Sailing off the map causes the sea and sky to turn red.
The Devil's Shroud, also known by its community given name, the Red Sea, acts as a dangerous, foggy boundary surrounding the Sea of Thieves. Attempting to sail into the Shroud will cause repeated damage to your ship's hull, eventually resulting in the ship sinking and respawning back in the Sea of Thieves.
Mechanics
Upon crossing into the Devil's Shroud, the environment tints red and black clouds form. Ominous music occupies the experience whilst the ship buckles and breaks holes. The Shroud continuously damages the ship, eventually scuttling and respawning the player to a new ship (usually occurs past one map square).
Within the area of charted map surrounding the Shores of Gold, entry is permitted so long as the ship is fitted with the Shroudbreaker. This is obtained by starting the Shores of Gold Tall Tale.
Lore
In the Sea of Thieves art book and the Sea of Thieves comics, the Devil’s Shroud is described as an ominous grey fog bank surrounding the entirety of the Sea of Thieves. Anyone who may enter becomes disoriented and will end up lost within the fog, while the fog slowly corrodes all non-living, organic matter and man-made materials that it touches. The Shroud acts as a barrier between the outside world and the Sea of Thieves.
It is known that the shroud itself ebbs and flows like a living being, swallowing up areas into its corrosive and deadly fog and spitting out new areas. It is stated in the Athena's Fortune novel that Tribute Peak was once the centre of The Wilds. Since then, the Shroud has swallowed up Tribute Peak and the majority of other land which once was a part of The Wilds.
The Shroudbreaker was used to effectively control the fog. It was once wielded by the Ancients to protect their homes from its effects, before being used by both the Pirate Lord and Grace Morrow who used it to unveil most of the regions and the The Devil's Roar.
It is known that the Pirate Lord himself wields the power to divert the fog, as shown in the Maiden Voyage when he clears and illuminates the path for pirates to enter the Sea of Thieves. This is a clue that he may have some form of access to the Ancients' power, even without the Shroudbreaker. With it, he was likely the one to guide independent vessels through the Shroud by his known routes.
If a ship or a fleet was too large, then it would be unable to travel through these routes without corroding and sinking due to the Shroud's effects. This size factor is one of the key reasons why the Grand Maritime Union are currently unable to invade and roam the Sea of Thieves. The first pirates to cross the shroud mapped out the safest route for future pirates to venture into, attracting the Trading Companies who would form their own economy without fear from their enemies.
Expansions
The Shroud has retreated a number of times since the game's launch.
- 1. Forsaken Shores (1.3.0)
- The addition of
The Devil's Roar expanded the charted map to accommodate the new area. Leftover areas in the map after this change were not unblocked. - 2. Anniversary Update (2.0)
- The addition of the Shores of Gold unblocked the charted area north of The Devil's Roar, flush with the rest of the map.
- 3. Season Three (2.2.0)
- The addition of A Pirate's Life unblocked leftover areas of the charted map, expanding further north, south and west by four squares. The area past the Shores of Gold was not expanded.
Notes
- The borders of the Shroud on the Map Table are loosely illustrated. They do not strictly represent the border location in fine detail.