, as always, thanks for reading!
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