Also known as Melamancy (primarily in the Realm), Aeromancy, Cloud-Calling, and Wind Whistling, Aethermancy is the magic of wind, air, cold, and lightning. At its most basic level (Stratus Circle), it is capable of manipulating and producing small volumes of elemental forces related to the Element of Air - localized cold, gusts of wind, accurate weather forecasting. At middle levels (Cumulus Circle), it is capable of manipulating and conjuring large volumes of elemental air - creation and dismissal of weather and attacks created of pure cold or lightning. At its pinnacle (Cirrus Circle), it can control local weather in rather dramatic ways, including directing the path of lighting, rendering missile fire useless, and even lifting objects and creatures on the backs of the four winds.
Aethermancy is a common area of study among those wizards living in areas that rely on sea travel or agriculture. Aethermancers are also prized in the South, where their ability to provide relief from the agonizing heat makes them prized servants of the wealthy. Some adherents of the Immaculate Philosophies, especially those who revere Me'la, pursue this study as a path to a greater understanding of the Air Dragon, though this practice among mortals is sometimes considered slightly heretical.
Banish the Heat of the Day
Cost: 4 motes
Prerequisite Spells: None
This spell creates an area of cold, either around the magician's hand or in a large, immobile area.
The hand version creates an intense area of cold around one or both of the magician's hands until the end of the scene. For the duration of this spell, the magician may reflexively create or banish this localized cold, allowing him to harmlessly pull a person away from a precipice and enhance his attack against an enemy even during the same turn. This cold allows him to instantly chill food and drinks (one plate, platter, or gallon per turn) and inflicts 2 dice of lethal damage on successful Brawl, Martial Arts, and Melee attacks. This damage is separate from the normal attack and without any extra successes added. After two turns of exposure to this cold, water freezes and frost will form on most hot foods.
The area effect version of this spell cools the air in up to a (Compassion x 10) yard radius around the magician. Even the most stifling warmth of the South is rendered as cool and comfortable as a spring afternoon on the Blessed Isle. Used indoors in a windowless room, this spell's effects linger for 24 hours. Outdoors or in brightly lit or amply heated room, the relief from the heat might last as little as a scene. This spell eliminates heat-related penalties for Endurance checks. While this spell is sufficient to cool even the hottest natural environments - blistering deserts, smithies, overcrowded rooms - it is not powerful enough to cool dangerously hot environments such as the interiors of volcanos, direct exposure to fire, or magical heat such as that produced by Fiery Arrow or Dragon-Graced Weapon.
If this spell is used in an already cool area, it reduces the local temperature to between 20 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This is not sufficient to cause environmental damage except to creatures that are exceptionally vulnerable to cold, but long-term exposure or wet clothing can result in hypothermia and even death (treat as a Hearth for purposes of environmental damage except with an interval of 1 hour). This use of Banish the Heat of the Day is also useful for chilling or freezing large volumes of liquid or preserving foods against spoiling.
Call the Mists
Cost: 4 motes
Prerequisite Spells: None
A thick cloud of fog forms in the magician's immediate vicinity, seriously hampering visibility. The maximum radius of this fog is equal to (Temperance x 20) yards, centered on the magician. At night or on a cool and cloudy day, this fog lasts (Temperance x 3) hours. On hot, dry, and sunny days, it will still last a number of hours equal to the magician's Temperance.
Read the Clouds
Cost: 4 motes
Prerequisite Spells: None
Provided it is cast out of doors, this spell allows the aethermancer to predict the weather for the next 7 days in a (Compassion) mile radius with perfect accuracy. The magician can determine the cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, temperature, and so forth in a general way and even note when changes in weather patterns will take place within one hour of the actual time and where lightning, tornados, and other devastating localized weather effects will strike within (10 - Compassion) yards. This spell cannot predict changes in the weather due to magical events, sorcery, or unexpected and dramatic natural influences (such as the eruption of a volcano).
Wind Lash
Cost: 5 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Read the Clouds
This spell creates a short-lived but intense gust of wind within (Valor x 100) yards. This gust can be up to 10 yards long and 3 yards wide and only lasts for a number of turns equal to the magician's Valor. Any objects weighing less than (Valor x 50) pounds are knocked over unless they are unusually aerodynamic, and objects weighing less than (Valor x 10) pounds are blown away to the maximum range of the gust. If directed against a single opponent, the hero rolls a Wits + Valor check. If this attack is successful, it inflicts base damage of 4B plus successes, and the victim must roll a Dexterity + Athletics check against a difficulty of the number of successes scored on the attack (to a maximum difficulty equal to the magician's Valor) or be knocked prone. Unlike most forms of Knockback, Wind Lash can hurl a precariously balanced opponent off a precipice. In addition, the target's ranged attacks automatically fail unless they are capable of ignoring environmental factors or are composed entirely of magic. Moreover, the victim cannot move against the wind unless her Strength + Athletics pool exceeds the magician's Heroism + Valor.
This gust of wind is also intense enough to extinguish any fires smaller than a bonfire within its area of effect. If directed away from the wizard, all ranged attacks made against the magician while it lasts automatically miss unless the attack is capable of ignoring environmental factors or is composed entirely of magic. The magician's ranged attacks under these circumstances receive an accuracy bonus equal to her Heroism.
Feather Step
Cost: 6 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Wind Lash
This spell affects a target within (Temperance x 10) yards. Until the end of the scene, the target's gait is light and agile. He is able to stand, balance, and walk on things normally too narrow or weak to support him - thin ice, clotheslines, narrow ledges, etc... - with ease. The surface may be precarious, but it must always be reasonably solid and capable of bearing a load. The target could not walk on water by means of this spell, for example. In addition to performing supernatural feats of athletics, the lightness of his step makes him more difficult to track, as he leaves no footprints and very little scent. The difficulty of all checks to track the target is increased by the magician's Temperance.
Ice Dagger
Cost: 1 mote per 2L damage
Prerequisite Spells: Banish the Heat of the Day
A large icicle leaps from the magician's hand to strike a single target within (Valor x 20) yards. The magician rolls a Valor + Archery or Thrown (whichever he prefers) to hit. The accuracy of this attack is equal to the magician's Valor. It does a base damage of 2L for every mote of Essence spent, though the hero cannot spend more motes on this spell than her Valor. Additional successes on the attack add to damage as normal.
Rain Dance
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Call the Mists
This ritual requires a minimum of one hour of chanting and dancing. The magician chooses the desired weather and this spell eventually conjures it. The chosen weather must be native to the region. No amount of dancing around is going to bring snow to the deep South or glacier-melting heat to the North. The magician rolls a Charisma + Temperance check at standard difficulty (+2 difficulty if the desired weather is unseasonable or rare in the region). The desired weather arrives at the magician's location in 24 hours - (the number of successes rolled). For each consecutive hour after the first the magician spends chanting and dancing, the delay before the weather arrives is further reduced by 1 hour.
Little Thunder
Cost: 2 motes per 1L damage
Prerequisite Spells: Rain Dance
A blue-white arc of lightning leaps from the magician's hand to strike a single target within (Valor x 20) yards. The magician rolls a Valor + Archery or Thrown (whichever he prefers) to hit. This attack may be dodged, but not parried. The damage it inflicts cannot be soaked by armor, though Charms and the natural defenses of supernatural creatures have their full effects. It inflicts 1L per 2 motes spent, to a maximum damage equal to the magician's Valor, and extra successes on the attack roll do not increase this damage. This spell has no effect on individuals rendered immune to environmental damage (including those protected with Hardship Surviving Mendicant Spirit).
Stillness
Cost: 8 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Wind Lash
This spell eliminates all natural winds short of a hurricane within a (Temperance x 50) yard radius around the magician until the end of the scene (to a maximum duration of 24 hours). Within the appointed area, the air is perfectly still. At sea, this can preserve a ship's sails and masts from all but the worst storms. In a desert, it provides shelter against the worst sandstorms of the South. In the North, it can eliminate the deadly bite of wind chill. It has no effect on winds produced by means of Terrestrial or higher sorcery, but it will negate wind-making spells and Charms with a minimum Essence lower than 3.
Denial of the Fall
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Feather Step
This spell is fast and does not require shaping. It takes effect as soon as the magician spends the Willpower and Essence, which makes it useful for protecting the magician and her allies from sudden falls. It affects one living target within (Temperance x 10) yards of the magician. Until the end of the scene, the target may either maintain her current altitude in spite of complications like standing on thin air or fall any distance without suffering any damage from landing. While this spell is in effect, he can walk on thin air as though it was a solid surface or descend at any desired angle. He cannot ascend unless he uses physical means (such as a stone staircase) to do so.
Defensive Cyclone
Cost: 12 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Denial of the Fall
This spell affects a target within (Valor x 10) yards. Until the end of the scene, the target is surrounded by powerful, swirling winds that deflect attacks against her. These winds raise the difficulty of missile attacks against her by the magician's Valor. Hand-to-hand attacks only suffer half this penalty (rounding up), but those who attempt to make an unarmed attack against the target suffer the magician's Valor in dice of lethal damage each turn, though this damage may be soaked normally.
Vortex of Dust
Cost: 12 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Denial of the Fall
This creates a brief, swirling wind that whips up a vortex of dust, snow, or sand within (Valor x 20 yards) and affects targets within a radius equal to the magician's Valor in yards. Each turn, the vortex inflicts the magician's Valor in dice of lethal damage to everyone (friend or foe) in the affected area. This damage can be soaked normally, but not dodged or parried. Visibility within or across the area of the vortex is limited (treat as fog). This vortex lasts for a number of turns equal to the magician's Valor and cannot be ended prematurely except through the use of appropriate countermagic.
Skin of Air Attunement
Cost: 12 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Feather Step, Call the Mists
This spell counts as an elemental attunement spell. The flesh of one target within (Temperance x 10) yards becomes as insubstantial as smoke until the end of the scene. The target cannot be harmed by physical attacks that do not inflict environmental or aggravated damage, but she cannot inflict harm, either. She may choose to become as transparent and invisible as wind or as thick as smoke. She cannot slip through cracks or fly, but her jumping distance is doubled while this spell persists. No creature may benefit from this spell more than once at a given time, and no creature may benefit from more than one elemental attunement spell at a time. Casting this spell on a creature already under the effects of another elemental attunement spell simply replaces the current elemental attunement spell with this one.
Guide the Lightning
Cost: 17 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Little Thunder
The magician can only use this spell outdoors during a storm, whether one occurring naturally or as the result of magic. The magician directs the path of one bolt of lightning, rolling Valor + Archery or Thrown (whichever she prefers) to hit one target. This attack may be dodged, but not parried. If it successfully strikes, its target must immediately make a Stamina + Endurance check at a standard difficulty or be instantly struck dead. If this check succeeds, the lightning inflicts 10L which may only be soaked by Stamina and defensive Charms or Heroics.
Climbing the Mountain of Wind
Cost: 14 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Denial of the Fall
This spell affects one target within (Temperance x 10) yards and lasts until the end of the scene. The subject may move in any direction unless blocked by an obstacle exactly as if the very air was a firm horizontal surface. This includes levitation, flight, walking up walls and along ceilings, and jumping from plane in thin air to plane in thin air (or from one wall of the room to the other).
Hands of the Hurricane
Cost: 17 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Vortex of Dust
This spell affects one target weighing up to (Valor x 100) pounds within (Valor x 10) yards. The subject rises several inches so that she cannot touch the ground until the end of the scene. On any turn in which he concentrates (counting as an action), the magician may move the victim up to his Valor in yards in any direction he wishes. This movement ceases if the magician stops concentrating, but may be resumed at any time while the spell persists. The magician may reflexively end this spell's effect by a mere force of will, unceremoniously dropping the victim to the floor (or to her death on the rocks below).
Conjure Servant of the Winds
Cost: 20+ motes
Prerequisite Spells: Barrier of Ice, Little Thunder
This ritual requires four hours to complete, and casting it outside of a dedicated ritual space with some connection to the Element of Air is impossible for a mortal magician. The magician calls up an Elemental of Air with a maximum Essence equal to the magician's Heroism. If the magician chooses to bargain with the spirit in some way, such as by offering it sacrifices or prayers, she must make a Charisma + Performance at a difficulty equal to (6 - Resources value of the sacrifice) to properly honor it. This difficulty is increased by 1 if the magician is not a priest devoted to that Elemental. If this roll succeeds, the Elemental will accept the offering and might even enter into an agreement with the magician if the number of additional successes on the roll is equal to or greater than the Elemental's Essence. This does not provide the magician with direct control over the Elemental, but is more akin to a temporary alliance. If treated well, the Elemental will accompany the wizard for as long as one lunar month, though it will still behave according to its nature.
A magician may also attempt to bind the Elemental to its will using the same system as for the Terrestrial Circle Spell Summon Elemental, but a mortal's low Essence score makes such a contest of wills a dangerous prospect. Moreover, Elementals and the Celestial Heirarchy at large frown upon any such enslavement by mortal magicians. The Celestial Heirarchy is likely to be less lenient toward mortals than they are with Exalted Sorcerers, and Elementals enslaved by a mortal are more likely to seek vengeance once their term of service has ended.
Barrier of Ice
Cost: 10 motes + 1 per 100 square feet
Prerequisite Spells: Ice Dagger
The magician creates a large, thick sheet of ice within (Valor x 20) yards. This sheet of ice can be roughly round, square, or rectangular, but must exist on a single plane and be anchored in place by some physical object (such as a doorway, ground, wall, ceiling, an existing Barrier of Ice, or the surface of a body of water). This sheet of ice is 3 inches thick and covers 100 square feet per 2 additional motes spent, though it can be made thicker if the magician halves the area the ice covers (spending 11 motes to create a sheet of ice with an area of 100 square feet and 6 inches thick, for example). This ice can be used to seal entrances, provide hard cover, render floors slippery, create bridges of solid ice, or even hedge out one or more enemies. Once this spell is complete, the ice is completely mundane, melting into water or boiling away into steam at the normal rate for the present environment. In the frozen North, powerful magicians have been known to create labyrinths and even palaces by means of many uses of Barrier of Ice.