The world of Byleth was once a place where magic and steam dominated civilization. Ships and carages lined with steel, powered either by combustable fuel or magic spells, carried recources the world over. Institutions, training generations of innovators and scholars, produced great minds that would go on to be renowned scientists or powerful archmages.
Many races inhabited Byleth. Humans, elves, dwarves, orcs and more had their realtive kingdoms and empires to rule over and manage. Adventurers still traveled the world for finding treasure, slaying magical beasts, or safe guarding the realm. All of this would one day come to the brink of extinction.
In the year 1093, the seas of Byleth would rise. Rapidly. The tides engulfed cities. The valleys be came deep sea trenches. The mountains sunk to islands. A milenia of history and knolwdge lost to the depths.
The flood forced the wildlife to adapt. Vegatation that could tolerate high quantities of water thrived, consuming the once lush forests and grasslands for themselves. The amphiboius fauna were able to narrowly escape the lack of land by changing their nesting and feeding habits. Those that could fly (dragons, avians, etc.) built new dens the remaining mountain peaks.
What remained of civilazation, clung to what they could. Surviving on rafts made from wreckage or on ships already at sea. The people now had to live off of the ocean's bounty and the scraps of the old world that drifted within reach.
After 3 thousand years, the sea's depth remains the same but the life has changed greatly. The people no longer reside on rafts but archologies, cities floating on the waves. Built from salvaged materials harvested over the years. Each city is a nation,with its own government and society. All archologies share one currency, Dubloons. Gold coins from the old world countries.
A common profession on these archologies is to be a Sea Vulture.They scavenge the deep in rudimentary pressure suits, and for the weathier crews, submarines. They harvest anything they can find and sell it to the city. The career is not without is risks, the crushing abyss has bred plenty of deadly creatures. Few crews are venture deep enough fear an encounter, fewer are able to return.
Our tale begins in the aristocratic city of New Arcadia, with a young man by the name of Thomas.