Weather Control (Hedge Magic)
Introduction: Weather witches have always been among the most revered and feared members of the sorcerer community. In ancient time, a witch could doom a community to a slow death by withholding the rain the crops needed… or could wreck it quickly by bringing on storms that flood the fields, destroy homes and kill the unwary. On the seas, those who could call the winds were lifesavers in truth, for a becalmed vessel was the one that would die.
Most cultures consider weatherworking to be a woman’s art, drawing on the ties between her fertility and the bounty of the land and the elements, but this is far from universal; in some African tribes, weather magic was men’s magic, for example. Technosorcerers make no such distinctions, of course, but then, their mastery of this Path is thought by most to be limited at best. (Whether this is true is a question of debate, however, as there are a few who always seem to have the wind at their back, cloudy skies and convenient fog banks when they need them.)
Weather magic can be terribly powerful but is also usually very slow to take effect. Changes in the weather are usually measured in hours or days; you can speed these processes up, but you cannot summon tidal waves out of nothing or storms from clear skies. When given time to work, however, weathercraft can command forces that are truly awesome and terrifying to behold, but not without cost.
Even simple changes can leave a sorcerer drained; major workings can demand terrible sacrifices or even the death of the caster.
- You can make small changes in the environment; a sudden cold breeze, a slight drop in room temperature, a softening of the light in a room, the sudden flaring of candles.
- Minor changes to the environment are possible; you can summon up a dense fog, ensure that skies are cloudy or create favourable winds.
- The rains and winds are at your command. Rainshowers come when you call them, and strong winds blow where you will. You can change the local temperature by as much as 30 degrees in either direction and can calm strong seas or currents.
- Storms move and surge where you will; powerful rains, gale force winds, heat waves and cold snaps (changes of up to 40 degrees in temperature), and powerful tides and undercurrents are all at your command. You can also take control of existing weather patterns and direct some phen omenon of the storm (hailstones, powerful waves, lightning bolts, smashing winds, etc) at a specific target.
- Your control over the thunderstorm is absolute. Great waves surge and crash when you command, and no man can stand when you send the winds against him. The blizzard and drought are your weapons
