About three thousand years ago a cataclysmic event caused the destruction of the world. The earth became coated in a thick miasma, a poisonous and corrosive air that brought death to anything that was exposed to it. Out of nowhere the poison had begun to seep from deep inside the planet, causing destruction with earthquakes as the air pushed it's way into the surface. Frightened of their impending doom the people of the earth looked to their greatest minds for salvation.

A year later a professor named Alexander Belmont, brought forward blue prints for massive ships that would carry the people to safety. The ships would float to the sky above the reach of the deadly poison. There they would wait out the suffering, wait for the earth to become pure again so that they could return to their beloved homeland. At first people were skeptical, and rejected his idea. After many trial and error experiments he finally succeeded in creating a functioning model. He took the model to his country leaders who provided funding for the project and allowed for him to build a fully functional life size ship. People were amazed by his scientific genius and adopted his idea as their best chance of survival.

The ships were built and took in as many people as they could before lifting up into the sky. Many people were left behind, many of which were Elves because they were not seen as equals to the Humans. As the ships rose one by one they watched as the miasma created thick clouds, covering the atmosphere and blocking their view of their previous home. The clouds grew on top of each other, creating a thick shield that prevented the miasma from reaching the ships.

After a while the ships prepared to sail back down, but were greeted by a strange sign. Floating rock islands that carried parts of cities and towns, or parts of forest or mountains.The captains and political leader's from all the ships held a meeting to discuss the meaning. Scientists figured the miasma had broken up the earth and disrupted its magnetic poles, and a certain ore within the rock caused the islands to lift up into the sky due to impossibly strong magnetic forces. They believed that there would be no return to their previous home. They then discussed what their future plans would be.

After the meeting people began to gather what they could from these rising islands, that would sometimes disappear below the cloud cover. They added to the ships combining them together, creating cities carriers of civilization which hovered above the surface of the adequately named Cloudsea. The cities took on specific roles, whether they were farming colonies that grew food for the cities, housing and urban cities meant to house as many people as possible, or military colonies to train the protective forces of the sky cities. They became a new people, created allegiances, new governments, a new world. Novus-Terra.

For many year's the cities grew, created new inventions like robots meant to serve many purposes, as well as building many smaller sky-ships resembling the size and shape of their previous boats. The world went on a steady climb of prosperity for a while, but the longer things dragged on the worse things became.

Thieves known as sky pirates began to show up, they harassed the military by attacking their ship from below the cloud cover. As well as the occasional commandeering of ships simply to take their supplies. The pirates became a bigger presence in the world and helped inspire a sense of exploration amongst many of the people. After a much longer time, the supplies that the sky-cities provided were no longer able to keep up with the demands of ever-growing populations.

Now cities are covered in grime, populations so high that resources are a major issue, and crime is becoming rampant and common.
The cities are experiencing many problems, and have no solution for how to solve them. The prosperity age of the sky-cities is faded.

The world Of Novus-Terra, is a world in the sky. The people of the world escaped a deadly and corrosive air that began to cover the world by fleeing to the sky. After learning that they might never get to return home the ship inhabitants reformed their thoughts. They recovered scraps and debris, that floated up to the sky due to a strange magnetic force that was caused by the miasma. The additions to the ships became so large that multiple ships came together and became cities.

The world exist purely in the sky, no land except for the floating islands where most of the resources that created the sky-cities came from. Now the world faces a time period filled with struggle. Governments have become monarchies, each city is ruled by a single family. The resources that they relied on are becoming scarce and conflict is beginning between sky-cities.

Pirates are attacking merchant ships and supply frigates, taking whatever they can to ensure their own survival. The population of the cities has become very high, and living conditions have become very poor. A few cities have fallen below the clouds, and an influx of wanderer's, people with no permanent residence in one city, has created crime within the cities.
The last thing, is that one of the two original races that came to the skies is dying out. Elves, who faces extreme prejudice and are often traded as slaves, are becoming few and far between.