Aeroliths are the ancient flying cities of the elves, most of which long ago crashed and fell into ruin. Built upon asteroids pulled into the atmosphere from space, at their height dozens of these magically levitating chrome cities flew freely across the world. Today only four remain aloft, their residents isolationist and reclusive.
The flight of the aeroliths is entirely dependent on the asteroids upon which they are built. These asteroids are composed in large part of a rare skymetal called ansharite that is particularly easy to manipulate with the elven magic of aerotheurgy. Able to be kept aloft with far less energy than an equivalent mass of terrestrial material, once pulled out of space these asteroids were hollowed and flattened on one side to provide a space to built the cities. The removed ansharite was then refined to be used in the distinctive architecture of the cities, well-laid out buildings of smooth curves and polished chrome. While the tops of the aeroliths were built into elaborately planned and meticulously constructed cities, the sides and bottom were left largely unchanged and of a still visibly extraterrestrial origin. From well-protected chambers in the cores of the asteroids, the aerotheurges worked tirelessly to levitate the flying cities.
Aeroliths varied in size, from two hundred meters to a kilometer in diameter. Many thousands of inhabitants could live on some of the larger cities.
History
Not content with only studying their own world, by Y2400* the elves of the Kingdom of Eita began to look to space to grow their knowledge ever further. Scholars of the cosmos had located a cluster of unique asteroids orbiting Kishar's sun, along a path that frequently brought them relatively close to the planet. Further research determined these asteroids to be composed in large part of a previously unknown skymetal that the elves named ansharite. In one of the kingdom's greatest collective feats, through the collaboration of their mages, scientists, and cosmonauts many of the asteroids were carefully pulled from their orbits and into the atmosphere of Kishar, after which they were gently set to ground in and around the Cradle.
The special properties of ansharite were highly intriguing to elven scholars, and many wondered what they could accomplish with the asteroids in their possession. It was not long before the possibility of using the material for use in flying craft became a topic of discussion in the scholar-halls and public lyceums of Eita. The mechanics of magical flight had been well-studied before, and many smaller flying vessels had been constructed, but now the ansharite allowed for flight on a truly unprecedented scale.
The first flying cities of the elves, by now known as the aeroliths, were built out of the asteroids in the middle of the third millennium, with most of the rest completed over the next five hundred years. The last known to be built was Aivas, which was set aloft in Y3080. For thousands of years the aeroliths were the crowning achievement of elven civilization, wandering the world unchallenged and unchallengeable by any. Though elven explorers had already traveled Kishar extensively, life on the aeroliths allowed many more to see the sights and wonders of the world.
The age of the aeroliths eventually ended, not by any external threat but rather from a malaise from within. The elven aerotheurges gradually became highly secretive with their magical breakthroughs, almost obsessive in withholding their knowledge from others lest they be forced to share the skies with anyone else. Not only were the secrets of this magic kept from non-elves that they visited, but also from almost all residents of the aeroliths as well. Each aerotheurge kept only a single apprentice at a time, who was the only one they trusted enough to grant an understanding of how to keep the cities aloft.
Originally hailed as the pinnacle of their society, over millennia the elves began to see the aeroliths as simply an ordinary fact of life. Few remained interested in the secrets of aerotheurgy, especially as the practitioners of this magic spent almost all their time in the depths of the cities ensuring they remained in the air. Apprentices became fewer in number, and the masters of the magical art were not replaced. Moreover, the belief that the flying cities only served to isolate themselves from the world became more prevalent. At the same time, the ansharite the cities were dependent on was slowly mined away for other use, leaving the aeroliths more difficult to magically levitate. Gradually, unmaintained and unstable, aeroliths began to return to the ground one by one. Some crashed, but most were intentionally brought in to land once their status became clear. Their former inhabitants largely left them behind, scattering around the world. Many elves eventually established new terrestrial communities in Hinthial, near the Cradle in which the first aeroliths were built. By the middle of the eighth millennium, only four remained intact and in the air, with the ruins of the rest slowly decaying.
While most modern elves have abandoned the aeroliths, seeing them as a relic of a past, overly complicated age, some still wish to return to the glory days of following the currents in the atmosphere. Elven adventurers, especially those from Hinthial, often set off to see the broader world specifically in search of the knowledge that will allow them to restore the aeroliths to working condition.