A challenge!
Here you go...
Here is the basic premise (note that this is not the actual game-text, just the basics, very little of it will appear in the final product):
Living in the Skylands
Look around you. Above is only the sky. Beneath your feet, the green grass, a stream bubbling nearby. Out in the distance, the vast Orb hangs eternally on the horizon, the sky glows, giving depth to distant islands of life hanging in that Infinite Blue. Ships flit in the space between the islands, carrying gold, goods, people and intoxicating news of wars far away.
Your life has been lived on one small rock in an infinite sea of floating islands.
Physical Description
The Skylands are a vast collection of life-bearing rock, floating in an infinite sea of air. As far as any traveler has ever gone, the Skylands endure. They form clusters called skynes. A typical skyne has three to twenty rocks, most of which are large enough to hold a small town, but some may be as small as an acre. Skynes move with respect to each other, with some small movements relative to each member within the skyne. The internal movements are so small as to not be noticed in everyday observation. The only exception to this are the rocks held together by Herdchains, enormous iron chains that link some rocks. Skynes never collide with one another. When two such groupings meet, the various rocks simply slide harmlessly by.
The Blue Void isn’t always blue. Every twelve to fourteen hours, it grows dark and you have to light a fire. Stars glitter in the dark, and lightning arcs across the surface of Orb.
Orb
The people of the skylands do not have a moon. Or perhaps it is best said they do not call it a moon. They call it Orb. All skynes move in elliptical orbits around Orb. Orb darkens with the rest of the sky. Shadows are produced by a seemingly source-less illumination called the Glow. It originates far from the Skylands and changes position slowly over time.
Life Support
Most of the rocks produce food in abundance. When found, an uninhabited rock can be overflowing with resources. There will be life-sustaining materials springing anew every morning, waiting to be consumed. Fresh water is no problem, and the larger rocks (those in excess of a mile or two in area) will have ample game animals and support livestock if such is brought from one of the larger settlements.
The Wish
If all this seems to good to be true, it is. You aren’t living in reality. Some thousands of years ago, no one much remembers when, a great cataclysm threatened World. A great hero arose to defend World against this threat and failed. He died with a Wish on his lips. That Wish was one we live with today.
He bade the universe bend to his desire. He wished that life on World would go on, no matter what happened,
He got his wish. Reality spun around his dying words and as World perished in planet-cracking fury, the shattered remains float in a life-giving envelope of air.
The Wish was far reaching. A new substance was created, a substance that allows the islands to remain afloat. Called many things, lift-stone, waft-rock and floaty-stuff (mostly by children, mind you), sages and wizards call it Landcore.
Landcore does not regenerate. A certain quantity was created when the Hero made his wish, and it can only be mined or transferred from one source to another. If mined in too great a quantity, the rock that it supported will fall toward Orb with explosive results. All life on that rock will die and return to the Wish where it came from. Speaking of which…
Dying in the Skylands
Hope that you don’t.
You see, you can’t come back after you die here. Some say that before World shattered, you could be returned easily from whatever realm of death you might have been sent to. No longer, if you aren’t resurrected before the next dawn, you will never come back.
Your life essence and the body it inhabited will vanish, manifested as fresh water, new plants, baby birds and the very light of the Blue Void.
This raises the question of Undead. Creatures made into undead do not fade away at dawn, but hang on in desperate mockery of the Wish. Certainly, spells that create Undead must be cast before dawn or fail utterly. Spells such as Speak with Dead that require an enduring spirit do not function.
The Sky Ships
Plying the vastness of the Skylands are Sky Ships, graceful and quick or hulking and slow, the ships are an awesome sight.
They range from tiny flitters to great cityships. Traditionally, they have a curved hull, but any aerodynamic hull is possible.
Culture
Farming is not unknown in the Skylands, rocks that are entirely built up into cities cannot produce food and water, so excesses must be generated to ship into such places. Note, however that such supplies must be delivered and consumed before dawn. In the eternal summer of the Skylands, deadlines are everything. Society is based on these deadlines.
Skyship pilots are special people, as they keep the cities running. Less honored are the farmers who produce all that food. Farming isn't as glamourous, one supposes. Young folks desire to join their city's fleet and battle pirates, or join the pirates and battle the city's fleet.
Society is feudal in nature, with few exceptions. Each large city-rock has a king or emperor, while smaller rocks have mayors, sheriffs or (in the case of delusional rulers) kings and emperors. Some rocks are held in the grip of madmen or dictators, but that's what player-characters are for, right?
Economy
The people of the Skylands have a mercantile economy based on trading gold, silver, platnum and landcore. Finished goods are not provided by the Wish, so skilled craftsmen are valued. Piracy is common, and a large subculture of Sky Rats practices raiding.
Prestige Classes
Chain Runners: Messengers who run up and down the Herdchains delivering packages and news. They have great balance and acrobatics skills, useful to them in other pursuits.
Sky Rat: Half Rogue, half Fighter, some raid dictator's shipping, other less savory types raid against honest hard-working shippers. Both types are seen as romantic adventurers by society.
Wish-Twisters: Mages who use the Wish to produce different effects in the environment.
How's that for a basic premise?
