Sky People and Shandian War

Structural lore — what Oda has confirmed about this. Mysteries (unsolved questions) live in Vault/Threads/; this is what the world IS.

What we know

• Ch. 248 (pp. 4-6): Skypiea “has always had fighting” — a war between the Sky People (“our kind”) and the Shandian guerrillas that began the day Upper Yard was born and has continued for centuries, “to this day.”
• Ch. 248: the Shandians “continue to challenge Enel to this day.”
• Ch. 248: as Kami, Gan Fall “sought to appease the Shandians… to end hundreds of years of bloodshed” and was “so close to succeeding” before Enel deposed him.
• Ch. 255 (pp. 8–10): Gan Fall gives the war’s origin in full. ~400 years ago, Upper Yard rose into the sky as a “Varse” (see Vearth) still inhabited by its native people, the Shandians, who had lived on the ground on Jaya. The sky people, in greed, seized it and drove the Shandians off; the two peoples have warred ever since. “All the Shandians want is to take back their motherland.”
• Ch. 255: Six years ago Enel conquered Upper Yard, becoming a third party to the conflict — he appeared “with his own army from one of the sky islands,” attacked both Gan Fall’s Heavenly Warriors and the Shandians, and seized the land. (Timeline aligns with Noland’s 400-years-ago expedition to Jaya — see The Noland Legend and the City of Gold.)
• Ch. 292: On-page origin of the 400-year Skypiean↔Shandian war. When the Knock-Up Stream deposits Jaya/Shandora into Skypiea, the resident Skypiean “Kami” lineage (an Enel predecessor god-figure) declares “I AM THE KAMI!!” and orders the newcomer Shandians “dragged out” / “expelled” (pp. 16-17). The Shandians refuse to give up their land (“That’s no god!! We can’t let him take this land!!”), war breaks out, and Calgara dies leading the defense, leaving the “Bring back the light of Shandora!!” creed (pp. 17-19). The dispossession the present-day Shandians (Wyper) avenge is shown at its source.
• Ch. 297 (pp. 5-8): Wyper reframes the 400-year war as a fight for un-topple-able heritage (“the history of the proud warriors who lived in the land of Shandora”, pp. 5-6), while Enel concedes the Skypiean claim to Upper Yard was never legitimate — “We never had the right to claim ownership of it… why could we not see that truth for the last 400 years?” (p. 8). A god voicing the war’s wrongness seeds the eventual Shandian–Skypiean reconciliation. See Wyper, Enel, Vearth.

Chronology / structure

Began on the day Upper Yard was born (with the “Song of the Island”), ~400 years ago, when the sky people stole the still-inhabited risen landmass from the Shandians → centuries of guerrilla war → Gan Fall’s failed peace ~20+ years ago → Enel’s coup six years ago → ongoing.

Open questions about this topic

• Who the Shandians are, why they fight for Upper Yard, and how this connects to the buried city (Shandora) thread. (Tracked as the war is named here; specifics arrive later.)

Cross-links

• Characters connected: Gan Fall, Enel
• Locations: Upper Yard, Skypiea
• World-building: Song of the Island