The Flying Gardens
The famous Flying Gardens of the Fey Pact-Land are entirely described by their name. These are large floating chunks of earth, each located over a Fey pool and anchored by thick vines or roots extending from the bottom of each island. The Gardens float roughly 30 feet above the ground, are between 30 and 80 feet in diameter and 40 feet tall.
If floating above the ground is not a clever enough trick, each of the Flying Gardens also produces wondrous fruits, vegetables and other more exotic products, all with astounding properties. Some of the Flying Gardens have copses - tiny orchards, really, some have modest berry-producing shrubberies, and many have been deliberately organized into garden plots producing all manner of agricultural wonders.
Most of the Flying Gardens, particularly those in the Autumn and Winter regions of the Fey Pact-Land survived the great upheaval caused by the Zenos Tsunami. Those in the Spring and Summer regions fared less well, being ripped free from their Fey pools and swept out to sea, eventually halting at Duath Island to the south. Efforts are currently under way to retrieve those Gardens.
Geography
The Flying Islands are very small sections of aerable farmland. The largest is perhaps 80 feet across at its largest dimension, and the smallest is about 30 feet. From the surface soil down to the point of each cone is approximately 40-50 feet tall.
In all other respects, each island looks like a section of a farmer's field was simply ripped out of the ground and set to floating like a balloon.
All of the floating islands were originally located in the Fey Pact-Lands, each island being tethered to a Fey pool by a 30-foot long umbilicus that resembles a fat vine or root. This cord starts at the top of an island as many vines and roots, all running down to the bottom point and forming in to a single massive rope. Many of the islands are still in their original locations, predominantly in the Autumn and Winter regions.
When the great Zenos Tsunami rolled through the continent, it ripped several of the floating islands free and relocated them in two clusters over Duath Island. A research station has been established there, and teams have determined that the Gardens in one cluster are intact and safe to move. These are currently be brought back to the research station for further evaluation and, most likely, eventual repatriation to the Fey Pact-Land.
The floating islands comprising the second cluster, currently located on the southern region of Duath Island, are being left where they are. There is some hint of an as yet unidentified contamination, requiring that these islands remain quarantined until more information can be gathered and understood.
It is not currently clear whether the Flying Gardens can be reattached to existing Fey pools. Researchers' other major task is to determine just how long the Flying Gardens can self-sustain, in case they can never be re-anchored.
Fauna & Flora
The Flying Gardens do have any real indigenous fauna other than various kinds of insects that are presumed to facilitate soil aeration and pollination of plants.
The flora of the Gardens is a constant source of wonder and experimentation. The few well-understood fruits include:
Bananas of Heroism
Lemons of Speed
Oranges of Flight
Greyberries (blueberries but grey) of Animal Friendship
Golden Apples of Healing and Restoration
Unsupervised experimentation is highly discouraged, as not all effects are positive, and many may be outright deadly. Or worse...
Natural Resources
It's difficult to think of anything being natural about great floating chunks of land, but the Flying Gardens really are, for the most part, quite natural. They do have their own self-contained ecosystems with regard to all the critters and materials necessary to actively farm. They are also fully exposed to the atmosphere, so they drink in rain and provide sustenance for migrating birds.
The one resource that is truly unique to the Gardens is loosely known as Fey Water. The long massive vines that extend from the bottom of each island work not only as an anchor (at least, they did prior to being ripped free by the tsunami), but also as an umbilical cord, syphoning water and who knows what else from the Fey pools up to nourish the famous gardens. This Fey nourishment is also believed to be the source of the strangeness of each type of crop, a bizarre byproduct of otherworldly sustenance.
Type
Island, Floating
Location under
Comments