Planet

The planet upon which The Vibrant Lands sit has several features that do not match Earth.

Mist
Main article: Mist

Mist is believed to have proliferated throughout the planet shortly after it formed. Initially, the planet was smooth and inert, with few features. After thousands of years of geological processes, an explosion at the planet's core occurred, scattering primordial mist in all directions from the core to all the way to the surface. The tunnels of the underworld are believed to have been formed by the primordial mist as it travelled from the core to the surface. Today, mist can be found in varying types and quantities all over the planet. It is recycled as a part of natural processes such as evaporation, as well as by certain creatures such as older dragons. These creatures are somewhat inaccurately called mist generators, as they return mist around them to its active state as it is spent.

Atmospheric gravity
In The Vibrant Lands, gravity is not merely a function of the atmosphere; it is exuded by the planet's core in one direction, and the upper atmosphere in another.

Weightless creatures, such as ghosts and skypainters in their natural forms, are pulled down towards the planet's core when they descend to the troposphere. Skypainters can solidify their bodies to avoid being pulled through the ground, among other options; ghosts, which often only have enough mist to sustain their nearly intangible bodies, are not so fortunate.

The upper atmosphere actually has the opposite effect: in most places, it pulls things up and away, towards space. This is an aid and a danger to flying creatures, but there are many holes in this area of reversed gravity, allowing ghosts and other creatures to slip through, and flying creatures to safely descend if they are too high up. The cause and cosmic purpose of this part of the planet's atmosphere is not known.

Poles
In addition to the eremic and antarctic poles to the north and south, there are four other major poles in the Vibrant Lands: the west equinoctial pole in Strelitzia, the west solstitial pole in Wisteria, the east solstitial pole in Mariposa, and the east equinoctial pole in the Blazing Sea. These four poles, roughly at the centre of each continent, are the areas with the largest concentrations of mist, and relics of early civilization are most dense around them.

As one travels away from the poles, mist of most types becomes less dense. This poses a particular problem for sea travel, because on the open ocean far from any pole, it is impossible for most people to cast spells that do not exclusively use water mist or smaller quantities of air, sun or moon mist.