The sky cities are the last and greatest refuge of mankind, enormous floating slabs of rock and soil magically suspended thousands of feet above the Surface where Aether leaches into the atmosphere through great Rifts in the Earth's broken core, inflicting many with the curse of Aether sickness and giving power untold to the chosen few. For the Apt elites, who have discovered their Aptitude in manipulating the Aether around them, the world is a beautiful place, the open skies their only limit, and the abandoned Surface beneath their feet a trove of spoils awaiting new owners. For many that make up the rest of the Knackless masses, the world remains as it always was, but for those cursed few Spurned by even the touch of Aether, sometimes the best one can hope for is to be ignored.