Ceaseless Cyclone

The Ceaseless Cyclone was a destructive supernatural tornado which ravaged the land of Eden during the Second Age. A remnant of The Calamity which brought the six-hundred and sixty-sixth iteration of reality to an end, this twister made landfall at random intervals throughout the Age. Its seemingly never-ending path of destruction only came to an end in the year 310, when the farmhouse of Dorothy Gale flew out of the funnel cloud and crashed into a Munchkinland field.

 

After that, it was never seen again.

 

The nature of the Cyclone’s destruction was unlike that of any tornado seen before or since. Wherever it touched down, rather than obliterating people, places, and things outright, it unstuck them in time. People and things in the path of the Cyclone were sent to other points in the timestream. Places were either advanced to future states or regressed to previous versions of themselves. And most maddeningly of all, the effects were completely random. No pattern has ever been identified.

 

Manifestation

The Ceaseless Cyclone was a violently rotating column of air, always visible as a funnel cloud. It sometimes spun clockwise, and sometimes counterclockwise, though the direction of its winds was never found to be an accurate predictor of the kind of damage it would bring.

 

It typically appeared on the horizon, first as narrow tube or rope reaching from the heavens toward the ground and then eventually as a more complex and twisting shape. Once it made landfall, it quickly grew in size.

 

On average, it kept contact with the ground for no more than 5 miles at a time before retreating into the clouds. That said, it once traveled for over 200 miles in one go, the trail it left eventually forming the basis of the Great Garden Road—a thoroughfare running from the southwestern edges of Nalké to its northern border with Nunya.

 

Folklore

A subculture of storm chasers sprung up during the middle part of the Second Age, most of whom were folks who longed for a lost loved one. There was a belief that if one left their loved one’s remains in the path of the storm, then that loved one might be brought back to life.

 

Despite nearly 50 years of trying, however, there were no recorded successes.

Type
Metaphysical, Elemental

Comments

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Jul 5, 2023 12:13 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

Terrifying time tornado terrorises... um, people.   Love this.

Emy x
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Jul 5, 2023 12:22 by E. Christopher Clark

Thanks! It originally came out of a timeline debacle (where I realized I needed Dorothy to show up hundreds of years after she should have shown up according to my established natural laws and lore), so I’m pretty happy with how it came together. I have an awesome art piece or two in mind for it, too.

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Jul 6, 2023 12:47 by Chris L

What a cool concept. Great article!


Take a look at my Institutions of Learning challenge article.

Learn about the World of Wizard's Peak and check out my award winning article about the Ghost Boy of Kirinal!

Jul 6, 2023 16:53 by E. Christopher Clark

Thanks, man!

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Aug 15, 2023 00:40 by George Sanders

I am moving fast through articles to get my prompt reading done and I wanted to say that after pushing through nearly 30 articles today, your page readability for me was very high and a nice reprieve.

Read about the great items submitted for the Summer Camp Prompt I sponsored "A personal item that keeps you safe".
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Aug 18, 2023 23:16 by E. Christopher Clark

Thanks so much! I'm always glad to offer that reprieve. I know how hard it is to go through so many articles, so I just set out to be a little nugget of joy or a change of pace for my fellow judges.

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