The Heavens are Within Reach
Adrift over Elyrion without fixed course, the Aetherion Empire absorbs any people it finds beneath it. Aegard, the empire's city, houses the seat of the Deus Volare, a title reserved for whoever ascends to the highest station. Genesis III currently occupies that seat, reading the drifting empire's motions and translating them into the religious doctrine called The Direction. Those prepared to climb beyond their current place in life are taken in by the empire, provided they accept the Levitar — Aetherion's military inquisitors — as their path to salvation.
Origins
Aegard began as a mining settlement, founded by nomadic humans who had pushed into the Shattered Expanse at the edge of Elyrion's civilized reach. Cut off from ordinary trade routes, its people built up their own self-sufficiency. In time, rumors spread of something unusual hidden among the expanse's floating islands, drawing expeditions in search of aetherium — a crystalline gemstone found only there, prized for its power to grant flight.
347 years ago, one such expedition stumbled onto a discovery that reshaped Aegard's future: the ancient, dormant body of Primal Aetherion. Its waking sent tremors through the ground and disrupted gravity itself. The land beneath Aegard ripped free of the earth and rose into the sky, taking the whole city with it.
The ruling government of the time declared that a sacred covenant had been struck with the Primal God, and Genesis, credited with finding Aetherion's body, was elevated to head of the fast-spreading faith that followed.
Once the shock passed, Aegard's citizens adapted, discovering how to harness the floating aetherium crystals for both power and travel. Whatever else drifted nearby under Aetherion's influence was bound to the growing mass with chains, so that floating islands and airships gradually joined into one sprawling formation.
Glowing tendrils hang beneath Aegard's stone bulk, remnants of Aetherion's living organs. Factories periodically harvest and process these into weapons, vehicles, and armor, valuing the material chiefly for its gravity-altering properties.
Flight turned the city into an imperial power that brought nearby tribes and outcasts of the Shattered Expanse under its control. Three hundred years passed before Aetherion's drift carried it eastward toward the Wyrmscar Peaks and the rest of Elyrion's nations. The empire holds that the Burden of Aetherion is theirs alone to carry, and that all civilization must be lifted into the sky to be saved.
The Direction
“These poor wretched souls would be consumed by the Black Plague spreading across the land. We are pure. Untouched. Blessed.” – Genesis III, Deus Volare
The Direction stands as the Aetherion Empire's central testament. Atop Aegard's highest parapet, the Deus Volare and the Priests of the Levitar track the massive landmass's every movement. A slow drift southward might be read as a declaration of war on whoever lives there, while a shift back toward the west could signal divine mercy. These readings are preserved in the Tomes of Direction, and arrow motifs echoing them appear throughout the city.
Military
Cities and warships alike are built and fueled from shards of Aetherion and aetherium. Where the Republic of Concordia leans on technology, the Aetherion Empire depends instead on the magic drawn from these natural resources to stay airborne and arm itself.
Most forces carry kinetic weapons, and propelled aircraft serve as the standard means of moving troops from island to battlefield. Because aetherium remains scarce and valuable, larger aircraft see use only when necessary, with individual soldiers instead relying on personal gear for smaller engagements. Their armor levitates on its own, supplemented by jetpacks for propulsion.
Demographics
Humans, Avians, and Angels make up most of the Aetherion Empire's population, though the society accepts anyone willing to assimilate. The Direction is read as a principle that draws no distinction among peoples.
Conquered villages and tribes are folded into the empire through a rite called “vassal ascension.” A ring of Aetherion's blood, large enough to encircle the land in question, is soaked into the ground before that section of earth is cut free and lifted into the sky. Once afloat, the new island is chained to Aegard and fixed permanently as a vassal state. Its people are accepted into the empire so long as they convert and follow the Deus Volare's teaching.
Imperial Diet — the body of government that carries out decision-making beneath the Deus Volare.
Order of Saints — a military faction that carries out the Deus Volare's direct commands, marked by religious iconography and Templar-like symbols on their armor. They conduct regular inquisitions to confirm that assimilated towns keep to the faith.
Imperial Levitar — the main body of the expansionary military, tasked with subduing land-dwelling peoples. It combines ground troops (the lowest rank, not yet granted aether armor), dragoons (jet troopers, often angels), and airship pilots. A sky blackened by a swarm of dragoons under General Castile's command is reportedly a terrifying sight.
Elevated Infantry — captured or vassalized populations pressed into service for the empire's expansion. Sent into battle as expendable ground troops, those who survive are offered the promise of promotion.
The Story of Renata, Skyborne Orphan
Renata, a young Fenrir, lost her home when the Valrath Dominion bombed her town, scattering much of her people into diaspora. Left orphaned and enslaved by vampiric captors, she eventually broke free and made her way to the lawless west, joining a tribe of outcasts in the Wyrmscar wastelands. Violence and subjugation found her there as well: the Aetherion Empire, a civilization carried through the sky on a dormant god's back, absorbed her tribe without meeting any resistance.
Drafted into the Imperial Levitar, Renata became a soldier of the empire. The Direction holds that anyone capable can rise, and through skill and battlefield performance she climbed the ranks to become a respected junior officer. Her progress in the Aetherion Empire reflects the resilience she has carried through her new life.
Yet her military career remains, for her, only a means to a further end: revenge against the Valrath Dominion for taking everything from her.