AERIUS

Aerius is a land of billowing clouds and astonishing flying creatures. Long ago, life on Aerius took to the sky to feed and reproduce high in the clouds. Over time the creatures changed, evolving into new and magnificent species. The creatures of Aerius have forgotten the land, yet some stories remain, like fragments of memory telling of the mysterious hardness below. At first sight, this world is an extraordinarily beautiful place - but there is a change blowing in...literally. The magnificent white clouds of Aerius are becoming dark and thick and its flying denizens are struggling through the miasma. The massive Skywhales are sinking and the thriving ecosystems they support are being dragged down with them. The air no longer smells sweet and death lies in wait below.    

The Double Happy Rabbits

PORTENT VAPOURS
Aeon stories, sung in Skywhale long form, written in the Gas.

All things are One. We the Skywhale are long of life. Interconnectedness is Aerius. The Gas that is expelled, the Fluffin that grazes, the Skullture that consumes, we are all parts of The One. Yet there are things that are not The One. The long of ear strikes fear. Like the flapping of a Tinselfly, barely the size of a speck, small changes in order can lead to terror. The mass gas explosion of Aerlion raged for a thousand years, covering almost one third of our world, consuming all in its conflagration. No creature, not even Skywhale was safe. And all this because of one small Tinselfly flapped its wings, a Fracta leaf dropped, a Buzz-Bli cocoon fell, it’s mother chased, was swallowed by a Rip Fang, that belched and caused a Fungi Lion to light up her luminescence in self defence, just as a large cloud of expel Gas passed by. The resulting ignition sparked the largest natural disaster known to Skywhale. Its effects are still ongoing, though now merging into the fuzzy noise of The One. We the Skywhale tremble at what the long of ear will do on Aerius. Their effects could cause us catastrophe. A thousand years may be nothing to the long ear. They could bring us ultimate doom. This is our warning.

The Infinite Sadness

SOLID DEMISE
Aeon stories, sung in Skywhale long form, written in the Gas.

We the Skywhale suffer the Black Cloud. When this cloud descends on the mind of a Skywhale, she descends from the Aerosphere, halts her natural production of the Gas, and remains oblivious to all life. Nothing the Skyherd can do will jolt her from this malaise. Be warned. The Black Cloud is catching. Once infected, the sickness spreads from one creature to another, through the interconnectedness of The One. Skywhale after Skywhale begins to mourn her own existence. Life becomes meaningless. We turn on one another, whispering words that fill us with pain, divide with loneliness. Then one will drop altitude, flinging herself out of the Aerosphere to land on the mysterious hardness below. There she flops about, her great sky flippers helpless, unable to take back to the sky. There she wakes from her stupor, and horror seeps into her eyes. “What have I done?” she cries out, “What is this hardness under my belly?” There she dies alone, away from the Skyherd, away from the Aerosphere, away from life. She descends in darkness forever. Alone.

The History of the Isles

GAS BECOMES
Aeon stories, sung in Skywhale long form, written in the Gas.

In the beginning there was the Gas. The Gas condensed into our world. Everything we see, everything we hear, touch, consume, expel is the Gas – The One. It takes on all forms, speaks to us in silent whispers, and though her we glimpse enlightenment. The Skywhale is long of life, but the Skyherd lives longer still. The stories of creation have been passed down over the aeons. We see interconnectedness, where the short-lived see only randomness and mere coincidence. There is a hidden motion to all things. Every event is important no matter how small, how insignificant it may seem on a large scale. The smallest of moments contain so many interactions that we could not even begin to count them. Gas bumps into gas, so many tiny interactions combine - it is a wave that breaks, that builds, that can overpower the largest of all things. Nothing is insignificant. In fact, it is the other way around. The smallest of things are the most important. The most powerful. Gas. The One.