Some sample nations for Timgame

THE WORLD: Imagine a world where the sky stretched forever.  The world as you know it is made up of islands floating in the sky, with great, leaden chains beneath beneath each leading down into darkness and mist. Oceans of of water and domesticated horses are unknown, water is primarily gathered from clouds or moisture traps.  Drinking pure water (from clouds, not rainwater gathered in cisterns) is a status symbol, fruit  juices and wine are more common.  Islands drift, usually in a semi-regular pattern over the course of a year, but this isn't universally true. People get around between islands using sunships, which use sunstones that grow naturally on the top part of the great chains to convert stored solar energy into lift and thrust.

Megama: The starting island, ostensibly a meritocratic magiocracy ruled by a Monarch (capitalization intentional).  To join the nobility, all you have to do is grow wings and fly.  The problem is, learning the Wings of Words Sorcery school is very expensive, and intentionally so.  Some sorcerers do take on and train apprentices %Bwithout%B bullshit high tuition fees, but those are in rare cases when they aren't worried about established noble families getting miffed at them, and when the pupil is talented enough to merit it.  The nobility are literally above you.  Megamai are pale-skinned, rather like more refined-looking Siberians, with slightly tilted eyes and hair that ranges from black to pale brown.  Megama is known for its explorers and traders, because the ideal of flight is ingrained into Megamai culture as the ultimate freedom, but they also have a stereotype (especially in Yurand) as cowards.  See, in a culture where the people who can fly make the laws, retreating to find a more advantageous position is considered simply smart thinking.

Yurand: Made up of two islands that share the same Drift pattern, joined by a great bridge.  Yurand is more of a wild land than Megama, but has a less turbulent Drift pattern and actually is deep enough to have many small lakes, minor rivers, and groundwater, leading to a profusion of fields and forests.  Outer Yurand is ringed in sharp, cave-riddled mountains and densely forested, while Inner Yurand is flatter and has significant plainsland.  Yurand is ruled by a dual monarchy, with a King and Queen governing Inner and Outer Yurand respectively.  They are not married, but rather the heads of two separate dynasties established after a civil war.  Yurandish are darker than Megamai, and tend towards more facial hair in the men, with hair colors ranging from straw-blonde through red and into brown.  Yurandish nobility are hereditary, and sworn to one of the two monarchs.  They are known for their warriors and skyknights, who ride small, bike-like craft that function on the same principal as a sunship.  Although allies with Megama out of necessity, the Megamai don't see anyone who can't fly as a noble, and therefore the actual process of getting anything negotiated with the Monarch of Megama for anyone who can't just fly up to him in the Roofless Palace is a long and frustrating process of going through intermediaries.  The Yurandish nobles feel some contempt for the Megamai nobility's prerequisite of sorcery rather than proven bloodlines, and the Megamai nobility think that Yurandish nobles are upjumped groundwalkers, but both nations need each other for trade.  Animal heraldry is very, very common, and armor is frequently shaped to match or give a nod towards it.


Rossily: A smaller island than Megama or Yurand, with a main island surrounded by smaller, 'private' islands where the estates of the wealthiest merchants and temples can be found.  Rossily has a rather small Drift pattern in the shape of a rough circle, bringing it into contact with many islands that would otherwise never know trade.  Consequently, the Rossilian people are a melange of ethnicities and cultures, all united by a love of money and markets.  If you can't find it anywhere else, you'll find it in Rossily.  Rossily is governed by a Council, elected every five years by anyone wealthy enough to buy a vote.  You literally go in and buy a gem-encrusted tablet with a number on it, and cast your vote for a specific individual.  You can vote for anyone, even if they couldn't afford a vote on their own, so having rich friends is sometimes almost as good as being rich, the only requirements are an upstanding reputation (as in, no publicly recorded crimes you can't bribe your way out of) and owning a manor in Rossily itself.  There are only a specific amount of votes, so bidding in some years can get very competitive.  That said, the common man enjoys substantial rights in Rossily, mostly to tempt skilled merchants and artisans to buy and sell there without having to fear some noble with a pack of thugs trying to cheat them.


The Pebbles: a series of tiny islands (by contrast, Megama is a little bigger than Japan and Yurand is almost the size of England, two real-world islands) whose exact location relative to each other varies.  Rich in ore, poor in pretty much everything else, but the climate isn't bad and there's good sky-fishing.  Pebble Tribesmen tend to be tall, with coal-dark skin, and use elaborate tattoos to denote where they're from, who they're related to, and what accomplishments, if any, they have.  Pebble Tribesmen have a reputation (but remember, all of these reputations are similar to real-world "Chinese women have sideways vaginas and the French are all cowards" stereotypes) as being taciturn, a side-effect of being able to know someone's reputation at a glance.  It's forbidden to give yourself tattoos, an elder who knows who you are has to do it for you.

Rillmen: Wanderers and entertainers.  Rillmen live and travel on great sunships that are ornately painted and decorated, carrying entire families or clans.  Rillmen put a great emphasis on the family, and come together in great meets.  Rillmen practice the Flame Dance sorcery, although they teach it freely to Rillmen and charge outsiders, and make a living putting on shows of dance and pyrotechnics.  It isn't uncommon for royalty to have a Rillman jester for wit, acrobatics, and the side-benefit of having a jester who could potentially be a very, very powerful spellcaster in the area of fireball-throwing.  The Rill is a comb-shaped archipelago that never drifts significantly, but mostly serves as a home point for Rillmen and a place for their great meets, festivals, and matchmaking ceremonies.  All Rillmen are expected to make a pilgrimage to the Rill at least once, because the vast majority of them were born on a sunship rather than on the Rill itself.  Ethnic Rillmen have light brownish skin, like good coffee, with dark eyes and hair.  They're not quite trusted wherever they go, but are generally considered harmless entertainers, it's more that parents tend to worry about their children running off to become Rillmen, since the Rillmen take in anyone who marries into their culture.  The proper way for Rillmen to deal with disputes among their own is for a Torchbearer to deal with it.  Torchbearers are Attuned Flame Dancers.  Attuning to Flame Dance Sorcery renders you sterile, but Torchbearers take on the community of the Rillmen as a whole to be their family, serving as mediators, respected elders, and matchmakers.