Fiery the angels fell...

Long ago, the Ending came upon the world. Empires and civilizations, pounded into dust. No one knows what brought it about, but there were some who predicted it.   They called themselves prophets, and they created sanctuaries out of the earth and flung them into the air, protecting the faithful from the horrors of the land below.   After the Ending passed, the landscape below was a wasteland. The faithful were forbidden from returning, but who would want to? There was nothing left. Eventually, nature reclaimed the land, but the prophets forbid anyone from returning to the land below. And besides, no one had any way to leave the floating cities.   Any heretics or serious criminals are ceremoniously exiled from the floating sanctuaries, cast down into what is now known as the Forsaken Lands.   However, a strange new power prevents some from death. These few have begun to rebuild, to create their own kingdoms and empires in the ashes of the fallen. Nature has reclaimed the Forsaken Lands; the Banished face the challenge of carving out their place in the natural order, one in which humans are not at the top.