Pam, thank you for your campaign postings. They demonstrate beautifully some of the detail, colour and feeling you can get from a stead and clan based lifequest. Inspirational stuff!
And congratulations to Graeme Willoughby for a spectacular delurking with his piece on Gloranthan weather. I especially liked your moonbows and mock suns!
DropSnout, if you ever become a god I will worship. Promise.
FIRES OF MIST AND WIND BLOWN SNOW Weather and atmospheric phenomena have always been pretty important in my Far Point campaign. I wanted to give my players more than the obligatory morning rain shower and afternoon storm (though they get those as well), so I've come up with a range of different phenomena. These are not so much analogues of terran phenomena (Graeme covered those very well) as fairly unique manifestations of the magical and elemental nature of northern Far Point (where water and cold reign and where fire is weak).
"West, over well-walled Alda Chur, a pillar of fire cast a ruddy glow down upon the LongDoe Hills. Storm clouds streamed headlong from SkyFall to do battle with the ancient enemy. Far to the south, I spied dancing pinpricks of orange and red. Farmers burning off the heather for the new year's ploughing, or something more sinister?
*Bad omens.*"
Runo II - Stasis,
Fires of Mist And Wind-Blown Snow.
SkyBows and SkyGifts
Rainbows not only appear as arches - long straight solar skybows and
perfectly spherical 'bows (skygifts) are fairly common as well. They are
not always associated with rain - hence the term skybow or Voria's Sky Gift
(usually shortened to skygift). In 1624, long strips of rainbow-coloured
light stretching from horizon to horizon flashed northwards across the sky
for three days and nights.
Nor are 'bows always the same mix of colours. [In fact, why should there be
only seven (that number again!) colours in the Gloranthan spectrum? Lets
say Humans perceive eight - with garbun being the rich deep colour below
violet. (Culturally, different human groups and languages may have fewer
colour terms, but colour perception (as opposed to description) is
physiological). Maybe Aldryami and dragonewts perceive nine or ten colours
(though the newts perceive colours as smells - synaesthesia ,) and Mostali
perceive everything in shades of grey. As for Uz - well I'd imagine they
perceive sounds as tastes and process them through the visual cortex. How
colours fit into this I'm not sure.]
Ahem. Trying to stay on topic here.
Elemental Snows
First snow comes to Ironspike in the last few weeks of Earth Season. That can be pretty grim, but at least its only white or water snow. Come Dark Season, and you get falls of blue and even black snow - and they're both MUCH colder. Black snow comes in darkstorms with unlightning fearshocking the countryside, searing itself into your consciousness through your ears and skin. Red and Yellow snow has also been recorded - these are not as cold as water snow.
Cracks In The SkyDome
Yep. Colossal crack occurred in 1604, just after the Alda Churi Solars and Lunar infantry got themselves massacred at Ghost Gors. Took a full season to heal, that did. Smaller ones only last a few hours.
Fogs
Heat and darkness fogs have been recorded in the northern gors and gallt at appropriate times of the year. These are children of Lodril and Cragspider respectively, and Inora sometimes sends her own children to do battle against them.
Darkness Clouds
Both skyshadows and the enormous shades called NightSpheres sometimes drift south from Dagori Inkarth. Underneath them, the sun is invisible for days at a time. (Though the False Sun may manifest - see below).
Pillars of Light
Spheres of light and/or fire often detach from Fire Top west of Alda Chur. They drift northwards through the sky to do elemental battle before being snuffed out around SkyFall Lake. Solars call them 'Guardians' or 'Pillars of Light', Orlanthi call them 'False Suns'.
THE False Sun
Graeme mentioned something similar. In Far Point there is only one, and it appears duller, smaller and lower than the real one. Given the ongoing Elmali/Yelmalian conflict around here, its considered impolite to talk about it (and calling it the wrong name can get you knifed). The false sun is only visible a few days per season. Folks say its there all the time, but its mostly obscured by Elmal err the real one.
Earth Seeking Sky
The Earth is a lusty goddess who has had many paramours in her time. Sometimes the longing of the earth for the sky is so great that parts of the countryside detach themselves and fall upwards towards the SkyDome. This is bad enough, but little if any actually makes it, and it all comes back down eventually...
Strange Rains
With SkyFall Lake being so close, lots of strange things tend to fall out of the sky. Falls of fish and jumping mice are fairly common - which is one reason that sticklepick is so popular throughout Far Point. It rained trollkin at Lagerwater Stead last year - put the sheep off their milk for four whole days. Reports of it raining naked elf women at Bear Dance are probably just travellers' tales. (It wouldn't rain elves THAT far south! Runners MAYBE...)
Just remember... if the weather's fine you can go cattle raiding, if it's not then stay in the barn and bet your herd on a kukfight.
Enough of the Weird Stuff. Time to go watch the X-Files.
Cheers
John
... a flying arrow, a crashing wave, night old ice, a coiled snake, a bride's bed talk, a broken sword, the play of bears, a king's son. Havamal 86.
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