Editing A Sky of Strife and Storms (section)

== Setting ==
Once, the land was unified, but some ancient cataclysm shattered it. The land is now scattered in smaller fragments, littered with the ruins of the civilizations that predated the disaster, with nothing approaching the size of a continent. Some of these islands lay on the ocean's surface. Others hover kilometers in the atmosphere. Their positions aren't fixed—new islands rise into the sky and older islands descend from the heavens, driven by the formation or destruction of mana crystals. As mana crystals are a powerful energy source for transportation, industry, and warfare, this must be carefully managed to avoid catastrophe. Enterprising or desperate individuals can even take advantage of this by hoisting a sail on a small flying island as a form of transportation.

For other, wealthier individuals, air travel is as simple as boarding an airship. The distribution of technology is almost as fragmented as the land itself, so the form that these take is often idiosyncratic, depending on which culture formed them. Large-scale, fast air travel is mostly the domain of wealthier and more cosmopolitan individuals. This also leads to a bit of an inherent class structure, with the very poorest individuals often living at sea level with little access to travel.

The world has dozens of seasons, and they sweep across in distinct bands, with no fixed schedule. Some are common, and others might be once-in-a-lifetime events. They aren't even strictly weather-based—one might bring an almost destructive abundance of plant growth, while the next is simply mild and sunny. At times, regardless of season, the weather can also manifest as powerful magical storms. These have unpredictable effects. Some can absorb items (or entire islands) from their surroundings, making them apparently vanish into thin air. Others will eject those unlucky passengers, with little relation to their original location—they can be left on the other side of the world, or even in a different time. Perhaps more commonly, these storms can warp the lifeforms that they pass over, transforming humans into new kiths or giving rise to unique and powerful, often giant, beasts.

In places where an island is overshadowed by a relatively stationary, large counterpart, a shadowland can form. These are areas where it's permanently dark, and the stagnant flow of mana can lead to the creation of strange creatures and phenomena.