Adrift in an Endless White Sea- A Floating Islands Civilization Quest

Long ago the world was whole. There were no edges. There was no cloud sea. There were seas of water, and near endless land, and the sky was and remained above.

Now we live in the sky. The sea is one of clouds. There are edges to our world. We live on a floating island, big enough to have forests and mountains and days of travel between the edges, but edges nonetheless. Occasionally, we see other islands out there, but none so big as ours, not nearly. None that appear to have people like ours does, either.

We don't know why things changed. Or how. The records are fuzzy, and by our best reckoning things have been the way they are now for 1000 years. After all that time, with the world itself changing into an unrecognizable state, it pays to ask. Who are we?

[ ] The Thorn:
Feline creatures, 4 to 5 feet tall, with fur covered bodies in many patterns and colors. Long ago, certain nature spirits and mortals grew close, and eventually had relations. From that union, the Thorn emerged.
The Thorn keep close bonds with those same nature spirits to this day, and as such are close to nature in general. Thorns are known to adopt or grow small areas of nature as their own, to protect and nurture. It doesn't go unnoticed that those with bigger, healthier, and more varied and complex- in terms of ecosystem- domains have more pep in their step, and a certain ethereal quality. Thankfully, if a group of Thorns are close, like family, they may share domains and feel just as fulfilled. Perhaps even more so at times, due to how much more a group can do for a domain than can an individual. A good thing, too, otherwise their island would've long ago been carved entirely into jealously guarded domains.
Thorns are also insatiably curious. They need to know how it works. All of it. They tend towards having personal fields of interest, but there is no such thing as an incurious Thorn; They're all fascinated by something. In fact, despite their urge for a domain suggesting a more sedentary lifestyle, Thorns often find themselves drawn into wanderlust. The need to see what's over the next hill is too great. It is this dichotomy, the need to see the yonder, and the need to tend to their domain, that drives them, and where a particular Thorn strikes the balance tells on a lot about them.
Thorns get a boost to Spirit, due to their nature as semi-spiritual beings, and their ties to their domains. They also get a smaller boost to Learning, because of their never ending, innate thirst for knowledge. They also gain some starter technologies that exemplify them:
Community gardens: For urban Thorns, it can be difficult to fulfill their need to nurture nature with a few potted plants, but the realities of urban living leaves little room for much else. Plots set aside in residential areas help alleviate this issue, allowing Thorns a small but dedicated place to grow their domain. DEV gain
Garden carts: Wanderlust grips many a Thorn, but some more than others. For those who simply can't stay in one spot, it becomes a worry to maintain their domain. Some get by through sharing with their more (relatively) sedentary family members, but others have taken to bringing their domains with them, using "Garden carts". By traveling with their domains, they never have to leave home, and never have to stop seeing new things. It's not for every Thorn, but for some, it is the only way to live. With their experiences, they always have the best stories in the inns and around campfires. SOC gain.

[ ] The Glint:
Draconic creatures, 3 to 4 feet tall, on average. Scaly, in a kaleidoscope of near radiant colors. Their wings let them fly, but though some stand out as ace fliers, most can't manage to stay airborne long at all, let alone perform maneuvers. The Glint grow larger and more powerful the more of a hoard of wealth they personally maintain. Wealth has a strange meaning to the Glint, however. They hold many things to have value, gems and gold, yes, but also art, invention, and even individuals. To the Glint, a person is an irreplaceable treasure, and each loss is a loss for the universe, leaving just a little less value for everyone. This curious juxtaposition of values has led to a culture that venerates the creation of value rather than just the collecting of it. They venerate artists, scientists, explorers and prospectors, for generating and retrieving value. They venerate guards and soldiers, for protecting hoards. They venerate medical professionals, for preserving the value of individual lives, and this same evaluation of life has led to a society with a robust safety net, so that no individual's unique value is lost due to not having enough material goods. After all, Material wealth is nothing compared to the wealth of a life.
Glint also possess elemental powers, corresponding to their scale colors. Red for fire, yellow for air, green for earth, blue for water, purple for lightning and silver for metal, each type has their strengths, favored ground, and innate magical abilities in relation to their element. Purple Glints are often capable of releasing bursts of electricity on contact, much like an electric eel, as just one example. Most Glint are not all that impressive with their abilities, sadly, but those who take the time to train their skills with their inner magic can be quite impressive indeed.
Glint gain an initial bonus to Society, due to the highly developed social systems necessary to maintain their unique set of values. They also gain a smaller bonus to Development, because of their innate interest in resource collection. They also gain some starter technologies that exemplify them:
Dragon veneration: It is said that those with the largest hoards become too large for their forms as Glints, and evolve into Dragons: Ancient gods of the Glint who taught them much in their legends. There is no recorded instance of this happening, but it is known that those with the largest hoards sometimes go missing, and no effort to find them bears fruit. Rumors abound. Gain SPT
Flight harness: Most Glint are not strong fliers. Most. There are a few who are, however, and those lucky few have a unique opportunity to generate value. Their speed being unrivaled, time sensitive messages have long been sent by flier. Secret messages too, even when not particularly urgent. What hostile interference could waylay a mighty courier, borne by high winds? What courier would break their honorable vows to protect their customers privacy with their lives, by snooping themselves? With a harness, however, one tightly tailored and personally fitted to each courier, and infused with magicite for lightness, they can carry time sensitive goods as well. From medicines to perishable exotic fruits this development has many boons, but the secure, secret and quick transport of research materials, even highly volatile ones, has had perhaps the biggest impact. Gain LRN.


[ ] The Axle: Clockwork Automatons, varying in size based on their construction, but usually at least 2 and a half feet tall, and at most 9 feet tall. Perhaps, in the past, someone made the first few Axles, and taught them how to make more. If so, no Axle still living remembers these mysterious creators. Intricate machinery, designed just so, ticking over in masterfully complex ways, Axles still would be naught but interesting machines without the magicite in their hearts. Strange, semi-rare crystals with interesting magical properties, they act as power sources and magical batteries all at once, providing the initial spark for the spirit of an Axle and then serving as the capacitor necessary to complete the closed internal magical circuit, allowing the new soul to start sustaining itself, as all souls do.
Due to their unique nature, Axles don't reproduce sexually, at least not in the traditional sense. Instead, parents are those who contribute to the design, procurement of materials, and crafting of a new Axle, and who dedicate themselves to guardianship in the neophyte's vulnerable, nascent state. The number of parents, too, differs from traditional animal reproduction, ranging from as many as a dozen working on a child together, to as few as one single, dedicated progenitor.
Axles have an innate bonus to Learning, due to high mechanical aptitude inherent to their process of reproduction. They also gain a smaller bonus to Society, due to the effect their eclectic variety of forms has had on their art. They also gain some starter technologies that exemplify them:
Magicite Priorities: Magicite is a strange and very useful crystal. It is as rare as it is useful, however, and one need for it is more pressing than any other: reproduction. Axles cannot be born without a magicite core. To prevent population stagnation, even overall decline, we must ensure that a significant portion of magicite production is dedicated to this basic need. Gain DEV.
Spirit- Rune gears: It isn't enough to put some gears in a heap and throw a magicite crystal on top, to make an Axle. The process requires the inscribing of certain runes onto the gears that make up the new Axle's body. These are meant to guide the magicite in the initial creation of a new soul. Some particularly mystical Axles have begun experimenting with inscribing new runes- on themselves. They claim it improves their spiritual functions. From the way their cores glow brighter, they might be right. Gain SPT

We grew, over time. From humble beginnings in this land, as people that barely knew anything at all after the great loss of knowledge that came with cataclysm, to where we are today. The path our technology took was but one of many, but it serves us well, and helps to define us now. What was it?

[ ] Diesel/Tesla-punk: Our technology is that of great hulking steel and iron, of engines belching smog and guzzling fuel and Tesla coils crackling. Our creations are robust and some might say brutish, but there is something to love about brutal design. Where else might you find a toaster that makes your breakfast with the almighty power of lightning? Ironclads, mechs, and over-engineering are what we have to offer.

[ ] Bio-punk: We grow our tools. We have long since learned ways of influencing the form and function of animals, and have turned them to our needs. So many fight nature, while we partner with it, after properly twisting certain aspects to our needs, of course. Where else might you find a toaster in the form of a particularly hot and sedentary lizard? We offer skywhale ships, lizard messengers, and weaponized birds.

[ ] Steam-punk: Steam, Magicite, and clockwork. These are the foundation of technology. With the proper application of these fundamentals, anything can be made. We pride ourselves on the beauty of our craftsmanship, and some might consider it foppish, but I dare them to show you a more elegant toaster than our steam heated and brass plated model. We offer sky-ships, clockwork contraptions, and far too many steam pipes and valves.

Yet, even with the way we've rebuilt, there have been hardships. No one is spared pain, in this world, and even with all our progress and science, there is something that still haunts us. Threatens us. A trauma that, for better or worse, defines us now. What is it?

[ ] Tribute: Every year they come, in great vessels of metal and smog. They come to our shores, because long ago the treaty was struck, after they slaughtered thousands of our people. They come every year and collect payment from us for their 'protection'. In the form of goods. Of precious metals and gems. Even, at times, in the form of slaves. Together, we endure. Our community, our faith, our spirits know: We will not be their victims forever. And no matter what they take: We are indomitable.
Boost to Society and Spirit. Negative to Development. Gain trait, Indomitable: Though it may seem hopeless, though there is no light, though we suffer indignities beyond imagining, we endure. Unbowed. Unbent. Unbroken.

[ ] Wreckage: Occasionally, there crashes on our shores ships, from beyond. They are not of our make, and there are never people on them, not even corpses of the crew. They are clearly made, though. While we have gleaned insight into advanced concepts from these wrecks, and gathered amazing materials, there is also something unsettling about the crashes. The area where they crash, and for miles around, undergoes an upsetting transformation. Plants die, or become twisted and strange. Waters become dangerous. The air itself becomes poisonous. And the crashes are only increasing in frequency. Ghost ships raining down and slowly taking pieces of our land from us have put a damper on our spirits, and our people's hope dwindles at the same rate our arable land does. But hope is not lost yet. Through our ingenuity, and industry, we can find an answer to this problem, and maybe even find out where these so-called ghost ships come from.
Boost to Learning and Development. Negative to Spirit. Gain trait: Inventive: When hardships threaten us, we don't cower, we learn. We understand the problem, innovate, and turn it to our own advantage. What is understood, can be controlled.

[ ] Invaders: They came upon us In great whales, enslaved to be their vessels. They enslaved our people, too, for one hundred years. We were forced to work in their names, because they called themselves superior. We proved them wrong when we rose up. It was a bloody fight, but we never lost our faith, and we never stopped stealing bits of their knowledge to one day use against them. At times, it was down to tooth and claw, we were nearly wiped out before we finally drove them from our shores. 100 years hence, we've only just recovered, but recovered we have, though our culture is still in tatters, with so much of our history and legacy lost in flames. Still, vengeance plays have only been increasingly popular, and for good reason. We know they came from somewhere out there, and returned there. We haven't forgotten the grudge they've incurred, and if they have, more fool them.
Boost to Learning and Spirit, negative to Society. Gain trait: Grudgebearers: We aren't going to take it anymore. Threats to us had better kill us the first time, because, if not, we will be back with Vengeance.




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Hello and welcome to Adrift in an Endless White Sea! A civilization quest based around recovering from a cataclysm that turned a world like ours into something out of skypirate fantasy.
This quest owes heavy inspiration to Into that Vast and Unrelenting Darkness (40K Xeno Civilization Quest) Mature - Sci-Fi - Fantasy by the very talented The Bird . Hopefully I haven't hewn my work too close to the inspiration, though the format I admit is more or less copied, to a point. Hopefully, their own quest being fanfiction (and not to mention the amount of format copying that goes on between quests anyway), The Bird will be magnanimous. (If they do feel slighted, I encourage them to reach out to me, however.) Regardless, I urge you all to check out their quest. It's a lot like I hope this one will be, but probably better, and certainly longer than this will be for awhile.
This quest also owes some inspiration to GODSTAR - a Science Fantasy Civilization Quest by ScottishMongol . Not as direct an inspiration, but you may find traces of this- also excellent- quest here. Be sure to check it out as well.
With inspirations out of the way, let's get to it! Plan voting, please.