Soulbiter - Ocean, Frozen Ocean or Frozen Land?

[stuartfanning]

I am a bit confused about Soulbiter. Is it just a part frozen Ocean north of the Sunbirth Sea, rather like our Arctic Ocean? I think it is this rather than frozen Land.

[Wildling]

I may be wrong about this, but I seem to remember it referred to as not necessarily one particular spot, but wherever the cold storm's winds ended up.

But I may be mistaken, so don't trust me.

[IrrationalSanity]

The Soulbiter itself isn't in any specific area, however its victims are always drawn into it by the Dolewind. I believe each instance is also unique in experience, so another visit might feature a steamy haze rather than an icy mist. Still, there would be some way for the spirits of the dead to manifest and invoke their psycho-emotional burdens.

[DrPaul]

I think that the name Soulbiter tells you something important about the main danger of that sea.

[DrPaul]

And here is SRD casting more light on the Soulbiter.

www.stephenrdonaldson.com/fromtheauthor ... iter&none=
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[stuartfanning]

On page 118/119 of The Atlas of the Land, the author calls Soulbiter a 'frozen plain'. On the return from the the Isle of the One Tree, the Starfare's Gem gets stuck in Sea of Ice, and company has to cross over Soulbiter until they reach free flowing water. This is why I am confused on what Soulbiter is: frozen land or frozen ocean.

[wayfriend]

Gah! If TAOTL really says that, it's just out and out wrong.

The Soulbiter.

Pitchwife called it an imprecise sea, not only because every ship that found it did so in a different part of the world, but also because every ship that won free of it again told a different tale. Some vessels met gales and reefs in the south; others, stifling calms in the east; still others, rank and impenetrable beds of sargasso in the west. In spite of this, however, the Soulbiter was known for what it was; for no craft or crew ever came back from it unscathed. And each of those ships had been driven there by a Dolewind that blew too long without let or variation.

Sometimes the Soubiter is ice. Sometimes.

Sevinhand and his Giantship sailed a Sea which we name the Soulbiter, for it is ever fell and predictless, and no craft passes it without cost. There a calm such as we now suffer came upon them. Many and many a day the vessel lay stricken, and no life stirred the sails. Water and food became dire. Therefore the choice was taken to attempt a calling of Nicor.

"Yet the time came-as mayhap it must come to all ships in the end-when Wavedancer ran by happenstance into the Soulbiter. [...] For it was the season of gales in the Soulbiter, and the water was woven with crosswinds, buffeting Wavedancer in all ways at once. No sail could serve, and so the dromond was driven prow after keel southward, toward the place of reefs and peril known as Soulbiter's Teeth.