Aetheria — Between Sky and Earth
A world where a once-united continent was torn into the sky. The floating city-archipelago known as The Canopy Isles and the sunlight-starved ground civilization The Root Realm maintain a cycle of conflict and trade. The Canopy Isles are kept aloft by the power of floating crystals called Aether Crystals, while The Root Realm shares information and life force through a vast underground mycelium network known as the Memory of the Earth. The balance between them is beginning to waver with the omens of The Great Fall — a catastrophe that comes once every millennium.
Culture
Aether Refinement
The supreme technology of The Canopy Isles. An alchemical technique that refines Aether Crystals in stages to draw out higher functions including buoyancy, communication, and perceptual expansion.
Lichtgesang (Light Chanting)
A light art passed down in The Canopy Isles, where Aether crystals resonate when a singer sings at certain pitches.
Mycelium Cuisine
A unique food culture passed down in The Root Realm using mycelium and bioluminescent organisms.
The Eve-of-Fall Taboos
A system of taboos and folk traditions about The Great Fall shared by both sides — a rare cultural element held in nearly the same form by both civilizations.
History & Events
The First Bridge
The historic event in which The Canopy Isles and The Root Realm made first official contact 40 years after The Great Fall.
The First Equilibrium Collapse
A turning point that occurred approximately 200 years before The Great Fall, when sky and earth still functioned as one world.
The Great Fall
The legendary catastrophe said to occur once every millennium, when The Canopy Isles' Aether Crystals simultaneously lose buoyancy and crash to earth. Omens have begun to appear.
Laws & Rules
Law of Aether Buoyancy
One of the physical laws fundamentally governing the world of Aetheria. Defines the physical principles by which Aether Crystals float and depletion conditions.
The Mycelium Code
The system of constraints on information transmission and use within the Root Realm's mycelium network.
Location
Nenoka, Holy City of the Root
A subterranean holy city in the deepest reaches of The Root Realm, where the mycelium network's core is concentrated.
Rakuen, Sky Trade City
A commercial hub flourishing as the trade center of The Canopy Isles. Official trade with the Root Realm Federation also passes through here.
The Canopy Isles
A cluster of floating cities kept aloft by Aether Crystals. Composed of 12 major islands and countless smaller ones. The largest island, Chuten Island, houses the parliament hall and the great library.
The Floating Ruins (Fwarei Archives)
A collection of ruins — fragments of ancient Canopy cities destroyed by The Great Fall — drifting in the upper layers of The Mist Sea.
The Mist Sea
A boundary layer of thick mist drifting perpetually at the midpoint between The Canopy Isles and The Root Realm.
The Root Realm
A subterranean civilization spreading across sunless lands. Information and life force are shared through the vast mycelium network "Memory of the Earth."
Organization
The Canopy Council
The governing body of The Canopy Isles. A council of representatives from 12 islands, but in practice an oligarchy where the voice of the upper islands is overwhelmingly dominant.
The Great Fall Research Institute
The only joint institution established by agreement between the Canopy Council and the Root Realm Federation 100 years after the First Bridge, for investigating the cause of The Great Fall and preventing its recurrence.
The Mist Trading Company
A secret organization based in The Mist Sea that controls unofficial transactions in both The Canopy Isles and The Root Realm. The oldest organization to profit from the world's division.
The Root Realm Federation
A federation of seven great cave cities of The Root Realm. Decision-making is conducted through "mycelium voting" via the Memory of the Earth, approximating direct democracy.
Resources
Aether Crystal
The floating crystals that keep The Canopy Isles aloft. Depending on refinement level, they serve diverse purposes including buoyancy, light emission, and communication. The primary trade good of The Root Realm.
Mycelium Silver
A rare silver-white crystal produced by specific fungi in The Root Realm, used as a refinement catalyst and as the de facto common currency in Rakuen.
Obsidian Aether Ore
A rare ore produced only in the special stratum where the fog and bedrock meet in the lower Mist Sea.
Species
Aether Eagle
A large raptor native to The Canopy Isles that has greatly enhanced its flight capability by accumulating Aether particles in air sacs inside its body.
Mistfish
A species native to The Mist Sea that has adapted to its environment. Semi-transparent creatures that absorb Aether particles for buoyancy — halfway between fish and jellyfish.
Mycelium Symbiont Tribe
A species inhabiting the deepest depths of The Root Realm, biologically fused with the mycelium network.
Shimobe
A winged species inhabiting the "Middle Sky" between The Canopy Isles and The Root Realm. Both intermediaries of the two civilizations and smugglers.
Technology
Aether Communication Sphere
The Canopy Isles' long-distance communication technology utilizing the resonance of paired Aether crystals cut from the same parent stone.
Memory of the Earth
The vast mycelium network spreading through The Root Realm. It functions as a biological communication infrastructure for information transmission, healing, and emotional sharing.
Mycelium Medicine
The advanced medical and surgical technology system of The Root Realm using mycelium.
Wind Bridge
The aerial corridor system connecting the 12 major islands of The Canopy Isles, powered by Aether Crystals. The key to transportation and logistics, and a symbol of inter-island political unity.
Narratives
At the Edge of the Fog
POV: Sora Kazamachi
The beginning of the story where Sora discovers an Aether Crystal anomaly from the edge of Kasumi-Kyokai Island and becomes convinced of The Great Fall's omens.
Voice from the Deep
POV: Tsuchi Nemuru
Tsuchi receives memories of The Great Fall from 1,000 years ago through the mycelium. A vision experience where past and present intersect.
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