Cloudholm

Cloudholm is a city in Landorya. Cloudholm is the workshop island of Caelum. It floats high above the clouds and it is flat as a table. That is why anything can be built here. On wide stone steps stand the Windwr… Geography: The island is cut into steps, like a staircase built for giants. Something different happens on every step. Silk is spun here, star-metal i… Climate: The wind on Cloudholm does not do as it pleases. Huge wind-catchers grab it and send it where it is needed: into the lo…

The island is cut into steps, like a staircase built for giants. Something different happens on every step. Silk is spun here, star-metal is melted there, dug out of fallen meteorites. Loading platforms run along the eastern and western rims. That is where the sky ships dock and take the finished bales away.

The wind on Cloudholm does not do as it pleases. Huge wind-catchers grab it and send it where it is needed: into the loom. Between the steps lie sheltered lanes where you can walk in peace. One step further and your cap is gone.

Cloudholm was one of the first islands the Aeriels lived on again after the Shattered Skies disaster. It was flat and quiet, and that made it safe. The great foundry came much later. First someone had to work out how to drive a loom with wind. That happened at the Celestial Academy.

The workers say the very first thread of sky silk is still stuck in the heart of the loom. They call it the anchor thread. As long as it holds, they say, the machine will never break. The engineers laugh at that. Nobody has ever pulled the thread out anyway.

The day starts early, before the larks. Aeromancers climb the pylons and check every line. At midday everyone eats together outside on the second step, where you can see all the way to the Celestial Observatory. In the evening the foundry crews sit in the taverns. The wind harp is tuned so loud that it drowns out the humming of the machines.