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The following is a series of records by several authors. The weather,
or lack thereof, in Barsaive has spawned a spirited debate. In putting
together this collection, I have tried to represent all sides fairly. I
feel that I must apologize in advance for the vituperative tone of some
of the writings herein, but I could not in good conscience present the
debate in an altered state. Obviously, the topic has stirred strong feelings
on all sides. I leave it to the reader to decide which theory is the most
well-constructed and likely.
-- Thom Edrull, Archivist and Scribe, Hall of Records
In the course of my wanderings, I have found that Barsaive's weather does not show much in the way of variance. In the vicinity of the Kingdom of Throal, the frequency of rain is roughly the same as in Travar, to the south, or Jerris, far to the west. The days are generally sunny and warm, the nights cool but not uncomfortably so.
This lack of variance is not, of course, great news. Merrox himself, in the chapter "Regarding the Land and Its Places" in An Explorer's Guide to Barsaive, remarks on the lack of winter. More than simply a lack of winter, however, the climate of Barsaive is unusually even in both temperature and temperament. What differences there are in the weather are primarily due to regional influences. The area surrounding the Servos Jungle sees an increase in humidity from its proximity to the rainforest. Death's Sea and the heat washing from it renders the surrounding region perpetually hot and dry. The upper reaches of the mountains, such as the Throalic and Caucavik ranges, are colder than the lowlands, occasionally seeing precipitation as snow rather than rain.
The question that remains is, why is this so? Why is the weather so even? Old records from before the Scourge talk about weather, its effects on travel, on military campaigns, on the cycle of planting and harvesting. The log of the Earthdawn records encounters with violent storms, days of extreme heat followed by nights of vicious cold, and difficulties with the wild unpredictability of the climate. Yet just a few years later, as the kaers began to be opened across the land, the climate settled down to its current steady state. The storms vanished, replaced by gentle, soaking rains. The temperature flattened out, so that we exist in a sort of perpetual spring.
I have given considerable thought to this question, and feel that I finally have a cogent theory to put forth. The working of magic through patterns forged in astral space is well documented. Also on record is the power of belief on a large scale. Wide knowledge of the legend of a great hero lends strength to that hero's True Pattern. Even without a direct link to that Pattern, without formal training in the moving of power through patterns, if enough Name-Givers believe firmly, power is moved, and concentrated in the pattern of the object of their beliefs.
The reason for this is simple: the highly advanced level of ambient mana. Yes, the current has ebbed, the level of magic in the world having reached its peak in the depths of the Scourge. However, again well documented is the fact that the ebb of magic from the world ceased with the ending of the Scourge, that the level of ambient mana is still quite high and shows no sign of decreasing any further. Because of the easy availability of magical power, the beliefs of Name-Givers on a large scale have power, regardless of their training in the manipulation of magic, or the lack of same.
When you meet a farmer, and ask him what he would wish for, given one wish, the first thing that comes to his mind is a good harvest. Ask yourself this: What is required for a good harvest? While you are asking questions of yourself, ask this: Does anyone ever wish for foul weather?
The answers are simple. Good weather is a common and devout wish. Weather that is conducive to good harvests, being several months of gentle, soaking rains, followed by several months of clear weather with only sporadic and brief showers, is greatly desired by the majority of the people of Barsaive, the majority making their living from the land and the cultivation thereof. It is my hypothesis that the continual wishes for fine growing weather by so many Name-Givers have forged a Pattern, and that the exertion of power through that Pattern is maintaining our climate in an even state. While not deliberate, we ourselves are the cause of the oddity.
This hypothesis can be extended, however, to an unsettling conclusion. If indeed the collective wishes of the people of Barsaive are responsible for the climate, then the normal patterns are being held in abeyance by this force. The theories of magic hold that natural forces cannot be eliminated, only diverted or suppressed. Once the ambient mana level drops sufficiently, and I am not alone in believing that it will eventually begin to drop again as the cycle of magic continues on its course, then the normal climatic patterns will reassert themselves. My fear is that the patterns of weather are like a river that has been dammed. As the level of magic in the world drops, the dam becomes weaker, while the pressure of the water behind the dam continues to steadily increase. Eventually, the dam will break, and the river will resume its normal course with great force.
Thus, I fear that the climate will return to its normal course with great violence. After a century or more of no winter, the coming of the ice will be nearly as terrible and destructive as the Scourge. Great waves of ice will sweep south through Barsaive with such speed that animals in the field will be surprised, entrapped and frozen for later generations to find. It is quite possible that Name-Givers could themselves be taken unawares by the ice and frozen in their tracks.
I dearly hope that my theory will not see its ultimate extrapolation proven correct. In the case that I am correct, however, Barsaive should prepare for the coming of the ice. The kaers that saw us through the Scourge would work equally well against natural disaster as against magical. When the magic begins to fade from the world, the peoples of Barsaive must make a decision, as to whether or not to believe in my predictions. I do fear that sufficient belief in the coming of the ice could bring it down upon us, even if it originally would not have come.
-- EF
A number of mysteries occupy the scholars of Barsaive -- the deeper secrets of magic, the origin of the dragons, the cycles of magic and why they seem to have been interrupted. An issue that has been made into a mystery, however, deserves dismissal at this time, and that is the question of the weather. A great deal of valuable time has been taken up with discussion of something that causes no harm, that inconveniences no person, and that in fact provides a great benefit to all Name-Givers throughout the province. It is high time that this discussion was dismissed, the obvious answer accepted and valuable time freed to consider issues of far greater importance and complexity.
Evanten Farseeker points out that when the Earthdawn made its historic first voyage, that the weather was terrible. This is no great surprise. The land had been ravaged by the Horrors. However, when the Name-Givers emerged from the kaers and began the task of rebuilding, the violent storms and terrible extremes of temperature quickly vanished. Evanten postulates the gradual formation of a Pattern, evolving from such vague antecedents as a wish for a nice growing season. He obviously has little understanding of the true workings of magic.
Patterns do not simply happen. They are made. There is a reason why the intelligent peoples of Barsaive are known as the Name-Givers. It is because the minds of these people are strong enough to make an imprint on the structure of the world. By Giving a Name to a thing, a True Pattern is created. That Pattern can then be manipulated by magical techniques to alter the thing Named. The creation of a True Pattern, the Giving of a Name, does not happen by accident. Patterns do not simply arise. They are made. In order for a Pattern to exist that would affect the weather, someone, a Name-Giver, would have had to Name the Pattern.
This is the rankest of hubris, to assume the powers of the Passions to the Name-Givers. No person has ever had sufficient power to alter the weather over an entire province. If such was possible, surely the Therans would have used it against us in the War. No, the answer to the question of the climate of Barsaive is quite obvious: The Passions.
When the Name-Givers emerged from the kaers, and began the task of reforesting and healing the land, Jaspree took pity on us. Being the Passion of growing things, He of course would want to see us succeed in our task in as short a time as possible. Therefore, the Passion bent His will upon the climate, and produced a weather pattern most conducive to regrowth. When the task is completed, I am quite sure that the weather patterns will return to normal, whatever that may be for our part of the world, in a short time. But there will be no second Scourge.
Evanten Farseeker promotes himself to exalted levels, placing himself on a par with Elianar Messias and the founders of the School of Shadows, with his theory of the coming of the ice. Surely he, as a Questor of Jaspree, cannot truly believe that such a thing will occur? The Passion would never allow the forces of nature, which are after all His to control, to scour the land of the very forests which He has altered the weather to encourage.
Perhaps now this topic can be dropped in favor of more relevant and useful pursuits.
-- IO
This is indeed a touchy issue. I have seen very little stir up quite so much depth of feeling short of Alachia's decision to implement the Ritual of the Thorns. There do not seem to be any disinterested parties, some having a larger axe to grind than others. Having read the work of Evanten Farseeker and Ivoc Omeodry, as well as related records of the current and previous eras, and given appropriate consideration to the theories presented therein, I see a possible compromise.
We know that greater magics are possible at the height of the cycle of magic, when the ambient power is at its peak. Such were the magics spun in the depths of the Scourge, to hold back the Horrors that breached the protections of the kaers, and during the previous rise of mana, when the Books of Harrow were written. We know that there were greater magics long ago, but we do not have access to sufficient power now due to the subsidence of the world's mana.
A mere hundred years ago, when the first kaers were opened and we emerged blinking into the grey light of the post-Scourge world, the world had been scoured of life, but magic was still quite strong, as it is today, as powerful as it had been before the Scourge, when the Rites of Protection and Passage were spun to close the kaers. It is my considered belief that in those early days, the Questors of Jaspree, the elementalists and the wizards took council together and found a way to quicken the healing of Barsaive. Powerful magics were invoked to provide an optimum climate for reforestation. In a cooperative effort between the magicers and the Questors, and with the blessing of the Passions, the Name-Givers, or at least a faction thereof, altered the weather, constructing a Pattern and empowering it quite deliberately in possibly the greatest effort of group working since the sealing of the citadels and the relocation of Parlainth.
These magics will slowly release as the world is reforested, the climate showing stronger variety, and when the land is fully healed from the depredations of the Horrors, the last vestiges will fade and the seasons return. There will be no coming of the ice, as the natural order will gradually reassert itself. The Pattern of the weather modification would logically include such a safety mechanism. It would be self-defeating to speed the recovery of the world, only to have it destroyed again in a backlash from the very method that rebuilt it.
As to why no one seems to be able to find the records of this working, that arguably must exist, as we are if nothing else compulsive about documenting our exploits? Well, I remind the reader that Elianar Messias found the Books of Harrow in the early days of our era, at a time when they were needed, and in sufficient time for them to be useful. They had lain hidden for at least eight thousand years before that, undiscovered, not needed until magic rose again and another Scourge became possible. How was this so? Surely anyone who has read this far would see the possibility of a Pattern hiding the books, and releasing when specific conditions -- the rise of magic, the presence of a scholar -- were fulfilled. Such powerful works would have been useless in lesser hands, perhaps even dangerous, and could have been easily destroyed if they had come into the possession of an illiterate. Who is to say that the techniques for altering the climate have not been recorded, and hidden away for discovery in the next cycle of magic, when they may once again be needed?
-- LT
-- Thom Edrull
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