Floating Islands
Floating islands are giant rocks carried by the whirling winds of the Aer. Slowly falling through the atmosphere, they descend towards the depths of Uranus over the course of dozens or hundreds of years. Despite their ephemeral existence the islands form the bedrock of Uranian life. Many creatures of the Uranian Aer begin their life on an island, and return only to birth and raise the next generation. The first Uranian civilizations were formed on the islands. People have mostly migrated to the Eyries, vehicle-cities that remain aloft on their own power.
The Uranian word for island can also be translated as meteor or cliffside. Most islands are asteroids captured by the planet's gravity and thick atmosphere, but sometimes they are formed inside Uranus's core.
Life cycle of an Island
Most islands begin as meteors and asteroids pulled in by the gravity of Uranus. These foreign bodies are sterilized by the flash fire of atmospheric entry. Extraplanetary islands enter along the equator of Uranus and are flung out towards the poles by the retrograde equator winds, where the air moves slower and island sink faster. The lifespan of an island is determined not only by its size and shape, but also by its location. Denser islands tend to sink faster, while islands with unstable shapes generate turbulence that shortens their lifespan. In the most extreme cases these unstable islands spin out of control as they plummet.
Once islands enter the habitable zones of the Aer, they are colonized by flora such as the Parachute Trees. The flora is followed by fauna that eat the vegetation — and seed other plants in the process. Some Uranians deliberately settle new islands to terraform them, while others seek out islands that have already developed their own ecosystem.
Living on an island is considered rural and somewhat archaic. Not only is the lifestyle inherently impermanent, islands are not able to maneuver around environmental hazards. Island inhabitants must weather massive thunderstorms or volatile and toxic clouds. Collisions with other islands are inevitably catastrophic.
When a island eventually falls into the depths, the creatures of the mares collect to feast on the dying flora. Any animals will have long since fled. The mares strip the island of nutrients. Anything that remains is burnt away by the extreme heat of Terra, the core of Uranus. Here, the rock itself is melted down. Sometimes new islands are formed deep in the terra, and rise up again through the mares.
Rarely, large marestorms toss islands into the Aer, providing a glimpse into life in the mares. Mare-touched islands have rich ecosystems, though the thinner atmosphere and low pressure kills most of its inhabitants. They are covered in coral, algae, barnacles, and other marine-like life, and occassionally contain internal pools with strange, bloated lifeforms.
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I love this! The whole life cycle of these floating islands are fascinating, and the accompanying art, as well as descriptions, make me want to live on one. But realising that I cold die from about a thousand different things makes me not want to live on one. But I'd love to roll around a moss-covered floating island, that's for sure. :D
Thank you! Life on them might not be easy, but visiting one would probably be lovely! You could get so much rolling in!
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