Wind Magic

The Princes of Breath are the capricious, changeable Lords of the Weather and, according to legend, the ones who gave life to mankind. They are the patrons of sailors and travellers, and also of healers and midwives. Wind Sorcerors are hugely variable in their nature, as befits the followers of such inconstant Powers. The Princes of Breath do not take kindly to non-Ordained Sorcerors usurping their powers.

Quite literally named for the death-rattle, the Rattle-Prince is one of the least pleasant figures counted amongst the Princes of Breath. The Rattle-Prince is the Death That Cheats, the sudden unexpected twist of fate, the icy patch on the road, the want of a horseshoe nail, the betrayal from an unlooked-to corner. One half trickster, one half devil-figure, some legends say that the Rattle-Prince conned mankind out of its immortality long ago. The cult of the Rattle-Prince is not regarded kindly, unlike the Ash-Cults which concern themselves with funerary rites and the proper disposal of the dead the cult of the Rattle-Prince is full of traitors, swindlers and murderers. It is popular amongst bandits and thieves.

The Prince of Storms is a nice simple understandable deity. Arrogant, capricious and vengeful, the Prince of Storms really is everything you'd expect a Prince of Storms to be. If he likes you then he'll go easy on you, if he doesn't he'll smite you with thunderbolts. It really is that simple. The Prince of Storms is a popular patron amongst sailors, who reckon they could do without his displeasure, and also amongst some of the more enthusiastic warrior-priests.

The Hushed Princess is the lady of intrigue, slander, gossip and other things talked about in hushed tones. She is not malicious per se but is not looked upon in a kind light. She is the patroness of assassination but not of assassins - she likes things being done quietly but doesn't give a damn what happens to those who do them.

The Princes of the North Wind and the South Wind and the Princesses of the East Wind and the West Wind are generally treated as a group. The Prince of the North Wind is a strange and ethereal being, dwelling half in and half out of dreams. The Prince of the South Wind is a cocksure braggart with a penchant for duelling. The Princess of the West Wind is a silken, diaphanous wind-in-the-trees. The old Princess of the East Wind was mad, and was widely rumoured to have been driven so during the Binding War, she passed on peacefully after being sent on to the burned realm by one of her own priests. There is currently no Rose Prince of the East but a new power is likely to arises to take control of the East Wind at some point in the future.

From a system point of view you can be ordained to 'the Rose Princes' in general or to an individual Rose Prince.

The patron of Storytellers, Bards, the Carefree and the Homeless, The Princess of Stories is the Goddess of Things Happening Because They Will. Luck, Fortune, Fulfilling A Bargain, Thwarting A Foe, or even Failing At The Last Moment - These things happen because (depending on who you ask) they Can, they Will, or they Do. A part of human-nature (Like all The Princes), She is that willingness to follow serendipity, to throw caution to the wind, or to simply follow a story through to it's conclusion. In recent years, she has become a focus of theorists, who believe she may be responsible for the more story-like elements of The World - Antagony and Protagony, Beginnings and Endings, Good and Evil.

The Princess, like her sister The Princess Of Monsoons, resembles a young Maiden - but not, ironically, a Beautiful Princess from a fairytale like her sister. More a serious, round faced and heavy-set young woman, her face almost entirely hidden behind her flowing ringlets, eye lenses and one of the many, many books, scrolls and tablets she has to her person. So many in fact, they serve as a makeshift throne, or possibly even a palace. Like her sister, she has a connection to a Rose Prince, fittingly the dream-like and ethereal North Wind.

Many of her followers are known to use a coat of arms which displays a white wolf, poised to spring, on a blue oval field. There are debates as to why a Wolf exactly, and it is generally accepted that this is because “many stories start with Wolves”.

A patron of commerce who enjoys obvious popularity amongst merchants, tradesmen and mercenaries. To some, The Prince is also a patron of Scholars and Thinkers, where reaping rewards are less monetary and more Intellectual. To reflect this, while he is almost always depicted beaming on his pile of money, he is also often seen wearing a Scholar's robes and mortarboard.

The lord of sickness and plague. Like the Hushed Princess he is not himself malicious, but is generally disliked by the majority. This is not helped by the occasional mad cult that springs up to 'do his work' in spreading sickness across the world.

The Princess of Monsoons is a goddess with strong associations to the south. She is closely tied to the Rose Prince of the South, and on occasion is seen to sport yellow roses, although there is some debate as to whether she is his lover or sibling. Whilst the Rose Prince of the South brings the warm breezes from the south, she brings the cool breezes from the northern oceans that bring the annual rains to the southern kingdoms. She is depicted as a beautiful but strong warrior goddess.

Traditionally she is associated with the ritual of courtship and when a young noblewoman in the City of Stone comes of marriageable age she will traditionally go to the sacred pools outside the city to ritually bathe in a ceremony of dedication to the Princess. If the Princess is suitably pleased with her prayers and offerings it is said that she will bless her quest to find a suitable husband. The Princess is also commonly tied to change, the timeliness of things and occasionally to social reform. However her Priests often argue about the exact symbolism of the latter two. Whilst some maintain that as the yearly rains wash away the impurities of the last year, so must the government change every few decades to allow constant reform and to prevent things from going stale. Others claim that as the nature of monsoons is cyclic, all reform will eventually lead back to the same starting point and they hold to the old adage that the more things change the more they remain the same. Her cult is all but unknown north of the southern ocean. However, she has a great number of worshippers in the southern kingdoms and there is even an annual festival where they will give her offerings in order to placate her into bringing the rains as usual. A small cult of the Princess has recently begun to emerge on the Isle of the Broken Moon. Her followers in the south are often seen to carry a coat of arms depicting three blue raindrops on a green background. Her cult on the Isle will typically use the symbol of the three raindrops superimposed on an octargent.

A little known Wind power, supposedly married to the Lord of the Deep. Appears to be associated with ocean currents and has few (if any) human worshippers.

A young Prince of Breath, not yet fully grown in to his powers. Reliant partially on the support of the Rose Prince of the North, which he receives in exchange for acting as his vassal once a year for a day on the winter solstice. He is the god of the Spring that comes too late, betraying those who were waiting for it, leaving the weak or the old to die. Being born of part of icy demesne of an unnamed Prince of Breath and part of the domain unsurped from the Rattle Prince he is the unfairness of fate, the doctor who comes too late or the urgent plea for help delayed by an hour too much. He is patron of those that must make difficult decisions in those times, abandoning one individual to die so others might live. His purview is of those choices made by passion rather than rationality. He is a god of sacrifice but unlike the Black Flame those sacrifices that are made for love rather than personal gain. Like the Prince of Miasmas, when people invoke his name in prayer, they do not seek his attention, rather they pray that he stay away. For those faced with seemingly impossible situations, however, he offers choices and whilst the choice may be heart-rending or painful, it is arguably better than no choice at all. His domain centres on an icy plateau that was part of the domain of the Nameless Prince before he was corrupted and is covered with frost adorned flowers.

Wind Magic, being associated with breath, is very tiring. Spells require the loss of one or more Fatigue hits, and many high level spells may only be cast while lower level spells are being maintained. Wind spells must be maintained by the caster chanting with their arms outstretched - please try to make these chants as atmospheric as possible, if you'll pardon the pun! Other dramatic gestures apart from having the arms outstretched are permissible, but must be obvious and preferably consistent. Even the occasional fighting blow or parry can be made in a suitably windy way, but too much and the Wind or Tempest will drop. Chants should be recited for at least a few seconds between each use of Wind magic - no rapid-fire Lightning Bolts or Steal Breaths.

It has been noted that Wind Magic appears to be more powerful on and around the Breathing Isles, e.g. Steal Breath does the target 4 Fatigue hits per casting rather than 3.

This spell, very simply, calls up a Wind, regardless of where the caster is. This lasts for as long as the caster stands there chanting with their arms outstretched, and costs the caster one Fatigue hit for every five minutes the Wind is maintained (though Ordained casters get an extra five minutes for free when the spell is first cast). As well as being kinda cool, this spell is a prerequisite for many other Wind spells. The force of this Wind makes it impossible for anyone within it to relax enough to regain Fatigue hits and may have other effects, such as blowing out torches, at the GM's discretion. A natural strong wind is just as good as this spell for casting other Wind spells, check with the GM about IC weather conditions.

At the cost of one Fatigue hit, the caster restores one Body hit to the Torso of the target. This spell may only heal damage to the Torso. Alternatively the caster may expend two Fatigue hits to restore a single Fatigue to a target. Either variant of this spell can only be cast while standing in a strong wind.

The caster must first summon a Wind. They can then take off and start flying at the cost of one Fatigue hit for every two minutes they remain aloft (five minutes per Fatigue hit for Ordained casters). If the caster loses consciousness while still airborne, they will gently drift towards the ground for two minutes before they begin plummeting. They may carry one passenger with them for every rank of the Strong skill they have, a caster without that skill cannot carry any passengers at all. Casters will need to think carefully about the logistics of more than two people!

This spell, as its name suggests, steals the breath from any one target within sight. The caster must be standing in a strong wind to cast this spell. It costs the caster one Fatigue hit, and costs the target 3 Fatigue hits.

As long as there is a strong wind blowing, the caster may spend two Fatigue hits to throw a lightning bolt that inflicts a Global Triple to any one target in sight. This bolt of lightning may come from the sky or from the caster's fingertips, as desired.

The caster loses 2 Fatigue hits. The target immediately loses 4 Fatigue hits and becomes infected with an insidious sickness. The target cannot regain Fatigue hits until they are cured, and will slowly weaken and sicken over the course of some days until their eventual death. Ordained Priests of the Princes of Breath are immune to this spell. The sickness can only be cured by Rejuvenating Fire, a five point Blood Cure or Purification (including Purification Potions).

During a Wind the caster spends two Fatigue hits and hurls lightning at the target of the spell. If the caster is Ordained then the subject of the spell is fully healed of all injury. If the caster is not Ordained then the subject is first fully healed and then burned for a Through Triple to their Torso as the energy grounds through them. The total number of Rejuvenating Fires a caster may use per Adventure is limited to half their total Fatigue hits, rounded down.

It costs two Fatigue hits to upgrade a Wind to a Tempest, and another Fatigue hit for every minute the Tempest is maintained. The area within a hundred yards or so of the caster is filled with buffeting winds and flaring lightning. If the caster is Ordained this is not a problem, the winds and lightning will damage the caster's enemies (assume that every few seconds the caster can declare a Single to a target of their choice within sight). If the caster is not Ordained then people and objects in the area start taking damage at random according to the GM's whim.

Spend two Fatigue hits during a Tempest. When the Tempest clears it will have left the area fundamentally improved. Malignant influences will have been purged by lightning, while beneficial ones will have been strengthened by rain. If the caster is Ordained then what gets purged and what gets strengthened is largely down to the Princes of Breath, if the caster is not Ordained then they get a good deal more control over what counts as “improvement”.

During a Tempest the caster may spend one Fatigue hit to call up a Prince of the Breath. The Princes are powerful beings who do not appreciate being summoned; a non-Ordained Sorceror will be attacked at once. An Ordained Sorceror will generally get the chance to explain themselves first.