Magnetism

Now, as you can see, the repulsive forces between these two magnets of similar polarity ensure that no amount of force is able to push them together. A simple principle, yet it is the basis for our world.

— Andrew Ryan, Prof. of Physicality at Towton Univ.

As one of the basic forces of nature, magnetism is an important, if often overlooked, facet of daily life. In Aeteria, it takes on a whole new dimension, however. For in this broken world, it is the very force that allows life to endure.

To Hold The World Together

When the Shattering broke Aeteria into pieces, it devoured much of the earth and rock that had once made up the crust of the planet. Many parts remained, however, floating in the sky, islands among an Ocean of Clouds. It took millennia of scientific progress before mankind figured out just what it was that kept them, quite literally, afloat. Whatever ended the Old World seems to have changed the planet's magnetic field as well. It reacts with a special combination of metals found within the islands still afloat. When present in a large enough concentration, they create a repulsive force that can hold even continent-sized chunks of stone in the air.

Complicated Movement

It does not mean that they remain like that, however. The Remnants are bound to the planet's magnetic field, its strong and weak points and fluctuations. No part of the field is truly stagnant and its minor variations cause even seemingly still landmasses to move by tiny fractions every day. Over time, entire Plates can move hundreds of kilometres across the sky.
However, this process is not always peaceful. Sudden changes within the magnetic field can cause islands to suddenly drop hundreds of metres or crash into each other. Such events are known as Skyfalls, and these disasters are thought to be behind the mysterious disappearance of a number of civilisations over the years. Even slow movement is not without danger, however.
Since every Layer of the atmosphere has a different climate, there is a chance that an island's drift across the sky may cause climatic change. In some cases, with drastic consequences. Extreme cases have seen fragments raised into the airless Void Layer or lowered down into the hellish fires of the Infernal Layer, the resulting changes causing all life on them to be annihilated.

Where does this magnificent force originate from? Why the planet's core of course! It is such a shame that our eyes will never gleam this monumental engine. This utter wonder of nature and motor of our world.

— Andrew Ryan.

Type

Natural

Origin

For many years, the scions of Aeteria's scientific community have searched for the origin of this world's magnetism. Hundreds of theories were created, argued over and disproven. The currently accepted one is that Aeteria's magnetic field is created by the planet's core, a thesis supported by the recorded strength and fluctuations found deep within the lower levels of the world.
Doomed Continent
The most prominent case of a region being destroyed by a slow drift into a different Layer is, without a doubt, Laurentia. A vast Swarm Formation, it was home to one of the world's great civilisations. Around 1200 of the Imperial Era, it began to drift higher into the atmosphere, the increasingly cold climate making life harder and harder. Finally, in 1690 IE, the last of Laurentia's inhabitants abandoned the doomed land. Now it is an empty husk, with only outcasts and adventurers trying to survive among the ice and snow.

by Taehoon kang