Sky Kingdom
Far above the land where mortals live, fight and die, the clouds themselves support a host of nations. Each cloud is an island where fantastic and strange forms of life dwell. Snow forms mountains, where the ice-bearded Grafa mine for diamonds and tap hidden veins of lightning. The dark clouds of the Morass hide a murky swamp, where the trees are spun from smoke and smog festers in pools.
Unlike the Otherworld, which hides around every corner in the mortal realm and often bleeds through, the Sky Kingdom is physically separated from the Mortal Realm by sheer altitude. One could reach it simply by flying high enough, but few magicians have the power to reach such heights, and few beings strong enough to make the journey would willingly carry mortals there.
That said, the Sky Kingdom is not literally on the clouds—rather, the clouds are the borders between that world and our own. It lies transposed, hanging in the sky, between the stone and the stars.
There are as many different cultures, creatures and landscapes in the World Above as there are in the mortal realms. Beasts of flesh and frost, the aarakocra tribes of bird-kin, wild herds of pegasi and far more populate the clouds. The aurai, winged elves who love silver, song, and utter freedom, have their ambling clans and nomadic homes here. In the Sky Kingdom, each cloud serves as an island, a massive archipelago over the endless skies. Fall from such a cloud and you will vanish from the Sky Kingdom and plummet to the Mortal Realm far below.
Though warlords, tribal leaders, mayors of glass cities and parliaments of wondrous beings all strive for dominance in the lands above, there is a reason they are called the sky Kingdom. Few dare challenge the will of the Thunder King Vindur, who reigns from his flying palace of Terranimbus. He and his people—the Storm Giants—have led a war of conquest across the Sky Kingdom for the eight hundred years. With the power to control weather, they can shape the world around them, opening the clouds beneath their foes to drop them to their deaths, calling up storms of awful power, and literally towering over lesser creatures.
Other giants dwell in the Sky Kingdom as well. It is said that some magical plants grow so high they reach the Land Above, and giants climb down to pillage and raid the lands of mortals. Hill Giants often dwell in the Mortal Kingdom, finding it to their liking (as the smallest of the true giants, they are lowest in the pecking order, and like to go where they can bully smaller creatures). Frost Giants rule great blizzards, carving thrones from pure ice. Cloud Giants keep away from their peers, preferring to contemplate the beauty of nature and seek truth. The Fire Giants were cast out of the Sky Kingdom long ago, and now work their forges deep in the Underworld.
Above the city of Terranimbus, the Celestial Lights dance and flicker in a beautiful and maddening array. They are said to be the path that leads from the Sky Kingdom to the Vault Of Heaven—the domain of the Stars themselves, guardians against the Hungry Dark . The Thunder King is the keeper of the lights, and has laid waste to nations to prevent their desecration.
There are ways to reach the Sky Kingdom for the earth bound. The right magic, cast with the right weather or under the right stars, can open a conduit between earth and sky. Thunderstorms and tornadoes have been known to carry unsuspecting mortals into the heavens. Certain mystical beasts can make the journey, if you know how to catch and tame them—pegasi being the most well known. And there are mountains where one can catch and ride the lightning to traverse the distance.
Geography
The Sky Kingdom consists of great clouds, soft but substantial enough to bear a creature's weight. These clouds range in size from tiny islands to nearly the size of continents, and feature fantastic terrain. Lakes of purest water, forests of blue trees, smogs of spun smoke and other wondrous reflections of earthly biomes can be found here. Every cloud is slightly different, and they move freely in the sky. It's possible for the inhabitants of one cloud to invade another when they drift close enough.
These clouds and their movements roughly translate to passing over the Mortal World. Clouds often breach the borders between the Sky Kingdom and the Mortal World; when skies clear and clouds vanish, they are not truly dissolved or gone, merely withdrawn fully to the Sky Kingdom.
While the clouds are too high for most birds to reach, magical creatures or means can be used to physically touch the clouds. Such contact usually transfers the subject into the Sky Kingdom.
Should a creature fall off a cloud, they plunge fairly quickly through the planar barrier and back to the Mortal World.
It is said that at the utter limits of the Sky Kingdom--North, South, East and West--there are places beyond mortal ken. One such example are the Mountains of Morning, East of East, where the light of each daybreak first touches, wild and undiluted. In these places the Four Winds, the Children of Vindur, make their homes.
Fauna & Flora
Unearthly life forms and creatures can be found in the Sky Kingdom. Plants made of cloud, living rain, or organic wind appear here. Sky Grapes famously grow in the vineyards of the Cloud Giants. These icy-blue fruits are each the size of a human's head, and can be distilled into a chill, dry dessert wine prized throughout the mortal world. In dark clouds of smoke, Umbral Banyans are dangerous but prized for their magical properties, empowering Shadow Magic. Smokesap, Eversmoke, Spunsmoke and more are found in the Morass, the infamous smoggy swamp that spreads across swathes of the Sky Kingdom.
Nearly all creatures native to the Sky Kingdom are capable of flight. Varieties of wondrous birds, air elementals, gryphons, wyverns and other winged and flying beasts are here in abundance. Stranger creatures dwell here also, such as the Smoglins of the Morasse. Chimera are known to nest in the mountain peaks. The Grafa, dwarves of elemental air, carve out tunnels in icy mountains.
Natural Resources
There is a secret to capturing and bottling lightning itself, which emnates from mighty storm clouds. Crystals and diamonds of unparalleled clarity and beauty can be mined from mountains of ice. Giant-sized plants and their seeds grow wild in the Sky Kingdom, and though they do not easily flourish on the Mortal World, they hold great value to those who can harvest them.
Magical resources such as nodes of elemental wind, alchemical reagents from the morasse, and more can all be found here, but any creature incapable of inherently shaping cloud stuff will be hard pressed to find stone or wood to create homes. Competition for the few tangible materials is fierce and often motivates conflict between power groups.
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