Lukomorye
Realm of the Sea Tsar
Lukomorye is the realm of the Sea Tsar of the Slavic pantheon. It takes the form of a sunken crescent-shaped island of coral, with a deeper lagoon in the centre. The Palace of the Sea Tsar is located deep in the lagoon, as such, so the coral encircles it from three sides, forming a natural wall. The Palace itself is made out of coral, shells and stone and decorated with pearls, gold and a few gems. It is a comfortable abode for swimming creatures, so instead of stairs and ladders it is riddled throughout with water-filled with tunnels and passageways. The palace is inhabited by a veritable army of servants, including various kinds of intelligent fish and crustaceans, who are all able to speak the common languages of the realm and even perform innate magic. Most of those creatures are only able to cast minor spells such as invisibility, but Pike (that’s both her name and her species), an adviser and a bodyguard for the Tsar and his court, can cast arcane magic up to and including wish.
The palace is surrounded by the homes and settlements of aquatic humanoids—mostly merfolk and tritons. Petitioners of the Sea Tsar also take the form of merfolk. Peaceful vodyanoi inhabit areas around the realm, tending the herds of fish and riding giant catfish and sturgeons. The waters around Lukomorye are blessed and can sustain both freshwater and marine wildlife. A small garrison of benevolent storm giants under the command of Moryana (storm giant warrior [she/her] / CG) is allied with the Sea Tsar, and has set its camp in one of the deeper trenches near the realm.
Lukomorye is often visited by aquatic creatures—other powers of Ossa, the Whale Lord of the Beastlands, nereids and rusalkas. Foreign vodyanoi are known to come to the place to ask for help against humanoids and monsters despoiling their watery homes. Sea hags and mavka sometimes try to sneak into the realm, and the tanar’ri lord Troyan often sends his wastriliths to despoil Lukomorye. Surface-dwelling visitors of Lukomorye typically only visit the small village on the encircling island.
One of the curious locales around Lukomorye is an underwater lake of sulfuric gases and anoxic water. Fish and tritons guard this place, despite the fact that none of them is able to enter those toxic waters. It isn’t known whatever is hidden in this dangerous area—some say a portal to another, secret kip of the Sea Tsar, or even a vortex to the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Fumes.
Sources: Margarita and Jon Winter-Holt. Margarita notes: While this homebrew power is based on Slavic folklore and beliefs, the amount of actual information we have on pre-Christian Slavic deities is so minuscule that building any kind of lore out of it is impossible. However, there are a lot of folk beliefs about things these deities are thought to represent, which I have worked into the piece.
