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Worldbuilding Wednesday: Weather Phenomena of Flora
🕑 Added 2017-12-07 07:25:59 +0000 UTC The MagisphereAs mentioned in the aeroplane update, Flora is home to a unique structure known as the Magisphere, an internal field of magic that exists some several dozen km beneath the planet's surface. Additionally, Flora has no magnetic field, and its stars are in constant orbits around the planet rather than the other way around, so there is no such thing as "North" on Flora, rendering compasses useless and necessitating the use of the Magisphere's stress points as means of reference in navigation. The Magisphere is dense to the point of being impenetrable, and rhythmically pushes outward in complex patterns along these stress points, influencing several of Flora's weather phenomena. It is not currently known how thick the Magisphere is, or whether is is a solid core of magic, or a barrier between Flora's surface and the rest of its geology. Experiments involving lowering opossums into the accessible portions of the Magisphere have all ended in failure, and presumably death from extreme pressures.
Seaforms
One of the unique qualities of Flora that results from the Magisphere is its wild sea structures. As the field pushes upward and outward, it receives much less resistance from areas of Flora's oceans that are directly exposed to them. This results in seawaters that are constantly shifting in ways that would seem unnatural to us, and an inability to chart any form of accurate sea level measurements on Flora.
A "seaform" is any structure of water that forms independently of sea currents or stormy weather, and can be identified by their rigid, persistent shapes as compared to the naturalistic forms of waves or swells. Common types of seaforms are "Oceanfalls and Oceanfissures", which form sharp drops into churning valleys, "Whirlpeaks," which are spiraling mountains of water that can end in either a spout outwards, or a vacuum inwards, and "Hellpits," which are giant pockets of air trapped beneath sheets of magic that form on calm ocean surfaces, which can collapse under the weight of ships, dropping them in and leaving them unable to escape. Seaforms are extremely dangerous to travel through, both for their violent natures, and because the magical energy that forms them tends to attract sea dragons.
Mageysers
Much like the seaforms, a mageyser is a symptom of the Magisphere's influence, being produced when magical energy builds up along a stress point and bursts through weak spots in Flora's crust. The amount of force that is produced when a mageyser blows is immense and can permanently change the landscape for kilometers around depending on the magnitude. Once a mageyser becomes active, it will then continue to erupt in sync with the Magisphere's rhythm, only falling dormant in the event that underground blockage forms. As Flora has no tectonic plate movement, a nearby mageyser is typically the cause of any prolonged ground-shaking, and thus, extreme evacuation measures are immediately taken in the case of "Floraquakes," and the places most secure from eruptions are lands located within close proximity of lifetrees, where the thick roots block out most routes for the magic to emerge.
Next month, I'll be talking about the Bounty Hunting system and other forms of law enforcement.
Comments
Steven MacKnight
I'm assuming these experiments with opossums in the magisphere weren't a whole lot more sophisticated than "strap instruments to a opossum, tie a rope around them, and kick them down the hole".
