Okay, these are the last parts we're gonna cheat on, I promise!
So we're making good progress, Step 1 blew right on by.
Let's see what Step 2 is:
2. Label important regions
Well, as we're making up each cluster or single island as we go, we don't need to label important regions on our world map (since we don't have one).
Not just because we're lazy, but the idea is that so much time has passed and so much distance (and vast floating rock fields and fear of going too far from home) exists that islands and island clusters have developed very independently from each other. There won't be a unifying naming of areas, even among the same species, everyone has been going about life their own way, most don't even know if anyone is left besides the small islands they reside on. That's not to say no nations aren't aware of each other, and many safe lanes have been opened up and neighboring clusters have opened trade with each other, but it's more like the Dark Ages, where you relied more on self and didn't give a damn what was going on in the next kingdom over, until they tried to invade. So, we'll label important regions per detailed map, but not the world map.
Moving on!
3. Write one page of background giving no more than a handful of sentences to each region.
Okay, this one isn't being cheated so much, except we have more of a general overview of the world, rather then a few sentences per region:
A very long time ago, everyone lived on the world below and there wasn't any floating islands about. Different species evolved into sentience, kingdoms rose and fell, wars were fought, land was explored, new neighbors discovered, and more wars were fought.
Then, something terrible happened, no one remembers what anymore, but the land was torn asunder. The entire world may have become a lifeless hulk right then, but, for some reason, one as mysterious as to the cataclysm itself, vast pieces of land rose above the destruction. Here, survivors clung to what little they had left, and slowly, began to live again, and soon began to thrive.
New nations crawled out of the ruins left behind by the near apocalypse, but, separated by vast sky, very few sought out one another and turned in to themselves. But as a community grows, it needs to expand. Some joined nearby islands with vast cables, using steam powered machinery to move people back and forth, others used magic, creating teleportation circles to transmit themselves and others to nearby lands. But soon, in a parallel of invention, nations began to design the one thing to make expansion easier.
Airships, designed a thousand different ways by a thousand different nations began to take to the skies, new lands were discovered, some were colonized, some were left to the creatures that had taken them over.
In some places, communities and nations discovered one another, and, like it was before, wars were fought and alliances formed. However, the skies are vast, long stretches of nothing but floating rock debris, sky pirates, and horrific aerial creatures separates nations from every learning of one another.
No one goes down to the surface anymore, all know the tales of what horrors await down there, gates to hellish landscapes, creatures unimaginable, terrors beyond imagination. Those few foolish souls that tried never returned.
It would seem like everything would grow static, that the nations and lone communities would have their alliances and struggles with those nearby, but that any remaining discovery or outside nation was simply too dangerous to get too and not worth the risk.
But time always moves forward, and curiosity, in some form, is inherent in every intelligent species. Lately a new breed has risen up, men and women of all nations and species that are not content with how the world now rests. Willing to brave dangers both local and abroad, to plunder the ancient ruin and to set off into the debris. They ply for secrets of the past and look to discover the lands that will secure the future. They are adventurers and to them, the world is an open book.
That's about a page...
4. Pick an area roughly 200 miles by 150 miles
Okay, this we can do, and this will be the process we repeat from now until we're done coming up with new ideas (see: never).
Our first choice? A little of everything, an island cluster with a few larger safe communities, a few local dangers, some exotic locals, and islands full of ancient secrets and lairs and dungeons.
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