How would floating islands work?
Soaring among the clouds over an earth-like planet, islands... on which fortresses are built for strategic advantage, on which stations for the dragon air force are built, and which can be relatively steered by harnessing the wind, like a ship...
Floating Islands... 1. How did they get there? 2. How do they stay there? 3. What happens if they collide?
I don't want them too high. A few hundred meters from the ground would be sufficient. 922
They need to be stable, as structures are being built upon them, however they do move over the land with the wind, drifting as lazy clouds of rock, casting shade on Sunday afternoons...
I have some badass ideas for sky pirates and cloud empires that I want to use, but the technical aspect is not my expertise, however I really do want a good explanation.
Magic is permissible, but rather than "a God or wizard did it,' I still would need their methods. My magic system is highly developed and incredibly complex, so your answers would have to be filtered through it if you use magic as an answer, and your answer in that case wouldn't necessarily work.
I would prefer a natural reason. Magnetism wouldn't work, as a magnet of that power would literally be strong enough to rip the blood from your veins. Perhaps some rock of peculiar properties....
Let me know what thoughts you have! I'm at a loss, I'm sad to say.
Edit: the reason my question is different than the one you recommended is because I'm not asking IF it is possible, I'm asking HOW it could be. I want some ideas on how it could be done, and also how it could occur, what caused the islands to come into the air. Also, the other question recommended deals with islands occurring after the destruction of a planet and perhaps orbiting like satellites and whatnot. I want my islands a few hundred meters from the ground, not even near a satellite, and also during the life of the planet, the islanders and ones on the ground interacting and warring. 537