The Shifting Seas

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...the sea is connected to a transitive plane, such that navigation is more art than science, and there could be a few rare portals connecting the mainland to outlying islands or other continents. A long trip to a far island or another continent might involve a choice between a series of sea journeys between islands that have stable portals, or a long overland trip to a stone circle that, when prodded correctly, will carry you to a matching circle near your destination, ...

The Imperium's View

See the Imperium lexicon for the meaning of italic words.

Comprising close to a full third of the isolates charted by the Imperium the shifting seas are a paradox. To the eye they appear to be a a vast sea, studded with islands of varying topography, flora and fauna.

Imperial scholars have built their careers around arguing whether the shifting sea is a plane, or a vast number of isolates linked together by a single massive shift, or something else entirely. The priests of Palladys have stated that the seas are the remains of The Ocean', which surrounded Pangea during the first cycle at the dawn of time; the priesthood of Poseeydus has asserted that the whole area, with its chaotic shifts and challenged but rewarding travel is sacred to their god.

Despite the vast promise of the seas the overt Imperium presence is almost negligible

• Permanent shifts out of the shifting seas to other isolates seem to be impossible, the shifts that open at regular intervals are not precise (which troubles the Imperial arcanists no end) or large enough to support travel and trade on the level the Imperium prefers for its targets
• The lack of large land masses places the Imperium's legions at a distinct disadvantage
• While single ships or small fleets can navigate the shifting seas with some confidence (and talented navigators) the larger the fleet grows the more challenging it becomes; with luck ships only arrive a few weeks or months late; in the worst case scenario they simply disappear; or arrive before they left (it's annoying when you try to invade someone, and then send one vessel a year in advance to warn them).
• There is no large native group to pacify; even the commanders of the Imperium's dedicated legions balk at the idea of trying to take and hold hundreds of distinct islands
• the declaration of the shifting seas as being the domain of wild Poseeydus also helped repress serious consideration of any annexation, he a god one appeases, not tries to live with

The Imperium as a whole, and most of the major actors within it, avoids the shifting seas for these reasons. There are two notable exceptions

• the priesthood of Poseeydus is simply manic about the seas; it has become an expected rite of passage that a cleric of Poseeydus travel to the seas at least once in their life. The more difficult time they have traveling the more blessed they are. This has lead to priests engaging in increasingly daring exploits
• certain eldarin Senators have noted that the armistici with the elves is rooting in an understanding that the Imperium invades no more isolates... they have begun to take a keen interest in what was formerly the arcane scholarly backwater of debate regarding whether the shifting seas are in fact, a plane (and, by definition, not an isolate). Maintaining a standing army is.... expensive; perhaps a legion might help defray costs with some "training exercises"?