In the fantasy novel On Wings of Air, there are two specific groups of people who have been enemies from time immemorial: Skychildren and Groundbreathers. As their names suggest, Skychildren are people of the sky who spend their lives in the firmament. Their powers, which were inherited from their goddess and the mother of their race, Celesta, give them the ability to lift themselves with the winds or imbue their powers into special crafts called “gliders” which they pilot through the skies over great distances. They can also call lightning down from nearby clouds and manipulate the winds to bring fog or create vortexes of swift violent winds to deal great destruction. Skychildren also possess an immunity from any harm due to a fall–if any Skychildren were to fall off a cloud, they would not hurt themselves, even if unconscious, as their powers would exert themselves to cushion their landing on the world below. They are able to speak with flying creatures, and their propensity toward using the winds causes them to favor archery over sword-fighting.

Skychildren are a tall and fair people. Their faces tend to be somewhat angular and slender, and they crop their hair, which is usually blond, close to their head. They wear form-fitting clothing to aid with wind resistance, and women wear split dresses which they can button up to form pants to preserve their modesty while flying. Their love of art and beauty is expressed in part through the bright colors of their outfits and the variety of jewelry with which they adorn themselves.

Skychildren are free-spirited and often playful, and they are fast talkers in comparison with those found in the ground realm. Though Skychildren work for a living, they do so with good cheer and happiness in their hearts. Due to their independent natures, Skychildren do not make good servants, as even the lowest scullery maid has a tendency to think herself as good as the royalty she serves. They are, however, respectful at all times, and they remain very loyal to those who guide and direct them. They do have some structure to their society, with a monarch serving as the head of their people. The Cloud Sentinel, under the direction of the Master Sentinel, serve as the guard of the palace, protecting Skychild royalty.

When it comes to the detested Groundbreathers, Skychildren are less than benevolent. Due to the enmity between the goddess Celesta and the god Terrain of the Groundbreathers, that hostility has been passed down through the generations. Skychildren love nothing more than to torment Groundbreathers, and they regularly descend from their cloud cities to raid Groundbreather villages and steal their food. As food in the sky realm can sometimes be scarce, Skychildren often embark on larger raids against their enemies in order to feed their people.

A central characteristic of all Skychildren is their notion of honor. No Skychild would ever think of betraying his people, and they all take their personal code of conduct very seriously. When undesirables are found among the Skychildren, they are generally exiled to the ground world to live among the flightless Groundbreathers and Groundwalkers. When Skychildren are captured during a raid, their honor is considered lost, and they are enslaved by the Groundbreathers. Even if Skychildren are able to escape their captors, they cannot return to the sky realm, as they have become outcasts. As a result, most captured Skychildren tend to accept their fate, living their lives serving those they hate.

The sky realm itself is a collection of large floating mountains in the sky on which Skychildren build their settlements. These floating masses tend to have clouds clinging to the bottom of them which makes them look like large clouds from the ground world below. It is only when one arrives on a settlement that the world in the sky can truly be seen. All sky mountains tend to float throughout the sky at the whim of the air currents, but they usually do not stray very far from Groundbreather lands. However, Skymount, the mountain on which the palace of the Skychildren sits, can always be found hovering near the Groundbreather castle, almost as if the two are joined by some kind of unseen tether that keeps them always aware of their opposing realms.

The various Skychildren settlements serve specific purposes, much like those in the ground world. For example, there is one small settlement which often drifts over the sea, and the residents of that village engage in fishing, using massive gliders built for transporting fresh fish up to the sky realm. In another area, a massive mountain floats, providing not only a large, flat top on which Skychildren grow great amounts of food, but also serving as the one location in the world where Skychildren are able to mine “white gold,” which is used in their wedding traditions and the creation of their wedding bracelets.