The Winter Truce settled over the Myriad Reefs Sea Region like a heavy, suffocating blanket, temporarily halting the apocalyptic slaughter that had stained the ocean red for the past year. Exhausted by the relentless meat-grinder of the obsidian trenches, both the Myriad Ocean Palace and the Holy Nether Sea Organization ordered their sprawling armadas to retract their fangs. They required a monumental pause to re-arm, ransom high-value captives, and negotiate shifting territorial borders before the spring offensives inevitably resumed.
This desperate need for a centralized, neutral diplomatic ground birthed the grand Maritime Trade Assembly. The chosen location was Coral Cloud Island, a massive free-trade archipelago administered jointly by the supreme merchant consortiums of the sea domain.
It took the heavily armored delegation fleet from Abyssal Pearl City four grueling weeks to navigate the icy, storm-battered shipping lanes to reach the archipelago.
