Aerialis

Overview

The Realm
   A realm of endless skies, towering floating mountains, vast cloudscapes, deep atmospheric rifts, and sparse, sky-island archipelagos. Breathable air is common, but thin in higher zones or thick with electrical storms in others. Gravity is localized around landmasses. Resources are scarce. Sky-iron deposits, rare crystals formed in lightning, magical plants clinging to cliffs, and volatile elemental gases. Travel is dominated by flight and airships; falling usually means death.

Dragons
   Red Dragons prefer to rule Volcanic peaks, and hot mountains. They are ruthless and prideful tyrants. They demand constant tribute (resources, slaves, and treasure). They value brute strength, vast hoards (gems, gold, weapons), and inflicting raw fear. They see other Dragons as inferior and destined to be ruled over. Their main adversaries are Gold Dragons.
   Blue Dragons prefer ruling islands plauged by electrical storms. Tyrannical strategists and manipulators. They enslave populations for dangerous resource mining and experiments. They value arcane knowledge, strategic advantages, and control through cruel fear tactics. They see other Dragons as brutes, naive, degenerates, and imbiciles.
   Green Dragons spew poison onto their islands to mark their territory. They are pathalogical liars who torture mortals psychologically for fun. They prefer to cause infighting and sponsor proxy-wars rather than wage a war themselves. Their slaves are mainly used as spies and farmers. They see other Dragons as predictable and annoying.
   Black Dragons do not find and claim territory for themselves. They destroy and conquer other territory and claim it as their own. They are cruel, sadistic, possessive, psychopathic monsters. They rule through terror and punishment. They have the fewest slaves, as so many die or are eaten. They see all other Dragons as infuriating, and suspicious. They charge head on at the slightest provocation and often come out victorious.
   White Dragons prefer ruling glacial peaks, blizzarding islands, and frozen cloud masses. They are savage and beast-like, they rule through primal strength. They do not enslave, and instead lure the slaves' of other Dragons to hunt and eat. They are not smart enough to have a common view on all Dragons.
   Gold Dragons prefer remote and sunny islands. They are isolationists. They believe they are owed absolute loyalty and servitude. The slaves are used for scholarly pursuits and constuction of temples dedicated to the Gold Dragons.
   Bronze and Brass Dragons prefer ruling islands which are sandy, hot, and beachy. Islands above turbulent seas, thermal vents within clouds. They are militaristic, honour-bound, talkative, and curious. They enslave for the gathering of resources and spying. They see the other Dragons as scary and annoying.

Dragonborn
   Used as shock troops in dragon wars, enforcers for draconic law, miners, builders, and general heavy labor. Their strength and resilience make them valuable assets.
   They succumb to harsh and utilitarian treatment. Seen as property, tools, or cannon fodder by their draconic overlords. Forced to wear the colors/symbols of their flight. Rebellion is brutally crushed. Some internalize servitude; others harbor deep, smoldering resentment.

Aarakocra
   Used as scouts, messengers flying between draconic domains, light skirmishers, hunters gathering food from dangerous skies, and lookouts. Their speed and aerial agility are exploited.
   They are often treated as expendable. Forced into dangerous missions. Wings may be clipped or magically bound if deemed rebellious. Live in precarious cliffside rookeries under draconic watch. Their culture of free flight is suppressed.

Strig
   Are the last species besides Dragons which are not enslaved. They fight tooth and nail for the scraps of freedom they have. The Strigs would rather watch their race die, than live as slaves underneath the Dragons.

Lerranmoraxitro
   The Elder God Lerranmoraxitro created Aerialis and its inhabitants, including the Dragons, Strig, Aarakocra, and Dragonborn. He also ruled over Kyofu. Seeking to grant true freedom, Lerranmoraxitro retired from active rule of both realms, withdrawing divine oversight completely. The Result was peaceful self-determination, the powerful (the Dragons) immediately subjugated the weaker races (their own kin, the Dragonborn, Aarakocra, and Strig). Greed, paranoia, and draconic nature fueled devastating wars between the dragons themselves. Kyofu was utterly destroyed in these conflicts, reduced to a magically scarred, uninhabitable wasteland and a monument to failure. Aerialis became a realm defined by the very oppression and conflict Lerranmoraxitro sought to prevent. The "freedom" granted became the freedom of the strong to dominate the weak. Slavery and endless draconic feuds are the norm. The creator's absence is felt as abandonment by the enslaved, and as an opportunity for unchecked tyranny by the dragons. The realms Lerranmoraxitro left to flourish in freedom became grim examples of tyranny and ruin. After seeing the realms collapse, Lerranmoraxitro remained distant, lounging in a temple in Aerialis.