Living Weather

Description

Possibly related to the mortai of the Beastlands (in the Outer Planes), sometimes weather systems in the True World are actually alive, in a manner not seen in Faerun or Zakhara (though both Mulhorand and the deserts of the Land of Fate have sentient sandstorms).

Apparently either the forces of nature are more powerful or the laws of nature are somehow different, but some weather types manifest themselves as sentient beings. However, calling weather a being is somewhat of a hard concept, as generally living weather are vast creatures made of air and waterborne moisture and water vapor. They may appear as swirls of mist wreathing a mountaintop, or great clouds spanning the horizon, covering miles from side to side and towering thousands of feet into the air. Likely as not, one will often mistake living weather for normal weather.

If they choose to do so, living weather can speak, using the booming voices of wind and thunder - when they bother to speak at all. Living weather always know the languages of the regions they exist in, both human and any other sentient race (such as desert dwarf). Whether or not living weather interacts with an average mortal varies by type.

If living weather is driven to combat, all types can attack once per round with a lightning bolt, 10 feet in diameter and miles long if need be. Any being in the path of the bolt suffers 10d6 points of damage (save versus spells for half damage is applicable). Those creatures struck while standing on the ground must save versus spell or are stunned for 2-20 rounds. There are no limits to how much living weather can fire lightning bolts over the course of a battle.

It is difficult to attack living weather; they are immune to all physical weaponry, even magical. Only spells can harm them, and then they must get past the 50% magic resistance. Owing to the great speed and maneuverability of living weather, it can avoid combat rather easily. If need be, it can rise to heights of 20,000 feet or more, easily outside the range of most if not all spells. Dragon breath does harm living weather however.

Though virtually unknown to mortals, all living weather have a secret core - a place where all of their power is collected into one spot. This is a glowing sphere, a mere 10 feet across. It is here that living weather is vulnerable to enchanted weapons (though at a -5 armor class). Finding such a sphere is often difficult, owing to the size of the living weather and its active efforts to attack such an individual seeking it.

All living weather can cast the following spells; aerial servant, air walk (cast on another creature), call lightning (given to another, once a day), conjure air elemental (three times a day), control weather (3 times per day), control winds, dust devil, fog cloud, gust of wind, ice storm, rainbow, rainbow pattern, whispering wind, wind walk, and wind wall.

There are a number of sub-types of living weather, though owing as they are creatures of air and climate, ultimately they may all be the same type of creature. They appear to vary mainly in frequency, alignment, habitat, and overall personality.

Cumulonimbus

In essence a living thunderstorm, is most commonly found over the jungles of Lopango and Maztica (where they are uncommon) but can be found in the central plains of Maztica and the eastern woodlands (where they are rare), and over the deserts of Anasazia (where they are very rare).

Chaotic Neutral in alignment, cumulonimbus appear to live merely to bring rain, hail, sleet, snow, and lightning to the ground below them. Among the largest of the living weather beings -sometimes 30,000 feet in height - cumulonimbus living weather almost seems to think that mortal "groundlings" are beneath contempt, unworthy of notice.

Cumulonimbus living weather is in fact so detached from life among the sentient races that it might be virtually indistinguishable from normal weather (aside from its long life) were in not for two factors. First, any being casting a call lightning spell within 50 miles of a cumulonimbus living weather is 50% likely to attract its attention, with each bolt brought on by the spell adding a 10% chance to the living weather arriving to the location. This form of a living weather is very capricious, and will arrive in the location and survey what it believes to be the caster's attentions and the general situation at hand. The living weather may decide to rain down considerably in the area (living weather btw can maintain its cohesion within normal storm systems in a yet unknown manner; in fact normal weather may conceal one or more beings of living weather). Alternatively, it might decide that it does not like the abuse of the air, and not only stop the storm in the local vicinity, but end the call lightning spell as well.

Second, some tribes in scattered areas of Maztica and Lopango possess the ability to summon cumulonimbus living weather, perhaps through a form of call lightning. Little is known about this, but it believed that the tribe summoners have only partial control over what they have summoned.

While generally cumulonimbus living weather is generally only a local hazard, once or twice a year a number of them gather into a squall line. Not unlike the nonsentient squall lines - continuous lines of thunderstorms that are located along or ahead of a cold front - sometimes many dozens or on rare occasions hundreds of these beings will journey across the land. Followed by cooler air, the squall line may be a mere 20 miles in length to sometimes over 1,000 miles. Moving fairly rapidly, the squall line brings intense rain and wind to a region, sometimes causing intense devastation. It is not known why these squall lines form; perhaps to breed, or to join forces and cause greater devastation.

Cumulus

Uncommon in most of Maztica and Lopango (though is very rare in the arid deserts of both continents), cumulus are basically living examples of the puffy white clouds commonly seen on spring and summer days. Unlike the cumulonimbus living weather, cumulus living weather does not interact at all with those on the ground, apparently content to drift across the sky, sometimes in lazy "schools" that may stretch for hundreds of miles.

By some accounts cumulus living weather is virtually mindless. According to some of the tribal shamans in the great central plains of Maztica, the cumulus schools or "herds" mimic the vast herds of bison, and are somehow prey to some predator just as the bison feed the wolf and man.

Fliers who meet cumulus living weather on its own terms, high in the sky, find a different picture. Cumulus living weather is Neutral with Good tendencies, and is light-hearted curious being, at peace with the world, unlike the eternally angry cumulonimbus living weather. They delight in talking to those who can meet them in the air, never seemingly to lose the sense of wonder and surprise when a mortal talks to one. The living weather will gladly converse with the mortals, sharing thoughts, ideas, and quite possibly providing useful information as well. However cumulus living weather is profoundly pacifist, and will not engage in combat on the behalf of those beings. While defending themselves, the most cumulus living weather will do to aid a mortal is to provide useful information.

Owing to the diffuse and mutable nature of weather, there may be other examples of living weather. It is possible that are living tornadoes, though it is unlikely; living weather is a permanent phenomenon, and a living tornado would have to be a tornado that never stopped. It is thought that there is a variety of living weather beings unique to deserts and to mountain ranges, but this has not been determined yet.