The_Shattered_Firmament
In a world where the earth was long ago pulverized into thousands of floating islands, humanity clings to life in the High Reach—a vertical civilization suspended over the Miasma, a bottomless sea of toxic, violet fog. To fall is to be forgotten; to fly is to be hunted.
For eight centuries, the Consensus has maintained order by controlling the flow of Aether-Cores—the crystalline hearts of fallen stars that grant supernatural abilities to those brave (or desperate) enough to graft them into their flesh. But these "Gifts" come with a grim tax: the Burn. Every spark of power consumes a portion of the user’s life force. The more powerful you become, the faster you die.
The world’s equilibrium is shattered when a dying exile named Kaelen "Crow" Vane discovers a forbidden star-chart. It points to the Nadir, the mythical absolute bottom of the Miasma, where the Zero-G Engine—the machine that keeps the world afloat—is rumored to be failing.
If the Engine dies, every island falls. If the Consensus keeps it, they will continue to decide which nations live and which are dropped into the fog to "lighten the load."
Kaelen assembles the Misfit Fleet, a crew of outcasts, each harboring a "Cursed" Core and a reason to see the old world burn. Together, they must sail through gravity-storms, dodge the Consensus’s Iron-Clad dreadnoughts, and face the Harbingers—monstrous beings mutated by the Miasma.
It is a race against time, gravity, and their own dwindling lifespans. Kaelen doesn't want to be a King; he wants to find the Engine and give the world back its weight, even if he has to burn his entire life to reach the bottom.
