After the 100-year-rains, civilization had to start over with whatever land they had left. Many new and unusual things arose from the floods, including underwater mushrooms that produce highly sought-after seaspores. Hundreds of years later, the players are harvesters of seaspores, called 'sea scrubbers,' who utilize magic and old world tech to harvest the spores, and a magical breed of alligators to locate them. They live aboard 'The Cuttlefish' - one of several small boats belonging to a fleet of caravan traders, formed from the wreckage of their former vessel. Having lost all but one of their alligators during the event that destroyed their original vessel, The Cuttlefish and crew try to survive in a world that's hostile to sea scrubbers who refuse to affiliate themselves with a larger power.

Before the 100-year-rains, fairies were a common sight. A portal to the Feywild allowed passage between the two planes, and many fey liked to sojourn in nearby goblin and elven communities on the material plane. But when the Rains started, there were concerns about flooding in the Feywild if the portal stayed open (...There were also a lot of desperate people, afraid of drowning, that suddenly wanted sanctuary in the Feywild... which the Fey Courts weren't about to allow). The decision was made to permanently close the portal - and anyone who didn't get back to the Feywild quickly enough was stranded on the material plane. With most of the elves then deciding to run away to their sky island—abandoning their other settlements—the fairies left behind decided to integrate into goblin society. Hundreds of years have passed since then. Although fairies retain a magical connection the Feywild, none of them alive in the present day have ever been there.

In the modern day, most fairies and goblins live on Glob Linas, which was created in joint partnership after the 100-year-rains finished. Glob Linas has three primary sectors: ‘street level’ (which is where most goblins live); ‘sky level’ (which is where most fairies live); and ‘under level’ (a series of caverns, many underwater - dangerous, few people choose to go here). Because gold has massively devalued after the Rains, much of the city is gilded. Only the most affluent can afford to use lumber in the construction of their homes, which includes the ruler of the island, the Western Merchant King.

Zyvel was raised by a crocodile in the caverns beneath Glob Linas. Crocodiles are intelligent and magical, but can’t use tools for shit - and that particular crocodile had a run-in with poachers, killed them all, but had gotten stuck in a trap and couldn’t get back out - so they used magic to lure in an urchin child to free them. Mildly impressed by Zyvel (and seeing the use that she could have both in terms of (a) doing tool stuff and (b) luring people in to get eaten), the crocodile took over rearing duties. Along the way, Zyvel got a surprisingly robust magical education, learned deep speech, got really used to living underground, etc. etc. When the crocodile disappeared a number of years later (and Zyvel failed to figure out why/where/what??), she decided to leave Glob Linas. Her best ticket off the island was joining up with a caravan, who she later learned were actually independent sea scrubbers trying to recruit new workers on the sly.

Note: Crocodiles are strange creatures similar to alligators from an outside appearance, except for the long horn at the center of their heads that are used to cast spells. Crocodiles gain power from eating other creatures and absorbing their latent magical energy. While crocodiles are very intelligent, they cannot speak any languages, and are unable to use humanoid tools or technology. In addition to their great size and magical energy, they hide a swarm of long, grasping tentacles inside their mouths that latch onto prey and drag it down their throat. It's hypothesized there may be some way to harness their innate method of storing magical energy, but research in this area has made little progress (partially due to the difficulty in capturing and studying crocodiles).

information about story arc 1