Long ago, a huge power imbalance made waves through the gods, and the world tore itself apart in response. What was once a world covered with water surrounding every continent, with lakes on every territory, with rivers cutting through any patch of land they desired, became a dry world, up-heaved from its hot core. The continents shattered into countless floating islands, some quite large, but most rather small, freckling the globe, all taking space in what was once considered the sky. Most of the water drained into the world's hot core, becoming a hot misty layer under the continents, stretching miles below even the lowest islands. Darkness and heat overpowered the world, leaving much of it in a drought ever since. No one knows what lays beneath the mists, other than lost airships, corpses, and a compressed layer of mana, pushing upwards, that is thought to keep the islands from falling.
Magical spirits began coexisting with the mortal world by taking physical forms; magical mortals were able to see and interact with those that died long ago.
There are no fairy tale heroes. The most magical mortals are the ones who can safely travel through some of the more treacherous spiritual areas, who embark on trades, and promise safe travels. The villains of the world are merely those who force the cycle of the world out of balance, on purpose or otherwise.
The Cosmoyae
The Cosmoyae is the preferred name of the farplane where the strongest of spirits reside. It's separated into sections based on the gods that live there and their preferred settings; however the deities do not make permanent home here and in fact frequently touch into both the spirit and mortal planes as they like.
The deities are the ones who have shaped the world into its current form, and lead and control the elements and magicks available to every creature and person.
Town of Uscea
Uscea is a small town outside the Palmatum Forest. It has one of the most wildly varied populations, and people of all walks of life coexist in this town. As a port town in a perfect spot to stop and rest, countless people travelling from other countries and continents stop by, many deciding to rest in this quaint town. It's a great hub for anything you're looking for. A small group of knights protect the town from ne'er-do-wells and beasts.
Scinan Desert
The Scinan Desert is a dry continent made up mostly of an Erg desert, with a tall windy Hamada desert blocking all rains; little water is found here other than that sourced from magic. This is where the Scinan Desert is ruled: a powerful family of magical Bellfoxes control what little water is in their oasis. This family is said to have destroyed the dragons of lore, taking both their magic and rich wealth for themselves and creating the Oasis City. They frequently don themselves in dragonscales for protection.
The goddess Atarnua blesses this land with a warm, constant sun, and frequently makes her presence here. There is a massive, ancient library hidden somewhere in the deep crevices of the rocky pleatau'd desert where few live but the Elder Grande Harpies record all the history of the world.
Highlands
The Highlands have few residential homes and is mostly a land full of feral creatures and lost spirits. The shadows in the valley feel as though they blend the mortal plane and the spirit plane together, and they are places where a foolhearty traveler could be forever lost. An observatory sits on a remote cliff of one of the largest mountains, in the closest place between the heavens and the lands, surrounded by pure white snow.
Those who travel through these lands are powerful and train themselves against the beasts here. It takes little effort to plunder from those who came before them who were weak and died trying to do the same.
Palmatum Forest
Palmatum Forest is a sacred forest full of roaming spirits. All of the creatures that roam the dappled shades have their own ties to the spirit realm. This is the origin forest of the Palmatum spirits, which is how they got their name. No mortals that aren't spirit-borne live here; the nearby town of Uscea is a much safer habitat for them.
The mother tree grows here, and is the home and possibly true form of the Health and Nature goddess known as Willow. She blesses the land both of the forest and the massive floating continent where the forest grows.
Pirates
Travel between the floating continents can only be made by large airships. As expected, pirates rule the skies. This particular group is manned by the charismatic Aleksey, and this pirate ship is full of people with no home: dreamies who were stuck only working because of their tails, wild people who couldn't find a place to belong, wanderers who enjoy the ship as a home that explores with them...
The crew has a very unstable lifestyle; while Aleksey is a benevolent captain with a steal-from-the-rich principle and has quiet allies who just enjoy the travel and sights, the wilder crewmembers love causing petty trouble, and then there's a pair of Bellfox thieves who are anything but chivalrous.
Vanhaland
Vanhaburry is one of the largest commerce and residential cities in the world. It's the oldest residential area of the continent Vanhaland, which it is named after.
Run by an ancient family of magicians, the royal court is also the single most prestigous school of magic in the world. It houses the second largest library of magic (the first being a hoard first started by the now-extinct dragons).