Tethys Ocean

The Tethys Ocean is the largest and deepest of Anterra's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Boreal Ocean in the north to the Hyberian Ocean in the south and is bounded by the continent of Avalonia in the west and Artemia and Kesh in the east.

At 158,153,000 square kilometers in area (as defined with an Hyberian southern border), this largest division of the World Ocean—and, in turn, the hydrosphere—covers about 58% of Anterra's water surface and more than one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of Anterra's land area combined. The centers of both the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Tethys Ocean. The equator subdivides it into the North(ern) Tethys Ocean and South(ern) Tethys Ocean.

Its mean depth is just under 4,000 meters. Frontier Deep in the Great Gap Trench, located in the South Tethys, is the deepest point in Anterra, reaching a depth of 9214 meters. The Tethys also contains the deepest point in the Northern Hemisphere, the Lotus Deep in the Yunai Trench, at 9076 meters. The third deepest point on Earth, the ... Deep, is located in the ... Trench.

Etymology
The Tethys Ocean derives it name from the ancient greek Titan Godess. This name was given to it by early Artemian explorers, who after seeing its vastness gave it the name of Oceanus' partner. The name first showed up on an 16th century map from an Jungastian explorer and has since then ever stuck.

Other names for this ocean included feira àdèreidí by early Tilennan sailors, roughly translating to vast expanse without end, but currently the name feira tetisa is more commonly used.

Early Migrations
The ancient settlers of the Tethys come from various backgrounds. The first people to start migrating in 2200 BCE were the a Tilennan people group from the Lamosan peninsula. They discovered the islands of Latanga first and slowly found more islands after that. New discoveries came to a long pause after they found the Kihei islands and it took 7 centuries to arrive at the Midway Islands.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Tethys 3 different people groups started settling the West Tethys islands. The first to do so were the Akitei people in 1300 BCE, soon followed by the Sinitic people from modern Kodeshia in 1200 BCE. They met at modern day Novo Santa Helena in 1000 BCE, with sailors from Poja arriving 4 centuries later. These people mixed and later discovered Iles-Saint-Croix, at which point they hit a roadblock.

In 100 BCE Tilennan sailors finally made it to the Midway Islands, but new discoveries were few and far between at this point, the last island they settled was in 1200 CE, all the way south near Hyberia.

Tilennan Exploration of the East Tethys
In the 9th Century BCE the Tilennan city state pacts were looking for new places to expand their influence to. The Lamosan Alliance focussed its energy on exploring the East Tethys Islands. First arriving on Latanga, there they met a similar looking kind of people, who spoke an incomprehensible dialect of Tilennan, but soon communicating was possible between the two cultures. Through friendly trade deals, Latanga proved essential for the further colonization of the West Tethys.

Crossing the Great Gap
The Great Gap is the area between East and West Tethys where no islands, safe from some small sand banks and rocks, lie. Crossing this gap proved extremely diffuclt for ancient sailors and therefore it took until the 7th Century CE before the west Tethian people finally made it to the East. Once they arrived they met the Tilennan settlers who have been present there for centuries already. Contact was peaceful and knowledge was shared between the two cultures and a major trade route across the Tethys was establishes. This route was nicknamed The Tethian Island Express. This route took approximately 2 months to sail across, which considering the distance traveled was extremely fast and efficient.

Regions of the Tethys
The Tethys is traditionally divided into 4 distinct regions: East, West, South and Southwest Tethys

West Tethys
People from the West Tethys are a mix between Sinitic, Japonic and Slavic people, having a distinct light skintone and dark eye and hair color. Their culture is largely intermingeled with that of Akiteiwa and Kodeshia due to proximity, although they have their proper language and cultural symbols. The Isles of Novo Santa Helena are seen as the center of this region and is therefore a prized possession of the Jungastian Empire.

East Tethys
The East Tethian people are descendant of the mainland Tilennan people. this means that just like their mailand cousins they have dark skin and eye color, but a distinct white hair color, often they are seen as the opposite of the West Tethian people. The West Tethys' culture has a lot of similarities to Tilennan culture, due to its early colonization and continued influence. This region is less centralized, but Latanga and Kihei are seen as the two most influential areas in this part of the Tethys.

South Tethys
The South Tethys is seen as a melting pot between the East and the West. Skin and hairtone vary a lot and their language is probably one of the strangests in Anterra, taking influence from Kodeshian, Akitei, Old Slavic and Tilennan, with the languages of modern colonizers mixed in. The South also feautures some smaller islands near Hyberia that had no native population and were only recently discovered.

South West Tethys
The South West is the outsider in Tethian Culture, having a small number of islands that were naver traditionally settled, it has no separte culture distinct from their settlers, mainly SiWallqanqa, Kaya and Tiperyn. Only the island of now Tannayerum had a native population, but this one was almost completely killed or relocated during the Kesh War.