Chapter 3.3: The Fall of Skyhold – When the Heavens Shattered

Long before the rise of mortal empires, the Aetherians ruled the skies from their celestial kingdom, Skyhold, an ethereal city suspended among the clouds. Built upon floating spires of enchanted stone, its streets wove through the heavens, illuminated by orbs of eternal light. It was the pinnacle of knowledge and magic, where the Aetherians, the more enlightened kin of the Giants, harnessed the pure forces of aether to shape the world from above.

But pride comes before the fall.

The War of the Giant Wards – The Breaking of Balance

The Aetherians had long observed the primal Giants who still walked the land. They saw their kin as reckless, bound to the crude elements of the earth while they themselves ascended beyond. To them, the Giants were dangerous remnants of an untamed past, beings too mighty to be left unchecked.

At the heart of the conflict stood Vaelith the Stormforged, the Aetherian who sought to bring order by force. He believed that the Giants—Stormcallers, Firebloods, Frostborn, and Stonefists alike—were threats to the balance of aetheric energy in Eldoria. His voice swayed the Aetherian Council, and the skies darkened with war.

The Stormcallers resisted first, answering the challenge with lightning and fury. Their warcries echoed through the heavens, but the Aetherians called upon celestial storms greater than any the Giants had ever known.The Firebloods rose in wrath, their volcanoes erupting with hatred. The skies burned as the Aetherians unleashed raw aetheric energy, snuffing out even the greatest infernos.The Frostborn retreated to their icy dominions, but the Aetherians shattered glaciers with celestial lances, leaving the giants exposed and vulnerable.The Stonefists, the most resilient of all, made their final stand in the mountains. Their fortresses stood unbroken—until the Aetherians called upon the Heart of Aether itself.

The Heart of Aether – The Unleashing of Divine Wrath

In the heart of Skyhold, the Aetherians wielded their greatest weapon: The Heart of Aether, a forbidden relic pulsing with unfathomable power. Vaelith sought to unleash it upon the world, an act that would purge Eldoria of the Giants forever.

But in their final defiance, the surviving Stormcallers and Stonefists did the unthinkable.

Summoning the greatest storm in history, they hurled the very sky upon Skyhold itself.

The heavens trembled.

The celestial bridges cracked.

The floating spires swayed.

And the Heart of Aether, unstable and uncontrollable, broke.

The Shattering of the Skyhold

The explosion was unlike anything Eldoria had ever witnessed.

Skyhold, the untouchable city, began to fall. Its floating spires, once held aloft by pure aetheric energy, crumbled as the very fabric of the heavens collapsed.The storm turned against its creators. Winds howled, lightning struck without mercy, and the once-mighty Aetherian legions plummeted from the sky like falling stars.Vaelith the Stormforged was consumed. The Heart of Aether devoured its wielder, his ambition ending in a blaze of celestial fury.The Skyhold, once the pinnacle of enlightenment, became a ruin. Its remnants crashed into the land below, creating the Fallen Spires, shattered towers still pulsing with residual magic.

In a single night, the empire of the Aetherians was undone.

The Survivors – The Exile of the Skyborn

Few survived the fall. Those who did found themselves stripped of their celestial kingdom, scattered across the lands of Eldoria.

Among them was Zephiron the Windward, a once-great Aetherian lord who had sought peace instead of war. Gravely wounded, he gathered the remnants of his people, guiding them away from the ruins of their fallen empire.

They could no longer dwell in the skies. They had no home, no kingdom.

And so, they became wanderers.

The Nomads of the Plains – The Windborn Tribes

With Skyhold lost, the surviving Aetherians fled to the only land that would take them—the vast Plains of Aradûn, where no city walls stood, and no king ruled.

Here, they shed the last remnants of their old ways. No longer did they build floating cities or wield divine authority. Instead, they embraced the winds, learning to live as nomads.

Their name was lost to history. The world no longer knew them as the Aetherians.

Now, they were the Windborn.

The Windborn Tribes roam the great plains, moving as the wind guides them, never settling, always traveling.Their warriors wield skyforged spears, weapons crafted from fragments of the fallen Skyhold, imbued with whispers of lost power.Their shamans, called the Stormsages, listen to the wind, seeking echoes of the past, waiting for the day when the sky will call them home again.

Zephiron the Windward – The Guardian of the Forgotten Sky

Zephiron, once a lord of Skyhold, is now Zephiron the Windward, the leader of the Windborn.

He does not seek vengeance, for he knows the folly of war.He does not seek power, for he has seen what ambition brings.He only seeks balance, guiding his people across the endless plains, waiting for the day when the heavens will forgive them.

Yet, deep in his heart, he hears the call of the skies.

For even as the Windborn wander the earth, their destiny is written in the clouds.

And one day, the sky will rise again.