Floating Continent: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Only Komona by David Revoy.jpg|link=Pepper&Carrot|frame]]
{{quote|''"The weather in Glitzville today will be sunny with a chance of more sun. It's above the clouds, stupid."''
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If some cataclysm has resulted in the entire planet being broken up into a collection of floating continents, that's [[Shattered World]].
If there is no landmass under these continents, then it's [[World in the Sky]]. Also see [[Castle in the Sky]], which is when the continent is a castle in question. In some works, there may be heavy overlap between the two. [[Ominous Floating Castle]] is its own trope.
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'', there are floating islands ... [[Captain Obvious|floating]] in the atmosphere of the [[Terraform|terraformed Venus]].
* The eponymous ''[[Laputa: Castle in the Sky]]'', released simply as ''
* Edolas from the Anima arc of ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' had an assortment of floating islands, including the one carrying the Eksheeds' homeland of Exteria, and another that the King used to store the Magnolia [[Power Crystal|La'cryma]].
* Most of the ''[[.hack|.hack//]]'' series of animes and games have floating rocks, islands and the like. Makes sense, seeing most of the animes and all of the games are set in a fictional MMORPG called "The World".
* In the manga version of ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', the Sinner's home is a small floating town called Eden. Somewhat [[Justified]], because (1) demons are actually {{spoiler|aliens, who came to Earth on a fish-like spaceship -- so the Sinners probably have access to technology that would allow for that sort of thing}} and (2) the Sinners are on the run and need to be in hiding, so a home base that's removed from people is probably a better idea than forming a colony somewhere on Earth.
* The entire plot point of ''
* The Neo Nation colonies of ''[[G Gundam]]'' are a really odd example - not only are they space colonies, but they actually seem to be gigantic hunks of Earth which lifted off the planet and floated into space. Keeping with the show's [[Refuge in Audacity]], most of the colonies ([[Creator Provincialism|except Japan]]) are unusual shapes - Neo America is a star, while Neo Mexico is a giant sombrero.
* A floating island of devious monkeys appears in ''[[Kyouran Kazoku Nikki]]''. This one ''does'' have a reason for the hovering -- [[Unobtainium|Levistone]], the same material that powers Hyouka, one of the main characters.
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* The [[Trope Namer]] is ''[[Star Blazers]] / [[Uchuu Senkan Yamato]],'' in which one of these exists in the atmosphere of Jupiter, {{spoiler|until the crew (unintentionally) obliterates it the first time they use the [[Wave Motion Gun]]. They had no idea how powerful the thing would be, and were expecting to only hit the enemy base on the continent.}} This may also count as [[World in the Sky]], Jupiter being a gas giant.
* Floating castles and jewel-like planetoids feature in a fantasy sequence in ''[[Whisper of the Heart]]''.
* Yukina from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' comes from a floating island of ice apparitions like herself, {{spoiler|and so does Hiei}}.
* ''[[The Familiar of Zero]]'': Albion. Called "the White Country" because of the clouds that gather around its underside.
* In the "After Days" chapter of the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS'' supplementary manga, a cluster of floating islands served as the battlefield for the mock air battle between Nanoha and Signum.
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* In ''[[Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar]]'', there is the ''Swan'', initially Empress Lashara's flagship, which is essentially a large flying island.
* Many paintings by Roger Dean, e.g. [https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Magnetic-Storm-1976-1983/i-GS2RwrR The Flights of Icarus]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-jZnPDPq Sea of Light]'' or ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-63prJww The Old Bridge]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-qLpCrCq Yellow City]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-wLrtZzf The Ladder Cityscape]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-L29TzF7 Floating Jungle]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-jXh35v2 Floating Islands]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Post-Dragons-Dream-2008-2016/i-MDv44qr Arrival in Clouds]''...▼
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* The sadly short-lived [[Cross Gen]] comic ''[[
* Superbia, the home of the International Ultramarine Corps in the [[DC Universe]], is a city that floats over the remains of Montevideo.
* Within the pages of [[Cable]]/[[Deadpool]], Cable converts his former base into a floating island.
* The shortlived [[Marvel Comics]] ''[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/weirdworld.htm Weirdworld]'' setting has the floating island of Klarn, homeland of the [[Our Elves Are Different|Elves]].
* Before the travesty of ''Amazons Attack!'', Themyscira, i.e. Amazon island, was displayed as having multiple small islands that floated in midair, ''with waterfalls''. This was often handwaved as being either magic, high tech, or a combo of both.
* [[Supergirl]]'s home town of Argo City, which survived the destruction of Krypton for a while as a free-floating planet chunk.
* [[The Mighty Thor]]'s home of Asgard was always portrayed as a great land mass floating in extradimensional space.
** Between 2007 and 2010, it was a great land mass floating over Broxton, Oklahoma.
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* In ''[[Scott Pilgrim|Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness]]'', this is apparently where Ramona went to college, the University of Carolina in the Sky.
== [[Film]]==
* Mongo in ''[[Flash Gordon (film)|Flash Gordon]]'' was somewhat like this, especially in the case of the Hawkmen's home, and possibly Aboria as well.
* ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'' is set on a world full of such floating islands, held up by the [[wikipedia:Meissner effect|Meissner effect]] - [[Unobtainium]] is a high-temperature superconductor which does this without needing to be well below freezing like ones currently available on Earth.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* In ''[[The Culture|The Player of Games]]'' by [[Iain M Banks|Iain M. Banks]], one character, whose job is to build Orbitals (artificial ring-shaped worlds), talks about making Floating Continents because she thinks that orbitals are too ''mundane'', having fairly standard planetary ecosystems and landforms. She was also a big fan of volcanoes.
** In the same universe, there are the inhabitants of the Airspheres. The smallest
* Various flying castles in Steven Brust's ''[[Dragaera]]'' novels. All of them fell out of the sky during the Interregnum, since they depended on sorcery powered by the then-unavailable Imperial Orb, but Castle Black was later raised again.
* In Steven Erikson's first book of ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'', ''Gardens of the Moon'', the armies of the Malazan empire besieging the city of Pale face a flying fortress called Moon's Spawn under the command of a powerful sorcerer, Anomander Rake.
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* ''[[Magnus]]'' has Dragylon the Imperial Fortress: a massive, invisible, sun-sphere and headquarters of [[Satan|Lucifer]].
* In [[Wen Spencer]]'s ''Endless Blue'', all sorts of islands float. When someone tells Mikhail that his warp drive won't work, this is what convinces him: a place with floating islands is not obeying normal physics.
* In James Blish's ''[[Cities in Flight]]'', the "spindizzy"—the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] that allows for [[Anti Gravity]], [[Force Field]]s, [[Artificial Gravity]], and [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]]—works better with larger masses. As a result, eventually, entire Terran cities cut themselves free of the planet and soar out to the stars.
* In ''[[Perelandra]]'' by [[C. S.
* The protagonist of the bizarre story ''Tower of Babylon'' by Ted Chiang is working on the archetypal Tower of Babel—which is literally built to reach the sky, a flat plate of rock, above which heaven is presumed to exist. The builders climb past stars of heated rock and tunnel into the sky, but unleash a local flood by drilling into a chamber full of water. The protagonist continues upward and emerges {{spoiler|back on Earth, more or less where he started, because space is tightly folded -- Earth is above itself}}.
* In [[Alexander Bushkov]]'s ''Svarog'' series of novels, the swashbuckling-and-sorcery world of Talar has these flying islands, populated by the local uber race of wizard-nobles.
* ''[[Animorphs]]'' had [[Death World|Ket]], part of their [[Expanded Universe]], which had the planet's sentient species living on and maintaining their floating continents. The entire species worked to fly their continents through the sky, mainly because the planet surface is highly toxic.
** The Ketran death sentence is sending the offender to the surface, away from the continents. Because the Ketrans can't really fly, they glide, once they fall below the continents, they're dead.
* In ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|Life, The Universe, and Everything]]'', Arthur crash-lands on a giant floating cocktail party. It's been floating for over eleven years because some [[Mad Scientist|drunk astro-engineers]] thought it'd be cool; it's since survived by raiding cities on the surface below, and [[Kissing Cousins|inter-generational inbreeding]] has started to occur.
* The human inhabitants of Turquoise, an [[Single Biome Planet|ocean world]] in one of the stories in [[Alastair Reynolds]]' ''Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days'' (part of the [[Revelation Space]] universe) live in "snowflake cities", giant vacuum-buoyed city sized airships. Boats are not an option, as the alien Juggler biomass that fills the oceans breaks down nonliving materials at rates far too quick to repair.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* The floating city Stratos in ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' "The Cloud Minders".
* The seemingly primitive Nox from ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' are revealed to have built a floating city in Season 1 of the series
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* The ''[[Firefly]]'' episode "Trash" features the crew staging a robbery on Bellerophon where ultra-wealthy citizens reside on their own private estates that float over an idyllic sea.
== [[Music]] ==
▲== Music ==
* Roger Dean's album covers for the progressive rock band [[Yes]] are absolutely packed with these.
* The videos for "Feel Good Inc" and "El Manaña" by [[Gorillaz]] feature Noodle on a floating island with a windmill.
== [[New Media]] ==▼
▲== New Media ==
* The quest ''[[Vigor Mortis]]'' takes place on a sky island (so far, who knows if the protagonist will go to a different island or something).
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* Helios, in the "Ordinary Basil" story arcs of ''[[
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' settings frequently have more than a few floating continents or cities of various sizes.
** The ancient empire Netheril from the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' had a host of magical floating cities (archwizard slices off a mountaintop, turns it upside down and slaps on it a huge magical device providing unlimited flight, then goes on to rule the new enclave as a mobile fief). Most were destroyed 4,000 years "ago" when a power-hungry mage accidentally caused magic to stop functioning. A few survivors landed safely but never flew again. One escaped into the Plane of Shadow, to return thousands of years later and start refounding the Netherese Empire.
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* The plane of Zendikar, in [[Magic: The Gathering]], has a weird shifting gravity that causes floating continents as seen [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=195170 here], [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=195179 here] or [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201966 here].
** It also held [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193452 Emrakul, The Aeons-Torn], a floating [[Eldritch Abomination]] the size of a mountain range. The plane of Zendikar, was, in fact, used as the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|can]] that kept it and the other titanically huge Eldrazi sealed, until a group of planeswalkers were manipulated into [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|breaking]] said can and letting the Eldrazi free.
* ''Sundered Skies'' setting for ''[[Savage Worlds]]'' (with skyships, [[Sky Pirate]]s and all that).
== [[Theatre]] ==
* Cloudcuckooland from [[Aristophanes]]' famous play ''The Birds'', making this [[Older Than Feudalism]].
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Breath of Fire]] II'', the small town that you encourage to life is coincidentally constructed over a buried [[Lost Technology]] machine. An optional subplot allows you to activate the machine and the entire town goes airborne, becoming your new [[Global Airship]]. {{spoiler|The [[Multiple Endings|"best" ending]] involves using it as for a miniature [[Colony Drop]]}}
** Said town also {{spoiler|served as the [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] of the first game.}}
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** With the ''Lich King'' expansion, the city of Dalaran was uprooted and now floats above the northern continent. But then again, considering [[A Wizard Did It|who lives there]]...
** ''Cataclysm'' introduced two instances that take place in the Skywall: Vortex Pinnacle and Throne of the Four Winds. While Skywall is presumably much larger than what was seen, they both qualify as being sky cities.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'': The Mu have their city floating high in the sky, an island raised from the sea by their goddess Hequat to save her followers from destruction by the
* The entirety of ''[[Cave Story]]'' takes place on (or more accurately inside) a floating island. Depending on the ending you get, it either falls from the sky or starts falling but stops.
** It's an interesting case, because the nature of the place as a floating continent is kept hidden from the player for quite some time. The extensive cave network and the references to "The Surface" are pretty good at convincing you that the game is taking place ''underground''. Turns out that the surface refers to ''below'' the island.
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* ''[[Netstorm]]'' action happens in the world of islands in the air (and at war).
== [[Web Animation]] ==▼
▲== Web Animation ==
* Haiku Melon's episode in ''[[Banana-nana-Ninja!]]'' World of the Damned takes place on a chain of floating islands on a distant planet.
== [[Web Comics]] ==▼
* ''[[Narbonic]]''{{'}}s genius breeding colony flying island built by hamsters. No, really.▼
▲== Web Comics ==
▲* ''[[Narbonic]]'''s genius breeding colony flying island built by hamsters. No, really.
* ''[[Unicorn Jelly]]'' has flying triangles, ''[[Pastel Defender Heliotrope]]'' has rectangles, and several other JD Reitz-created worlds have flying continents of varying shapes. In fact, I can't remember a world she created that has actual planets.
* While they're not continents, the powerful mage city of Escehelon in ''[[Flipside]]'' has an [http://www.flipsidecomics.com/comic.php?i=1028 anomalous amount of rocks hovering in the air.]
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* ''[[Yosh!]]'' has a flying island (hidden by magic so satellites can't see it), a leftover from when wizards ruled the world.
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
▲== Web Original ==
* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', Alent was a floating continent in the First Age.
* In Volume 5 of ''[[RWBY]]'' we see an area of the Anima continent where there are numerous floating islands above a large lake or inland sea, supported by [[Phlebotinum|the gravity dust deposits]] in them. And at the end of Volume 8 we finally see the city of Atlas for the first time, and learn that it is a ''sky'' city, floating in the air above its predecessor city of Mantle.
* From ''[[SCP Foundation]]'', Audapaupadopolis, [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-4840 SCP-4840]. An ancient and - mostly - abandoned floating city discovered in the Arctic north of Russia, it oddly seems to hold information about the history of ''many'' of the most well-known SCPs, some of them more modern than the age of the city suggests.
* The [http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Crystal_Cities Crystal Cities of Venus] in ''[[Fenspace]]'' (built of "transparent carbon"<ref>Artificial diamond.</ref>), which hover in the upper atmosphere of the planet. They serve as both administrative bases ''and'' terraforming equipment (and tourist destinations) for the Silver Millennium faction.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
* A ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Simpsons]]'' episode spoofing ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'', though they turned out to be ''falling''.▼
▲== Western Animation ==
▲* A [[Simpsons]] episode spoofing [[Avatar]], though they turned out to be ''falling''.
* A floating island full of [[Death Trap|death traps]] plays an important role in ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars]]''.
** Another episode has its plot centered around a floating mountain.
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* Beijing temporarily becomes one of these in ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'', after Triceratons install an engine that seals it off and sends it floating. The episode "Mission of Gravity" involves an attempt bring it back down to Earth.
* Flip City in ''[[Rollbots]]'' is entirely above ground with structures held aloft by anti-gravity devices.
* Ra's al Ghul uses a flying island as his base of operations in the ''[[Batman: The Brave
* In ''[[My Little Pony:
▲* Many paintings by Roger Dean, e.g. [https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Magnetic-Storm-1976-1983/i-GS2RwrR The Flights of Icarus]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-jZnPDPq Sea of Light]'' or ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-63prJww The Old Bridge]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-qLpCrCq Yellow City]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-wLrtZzf The Ladder Cityscape]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-L29TzF7 Floating Jungle]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Dragons-Dream-1985-2008/i-jXh35v2 Floating Islands]'', ''[https://gallery.rogerdean.com/Paintings-By-Book/Post-Dragons-Dream-2008-2016/i-MDv44qr Arrival in Clouds]''...
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Crazy Awesome|Buckminster Fuller]] provides us with plans for elaborate floating cities. [[wikipedia:Cloud nine (Tensegrity sphere)|For the curious, see this Wikipedia page for information on
* Actually a viable means for colonizing Venus. Oxygen floats at, conveniently enough, the area in the atmosphere that is a balmy 70 or so. An air-tight colony could use only the breathable air inside to remain bouyant. Also, since everything is in equilibrium, the colony needs no real structural strength, and so could be made enormous using current materials (the only major problem is the sulfuric acid rain, and all sorts of other horrible acids and toxic, corrosive vapours, and getting the materials there to make it, since mining from Venus's surface isn't very feasible).
** Said acids and toxins could be harvested and processed into construction material.
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