Dewdrop Peaks

The sun shines bright in the sky. Islands float amidst, among, and above the cloud layer, held aloft by magical wind currents. The islands drift along with the currents, passing and occasionally colliding. It never rains, it never snows, but crops grow and birds chirp. Welcome to the Dewdrop peaks.

— Excerpt from Your Guide to the Heavens: A Travel Brochure

Dewdrop peaks are a biome that exists far above the clouds of Etharai. They drift with wind currents, floating due to lyathos crystals embedded in the soil. The high altitude makes it almost unsuitable for life - almost. But as always, life finds a way.

High in the sky above Etharai, culture and community persists. Separated from the rest of the planet, the Dewdrop Peaks are on top of the world - literally. With unique wildlife and plantlife different from any other natural species, standing on these floating islands gives the sense of standing on a whole different world.

Geography

The appearance of the Heavens is quite simple to explain. Tips of what appear to be idyllic mountaintops rise above the clouds - the tips of mountains that do not exist. Instead, these islands float across the sky, moving with the whims of the wind.
Magical crystals called lyathos keep the islands aloft. While the crystal is found in many caves across Etharai's surface, the concentration of crystals within these islands has caused them to take flight, rising into the sky, detached from the lands they grew from.
Most of the islands appear similar to the peaks of mountains, though with verdand grass instead of snowcaps, and healthy soil instead of plain rock.

Ecosystem

While many of the larger islands are capable of supporting land-based fauna, the majority of the animals that live among the Heavens are, unsurprisingly, capable of flight - though not always through access to wings.
The main sapient species that lives in the Heavens are known as angels, small humanoids with insect wings, flitting from island to island. In more recent years, some have made the trek to try to live there as well, but the lack of oxygen at such a high altitude causes many to return where they came.
The largest animal present in these high layers are the cloudwhales, gigantic creatures that swim through the air as if it were water. Many birds exist atop the clouds as well, such as the quollo, which touches the ground only three times in its lifetime.
Plenty of plant life exists on the islands as well, such as the dewberry bushes and the wispgrass thin enough for a single blade to be invisible to the naked eye.

Type

Island, Floating

Included Locations

• Skyhome

Contested By

• Order of the Sun
• The Cloudwalkers

Inhabiting Species

• Angels
• Bubbletrees
• Cloud Mushroom
• Cloud Worms
• Crystal Tulip
• Dewberry
• Dewdrop Warbler
• Eulyar
• Greatroot Tree
• Mellowcloud
• Mycin
• Puffwing
• Suncursed
• Sunjay
• Wispgrass

Related Materials

• Lyathos Powder
• Wispyarn

Alternate Names

The Heavens
Sky Islands
Domain of Sun

Localized Phenomena

Due to the unpredictable nature of the winds at this high of an altitude, it is not out of the ordinary for islands to collide with one another. As this usually ends in the destruction of both islands, wildlife living on any of the islands must be able to account for the sudden loss of a home and solid ground.

Climate

Due to the closeness of the islands to the sun, summers are especially brutal to the environment. Nearly everything dries up, and animals must rely on safe methods of water storage for the intense months. Winter nights are particularly cold, too, which means species living here must be highly adaptable.