(Super)Natural Disasters in Creation

[Sorcerous Overlord]

One disaster I added into my game that was not a variation of "Like a storm, but worse" was the Great West Archipelago Co-Enrichment Asto-Leylinear Enhancement Device which is a rather businessy sounding name for what is essentially a Mad Scientist Doomsday Device. In the far south of the Wavecrest Archipelago, halfway to Sunken Luthe lies the Observatory-Shrine of Myriad Ways Understanding, possibly the maddest of the mad inventors of that terrible Golden age of Yore. The Observatory-Shrine is a twofold structure- it has a great glass dome meant for observing the heavens and a series of flowing mercury and ball-and-vase devices in the cavernous underground.

MWU built it to channel his sorcery into both the Heavens and the Earth, fueling one and the other, manipulating the power of the Constellations with a great Leyline-Nexus and shapping the leylinear currents of said Nexus with Astrological backed divinations. They result was a mad system which allowed MWU to alter leylines of Essence flow and subsequently cause bizarre calamities due to imbalance of the Elements (in clasic Feng Shui/ Chinese medicine style). By utilizing his Star-Magic he could cause Seawater to burn as oil, Great forests of Algae to bloom and cover armadas on the move, winds to make maelstroms on clear days, islands to rise and fall over night, and all manner of beasts of the Western Sea to go mad and dash themselves on the rocks or against hulls.

You can introduce that as a plot hook in your games. Simply pick one type of Natural Disaster and apply it to a place it absolutely doesn't belong and ruin the lives of the poor sailors and fleets. You Monster.

(Bonus points to anyone who picks up on the name reference. both of them.)

[Prometheus878]

True, though the distinct diminishment in mortal population might turn into something a tad inconvenient for them too. just a little bit, i guess.

One might ask itself about the matter of the northern gods lack of preparation to deal with what should be a (quite) forewarned issue too, but then bureaucracies everywhere are notorious for failing to deal exactly with that kind of quite predictable weather & enviromental issues, no?

Indeed. As I see it, this was a disaster that First Age civilization struggled to bear, and it is an established fact that after two apocalypse scenarios and the extended absence of the Executive Divinity, divine competence has massively degenerated at all levels.

I also felt it important to highlight the naked cowardice, gross incompetence, and callous disregard of the nominal authority figures in the light of recent events. (U.S.A. citizen here, if you're wondering. No, I don't know how long we'll last.)*

*If this statement is too politically charged, I will remove it at mod request. I don't want to ruin the thread.*

[Baaldam]

I had a plot idea some time ago for a super-calamity in the North. Every five or six thousand years, Air essence builds up in the Northern Pole to the point that when it eventually spills out, it creates a concentrated Ice Age that consumes the entire Northern direction.

We're talking glaciers touching the Inland Sea. Blizzards in the season of Fire. If you get caught outside in the season of Air, you die. Plain and simple.

And it will last for at least a century, possibly longer.

The gods of the North are tearing their ethereal hair out, pouring all of their resources into preserving life in the north. Of course, they can't save everyone, and Heaven is willing to let human and other sentient mortal communities die out to preserve the lifeforms that are less widespread.

So, you're on your own.

The actors in such an instance will have to do everything they can and more to survive. They'll have to find shelter in a world without a sun, food where nothing grows, and succor when noone is in any position to share. They'll beg, borrow and steal for any advantage, and if they do find the means to see tomorrow, they'll have to defend themselves from others who are just as desperate as they are.

Oh, and the Fair Folk, Undead, and other terrible things aren't bothered by the cold in the slightest. So good luck with that.

True, though the distinct diminishment in mortal population might turn into something a tad inconvenient for them too. just a little bit, i guess.

One might ask itself about the matter of the northern gods lack of preparation to deal with what should be a (quite) forewarned issue too, but then bureaucracies everywhere are notorious for failing to deal exactly with that kind of quite predictable weather & enviromental issues, no?

[Prometheus878]

I had a plot idea some time ago for a super-calamity in the North. Every five or six thousand years, Air essence builds up in the Northern Pole to the point that when it eventually spills out, it creates a concentrated Ice Age that consumes the entire Northern direction.

We're talking glaciers touching the Inland Sea. Blizzards in the season of Fire. If you get caught outside in the season of Air, you die. Plain and simple.

And it will last for at least a century, possibly longer.

The gods of the North are tearing their ethereal hair out, pouring all of their resources into preserving life in the north. Of course, they can't save everyone, and Heaven is willing to let human and other sentient mortal communities die out to preserve the lifeforms that are less widespread.

So, you're on your own.

The actors in such an instance will have to do everything they can and more to survive. They'll have to find shelter in a world without a sun, food where nothing grows, and succor when noone is in any position to share. They'll beg, borrow and steal for any advantage, and if they do find the means to see tomorrow, they'll have to defend themselves from others who are just as desperate as they are.

Oh, and the Fair Folk, Undead, and other terrible things aren't bothered by the cold in the slightest. So good luck with that.

[Zealot_Vedas]

How about "anti-thunderstorms" with low lying fog that spits flecks of fire into the air. Occasional flashes of intense darkness are followed by high-pitch shrieking sounds.

[Baaldam]

Also, just read about The Centralia PA Mine Fire that has been burning for over 50 years now! Just one of the many ways elementals can ruin your day.

Now that's some serious hot date between fire & earth that just can't seem to stop itself...

[MoroseMorgan]

Also, just read about The Centralia PA Mine Fire that has been burning for over 50 years now! Just one of the many ways elementals can ruin your day.

[Matt the Bruins fan]

Fungus would probably fall under the dominion of Wood, right? Imagine clouds of spores that cause mold to spring up everywhere, including granaries and wells.

[Baaldam]

If hay fever season can be bad, imagine how it is in places with trees that produce firedust pollen or resin....

As others have commented any natural disaster of our world - earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, sandstorms, avalanches, conflagrations, tsunami - can be generated by an appropriate elemental or vice versa, with a change in natural conditions "randomly spawning" short-lived elementals, demesnes and such.

Beside this, there's the fact Creation has a lot of weird stuff that might be hiding just under the carpet before some event brings it to surface, like long-forgotten ships or temples sunken in deep marshes, large rivers, or long shores full of hungry ghosts & treasure, cavern systems leading to the abodes of earth elementals, subterranean deities, rogue demons and far less identifiable beings, sands of ground yasal that bring the mutterings of long-imprisoned mad spirits with the wind, ephemeral green blazes of sunlight as the day starts or ends, auroras of song, fire or what-have-you and a bunch of other weird variants one might come up with.

[MoroseMorgan]

M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening.

I dunno, that just gives me Chaya flashbacks.

Although, thinking about it, does fauna fall under wood too? Would a massive surge of insects or arachnids fall under the essence of wood? Like an actual biblical locust or frog plague, or those terrifying spider blooms where everything is spiderwebs.

[The Unsung Hero]

if anyone can come up with a good Wood related natural disaster I'm all ears and eyes.

M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening.

[MoroseMorgan]

Hm...Thatd be an intreasting plot. I'd say it would be hard to place geographically such a confluence of natural disasters...maybe in the South East?
Or did you want hypothetical answers?

I was envisioning the conflicts as separate, although possibly sharing a devious origin.

Air/Water would be in the vast western ocean, so the hurricanes could be flung off all over the place (kinda like they are now), The Blessed Isle, An-Teng, Western Islands, Northern coast whathaveyou. The Earth/Fire/Wood conflict could also be in An Teng, possibly spilling across the inland sea to the Blessed Isle, but that is just because I want to do more on the Blessed Isle in 3e.

edit: wasn't looking for answers, just sharing, although if anyone can come up with a good Wood related natural disaster I'm all ears and eyes.

[Epee102]

I had a group of spirits that were storms of red lighting, which spread war and wind where they went (possibly children of hegra). While the storms proper are gone, flecks of infected soil by there blood can still cause war-winds. Seasonally, these times have become raiding periods.

[Epee102]

Just thought of another one.

A raging battle between Water and Air elementals is wreaking havoc, spinning off hurricane after hurricane hurtling towards coastal areas.

Our intrepid Exalted need to split their focus, defending against whatever storm is immediately about to hit, handling the fallout from the last storm, and trying to get to the deep ocean battle sites to cease hostilities one way or another.

Then bump it up to 2017 levels, not only are the Water and Air elementals battling, but the Fire and Earth are teamed up against the Wood, causing Earthquakes, Wildfires, and rampant allergies and poisoning (IDK what else would the fallout from Woods attack be?). Who or what is stirring up such trouble?

Hm...Thatd be an intreasting plot. I'd say it would be hard to place geographically such a confluence of natural disasters...maybe in the South East?
Or did you want hypothetical answers?

[MoroseMorgan]

Just thought of another one.

A raging battle between Water and Air elementals is wreaking havoc, spinning off hurricane after hurricane hurtling towards coastal areas.

Our intrepid Exalted need to split their focus, defending against whatever storm is immediately about to hit, handling the fallout from the last storm, and trying to get to the deep ocean battle sites to cease hostilities one way or another.

Then bump it up to 2017 levels, not only are the Water and Air elementals battling, but the Fire and Earth are teamed up against the Wood, causing Earthquakes, Wildfires, and rampant allergies and poisoning (IDK what else would the fallout from Woods attack be?). Who or what is stirring up such trouble?