(Art Credit: Yuriy Kovalenko)
As the epicenter of the cometfall, the Blood Sea was full of fuming islands shattered from Aurial for a long time. As the heat disappeared, people settled on these islands from all across the world, such as the Cinohan people who descended from Eteru in the east, or the Jasivian people who descended from the north-eastern city states. Alongside legitimate nations, the Blood Sea became the centerpoint for piracy, even hosting the Pirate Court for half a millennium.
While it is only a subset of the Kourā Expanse, the Blood Sea is a greater definition of the entire area. It contains the Lunar Sea, Jasivian Sea, and Cometfall Sea (Suiseikai) within it. While the first two are geographical terms based on political powers, the Cometfall Sea was long thought cursed by the abyss until the curse was lifted during the Curse of the Blood Sea campaign.
As technology improved and ships became steadily more accessible, long-term sea lanes were set up for trade between major cities and continents. Without the full continent of old Aurial bisecting the world in two halves, the far continents were more connected than ever before via sea. Ruins from before the cometfall are scattered across the islands as well as underwater. The Blood Sea is a shallow one as compared to the true oceans, since it is still part of the continental shelf in its entirety. Coral reefs and underwater civilizations prosper in these large reaches of shallow seas where sunlight still reaches to the bottom.
With increased sea trade, piracy flourished in the Blood Sea. Over the centuries, it became a haven for criminals and plunderers as the culture of piracy took its roots. However, pirates as we know them today began five hundred years ago, when the first Pirate Court was assembled at Shipwreck City. The first council of Pirate Lords was formed, separating the waters of the world amongst seven pirate lords of sin. The Pirate Code was written out in full, and the golden age of piracy began. In truth, this first court was formed to seal away the Abyssgate in the center of the Cometfall Sea, a portal created from negative emotions to the plane of the Abyss- a hell full of demons that seek nothing but to destroy the material plane and absorb it into the abyss. Focusing their powers together, the first seven lords sealed away the abyss for the foreseeable future.
In the modern day, the age of piracy is threatened by the major nations at play in the Blood Sea. The Crimson Empire threatens to wipe out pirates to bring peace and order to the seas, while tensions rise with the neighboring Lunar Collective. As war seemed to approach, the seal of the Abyssgate weakened, as both politics and magic aimed to destroy the current status quo of the sea.
The Blood Sea is vast and full of shattered islands big and small. The largest landmass is Akurisu, but other than the one city no one dared step foot on it or anywhere near the Cometfall Sea until the curse was lifted. With multiple nations in play, there are many coastal cities here. The entirety of the sea outside the cometfall crater has shallower, continental shelf waters full of coral reefs and sunken ruins.
Despite the various nations controlling so many cities, there are many free cities left. The Blood Sea is unofficially divided into two seas on either side of Aurial's tail- the Lunar Sea and the Jasivian Sea. In addition to the Cometfall Sea, these three bodies of water serve as helpful dividers.