The Sea of Lament covers the remains of the world that was. When the Split tore Etherea apart, not everything sank cleanly. Across the seabed, the drowned remnants of the original landmass endure: vertical spires of worked stone that still jut upward beneath the waves, the tops of towers and monuments from a civilization that existed before the two continents had names. These are the Deep Ruins—the submerged skeleton of pre-Split Etherea, preserved by depth and darkness.
The most visible evidence of the Deep Ruins is the Coral Towers: ancient structures visible off the Golden Shores coast at low tide. Their architecture does not match any post-Split tradition from either continent, and their depth suggests they were constructed before the Sea of Lament existed. But the Coral Towers are merely the shallowest, most accessible examples of a phenomenon that extends across the entire seabed. Fishermen and divers throughout the Sea of Lament report finding worked stone, carved foundations, paved road surfaces, and the unmistakable geometry of deliberate construction on the ocean floor.
The Deep Ruins are the largest unexplored archaeological site on Voxana, and no one has seriously explored them. The depths are dangerous, the currents are unpredictable, and the sheer scale of the submerged landscape defies any single expedition’s capacity. Entire streets, plazas, and structures lie beneath the waves, colonized by marine life and slowly being consumed by coral and sediment—but not quickly enough to erase what they are. The seabed of the Sea of Lament is a drowned city the size of a continent, and the world has barely looked at it.
DM Truth: What the Ruins Remember
The Deep Ruins are not merely archaeological. They are metaphysically significant. Structures that were important before the Split—temples, centers of power, locations where the Loom was actively manipulated—retain residual energy even after a thousand years underwater. In places where the Weaves are thin, the ruins may be partially accessible from the Feyweave or Shadowweave, creating underwater pocket realms where the rules of reality behave differently.
The Arcanum Divinorum operated across all of Etherea before the war. Some of their sites would have been in areas now submerged. Whether any of these underwater Arcanum locations contain surviving records, artifacts, or sealed vaults is unknown—but the possibility alone would make the Deep Ruins the most strategically important discovery on Voxana if anyone ever mounted a serious expedition.
The vertical spires are the most dramatic features. Some rise from depths of hundreds of feet to within a few fathoms of the surface. On calm days, their shadows are visible from above—dark shapes beneath the water that sailors call ‘the Drowned Fingers.’ Since the Glowstone reactivation, some of the spires have begun to glow faintly, visible at night as dim green points of light beneath the waves.
Adventure Hooks: The Deep Ruins
A diving expedition to the Coral Towers has recovered a sealed container made of an unknown alloy. It is warm to the touch and hums at a frequency that makes nearby Glowstone glow brighter. The expedition’s patron wants it opened. The Elder Sage Council wants it secured. The patron has gone missing.
Ships on the central crossing have been reporting a new phenomenon: a patch of sea where the water glows green at night, visible from miles away. The glow is getting brighter. It is directly above a location where one of the Drowned Fingers nearly reaches the surface.
A stone tablet has been pulled from the seabed near the Shattered Arch. The tablet is inscribed with symbols that match the Arcanum Divinorum’s notation system—a system that should not exist in anyone’s living memory. Several parties want to acquire it, and not all of them are asking politely.