History Main / WorldInTheSky

** Wouldn't the "solar radiation", or equivalent, blow the ring away since there is no magnetic field to protect it?
** Equally, wouldn't the gas be expected to clump by gravity into a gas giant?
*** I think the whole point is that the smoke ring is shaped by the magnetic field around the neutron star, not its gravity. That's probably why it's shaped like a ring in the first place. Neutron stars can have absurdly strong magnetic fields, after all. Take a look at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetar Magnetars]] if you're interested.

*** I think the whole point is that the smoke ring is shaped by the magnetic field around the neutron star, not its gravity. That's probably why it's shaped like a ring. Those things can have absurdly strong magnetic fields, after all.

* It's implied in the 1980 film version of FlashGordon that Ming's kingdom is actually a collection of floating continents in atmosphere. Near the end of the movie, Flash suggests escaping the Hawkmen's world by making parachutes and jumping ''down'' to Arborea, and Dr. Zarkov doesn't rule it out.

* ''{{FinalFantasyXIII}}'' has the planets of Cocoon and Gran Pulse. When standing on Gran Pulse, the main characters can look up and see Cocoon just floating there up in the sky.

* {{KarlSchroeder}}'s "Virga" series takes place inside a HollowWorld filled with air, where people, ships, entire cities, and man-made miniature "suns" [[TheSkyIsAnOcean float around]]. To the inhabitants, their world is the sky, filled with islands of matter. Virga also inverts this trope, since technically, [[IncrediblyLamePun their sky is the world]].

* In ''{{The Player of Games}}'', on of the character wants to '''build''' one of those, because it would cooler than the artificial worlds usually made by the Culture (which just show how blasé the Culture citizens can be: [[RingWorldPlanet Ring Worlds]] and sentient spaceships with hundreds of millions of people living inside can be deemed ''boring''). The Culture's technology would allow it to build such a world, except that it would be a lot of energy and matter lost on a whim.

Impossible under physics resembling ours, worlds of this type are found exclusively in fantasy. What keeps them hovering? Where does the gravity come from? What's keeping the atmosphere in place? [[LostTechnology Nobody knows]], but maybe AWizardDidIt.

* The Hallelujah Mountains in ''{{Film/Avatar}}''. (Vaguely justified by something to do with {{Unobtanium}} and a "flux vortex.")

* Such a setup, with floating islands in a limitless sky after a great catastrophe shattered the planet, and people traveling around with airships, exists in the cute French kids-cartoon ''Dragon Hunters'' ("''Chasseurs de dragons''" 2004, German "''Die Drachenjäger''"). In this series, there's a definite "downward" direction, meaning you can fall off or jump off an island, and there are waterfalls. Populated fragments range in size from those sufficient for a house and small farm to those the size of a good-sized island, and even pebbles may float in the air over the surface of bigger landmasses. (It is never explained why some stones float and others don't, but hey, [[RuleOfCool it looks cool]].) Some populated fragments are tethered together with rope bridges. Uncommon in such settings, magic in ''Dragon Hunters'' is almost nonexistent, and where it exists it is part of the scenery, such as an enchanted fairy-tale spring or monsters breathing fire. The characters have clockwork technology but no steam tech or magic items.

* Apparently [[TetrisWorlds Hotline Tetris]] leads to such a world.
* TheGranstreamSaga takes place on 4 floating islands (and a huge flying battleship), one for each element: Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth in that order.

* TheGranstreamSaga takes place on 4 islands (and a huge flying battleship), one for each element: Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth in that order.

* GranstreamSaga takes place on 4 islands (and a huge flying battleship), one for each element: Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth in that order.

* Edolas from the Anima arc of FairyTail was an Earthlike land with an assortment of floating islands, including the one carrying the Eksheeds' homeland of Exteria, and another that the King used to store the Magnolia La'cryma.

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* The Hallelujah Mountains in ''{{Avatar}}''. (Vaguely justified by something to do with {{Unobtanium}} and a "flux vortex.")

* ''Ar tonelico''. The floating continent is the only place where humans are located in the now-destroyed no-longer Earth.