The Abyssal Archive

Pillar IV

The Atlas

Plate I — depth-stratified

Pins sit at their canonical depth on a logarithmic gauge so the upper rib remains readable. The horizontal axis is ornamental — places have no fixed longitude on this plate.

652204601,1802,3803,6405,2407,1408,72010,180Recreational SCUBA0 m – 30 mTechnical / mixed gas30 m – 100 mSaturation diving100 m – 300 mADS & saturation specialty300 m – 700 mCrewed submersibles700 m – 6,000 mHadal — DSV expedition6,000 m – 11,000 msurfaceThe Lighted Surface0 – 200 mThe Sunlit Reach200 – 1,000 mThe Twilight Belt1,000 – 4,000 mThe Midnight Zone4,000 – 8,000 mThe Abyssal Plain8,000+ m0scale ornamentalKarrowin HaltThe Lipless ReachThe Reliquary at PellLethewards DriftHelmsward CrossingVarangurd AnchorageThe BonewardVarangurd, lower ribMarker IXThe BrassgateThe Meridian SpineThe Black LungThe Silent ChordTrench of AvalsThe Vault of HoursAvals, southern overlookGinnungap TrenchThe southern silt plain

Karrowin Halt

60 m

Anchored station among kelp forests, 40 – 80 m.

The upper-rib anchorage tourists actually go to. Recreational and technical divers welcome.

The Lipless Reach

60 m

Submerged former coastline, 30 – 90 m. Recreational and technical depth.

Tended by the Surfaceborne. The drowned coast that has not yet been forgotten.

The Reliquary at Pell

95 m

Submerged cathedral, 80 – 110 m. Technical-diving depth.

The most-photographed ruin in the archive. The Surfaceborne keep it.

Lethewards Drift

110 m

Abandoned shelf habitat, ca. 110 m. Survey only; not resettled.

Lost during the Subsidence Wars. Visited rarely, by Conservancy survey teams.

Helmsward Crossing

120 m

Cable corridor along an old surface road, 100 – 140 m.

Lit, working, lightly inhabited. The Filament Guild's longest single run.

Varangurd Anchorage

130 m

The principal human anchorage on the outer shelf, between 80 and 180 metres.

The most-trafficked human station on the shelf. Most arrivals from the surface land here.

The Boneward

150 m

Saturation-depth memorial above a flooded coastal city, 120 – 180 m.

Visited slowly, in saturation. Not a tourist site.

Varangurd, lower rib

220 m

ADS access point, 220 m. Used principally for descent staging to the markers.

The lower rib is where saturation pre-conditioning begins for envoys travelling to the liminal stations.

Marker IX

380 m

Liminal meeting station at 380 m, third-most-active of the markers.

A neutral dome with a vertical observation pane. Quarterly meetings between the Conservancy and the Tyrian Court.

The Brassgate

400 m

Diplomatic transit hub, 380 – 420 m. ADS depth.

Where the Pearled Council and the Conservancy meet on terms each finds tolerable.

The Meridian Spine

575 m

Sealed-hull deep human enclave, 540 – 600 m.

The deepest of the human cities anyone calls a city. ADS ingress only.

The Black Lung

1,100 m

Methane vent field with extremophile flora, 1 050 – 1 200 m.

The lung image is about gas, not flesh. Submersible-only access.

The Silent Chord

2,350 m

Pelagine seat of the Pearled Council, 2 200 – 2 500 m. Submersible observation only.

Acoustically distinctive. Long-range hydrophone records carry from here further than any other Pelagine site.

Trench of Avals

3,600 m

Pelagine trench-seat at 3 200 – 4 100 m, eastern wall.

The most-mapped Pelagine settlement reachable by submersible. Not visited; observed.

The Vault of Hours

3,800 m

Pelagine archive, 3 700 – 3 900 m. The Tyrian Court's repository of duration.

Observed only through submersible portholes. Lights precise, never bright.

Avals, southern overlook

4,050 m

Submersible observation point, 4 050 m.

A scarp from which the southernmost Court structures are partially visible at the edge of submersible-light range.

Ginnungap Trench

8,250 m

Hadal point, 8 100 – 8 400 m. DSV expedition only.

Visited maybe twice in the past ten years. The southern reach of the abyssal plain breaks here.

The southern silt plain

9,050 m

A wide, level stretch of the abyssal plain at ca. 9 050 m, where the seabed tilts up toward the Ginnungap Trench wall.

A landmark of bathymetric record only — not a settled point, not a Pelagine site, not a survey objective. Recorded because the seabed here is so flat that the trench wall, when it appears, appears suddenly.

Index of Soundings

Every pin in the plate above, grouped by zone, with its depth on the gauge. Linked entries open the codex page; unlinked landmarks carry their note inline.

The Lighted Surface

0 – 200 m

The Sunlit Reach

200 – 1,000 m

The Twilight Belt

1,000 – 4,000 m

The Midnight Zone

4,000 – 8,000 m

The Abyssal Plain

8,000+ m
  • Ginnungap Trench8,250 m
  • The southern silt plain9,050 m

    A wide, level stretch of the abyssal plain at ca. 9 050 m, where the seabed tilts up toward the Ginnungap Trench wall.

    A landmark of bathymetric record only — not a settled point, not a Pelagine site, not a survey objective. Recorded because the seabed here is so flat that the trench wall, when it appears, appears suddenly.