Let's homebrew together!

[FriarRosing]

"In the ocean surrounding the volcano are dozens of intelligent semi-aquatic races that have been at war with each other since the dawn of the world. They fight for glory and for the right to challenge the landbound followers of Raishea for the secrets of the spark of divinity, which she guards from mortals."

"Legends claim that the world was once nothing but ocean, and the sea-dwelling peoples were the kings and rulers of all that was. They worshiped lost, submarine gods known as the Circle of Klaset. The priests of Klaset knew of Raishea even then, and kept her captive at the sea floor, drawing her divine ash up through deep ocean vents and harnessing as much of its power as was possible.

"Raishea was a slave to the people of the sea, and she wallowed in her shackled for millennia. But she longed to be free, and used her power to trick several of the ancient sea people, offering them great gains if they were to help her to freedom. Several became her followers, and worked long as a secret cult to do her binding, and free her from the watery depths.

"Centuries past before her plan could come to pass, and as her followers finally worked to spread chaos through the sea kingdoms and their rulers, she broke free of her chains and what had once been small vents from which only a portion of her power could be drained turned to massive volcanoes that spewed forth her fury and wrath.

"With the flames of the earth at her side, and the righteous power of her hatred guiding her, she stormed through the sea to the surface, forging numerous volcanoes and spreading a great flood of lava across the world. It was in this way that she formed the world of land, and set forth the creation of all that currently exists."

 

[ArghMark]

Overhead, large and heavily armed skyships armed with magically enhanced cannon float through the grey mists, navigating by the skill of their pilots who routinely sail high to get bearings in the mist. Cloud Riders often face many terrors, such as hungry fliers or pirates who lie hidden in the cloudbanks for fat prizes to pass.

The ships bring necessary trade between large settlements which often have large floating sky-docks for the ships. The ships sail using the steady currents called the 'Trade-Winds' to the different continents, and use smaller air-flows for smaller trade areas.

Due to the magical nature of the ash clouds, earth that has been thrown into the sky due to a past cataclysm maintains its position, giving rise to many small villages, hermits, ancient towers, bandit dens or pirate havens to which people who wish to escape the laws of the 'Landbound'. Some areas are quite large, and the ease of which small air-boats can be made means travel between nearby cloud-villages is fairly easy.

The local villages often net the mainly harmless creatures that float in schools through the clouds, or hunt some of the larger creatures.

Smaller groups of adventurers can often be Cloud Riders, who seek to find ancient artifacts or lucrative trade areas between the land bound or the different settlements in the skies above. Such adventurers are often called 'Ashies' due to their grey coloring for too many hours spent fruitlessly sifting through the ash clouds for ancient treasures. Many small groups form for protection of the local villages and criminal groups flourish in the environment.

'Stormies' are also known as 'Storm Riders', a powerful group of mages who focus on cloud and weather manipulation who wield great influence in the clouds for their own ends.