Summary
For a life bearing world,
Veltrona hosts some fairly extreme weather occurrences. While most of these are natural forces, some are not, such as the terrible storms in and around the
Tyrant's Sea, or the storms made by
Seralkono, the Divine Tempest. Regardless of the
why, people have to live with and around them every day of their lives.
Geographic Bands
Coastal Living
The most notable storms are actually out at sea, and generally unseen by many of the land dwelling peoples. These supermassive cyclones and hurricanes may send some unlucky fish,
lumii, or
shermadi into low orbit, but typically cast off bad weather. The aftershocks of these events ripple toward land, and those on the coast take the full force of it. Swelling tides, severe gale winds, and highly aspected wind, tempest, and water-type
mana form the dangers most frequently encountered. Typically there are more during the hot summers than cool winters, or 'storm season' and 'calm season'.
A successful settlement is based on one of two facts: stable ground that can survive storm tides, or easy-to-move settlements that can ride the surge. Whatever buildings atop of those foundations are then fortified against the incoming wind force. It is rare for a coastline to otherwise not experience these events, though they do exist. Some natural fixtures like the western mountains outside of
Atenkhet, in the
Shimmering Ocean, act as enormous wind breaks. The resulting sea between the mountains and Atenkhet's coastline is pretty calm, compared to the rest of Veltrona.
Others have imitated this idea, both at coast and inland, principally around the idea of
Storm Walls. These enormous barriers seek to break incoming storm winds, but it is a tremendous expense to set up. Only great cities or especially easy-to-fortify terrain see their usage, making them a novelty. A more 'economical' method, if the magical talent is available, is to have wind
mages create massive 'redirection' currents.
Either way, for as rough as coastal living can be, they do not often deal with these supermassive storms directly. Their wildly destructive patterns ends up neutralizing most of them before they make landfall. Far smaller ones may slip by and do significant, if localized damage. In the rarest of occasions, one of these terrible storms may make landfall. They almost always end up redrawing the coast line's topology outright, and inflict staggering damage as they head inland. Legends of all kinds surround these rare events, and they are often called 'Divine Tempests', for such is the awe-inspiring power they show.
Inland Living
Further from the coastlines and toward the more common type of terrain, inland regions change according to their local mountains and temperature bands. Strong winds mark the worst of days, knocking unwary travelers over to threatening to pick them off the ground outright. Pollen and other airborne plant matter can turn clear weather hazy, making it a nightmare for anyone unlucky enough to have allergies. Larger, more sturdy dwellings are the norm to survive these wind forces.
Forests are especially popular as, having evolved to endure such weather, they are massive natural wind shields. Such was the case most notably for those living in
Aerthen and
Nerzin, particularly the
rachtoh of
Rotalhm. Dwelling in the most ancient of forests and their skyscraper-sized trees, they have long endured all manner of terrible storms in their homeland. If one was to look, some of the most successful settlements did just that, finding shelter among trees.
Rain storms are actually more of a problem than just wind, usually. The heaping quantity of rain dropped can cause floods, which notoriously destroy crops or damage infrastructure. While cities have adapted to this, the varying severity can catch them off guard if they are not careful. Worse, attacking armies in the field or in siege must contend with heavy rain potentially washing them away. Damaging storm drains and channels is actually an effective strategy, if one wishes to drown out a city's occupants. Wind and water aspected mana often surge during these times as well, causing complications to magic and sending poorly conceived ones out of control.
Outside of the temperate zones, one begins encountering different patterns in border regions or those leaning toward specific temperatures. Arid and savannah environments see much in the way of hot winds and less rain, while those in alpine or boreal ones are prone to having massive ice-freeze over events. The variance is not so great, but the severity is no less regardless.
Mountainous Living
As one migrates upwards on mountainous environments, it really comes down to where they settle (or are). Being caught on the storm side of a mountain entails meeting the weather's full fury, head on. Being a terribly foolish idea, only those with the magical means to resist it, or supreme architectural skill, bother doing so. Or living inside the mountain, namely as a cave or enclosed city-fortress of some kind. If one lives upon a mountain not in a storm corridor, truly unique flora and fauna await them, having adapted to a polarizing place.
Higher altitudes entail more serious problems in the form of more unrelenting wind force. If one was liable to be picked up on the inland areas, the wind here will outright smash a person or rip them apart. It is harsh, by Veltrona's standards nonetheless, trying to live in these high areas. Few natural life bothers to do so, but even here it can be found.
Cold Wind Vampyr are notorious for living in such conditions, able to navigate such deadly environment with supernatural ease.
Dragons are often reputed to do so, but few actually find it pleasant enough to actually bother. The ferocious idea is a useful one to their reputation, though.
Hidden amongst the barren, jagged and tormented land of these mountains, however, are any number of valleys. Buried deep in rock, they are naturally safe from the weather cycle, seeing almost no ill effects at all. Veltrona is littered with them, both natural and not, and so a mountain range can host a surprising diversity of people as a consequence. There is not much to say about living in them, aside from the confined space. If one wishes to travel to or from, however, dangers will ever be awaiting them.
Storm Types
Mana Surge Storms
Mana is omnipresent, but sometimes mana is drawn into accumulating through natural mechanisms. As far as the weather is concerned, this phenomenon manifests as a
mana surge event. As mana gathers, it gathers faster and more of itself, creating a chaotic storm of whatever aspecting the mana has taken on. Typically this is either wind or water, representing wind or rain storms, and so they augment these natural events with inspired chaos. More severe wind force, greater quantities of water, mana surplus potentially overloading magic, and so forth. If a city's long standing weather infrastructure fails, it is almost always a mana surge event responsible for it.
The principle danger of these storms is their suddenness. Mana can accumulate with alarming quickness, invigorating a dying storm or amplifying a raging one. The severity it will take is always a wild guess, as no one can truly account for how much mana will be drawn in. Modern design sensibilities have certain tolerance thresholds as a result, built to withstand these surges. How well they stand up can only be counted when the event actually happens. How long these storms last is, also, complete guesswork. Mana can accumulate and dissipate just as quickly, or it may linger for a long while.
The other danger with them is when more atypical or 'exotic' mana is actually surging. Fire-aspected mana means heat levels will spike, and self-ignition becomes a very serious problem. Flaming twisters and sparking embers can form suddenly, leaving burning wakes that turn fuel sources into more fire. Lightning-aspected mana can potentially manifest, creating deadly and erratic bolts of electricity that can inflict devastating damage and erase lives in an instant. Ice-aspected may suddenly cause flash freezing, snow, flesh-rending icicle winds, and induce thermal shock to everything in the area. For the most unluckiest of souls, two opposing mana surge storms may collide, their radical natures creating the most hostile place a person can meet.
Mana is mana, and its aspecting is always important to note. While the 'elemental' mana types are well understood, it is entirely possible for others to appear. Correspondingly, the rarer the type of mana, the magnitudes rarer a storm of that kind actually is. The most feared of these are
radiant mana storms, because they do not act like a storm at all. The surging radiant mana causes a transformation effect, where organic and inorganic matter is slowly converted into various types of white stone. These 'calcifying' storms aren't stopped by any mundane physical means, they require magical barriers to survive. Living beings, while naturally resistant, will eventually be consumed if they do not flee immediately. How fast the effect is entirely depends on how severe the storm is. It is insidious in that one may not realize it is happening until it is far too late.
By contrast,
eclipse mana storms are far more bizarre. Gravity begins to invert, intensify, or disappear completely with erratic uncertainty. Existing magic and enchantments of all kind go out of control in unforeseeable ways. Light itself begins to bend and twist, with ominous looking empty spaces left behind where it used to be. Traversing such a storm is like trying to escape reality as it tears itself apart and come back together again. Only those with magical barriers have any hope of getting through reliably; anyone else trying has to hope they suddenly do not rip apart in a billion pieces or end up a pancake. However, magic is incredibly dangerous to use because the nature of eclipse mana will almost certainly send it out of control. Some ancient mistresses in
Nerzin famously sought out these storms, trying to achieve enlightenment (or die trying).
Splinter Storms
An intersection between mundane physicality and deadly circumstances, splinter storms arise in deserts and heavily ice-stricken areas. In deserts like
Sa-kemet and
Dorvar, flash-fried sand can form rudimentary glass during dry lightning storms. In frozen places like
Fauverngarz,
Varnkof, and
Eylia, heavy winds can disrupt ice shards and draw them into the air. Either way, these sharp objects become deadly piercing and slashing objects as they whirl in the wind.
A routine problem in ice-stricken areas, they're dangerous forces to the likes of
humans,
nebusah,
nebura, and other 'soft skinned' species. Eye-protection is a must, as well as anything sensitive like large, externally fluffy ears or the like. Especially daring or outright stupid risk-takers may try going with little to no protection, relying on their natural traits or magical talents. Whether or not the storm will eat them alive depends on how severe it is. That being said, these storms do produce some exotic crystal types as a byproduct. While not very magically potent, their sharpness and strange durability makes them interesting additions to weapons.
Salt Freeze Currents
A type of 'underwater' storm that principally happens on the waters bordering
Olaniad and
Vastia. Salt water freezing temperatures suddenly direct or otherwise head into warmer waters, their intensity great enough to start creating frozen water. The chemical process separates salt from water, creating fresh water ice and streams of super salinated water. While the surface ice is nothing special, the salt streams are deadly to most aquatic life forms, literally choking them out as their breathable water becomes salt.
Shermadi are especially troubled by this, as these currents may suddenly head into where they live. While some of the greater underwater cities could potentially weather the storm, everyone else much migrate ahead of it. Along with most other ocean life fleeing, massive movements can suddenly busy a lot of oceans and seas bordering the mainlands of Veltrona. For better or worse, this can be an opportunity for some amongst an otherwise devastating calamity.
The exact origin of these currents is a bit of a mystery. They are not seemingly driven by ice-aspected mana, and so do not qualify as a mana surge event. The randomness of their timing and erratic directions means there is no stable underwater geological fixture that may be responsible. Some have theorized the poles of Veltrona may contain cryogenic volcanoes--a tunnel into Veltrona's heart where superfreezing material is being ejected from. This theory is contested greatly, if only by the fact magma-based volcanoes exist, and ice dragons have never encountered such things.
Lifeblooms
Among the few inherently 'benevolent' storms on Veltrona, lifeblooms could technically be called a mana surge event. They're the result of various kinds of mana types coalescing together into a harmless mixture. With no dominant typing, once the gathering portion is done, the free mana starts to settle everywhere. Plants, insects, and all kinds of low-energy consuming forms of life explosively flourish during this. Soaking up the free mana like sponges, they will grow, procreate, and spread almost entirely out of control. In turn, this becomes a bountiful feast for high-energy consuming life, like predators and large herbivores. What mana is not consumed will lead to
manarium and eventually
crysium formations, offering mineral wealth as well.
Unfortunately for cities, these sudden outgrowths can cause all kinds of damage to their infrastructure. For people, it becomes a time of great harvest and urgency to do so. There is also, by extension, a surge in
the Relentless, but the lifebloom is not inherently to blame for that. Where life gathers, the Relentless might appear, so they are a danger by proxy than by effect. Nonetheless, the reward outweighs the risks for many. All sorts of
mages and civilizations have tried recreating lifeblooms, few have succeeded.
Comments