The channel separating the northern Farlands from the Seacliff Coast islands. Roughly fifteen miles wide at its narrowest point, with Ios visible as a dark forested line on clear days.
Nobody uses it.
The strait isn't dangerous: the currents are manageable, the weather predictable, the waters deep enough for any vessel. It simply doesn't go anywhere useful. Ios has nothing the Farlands want; the Farlands have nothing Ios needs. The elven kingdoms are five hundred miles south. Jeh Bli's orcs occasionally fish here, but they're not traders.
Sailors from Moigos or Iqes sometimes shelter in the strait during storms, using the Farlands coast as a windbreak. They don't land. There's nothing to land for.
The Nameless Capes
The Farlands side of the strait is a jagged coastline of unnamed headlands and shallow coves. The Sunset Mountains come down almost to the water in places, leaving narrow gravel beaches beneath sheer cliffs. A few sea caves pierce the rock, carved by centuries of waves. Local legend among the Jeh Bli orcs holds that something lives in the deepest caves, something that doesn't like light, but the orcs don't fish close to shore anyway.
The Ios side is gentler: the Koilos forest comes down to rocky beaches, with occasional streams cutting through to the sea. The trees are old and dense, and the shore is unwatched. Anyone could land there without being noticed, though why they would is another question.
What Passes Through
- Migratory fish in spring and autumn, following currents between the open ocean and the Middle Sea
- Storm-driven vessels seeking shelter
- Occasionally, something large moving beneath the surface, probably whales, probably