The open ocean
LivePast the shelf, the sea drops into the abyss. Swimmers and small boats don't survive out there. Ships do.
Every island sits on a shallow shelf. Go far enough offshore, usually a few hundred blocks, and the sea floor falls away into the abyss: dark water more than 40 blocks deep. The shallows are turquoise and inviting. The abyss is deep blue and deadly.
You can't swim it
Over the abyss, anyone swimming gets:
- Exhaustion: hunger drains fast, about 1.5 points of exhaustion every second.
- Heavy swimming: constant slowness.
- Waves that shove you about, and an undertow that sometimes drags you down.
- Lightning. The storms out here find swimmers; expect a strike about every 30 seconds.
Add armour weight (over 30 and you simply sink) and the giant squid, and swimming between islands isn't a plan.
Or row it
A vanilla boat or raft over the abyss draws the same lightning. You'll lose the boat and probably yourself.
Ships are safe
Crew aboard a ship built with the Ships system are left alone entirely: no lightning, no waves, no squid. That's the only way across open water, and it's the point. The sea is a barrier until you've built something to cross it.
The shallows around each island are safe to swim and row in. Only the deep water offshore is dangerous, so you can explore your own coast by small boat.
What lives out there
| Creature | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Whales | Huge and curious. They swim over to look at you and drift off if you hurt them. They drop blubber. |
| Giant squid | Rare and deadly to swimmers: it grabs, damages and drags you under. It can't reach you in a boat or on a ship's deck. |
| Squid herds | Squid only live over the abyss. |
| Pufferfish | Silent, and best left alone. |
| Sharks | Around Dunbarra in the Outer Isles. |