A land torn asunder by divine conflict, the Skybound Shardlands are a shattered archipelago of cratered islands, drifting monoliths, and fractured mountains that defy the very laws of nature. Once a fertile and bountiful land, the Shardlands were the great bridge between The Earth Realm and The Sun Realm, connected by the Spine of the World—a mighty mountain range that spanned across both continents. However, in the climactic battle between Avatar Rok and Malekith, the land was forever sundered, ripped apart by cataclysmic forces that shattered the mountain range and left behind an impossible landscape of floating islands and fractured stone.
Sundering of the Spine
The battle between Avatar Rok, the Titan of Stone, and Malekith, the Betrayer of the Sun, was one of unimaginable devastation. As Malekith wielded the power of the sun itself to reshape the land in his image, Rok countered with Earth-Rifting—an ancient power that could reshape mountains, chasms, and valleys with his will alone. Their battle tore the Spine of the World asunder, sending mountains crashing into the sea and causing the very bedrock to rupture. The result was a land forever disjointed, with fragments of mountains, broken peaks, and entire chunks of land levitating in defiance of gravity.
Even centuries later, the land has not settled. The Shardlands are in constant flux, with islands drifting unpredictably, some locked in slow orbit around colossal floating crags, while others remain suspended above the maelstrom-ridden sea below. Some of these floating mountains are still marked with ancient ruins, remnants of the once-grand mountain temples that belonged to the Solir of Itela, now reduced to hollowed husks of a lost civilization.
A Perilous Passage
Navigating the Skybound Shardlands is one of the most dangerous journeys in all of Osira, for both sea-faring vessels and airships alike. The remains of the shattered landmass have created a maelstrom-laden sea, where jagged isles rise and fall unpredictably. Gale-force winds whip through the floating crags, forming turbulent air currents that threaten even the sturdiest airships, dragging them into colliding stone masses or casting them down into the abyssal waters below.
Legends speak of entire Bastilian airship fleets being lost to the Shardlands, the wreckage of their vessels now impaled upon drifting mountains or sinking into the churning depths below. The waters of the Shardlands, known to sailors as the Sea of Shattered Suns, are infamous for their sudden tidal shifts, violent whirlpools, and unpredictable rift anomalies—echoes of Malekith’s residual power still clashing against the lingering essence of Rok’s earthbinding magic.
Few who attempt to traverse the Shardlands do so without divine protection or arcane guidance. Sailors who brave its waters offer prayers to Helios, while airship captains hire expert Storm-Rifters to manipulate the chaotic winds. Despite its dangers, the Shardlands are rumored to contain hidden treasures, remnants of ancient Solir vaults or forgotten relics of the lost world before the sundering.
The Land That Defies the Earth
Though most of the Skybound Shardlands is untamed and perilous, some islands remain inhabitable—if only barely. Clans of storm-touched warriors, earth-rifting nomads, and reclusive scholars call these drifting lands home, adapting to a life where the very ground beneath them is never truly stable. Some of the floating mountains are said to house beings long forgotten, elemental spirits born from the chaos of the land’s destruction, while others are rumored to be haunted by the remnants of those lost during the sundering.
The largest of the floating isles is known as Titan’s Cradle, a mountainous fragment believed to have once been part of the Spine of the World’s highest peak. It is said that from this vantage point, one can see all the way across the Shardlands, witnessing the eternal battle of stone and sun, as Malekith’s prison looms far in the distance—a grim reminder of the destruction he wrought.
The Skybound Shardlands are both a graveyard of history and a living testament to the battle that shaped the world. It is a place where the past lingers in the air, where reality bends and breaks, and where only the boldest dare to tread.