The Blue

A band of clear sky that hangs between Gebal and the higher celestial spheres

## Eternal Sky

A tranquil cloudless void of blue that seems to go on for all eternity in all directions except down, where far, far below can be seen a hazy reflection of Galbar’s surface, the world below blurred and distant beneath an unnatural haze. There are no clouds in the sky, there is no sun, no moon, no stars, no day, no night, only the endless blue. What does pierce the blue are the highest of mountaintops stabbing up from Galbar through the haze, tiny islands of solid ground in the empty expanse. Further up float small islands and structures, defying gravity as they drift through the sky, all ever so slowly crumbling as the entropic wind batters at their unnatural stone. It may in fact be more accurate to say that there are only floating buildings up there but that some are in a much better condition than others. The structures are all made of the same gravity defying white stone and are akin to temples and palaces with no top or bottom, externally littered with marble columns, towers, domes, arches and spires. Inside their architecture is Escher like, with stairways, doors and other normally grounded features littering the walls and ceilings, for the buildings are not expected to retain a single orientation and must thus be navigable no matter what way up they are. Of course, as flight is required to reach such a structure in the first place this ability is taken into account with the internals, so even with the additional pathways provided walking though one of these structures can still a difficult and frustrating task.

Some of these structures do not float idly, for atop them are mounted great windmills, pipe organs and other implements of the air that act as vast propellers which drive them through the sky and, in turn, create the winds that flow through the Blue. These vast temple ships have controls for their propulsion found in secret rooms nestled deep within their confusing structures. These rooms are are filled with numerous unlabeled wooden levers which might grant a daring explorer mastery over a sky temple given time and ingenuity, but without operators they simply roll through the air obeying their initial/last setting. These temples tend to be the biggest and also often the things that reduced smaller structures to rubble. A scant few are set up so that they do not go anywhere despite the churning of their turbines, creating prevailing winds and currents through the Blue.

The Blue has no top, however after passing a certain point, the point at which one would enter it from above, the space begins to shrink, distances becoming shorter and shorter until all horizontal space takes up the same region. To reach this point is more or less impossible as travelers will eventually find their upwards movement blocked by their own body surrounding them. The sight is akin to a hall of mirrors creating endless reflections of oneself in every direction, except that in front of you is your rear, to your left your right and so on. Also these reflections are very real, they are your body and they can be reached out to and touched or harmed. Most would not see it as wise to ascend so high, but the savvy traveler can use the lower regions of shrinkage to their advantage, rapidity orbiting the world below after making the immense climb to reach the shrunken space.

## Life

The air in the blue is thin but still remains breathable, far more so than the air that would grace the mountaintops it contains, making the sky habitable for those capable of navigating its empty spaces and unpredictable currents. Most that live in the Sphere roost in the more intact structures, eking out an existence among the confounding architecture.

### Tonnikala

Tonnikala is a catch all term for flying sea-creatures made by Azura, be it mutated/blessed sea creatures or custom made oceanic themed sky-life.

## Notable Locations

Sky Bastion

A floating fortress anchored to the North pole's central mountain

## Location of Sphere

The Blue is a Celestial Sphere located relatively close to Galbar and envelopes it entirely. For those on Galbar, the cerulean day sky is a partial vision of the Blue, its structures, wildlife and denizens appearing as mirages if the get too close to the lower barrier. To get in one must ascend one of the highest of points in the world during the day, for only these break through the haze found at the bottom of the blue and grace it with their presence. To return is far simpler. Just fall and try not to hit anything on your way down to the world below. Through this downwards connection the winds of the Blue leak into the world below, adding additional complexity to the airflows and currents of the Galbar’s skies.

## Connections

In general the Blue is reachable by the spheres above as it is wrapped wholly around Galbar. It is only visible/enter-able from above in the places where the sky is an unblemished cerulean, reddened not by dawn or dusk, nor blackened by night and free of clouds. Despite these limitations it is still a relatively easy target to hit if one were to lunch themselves down towards it and is simultaneously one to be avoided if a descend does not wish to greatly elongate their travel time. Attempting to leave by traveling upwards meanwhile is futile as trying to enter the Blue by flying at the sky from Galbar's surface.

The peaks of tall mountains enter the blue during the day, meaning there are many entryways to it scattered across Galbar.

### The Infinite Maze

Several of the floating temples, which are already rather confusing to navigate have become traps of the most insidious kind. If you were to descend towards the core of these cursed structures it would at eventually become apparent that they are bigger on the inside. At this point it is already too late to escape and any further exploring will lead to exit into the maze proper with its thousands of eyes watching the hapless traveler with interest.

### The So'E

Clouds are a rare thing to find in the blue, for there are no natural bodies of water for them to emerge from. Instead their creation is almost always a deliberate act, a great slaughtering of wisps who’s pure vital fluids are allowed to evaporate and condense into a briefly lived cloud who’s fate it is to be buffeted across the sky until it eventually breaks up. The densest and darkest of these clouds will act as a gateway to the So’E, much as they do on Galbar.

### The World Tree

Temples, particularity the broken ones, that drift close to the border with the World Tree will spontaneously begin to sprout a myriad plant life across their surfaces, further eroding their structure. Without water however these plants will quickly starve when their temple home leaves the influence of the tree, leaving the islands of the Blue covered with brown husks that are occasionally torn from their surface by the wind and hurled to the world below.

### Fengshui Fuyou

The Wisps unique lifestyle are result of interference between the two realms, as the wispy creatures use energy from he blue to leech water and nutrients from the realm of rivers. These intersections appear as phantom rivers flowing though the sky, a spectral fusion of water and air that only the Wisps can tap into. The locations where the two spheres are pertinacity close are hot-spots of sprite activity where huge shoals will gather, but the connections do not last long and so these gatherings are a briefly lived phenomenon, with the Wisps breaking off into smaller, harder to spot, schools when the connection fades.