The Skyward Compact
Bound by Wind, Bound by Will
Tucked high in the veiled peaks and wind-swept valleys between the northern and eastern spurs of the Azure Fold, the Skyward Compact stands apart from the strife and ambition of the Great Houses. Formed generations ago by a coalition of highland tribes, cloud-dwellers, and arcane wayfarers, the Compact is not a nation in the traditional sense, but a confederation of mountainholds, spiritual orders, and secluded strongholds—bound not by blood, but by oath.
The land is austere, harsh, and beautiful. Sheer cliffs pierce the clouds like jagged stone spears, and valleys wind between ancient glacial scars where hardy mosses and highland herbs cling to life. At lower altitudes, groves of twisted fir and palegold pines rustle under endless wind, and mountain rains bring clarity more often than comfort. The peaks are perpetually snow-dusted, and the skies churn with wild magic and whispering winds — phenomena the Compact's mystics claim to read like scripture. Isolated by the Azure Fold’s towering ridges on both flanks and shielded from direct access by the larger powers, the Skyward Compact has preserved its autonomy through obscurity, terrain, and fierce self-reliance. For centuries, the Great Houses considered the region too remote to be worth annexation, and in more recent history, the Elemental Wars drew all attention away from the eastern mountains. That war ended only five years ago — and though the world watches anew, no army dares test the Compact’s heights lightly.
The people of the Skyward Compact are a mix of highland clans, reclusive scholar-guardians, and stormwardens descended from ancient League-era refugees. Though divided by dialect, creed, and dress, they share a common code: absolute local sovereignty, communal defense, and the preservation of their windborne traditions. Each holdfast or enclave sends envoys to a summit known as the Council of Peaks, where decisions are made by consensus and oathbinding, not decree. Magic in the Compact is spiritual, practical, and weather-tied. Sky-priests read the winds like prophets. Elementalist monks shape air and mist to defend mountain passes. Golems carved of wind-carried stone stand silently and watch at high shrines, animated only in times of great peril. The Compact has no standing army, but every hold trains its own defenders, and the stories of invaders lost in sudden storms or misled by the treacherous Skypaths are legion.
Economically, the Compact survives through internal trade, hardy mountain agriculture, and limited but valuable exports: skyglass, highland herbs, spell-ink, and stormsteel. Its ports along the Drowned Sky’s cloud-shrouded cliffs are few but highly defensible, and its mariners are as comfortable reading wind currents as they are sailing them. Vaskaran captains occasionally anchor for trade and rumor, though the relationship is cautious, built on mutual respect rather than friendship. To outsiders, the Skyward Compact is a land of silence, riddles, and snow. To its people, it is the only place where a soul can breathe freely, high above the games of lords and the wars of tyrants. And while the Compact has little desire to meddle in the politics of the lowlands, it watches, listens, and remembers.
If the winds ever carry war to their peaks, the world may discover what it means to challenge those who have weathered everything.
“We bow to no banner but the sky.” — Veyla Thorne, Skyward Seer of High Kareth
Type
Geopolitical, Co-rulership
Ruling Organization
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Controlled Territories
