Depending on which legends you believe, people didn’t always live in the mountains. They say that once the clouds were not so thick and ubiquitous, that the sun could actually reach down to the now-ravaged surface.

They’re just legends, though. And pointless ones, at that. Life is actually pretty good. A paradise, you might even say. One of the pleasant side effects of living on mountain plateaus above the clouds is that the weather is always perfect. There’s never any rain, sleet or snow. Just sun and stars.

Of course, life isn’t all about sunbathing. You need to eat, and that means farming. And farming needs water… and water, unfortunately, is not so plentiful. Some of the larger cities are built around springs, but most plateaus require heavily fortified pumping stations to collect and transport water back up to the farms and villages.

Beneath the clouds, in the underdark, the world is very inhospitable. In some of the nicer areas, bioluminescent fungi provide just enough of a glow so that you get the briefest glimpse of whatever monster is about to snatch your life away. Most areas, though, are completely dark, and near-constant rainfall makes it difficult to keep a torch lit.

Travel between plateaus is accomplished via cloudstriders. These huge creatures are like a cross between a lilypad and a jellyfish. Their bodies are thick blue or green discs, anywhere from 5 feet to several dozen feet wide. The creature gets all its nourishment from the sun above with photosynthesis and the clouds below, absorbing moisture from vinelike tendrils which dangle beneath it.

Encounters in Paradise

The PCs receive a map rumored to have the location of an ancient city, from before the clouds covered the planet. Untold wealth and power could be hidden in the city, if it exists.

An old cloudstrider captain claims to have once found the legendary isle of Shangri-La, an island the clouds dare not cover. He offers to guide the PCs there, for a price.