Giant islands of floating dirt and stone support people above a hostile ground of disasters, wild magic, monsters, and marauders. The people in the skies above live on these Skylands, traveling between them on magnificent airships that ride the wind like ships ride the oceans waves. They make do as best as they are able, they clear out farmland and construct their cities well above the dangers of the ground below. Beneath these aerial civilizations the world is wild. On the ground the rule of law of these established civilizations in the sky breaks down somewhat, operating almost as a wild west, with holdouts of law and order and dangerous wild territories outside the somewhat rough and tumble cities and settlements. The cities in the sky keep themselves safe by staying in the sky, the cities on the ground rely on strong walls. Beyond these civilizations in the sky and on the ground, the peoples of Orizon have made places for themselves in the underground and beneath the waves.
Dragons soar across the skies, terrorizing airmen on airships. Kings and emperors command powerful armies. Wizards study the nature of magic and weave powerful spells. Clerics and priests offer prayer and service to gods and are tempted by fiends. There are many different peoples across the world of Orizon, all trying to make their way through this world and its broken horizon.
The primary landmasses of Orizon are the five continents, Aemali (Aye-Mall-E), Estir (Ess-tear), Internai (Inn-Tern-Aye), Ozrum (Oss-Rum), and Urur (Ooo-rer). Between these continents are vast and deep oceans with scattered islands amid the seas, each of them acting as their own small enclaves of unique cultures. Back in ancient times, before the world shattering cataclysm known as the Breaking, these continents were the seats of powerful empires. Each of these great empires had built up astounding cultures and magnificent technologies. They merged an understanding of magic and the sciences to develop almost impossibly powerful tools. Sadly, these cultures were caught in rivalry and conflict, going to war with each other, turning their technological marvels against each other. The war spread conflict and curses across the world, causing immense damage and finally culminating in the Breaking. The remnants of this old world are home to magnificent constructs of building and engineering, though they are unfortunately plagued by cursed and broken “survivors” and powerful monsters that were drawn to these seats of ancient power.
Following the Breaking, what remained was a fragmented mess, broken socially and geographically. Strong men and women were taken away to fight in a subsequent Godswar to protect what little remained, further dismantling what remained and ruining any hope of recovery.
New nations have risen and fallen in the time that has passed since this Breaking but they are, at best, dim reflections of what once was. Empires and kingdoms sit above the fractured remnants of these great societies and avoid the lethal dangers of their few crumbling cities.
The most visible and “famous” feature of the world of Orizon are the Skylands that are seated in the sky. Above the ground is a broken horizon of dirt and stone gathered together to form “Skylands,” islands in the sky. These Skylands, by virtue of their position in the sky secure against the risks below, have become the seats of modern civilization. The Skylands are enchanted by their very nature, pure magic is woven into the soil itself. Not only does this keep the land elevated, it offers some protection against wild magic eruptions and spreads its enchantment on some of the things growing upon them. Crops have some degree of floating and lift and seeds can spread far by the wind. The trees that grow on the Skylands are infused with this magic and become floatwood, an essential material for the construction of airships.
The world of Orizon suffers from infrequent but terrible eruptions of wild magic. These are a side effect from the massive release of raw energy during the Breaking. This cracked the structure that governed the flow of energy and the consequences of this have persisted for years on. This wild magic typically releases itself as natural disasters or storms and can spread out as blasts of random magical effects. These magics can cause mundane troubles and magical curses that can bane or bless whoever encounters them. They’ve been known to warp creatures trapped within them, to summon or banish, or to bestow amazing power upon the hapless and lucky. Thankfully, these storms are not as common as they once were. The breaks are gradually being patched where they can, and compensated for where they cannot. But these energies are still present and still occasionally overflowing into the world as eruptions of wild magic. They do still happen and occasionally hit unfortunate souls caught within them. There are entire orders of people dedicated specifically to healing the damage caused by wild magic storms.