D&D 5E Cloud kingdoms....brainstorming

[Casimir Liber]

Okay (and yes I saw the kickstarter on cloudsea but that is steampunky so not what I'm thinking of). Have any DMs, world-creators or other imaginative people played with teh concept of cloud kingdoms. Am thinking of developing a region like this (sort of total opposite to Underdark ) And yes...cloud giants/hippogriff/aarakocra/storm giants get a guernsey. Anyone else seen a developed setting?
Nebulously

 

[Ancalagon]

Yes.

Read the first book of the Death Gate Cycle and you will get your wish

 

[NotAYakk]

In the world I'm working on (tm), flying in the air without the permission of the local air spirits is stupid, because they'll knock you out of the sky.

In one area of the world, a civilization has made deals with the local air spirits. They have floating islands in the sky and a ground nomad civilization. Access to the cloud kingdom is via pyramids on the ground (as part of the treaty).

This is where the Aarakocra live.

In my fantasy physics, Down is a real directly, and the Element of Earth pulls things Down (mostly stuff that is Above it). Get far enough from the Element of Earth, and you stop falling.

So once in the cloud kingdoms, "falling off" results in floating in the middle of the air and drifting with the wind, not a meteoric fall to the ground.

The wood in airships provides enough elemental Earth to provide a local down; so you can stand on the top of ships, fall off the side, and have to hold onto the bottom.

Non-flying humanoids use contraptions to flap themselves between islands, including to air-farms floating in the sky.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My first idea is floating island thanks a special mineral, the cavorite, but now my suggestion is a "vegetal cavorite", a cloud of "floating sargasso". Let's say their cells have got something like "midichlorians" with an anti-gravity effect, or something like hollow objects floating on the water, in this case a special incorporeal "ectoplasm". If a human or no-flying creature falls from the cloud it would fall to the "ghost sea". They wouldn't suffer damage by the fall, and they could breath the "incorporeal oxywater" but most of time they could be attacked and eaten by natural predators, like sea fauna.

 

[Stormonu]

I have a region in my home brew known as the Methane sea - it is semi-volcanic and in the colder months (over 6 months out of the year) the low-hanging clouds “solidify”, allowing ships and other vessels to be buoyed into the sky. It’s an area hundreds, if not thousands of miles across. Fortresses, ports and other facilities are built into various places of the mountain for use with travel by the floating ships. Gasbag “methane sharks” and other floating jellyfish like creatures have adapted to living in the Methane sea.

There are, of course, two dangers of the sea - most sailors need scarves or possibly heavier protection to navigate the “waters”, and concentrated pockets can be explosive.

 

[Tonguez]

Cloud Giants have an ability to solidify and mould cloud which they then use to build the cloud islands on which some dwell. These islands persist even after the cloud giant is gone and are solid, though bouncy at the centers but become increasing insubstantial as one expands outward to the wafting edges (this makes cloud geography dangerous as holes and wafting patchs can be traps for the unweary explorer).

Anyway in one area of the world is an entire Halfling city (inspired by Marios Cloud Kingdom) built across a series of interconnected cloud islands,
Usually travel is by Flying ships or personel glider-kites but in some parts its also possible to jump from one to the other

 

[Zardnaar]

Yes.

Read the first book of the Death Gate Cycle and you will get your wish

I was gonna mention this.

OP some thoughts.

1. Cloud islands a'la Cloud Giants.

2. Floating cities. Think Cloud City in Star Wars. Magitech keeps them afloat.

3. Actual floating land or continents.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Castle in the Sky, of course!

 

[EzekielRaiden]

You should check out 13th Age. One of the core conceits of its default setting, the Dragon Empire, is the "Overworld," a place brimming with magic and celestial forces...but still dangerous in its own way. It's not very detailed, just a short blurb, but you might find third-party stuff or player discussions to make it more useful.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Yes.

Read the first book of the Death Gate Cycle and you will get your wish

Heh...need an emoticon for "intrigued".....I concede though I've not been that much a fan of Hickman and co...the linearity of the Dragonlance modules drove me nuts.