The World Below

The World Below is what is rumored to lie underneath the Sea of Clouds. Its true nature is unknown. However, glimpses have been caught of it through observing through the Red Storm from a safe place. These observations believe to have seen silhouettes of large landmasses. While there have been a few expeditions attempting to get through the Sea of Clouds, none are known to have survived. The Sea of Clouds appear to destroy anything attempting to get through them.

SPOILER WARNING

This article plays a big role in the intended plot of Master of the Wind. Underneath are factual details on The World Below.

Geography

The World Below is the actual surface of the world. It contains several landmasses on tectonic plates, surrounded by near-boiling seas. Massive lava seas can be found on the landmasses, located at some of their fault lines. The World Below is cast into eternal darkness, due to the Sea of Clouds blocking all sunlight. The only sources of light are lava and lightning storms.
One of the landmasses has many flat plateaus. It is this landmass that the Sky Islands are mostly located above. The Red Storm is restricted to this landmass, rebuffed from the seas whenever its path travels towards them.

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Fauna & Flora

Plantlife requiring light are found around the lava pools. On the rest of the landmasses, there are forms of plantlife that do not require any form of light.
In the seas fish and other creatures live that can handle the extreme hostile temperatures. Lakes and rivers have less robust lifeforms.
On the landmasses there are herbivores, omnivores and carnivores. Many of these have no form of vision whatsoever. There are some that can see in low light, using either lightning flashes or lava pools to be able to properly observe their surroundings.

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History

As far as anyone knows, no expedition has survived attempting to get through the Sea of Clouds. Their ships appear to have been torn apart by the storms within the clouds, and even most Cloudstone used by vessels has been lost.
In reality, however, certain expeditions actually made it through. Centuries ago, the Gray Sails managed to navigate the Silent Night to send expeditions through the Sea of Clouds. What they discovered below, was a nightmare world. Attempts to get back failed, leaving the survivors stranded. They did manage to send light signals through the Red Storm. More expeditions managed to to join them over time, forming a small society in these hostile lands.
Eventually ways to send communications were discovered, using engraved Cloudstone. Instead of expeditions, supplies and information were sent down instead, and information was sent back up. Because of the wandering of the Red Storm and the Silent Night, these exchanges only happen once every few years.
Over time, a shocking discovery was made. Those in the World Below, both sent and born there, were discovered to have extreme longevity. Eventually they discovered this was part of the interaction of Thread Walkers with the hostile environment. The exact cause is unknown, but it seems as if adults age at a tenth of the normal rate. Above, Thread Walkers only had some longevity themselves, but below they seem to be able to share it, through sensing others their threads of life. Furthermore, Thread Walkers actually appear to stop aging at all.
After the longevity discovery, the Gray Sails began to form decennial expeditions to the World Below, sending any willing member above the age of fourty down. However, they were well aware that the World Above is slowly running out of resources. As such, they kept their numbers small, to keep the drain on the world as small as possible. Research continued into sending resources back up, as part of a plan to eventually stop the neverending decay of the World Above.

Alternative Name(s)

The Abyss, The Surface