Unnamed Story - Background Notes

Circular (possibly) flat world. Center has a large continent (called Home Land), from which the floating rocks come, as well as several other base materials. The center continent is always growing, its inhabitants are nomads and resource gatherers…barterers as well. They are talented at what they do, whether that be lumberjacks or tanners or miners or harvesters. The outer rim is constantly moving water. Water that is always moving towards the edge, flowing off sluggishly. It is slowed by the changing sea floor which goes up and down, creating dangerous rapids and rocks and shallow areas. It also has currents caused by different water temperatures.  The water is supplied from a number of deep wells, some boil up hot, some boil up cold and their mixing creates currents and whirlpools. When one goes over the edge, you are gone, unless you are saved by one of the mysterious flying ones.  The large continent is always losing chunks of itself to the seas. These chunks become the homes of cities and towns for a decade or three before plummeting over the edge into nothingness. They are known as the Island Towns. Before they plummet over the edge, the inhabitants move to a new island. It is a rough, and nomadic existence even for them. Some of the chunks that reach the edge have enough floating rock left in them to not plummet into nothingness. Instead the float and travel on the breezes to float in contentment several miles away, barely visible, the homes of the winged ones. These are known as the Mist IslesSky pirates trade between these winged ones and the heart of the home world. As well as trading among the chunks and providing the necessities on moving day when a chunk is too near the edge.
These pirates brave the storms in their ships of buoyant wood. The Flesh Pine has the lightest wood, and is the most sought after, however, it is the most dangerous. Flesh pines with their tarry vines are flesh devouring, man eating trees. The pirate ships also must have a flying rock harvested from the floating gardens at the center of the world. These giant boulders are not easy to obtain or to house, but the life of a sky pirate is one of wealth. The pirates brave the storms for Lighting and Storm Ice, a crystal of great value. It is the what keeps the floating isles of the winged ones from floating away and slows the movement of the homeworld isles towards the edge. It is the treasure basis for all other dealings. It is also only gathered in the most dangerous of storms.
All storms begin to brew in the center of the Floating Gardens, however, they don’t even shed rain there. They blow out and over the surrounding forests and dangerous lands, dropping their torrential rains. They lighten as they leave the edge of the main continent before brushing over the island towns. They turn into a persistent misty fog over the floating isles, keeping the shrouded and mysterious.







Creatures of the Home Land
         There are many creatures that inhabit the Home Land. Many have not been discovered at all, some of the discovered ones are not known outside of the Home Land, and a few are travelers between the Home Land, the Island Towns and even perhaps the Mist Isles.

There are humans, of course. Humans are a lot like rats or cockroaches. They are everywhere and live through everything. They are the main part of sky pirate crews, they are the most common in the Island Towns and they control much of the economic system in that realm. However, few personally venture into the Home Land, and none except for Sky pirates have been to the Mist Isles.  But other than this, humans are a fairly boring race. Thin, bony little things for the most part, although some can grow quite large. They are greedy and ambitious, kind and naïve. Their variety is quite unsettling to most because you never know what kind of human you are dealing with.

Red Skins are a Home Land race. They live in the forests and on the plains. They are skilled tanners, but the dyes and the blood of their work have stained their skin.  Even from a young age, the red skins are…well…red. They aren’t born red though. They are born looking a lot like naked mole rats. They have white pink skin all wrinkled and hairless. Their eyes are glued shut still developing sight. They have nasty buck teeth that they use to tear and devour meat and root vegetables. Red Skins never nurse. By their first birth day they have opened their eyes, their skin is smooth (and usually already blood red) and their head has become the base for a wild bush of orange hair. Red Skins are adventurous, and known trouble makers. They throw parties that can be heard to the far reaches of the Home Land several times a year. They don't travel very far though. They are friendly to all, however, few would befriend a Red Skin. They smell of blood and their red skin, pierced ears and tattoos make most uncomfortable, not to mention their sticky fingers. Red Skins steal. Never on purpose. In a Red Skin encampment, everything kind of belongs to everyone. Anything that one family keeps for longer than a few days is considered a family heirloom.

Red Skins live in large encampments. Each home holds the primary care takers (a Mother and Father of median age), their children, their parents, (and possibly their grandparents), and possibly their children's children. The homes are large huts built from Ironwood branches, Weave Grass and mud of their nearby watering hole. The huts are heavy, even the strong storms that produce Lightening Ice, cannot topple them. They are tall, with ladders all around the outside and the insides.Their homes are almost always varying degrees of messy.

Red Skins are long, lanky, thin boned creatures.  Their noses are tiny and their eyes squint. Their huge buck teeth with which they are born don't grow after birth. Rather, their head grows to fit the teeth and most adults are left with small buck teeth that just barely hangs over their bottom lip. Of course some unfortunates' heads grow too much and they lose their buck teeth entirely...ugly creatures that will probably never marry. And some have heads that are too small, a fate significantly more tolerable, but large buck teeth can get in the way. Physical appearance is very important to Red Skins. They have dark red (so that it stands out against their skin) and light green paint and tattoos on their red skin, even on their face. Each Red Skin, at the age of 2, when they begin to speak, is given a name and a symbol. At the age of 5, they receive their first tattoo, it is the tattoo of their own personal symbol, their lucky charm.

Red Skins are very suspicious creatures. They carry an uncountable number of talismans around their necks, each one received or found at an important time in their life. Each is connected to the spirit of that moment. According to Red Skins, those happy moments can keep one safe and secure from bad moments. So each Red Skin is tied down with happy memories of the past.

((Much is still being developed, but feedback is appreciated))