There are two dominant skyworlder races: The Wyrn and the Slal.
The Wyrn are a race not dissimilar to the winged dinosaurs of Earth's distant past, only sentient.
The Slal are large creatures, but their size comes from being largely comprised of gasbags that allow them to float through the air. They also are sentient.

There are patches of mist that are 'tainted' and dark, home to bleak magic and barren islands of the skies. The darkened demesnes are tied to ground based phenomena.. but noone is really quite sure what it is, only that people on the ground there disappear even faster.

all beings capable of speech have scottish accents

>>14749353

The aforementioned world-shrouded in mist is almost entirely tropical in climate where it isn't ocean.

>>14749394
They're not at war or anything, but their cooking competitions can get pretty heated. Slal pudding is amazing.

>>14749394
The Wyrm and Slal are warring theocracies, with the Slal a sort of Platonist/Buddhist hybrid who are obsessed with philosophical discourse and logical analysis, and the Wyrm following a sort of Islam/shamanism hybrid that preaches the supremacy of their species as conduits for natural power.

Death is not an abstract concept, but a short balding man carrying a surgeon's bag.

Among the spirits down below are the Mistworlders. These beings resemble white humanoids with little in the way of facial features and deep-set, pale yellow eyes. They rely little on their eyes, instead focusing their attention on sounds transmitted by their vast ears. Their skin is rubbery and resistant to injury. They are ignored by the spirits and some theorize them to be linked in origin. Their sentience is questionable.

>>14749445
>>14749443
Though not at war, the incompatible faiths make it difficult for the races to get along. Mostly they just avoid each other.

Certain members of both races with an eye towards profit have been known to deal with one another using basic food staples (grains, salt, cheeses) as a sort of common currency to balance bartering arrangements.

These inter-race merchants are known as Fluts, for reasons mostly lost to history, and are viewed with varying degrees of mistrust by those who don't need the goods they provide.

The flora is by any large eerie to those accustomed to temperate European vegetation, with mushrooming trees, grass which moves too and fro in an organic, un-meditated dance, and fruits which spread to the wind like a dandelion.

Most fauna is insectoid, scurrying up the sides of islands, flying between them, and occasionally simply floating, hives built from stolen resources and held aloft by gases produced by the insects.

>>14749472
He meets members of both races when they die (appearing as a member of their own race, though still equivalently balding and overweight, with spectacles).

He says his name is Todd.

Legends speak of strange races and civilizations that dwell within the ocean, but few skyworlders are brave enough to venture beneath the waves. Of those that do, most never return, and those that do return come back... differently.

Every inhabitant is given a plate at their birth filled with various items (Pen, books, coin, sword, etc.). The first 2 items they touch will determine their schooling and profession. (Pen+Book=Scholar, Book+Sword=Holy Order of Knights, Coin+Sword=Mercenary, stuff like that) Individuals are encouraged to try and always extend the boundaries of their profession, which is why they spend their entire lifetie on one specialty. Consequently, this society has very high moral standards, with imposing sense of duty and hospitality. You do not lie about your profession. You do not refuse our services because of a personal grudge, only if you feel morally uncertain about the task.

The Slal resemble Netches from Morrowind. Really big Netches, with poisonous tentacles and an absolute abhorrence for forks of all kinds.

Metal and stone are scarce. Crystal is not. Geysers form on the surface, vomitting up a stream of liquid crystal which congeals after clearing the mist into crystal that is both strong and easily workable with either tools or magic, setting to be harder than stone. Most of the other resources come from dangerous trips to the surface in airships or from peaks which are above the clouds and mined. The problem is that when these mines go too deep, they usually meet with the mountain's inhabitants.. or things from the surface that got into the natural caves.

never change /tg/. Never change.

>>14749477

Fluts make the most money selling various mind-altering substances to monks and holy men of both species, which is the only reason they haven't been put out of business by the general population for being shady bastards.

>>14749472
insomnia was terrible. deal with it.

The Slal are not the only floating beings on this world. Similar, much larger animals known as Helveds are farmed for meat and hydrogen. The very largest floaters are often confused for islands, with mixed results.

It is said that an ancient and powerful civilization was destroyed when their miners accidentally drilled into what they thought was an ore pocket, but was actually their island's brain.

>>14749496
The impossibly strong crystal is known as Bostromite, and in addition to its obvious physical applications has been found to contain vast reserves of energy in its molecular structure. Call it electricity, mana, or divine spirit, but it CAN be channeled (most notably, large amounts of the mineral can be used for the previously mentioned purpose of herding islands).

>>14749496
Food is typically grown at the edge of islands, space being at a premium. Generally mossy carpets that can be eaten, as well as sprouting odd globes of various flavours and consistencies, due to the varying air conditions. Regular grains, too. Only the largest island continents actually grow it on the surface.

Unlike your typical fantasy setting floating islands, they aren't held up by magic or SCIENCE; the mist is an extremely dense fluid, supporting the islands (which are primarily composed of very low density soils and pumice) by buoyancy. While they can be steered, islands tend to drift with currents in the mist.

It is possible to breathe in, and even swim through, the mist, but exhaling is a very exhausting effort, so races adapted to life above the mist (humans, for example) need to either be extremely fit or use special equipment to not be at a severe disadvantage against mist-adapted monsters.

>>14749517
>It is said that an ancient and powerful civilization was destroyed when their miners accidentally drilled into what they thought was an ore pocket, but was actually their island's brain.

More than one team of intrepid adventurers has been lost forever on the surface trying to find their remains. Common superstition says it's bad luck to talk about the society or those who are lost seeking it.

Every few seasons, the weather at a certain spot on the planet conspires with the spirits, forming great clouds of penises that travel lazily along the wind currents. When life is near, however, they will sink down and probe whatever life they envelop with long, prehensile penises. The children born from this, if allowed to survive, are rumored to be part spirit, and can walk on the winds and control storms, while also luring those of the opposite sex to lust and decadence.

Small drifting islands often serve the purpose of 'rural' villages - self sufficient, with trailing waterscoops in the mist for those islands that don't have plants that channel it upwards from the shroud onto the island.

Magic is a very real, if rare thing. Anyone can learn to channel it.. if they have the werewithal. Call it willpower, force of personality or the ability to channel it into place with complex diagrammatic magic constructs. Noone is quite sure of the source, but extra energy can be found in many places. Practioners have a bubbling wellspring of energy within them that never diminishes.. but can be grown upon. Channelling this, unfortunately, causes both mental exhaustion and sometimes physical injury if not done perfectly. The greater your 'wellspring' and your knowledge and control, the more power that can be safely handled.

>>14749479
Because of the limited nature of stone on the islands, and the spindly nature of most vegetation (unsuitable for logging or forming into planks), most buildings and settlements are composed primarily of adobe and other mud-derived building materials.

>>14749571

Whale-sized flying insects float in pods around and between the floating islands.

Though generally docile, these insects can prove dangerous to travellers through their sheer bulk.

Storms sometimes form in the sky, above the mist. They are terrible things, imbued with magic and often changing the world as much as destroying it with mutagenic properties. Some are inhabited by storm spirits, each embodying one of the three aspects - the rain, the wind, or the thunder which must be appeased by sacrificial offerings - or driven away to prevent destruction.

Legend speaks of a great domed city made of rare metals, crystals and stones somewhere beneath the myst, somehow protected from the world around it.

>>14749640
Some claim this is the same lost city which drilled into their island's brain, but survived the crash.

>>14749630
Legends of the world state that once there were no mist, no islands, no monsters. Everyone lived on the surface. But three raging, jealous gods went to war, each desiring the power of the others. Their war tore the world asunder, drowning it in mist and monsters and forcing people to ascend toward the sky to escape. Unexplained phenomena in the Below are often attributed to their unending war.

>>14749555
(I wrote this when just the OP was posted, but took too long to write it, so disregard things that have been invalidated: humans, for example. Actually, since the consensus seems to be in favor of magically floating islands and winged / gasbag motion, maybe it is all invalidated. I'm totally okay with where things are going, though.)

On one island there's a nation of fat, large-mouthed people. They've developed a mechanical set of wings that allows them to dive down into the ocean below and catch fish, providing seafood through trade for the rest of the world.

Unfortunately they've found due to their bodily makeup the best way to catch fish is to eat them alive and regurgitate them when they return back to their island. They keep the fact that all seafood is regurgitated a secret so trade doesn't die out.

>>14749605

These insects, known as Mirids, are often tamed by Wyrn and hunted by Slal.

Many a dispute between these races has arisen from Slal hunting down Wyrn-tamed Mirids.

>>14749661
Giant frogs/bird people? Yes please.

The Tower of Ias is an oddity in the world, mostly metal and with obvious mechanical uses, it stretched towards the heavens, beyond the realm of sight. Although easy to enter, no one has yet to gather enough resources to successfully climb the tower

In mineral-rich areas, insectoid beings with obsidian braincases consume metal and turn them into extra protection for themselves. When their metal-eating habits allows them to reach a certain level of protection, they begin to construct fantastic metal sculptures outside of their subterranean lairs.

No two of these beings look alike, but no one knows why this is.

>>14749661
Because of the hostile and violent nature of most sea life, most other races don't fish. It is only thanks to the bravery, knowhow and a number of other trade secrets of these individuals that anyone even knows stuff exists beneath the waves.

Magic is very hard to control. It seems more like a cause for natural disaster more than a weapon. Few people harness it using sigils tattoo'd on their skin, or printed on their armor/weapons.

Excess magic users and unfortunate novices often get corrupted with residual magic. This deforms them, turning them into hideous mutants.

Some areas are regarded as cursed, as noone entering ever returns. What is unknown is that within are surface beings, living on peaks and able to launch themselves at passing islands using short range flight. They sack and burn the civilization on the islands, dragging them to the surface for reasons unknown. Why, there are even rumors of a dark island, filled with surface beasts muzzled and 'tamed' by twisted, monstrous versions of people from the world below, building an army of conquest.

>>14749692
Stranger still, some brave travelers have brought back reports that an identical tower exists on exactly the opposite side of the planet. Whether they are seperate or one long spire, no one knows.

>>14749696
Wealth/status among the Zirrik (since you forgot to include their name) is largely determined by physical size. The older you are and more you've eaten, the thicker your armor plating. The leaders of the race (the queen and her half-dozen mate-lords) have not been seen by members of other races -or most of the Zirrik themselves- for centuries. The highest ranking Zirrik seen in public are completely immobile, tended by smaller servants and fed by long-handled spoons.

Seething masses of flesh-like substance sometimes spontaneously ooze into existance in highly-populated areas, then make off with manufactured metal goods. It is a folk tradition among many to give these creatures a few coins and to make a wish.

On very rare occasion, usually without warning, strange beings from other planes or dimensions find themselves stranded in this world.

They um. They don't last very long.

>>14749728
Oh, you mean the Tower of Sal.

Yes, some people believe they're a single connected spire running through the world...but others believe they are opposite ends of a tower which begins and ends on either pole, and somehow reaches around the entire universe.

It's all quite obviously nonsense. After all, who could build something like that?

I'm late to the thread and by the time I catch up the number of posts will have increased.

Can someone post some kind of unified vague description?

>>14749707
The Bleak Crag is the premier 'neutral' magic academy, holding no allegiances to any island. Free tutelage to anyone who appears, as a live-in apprentice in exchange for years of bonded servitude after graduation. Why, there are even massive airships that ply routes on the world, completely empty and always returning to the Crag after one year. The graduates are a close knit, close mouthed, grim bunch, however, and rumors of demonolatry and evil and students having parts of their soul drunk abound.

There's an island where a mutant was born. He was like every other member of his race, but upon his adolescent years developed an insatiable appetite. No food could sate him. Until, in a fit of fevered hunger, he bit at one of his caretakers.

And so it began. Cannibalism, touched upon by the strange ability of this mutant as he found that with each person he ate, they became part of him, and he gained their mass and strength.

Within a week the rest of his people found out what was going on and arranged an attack. But it failed. And now he sits, the sole living thing on his island, just waiting for explorers from some other island to come by, perhaps with a method for him to transport his country-sized form.

A friend and I sort of latched onto the theo-philosophical basis for the Wyrm and Slal in a convo and it went like this

>Slalfag here, Wyrm can suck my cock.
>Wyrmfag here. I pop Slals with spear-throwers in the name of the All-Pervasive.
>Wyrms are backward shit-skins who wouldn't know the All-Pervasive if it beat them about the head.
>Slals are scholasticist fags who lose their ability to intuit the All-Pervasive with their obsession with dialectic.
>Wyrms lack the dialectic to correctly interpret their visions.
>An amorphous gas-blob talking about vision. Ha!
>The amorphous shape of the Slal is a far better symbol for the Monad than the wretched lizard-shape of the Wyrm.
>The Wyrm's ability to fly through the air with wings to survey the earth and walk on the ground with hands and legs to survey the sky is proof that the Monad, the source of all cosmic manifestation, favors the Wyrm.

Zirrik are believed to share a common ancestor with Mirids.

This opinion is supported by the metallic nature of Mirid exoskeletons and the extent to which the Zirrik will go to stop others from harming Mirids.

>>14749780

The world below is dangerous, but mostly normal, and shrouded by mist that is quite dense. Plant life can mostly survive down there without sunlight, and monstrous creatures live within, eating anyone who goes down - usually. People live on huge floating islands above. Resources like stone and metal are rare, mined dangerously from mountains sitting above the mist or islands, or even more dangerously surface expeditions. The main resource is a crystal called Bostromite. It spews from the surface in liquid form, congealing above the clouds into gems. It can be worked by magic or special tools and then made to set incredibly hard. It also contains an obscene amount of energy for magical workings. Magic is drawn from the environment around or within. Magic taken from the environment around can be diminished, but that within never does - but both kinds are dangerous to handle, with imperfect channelling of the energy leaving you mentally exhausted and sometimes physically injured. Excessive and imperfect handling can also have mutagenic properties. There is a magic academy regarded with fear and suspicion that sends out empty airships to collect people who wish to learn - and ANYONE can learn, if they have the right.. well, willpower, force of personality or even the ability to emmorise channelling diagrams.
More to come.

>>14749781
Despite this, crag-educated mages are consistently in high demand among Fluts, who find having magic users well-worth the risk, particularly when the merchants encounter something dangerous and poorly understood.

The high gas-content of the atmosphere turns even the smallest fireball into a raging inferno that can consume the sky. Successful Flut vessels are lined with Zirrik exoskeleton-metal to shield them from the blazing skies they create.

>>14749780
The flora tends to be pretty alien - mushrooming trees, grass that moves in a dance independant of the winds and floating fruits. It's primarily farmed at the edge of the islands, where it grows in mossy carpets that sprout edible globes along with regular grains - but it also can be grown on the surface of larger isles. Flora tends to be insectoid and have gas bags. Not many mentioned races yet - two religious races who are not too fond of each other. One, the Wyrn, look like giant flying dinosaurs, but sentient. They follow an Islamic/Shamanistic hybrid that precious supremacy of their species as natural power conduits. The other, the Slal, make fucking awesome pudding and often compete against the Wyrn in cookoffs. They look like giant floating Netches, with toxic tentacles and an abhorrence of forks. Also sentient. They follow a platonist/buddhist hybrid religion, obsessed with philosophical discource and logical analysis. There are a race of beings who with obsidian brain cases who eat metal, with size being an indicator of status. No two look exactly alike. There are also a race of frog people who do the fishing for the world, no name as yet. They use mechanomagic wing constructions to dive to the seas below, swallowing fish and escaping from hostile sea life - then regurgitating it on the islands. They are the only source of seafood in the world, and keep this secret. In the mist are the Mistborn ,a race of people with debatable sentience. They are ignored by the spirits below, are tough and pale and withered with yellow eyes and broad features. There are part spirit children, walkers on the mist and callers of storms - these are very rare.

>>14749780
The mist is, in places, ruled as 'cursed' - it holds barren islands and dark magic, caused by something unknown on the ground. People on the ground here disappear almost immediately. Storms filled with spirits of rain, thunder and wind form sometimes and must be appeased with offerings - or fought off. Spirit penis clouds are a terrifying occurance, resulting in spirit children. There are rumors of an army of twisted islanders with tame surface beasts out to conquer the world, and legends of three jealous gods who drowned the world in mist in a war for each other's power, who still battle below.

I think I've gotten it all.

>>14749808
Wyrn. With an "n".

The Mistworlders, known almost unanimously among each race as their languages' equivalent of "Jumper", are capable of immense leaps, sometimes allowing them to latch onto the base of the islands and climb onto them. Mistworlder incursions are rare, but they often bring numerous spirits with them and seem to wield some innate magic. A single Mistworlder can often wreak great havoc to a given island.

All right then. I'm going to try to come up with something without knowing any previous information. Let's see if this works:


The Marmari are a secretive group of traveling hermits who follow a series of strict, bizarre laws. It is unclear why they follow these rules, but most people suspect that it is some manner of devotional practice to a god. A few of their rules are listed below:
>They may not sleep in the same area twice
>They may not speak unless spoken to
>They may not touch anything that has been made by another human
>They may not touch any complex tools (weapons, firestarters, books, etc.). Knapped stone is allowed for cutting.
>They may not touch anything that does not occur in nature (any steel, treated leather, etc)
>They may not discuss the nature of The Mamari

These lead to some bizarre customs such as either going naked or wearing animal pelts. They mainly eat raw meat and wild fruits / nuts. They defend themselves and hunt with their hands or with thrown rocks.

Flying fortresses, the SkyKin roam the world, ravaging entire islands with their absurdly long tentacles absorbing nutrient from the very earth.

Though they are blissfully rare as their size and appetite cannot support a large population, they remain beyond the means of current military technology, catapults bounce off harmlessly, arrows pass through as if their bodies were water, and magic simply infuriates them, causing the normally lax and easily avoided tentacles to thrash about wildly, destroying even the most well buried safe-house

>>14749980
>Wyrn. With an "n".

wat.

How the fuck did I miss that?

>>14749980
A mistworlder that has climbed onto an island will be preceded by a localized cloud of mist, leading to debates on whether the mist is generated by the Jumpers or simply follows them due to their magic.

Humans do exist on the world, and are known as insanely tenacious and near homicidal little bastards - but not a whole lot else.

>>14750031
Fairly easily. Wyrn looks, at a casual glance, like it could be:
W Y R N
W Y R M
W Y M

>>14749836
>>14749893
>>14749928
Hmmm...

There are species of luminescent jellyfish in the mist. They do not sting and may be captured in a glass jar for a surprisingly lengthy duration of light.

Twice a year the Skymen come, simple, mute creatures, their purpose is unknown. They are not particularly sturdy, yea upon springs arrival they land on multiple islands and from there descend into the mist, and at the end of every fall, nearly everyone returns. In all the years the skymen have been kept track of, only 1 has not returned

Some smaller aquatic plants and animals live inside the watery bodies of Skykin.

One Skykin can hold an entire ecosystem within it.

There are some mobile stars in the sky. Almanacs have been written for their movement, as they often cause changes in conditions - the mist might rise up and cause everyone to enter their safe houses when one enters a certain portion of the sky or grows larger, or another may create an upswing in geyser activity.

Geysers have been known to form independently of the earth - they look like small mountains, hewed from the earth and flipped upside down that ooze rather than vomit crystalline fluid.

Enormous columns of mist stretch into the sky beyond sight at certain points.

The most well-known mist column is called the "Spear of Thought" and is clearly visible from The Bleak Crag.

>>14750082
Some larger instances of these creatures have been noted to carry Jumpers through the mist. Special care is taken not to venture near them by any skyfaring race, lest they come within range of the Jumper's powerful bound or magic.

There exists a few plains free of mist, with rich earth, but it is unbearably hot and there are other reasons to avoid the Barren Plains

Can we get some drawfags in here?
I'd like to see the major races of the world (needs a name, folks) represented.

This thread is awesome! But I have to wake up early tomorrow. So here's a bump and I save the thread so-far, just in case it 404s. I think this would make a very fun setting.

>>14750153
Basic scribbles, here.

There is a religion devoted to the three old gods of legend - violent, monstrous worshippers who use blood sacrifice on an altar that drops the corpse into the mists after the murder is dedicated. The problem? The storms with spirits seem to listen to them.

>>14750326
Continuing.

>>14750476
Got two ideas for Jumpers.

>>14750563
I prefer the latter, personally.

>>14750567
me too, to be honest. The gill-bits make me think of fitlering the mist for food.

Adventurers are required for expeditions to the earth - it's a fairly well kept secret, but the mist? It's getting closer to the base of the islands. Glowing lines, later identified as rivers of magma, have been sited on the earth below. Dark burning shapes can be seen moving through the mist. Something is happening.

I'm going with ungainly, inhuman proportions.

god I love /tg/

This kind of thread could never exist on any other board

One of the very few metal-rich civilizations is that of the Reab Edop, who have stumbled on a rare mountain that does not open to the outside world. Mining proceeds apace, deep into the earth where magma-farming allows them to extract metal and stone, selling it to people who tie up at their great trade port of Nasnoh Peak. They are constantly seeking trained warriors and magic users to battle the magma-men and the monsters that were uncovered in the caves beneath the mountain, vast and ancient natural catacombs that, while untainted by mist are not uninhabited and bear the ruins of a previous civilization.

>>14750980
The people of the Mountain resemble dwarves, except with legs and arms that are many jointed and equally as long. Sharp claws can make mincemeat of rock and soil, and they typically eat a form of glowing fungii within their peak.

Their religion revolves around the great renewer - a volcanic peak that will erupt and burn away not only the mist, but all life in the skies and on the earth while they remain safe in their mountain. They trade to lay in supplies of crystal and non-perishable foods against this eventual day.

>>14751022
I love this thread as much as the Edop love Slal pie.

Which is to say, enough to risk mass deaths and/or bankruptcy in order to acquire it.

The mesa known as Terra one of the few non-floating isles which rise above the mist, it is also surrounded by the thickest mists in the world, fed by its vast waterfalls.
Though research persists into the source of the mesa's seemingly endless supply of water, the total lack of life both in the water and on the land has unnerved many, and researchers who've spent any significant amount of time on the mesa invariably go mad, mumbling about the horrible, screeching yells of their shadows

Bump.

Because players would like more of a variety of races to choose from, here's another.

Llondorn, one of the four largest floating islands, is covered by heavy rainfall for 3/4 of the year. While most of the other landmasses can be controlled, this one follows a cyclic path that varies slightly every season. The mist here is thick, though for some reason inhibits the use of magic to a slight degree. Here reside the Sikruw, a race that resembles a cross between field mice and reindeer, though bipedal and standing at average height. Their feudal society (with small 'dukedoms' spread across the trailing minute islands) is ruled by the code of chivalry, and is controlled by a host of lords and ladies. They refer to their kingdom as Orzim, and their chief harvest consists of a crop called Tol, which looks like a simple berry, though it is considerable in size. What with the persistent rainfall, the people of Orzim forsook metal accoutrements long ago in favor of leather, and have become quite renowned in it's craft.

The Sikruw are a proud, stoic, and honorable people who follow a general code of ethics. Frequently making war with a cruel people of the surface, they are quite familiar with the art of war.

Recently, the king as died, of dubious cause. With the seat of power vacant, there is a bloodless power struggle occurring, rife with dubious claims to the throne, and subterfuge amongst the nobles in the court.

Sikrum would-be knights, referred to as Pilgrims, must travel the lands for one year before being admitted to the League of Templars. This is to ensure that not only is this esteemed league educated (which takes place during a most rigorous 10 years after their eighth birthday), but also to claim a great wealth of worldly experience.

They are well versed in the husbandry of [insert to-be-defined mount here], and ride them into battle if it for the benefit of the kingdom. The Sikruw favor the bow and crystal longsword.

cmon, dudes, lets make this awesome (not that it already isn't)

Concerning the spirits that inhabit this world (which has yet to be named), they seem capricious. It is debated as to whether they actively partake in worldly affairs, but according to the doctrines, they seem strange and alien, though assuredly unreasonable.

Tales from the Tower of Ias claim that there are gorrila-like automatons which keep the Tower(s, it is theorized that they also exist at the Tower of Sai) repaired. This would also serve to explain the occasional debris falling at odd trajectories from the Tower, faulty parts thrown away at a distance which is sure not to damage the base of the Tower