Facts of the Land

While the maps of the world might look like there are oceans surrounding the lands, there are in fact no large bodies of water known to the world—only small ponds, some rivers, and the occasional lake on the larger skylands.

So, if there are no oceans, what exactly is there instead?

In this world, the land is surrounded by aether and skies. Like the names imply, there are essentially large bodies of sky instead of water—which are far more dangerous than water. No one knows what is at the bottom of the skies, or if there is a bottom at all. No one has ever returned from a fall into the skies. (By the way, when "skies" is referring to the sky around the land and not up above, it is pronounced "skeez"—which rhymes with "seas.")

Beings that are capable of flight are able to cross skies, but they are generally advised not to cross aether without a ship, as the journey to land is much longer and has greater dangers than the threats found in skies.

Ships are the most common and safest way to travel across skies, as they are crafted specifically for crossing skies and much more dependable than trying to equip land-based transportation for the skies. However, ships do have risks, such as being targets for pirates and potentially being downed due to damage. For this reason, each skyland has their own "official" armada that patrols the skies around the land, promoting safe travel and ensuring that outlaws do not smuggle their way into kingdoms and whatnot.

The official armada of a skyland (also called "royal armada" in lands that have royalty) is the largest fleet defending that particular skyland, usually having officers trained through a special academy that is directly tied to the armada.

Individuals that wish to join the armada must enroll in the appropriate academy and pass the courses with enough skill and understanding to properly operate as a member of the armada. Individuals that demonstrate a particularly high level of skill may be awarded with the position of "captain" upon graduating at age nineteen—which is a fairly rare occurrence. The entry age for these academies is usually sixteen, and graduates are typically around the age of nineteen or twenty, depending on the academy. All academy programs are three years long or more.

Graduates of the academy will be organized into crews, and their ranks will be given in accordance to their academic standing. Most graduates start off as midshipmen and work their way up over time. Some individuals may choose to pursue medicinal arts and become physicians for crews. Female graduates are often selected to be healers (as they are usually practitioners of magic).

Each skyland has a particular "blood" tied to it, as it is assumed that each skyland was once occupied by only one particular species. This is known as the "root" of the individual that carries the blood in their vessels. Most roots have various subtypes, but the roots themselves are either known by the name of its associated skyland or the species it is the blood of. (e.g. Someone of Elmalian root is someone with the blood of dragons. Here, the underlined phrases are interchangeable.) Everyone has a dominant blood, and may or may not have an additional mix of blood.

The way blood is passed to offspring is actually fairly simple. The dominant blood of the parents will be the two types of blood that the child inherits, and the dominant blood will be that of the carrier of said child. (e.g. A mother that gives birth to a child will share the same dominant blood as the child, while their mix will be from whoever sired the child.)

Blood inheritance holds a certain amount of significance for everyone, usually being more important to those with titles and status than those not born into nobility. Many noble families enforce a standard of pure blood, refusing to marry anyone with a different root than their own in order to maintain this purity. "Pure" blood is blood that is descended from not only the same root, but also the same subtypes of blood within that root. (This is simplified for roots that don't have subtypes.)

Melds are the result of two (or more) blood roots being mixed. Those with two different subtypes of the same root are not melds. This is typically where the importance of dominant blood lies, as melds will possess features of their dominant blood and rarely of their mix. (e.g. Someone with a mix Goyaktic blood and Elmalian blood will either have goblin features or draconic features, depending on which blood is dominant.)

These particular topics are considered "the norm" among most beings, but there is the sense that some of these things may be offensive for many individuals. For simplicity, this section will simply be viewing these things as yet another fact of life.

• Melds are problematic.

  • → Blood isn't meant to be mixed with different roots, and doing so is doing the resulting child a disservice. Not only will the hybrid-child be a freak of nature that isn't of any one species, they will most likely have complications regarding their mixed anatomy and the like.

  • → Because melds are not one species, they are incapable of being a proper citizen of the skyland where they live. For example, Elmalians are unable to knowingly tell lies, but a meld that has Elmalian blood in their mix is able to lie—and that's a problem.

  • → Nobles are expected to keep maintain a "clean" bloodline; bringing someone of a foreign root into the line is disrespectful to the history of the land and title.

• It is highly unusual for a man to practice magic.

  • → Men have generally been tasked with the role of being the "sword and shield" of the battlefield and skies, thus leaving the job of practicing magic to the women.

  • → It is more difficult for men to attune themselves to magic than it is for women, although the reason for this remains mostly unknown. Many scholars have suggested that the cause may be from the stigma itself, creating a mentality that has an effect on one's capacity for magic.

  • → There is a lack of male practitioners, creating a lack of representation for boys that may wish to practice magic. It has been suggested that boys avoid joining covens due to the fact that they will likely be one of the few, if not only, boy in the coven.

  • → "Men join the armada, women join the coven." This saying is not yet considered outdated and is still used as propaganda by armada recruiters. Boys who fear they won't ever be "real men" are usually convinced by this statement.

• If someone has an imprecise accent, they're probably a pirate.

  • → Brangelish is the official language of six skylands, and each land has a particular dialect that is considered "correct." Failure to produce the standard dialect of one's skyland usually results in others viewing them with suspicion and oftentimes an assumption that they are not well-educated.

  • → As speaking Brangelish is an important skill for nobles, being unable to speak Brangelish is considered a characteristic of commoners.

  • → A "mixed" accent is a dialect where there are traces of many accents combined into one. This is usually a speech quirk of pirates, or anyone that frequently travels to different skylands.