The Hann Sea is large – it is roughly 4000 miles from Port Elizabeth to The Razardi Islands - and nearly 300 miles from the northern coast to the southern. This, in very broad terms, makes it about three times the area of the Mediterranean Sea. However, the Hann Sea is deeper than the Mediterranean Sea, much deeper in the middle of the sea. Reliable observers have reported that the water boils in the middle of the Hann Sea and that there is a stench of sulphur when you get close. Furthermore, there are sea monsters, some that should probably have died out years ago, in those deeper waters.

Very few ships travel across those dangerous waters, and waterborne trade is restricted to the shallower waters around the coastlines. While it is still only 4000 miles from Port Elizabeth to Razardi, there is no peace with Sakar on the southern coast. That coastline is home to pirates and privateers with free rein to raid ships that don’t fly a Sakaran flag, so not many traders take that route. The Northern Route, via West Telida, Strongholds Angasa and the Far Coast is about 1000 miles longer, and is preferred by all but the most reckless traders. However, that route has a number of safe-haven ports, with their trading opportunities, along the way.

To the east and west, there are two deep oceans, both of which are known for bad storms, dangerous sailing conditions and strange denizens – so very little exploration, of those deeper waters, has taken place. The harsh weather condition the East and West Oceans means there is no equivalent of the Gulf Stream, nor consistent wind patterns that cross those oceans, so travel across them is difficult.

However, it is known that the Sinan lands lie to the west, and few intrepid explorers have sailed those waters, and fewer still have come back to tell the tales. Sinan is reported to have a war-like culture, with great internal power struggles, and a xenophobic attitude to foreigners. While they are as well-developed as both Hann and Sakar, and perhaps more so in some areas of technology, the long distance and uncertain political system, means that trade links have not been established.

• For The Hann Empire, think of a disparate trading empire, with three strong nations - that are a thousand miles apart.
• For Sakar - think of Badlands, with a number of independent city states, bound together by a common culture, that is a mash-up of Fantasy Arabian and Lankhamar
• For Sinan, think of Chinese and Japanese mashed together in a politically uncomfortable melting pot. (Yeah, even though it is in the west. Perhaps this world is set in the Southern Hemisphere and the sages set got North to face the other way)