Magonian

A magonian is a wind mage, one who wields kiiric yihi or wind aether by capturing wind in satchels and releasing them as a controlled force. The term originates from an ancient sky city. While almost anyone can learn these arts, those who have or are attuned to wind aether are more likely to excel at it.

Satchels

It is said the original legendary hero who captured the Four Winds in a bag used a simple sack. Theoretically, any sealable bag would work, though it would take a magonian of incredible skill to do so. Most use special satchels made of wind horse or hippogriff leather, the feathers of a rukh, Gyran falcon, or cetan, flying whale skin, or other special materials that are attuned to wind aether. These satchels also have stone or iron buckles which are heavy enough with earthpower to prevent the wind from opening the satchel.

Capturing

It is generally much harder to capture the wind than release and guide it. Even many well-known magonians simply buy or trade for captured winds rather than do it themselves. Capturing a wind requires finding it naturally rather than artificially creating it (via fan or other device). The line between manufactured and natural wind can be a little hazy; a captured manufactured wind will be much weaker than a natural one, as natural winds have more latent wind aether.

Once found, the magonian must hold the satchel open while using their own wind aether to draw the wind in. A magonian may use their wind aether through special words, devices, materials, or gestures. Because they need to be standing mostly still and using their hands to hold the satchel open, dancing, singing, or more complicated gestures are rarely useful.

Timing is the most important aspect of this. There will be a point when the wind begins to turn back, realizing it has been caught; this is when the satchel must be sealed shut. If the magonian is not quick enough, the wind will escape, and the magonian will usually be blown about. Even the lightest wind will grow angry in these circumstances.

Releasing

When a magonian wishes to wield the winds, they simply open the satchel and let it out. The wind will flow out and return to its former state. The magonian must then use gestures to guide the winds where they want it. The duration of the wind will be determined by how much air was captured and the strength of the wind. The magonian's control of the wind will be challenged by the wind itself, and thus, magonians must have strong wills and skill with their gestures.

Wind Types and Strength

These are some of the types of wind that have been identified:

• Light Breeze: the most common and lightest of breezes, barely noticeable
• Aura: a slightly stronger breeze, refreshing
• Sea Breeze: a breeze off the sea with sea spray, aroma, and vapor
• Mountain Breeze: a breeze down from the mountains with a slightly sharper chill
• Strong Wind: a wind that is noticeably stronger than a breeze, strong enough to whip your coat or hair, for instance
• Pakaa: wind strong enough to fill the sails of a small sailing vessel
• The Hawk: a sharp, biting urban wind, very cold and very bitter
• Kona: weaker tropical cyclone winds from winter cyclones, from the outer reaches of a winter storm in the tropics
• Simoom: a strong, dry, dust-laden wind in the deserts of Mati
• Katabatic Wind: a drainage wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity
• Tehuantepecer: an intensely strong mountain-gap wind that can rival hurricane winds
• Sukhovey: a dry wind with high temperature and low relative humidity occurring in the steppes, the semi-deserts and the deserts of Dabusen
• Bieggolmai: a summer wind in the far north
• Biegkegaellies: a winter wind in the far north
• Sirocco: a wind off the Indigo Sea that can reach hurricane strength in the summer, but remains light the rest of the year
• Andhi: violent, squally dust storm occuring in late spring in north-western Vimala, called the black storm; occurs quickly out of the blue
• Dustdevil: a small tornado filled with sand
• Waterspout: a small tornado filled with water
• Galeforce: winds, typically sea winds, between 32 and 63 mph--very strong
• Karaburan: a katabatic wind in the winter also called a power storm
• Tornado: a massive, powerful whirling wind that wreaks massive destruction
• Fire Whirl: a small tornado filled with fire
• Linamin at Barat: a tropical wind in SE Dabusen that brings monsoon season
• Hurricane: the winds of a hurricane (not the whole storm), reaching up to 300 mph
• Astral Wind: cosmic winds from deep space, a stream of various particles that might not reflect the air of Shem, often radioactive, astral aether
• Tezcatlipoca: the night winds, a powerful spriit wind in certain parts of the world
• Solar Wind: a stream of solar energy, coming directly from the sun, solar aether
• Dogoda: Ranic winter wind
• Chaac: winds created by a chaac, a storm elemental
• Libonotus: SSW wind
• Vulturnus: SE wind
• Euronotus: SSE wind
• Aquilo: NNE wind, the eagle wind
• Thrascias: NNW wind
• Argestes: weaker SW wind
• Iapyx: stronger SW wind
• Eurus: stronger SE wind
• Caecias: NE wind
• Corus: NW wind
• Apeliotes: a weak east wind
• Aparctias: a weak north wind
• Septentrio: a weak north wind
• Rashabar: a wind in Mati mountains called the black wind
• Dainn: a wind in the world tree that takes the form of a goat
• Dvalinn: a wind in the world tree that takes the form of a goat
• Durathor: a wind in the world tree that takes the form of a goat
• Duneyrr: a wind in the world tree that takes the form of a goat
• Wind of 120 Days: a hot, dry wind that lasts for 120 days in Mati
• Favonius: a moderate west wind
• Auster: a moderate south wind
• Qebui: a moderate north wind
• Windrose: a special combination of the four compass winds
• Da-jo-jo: panther wind
• O-yan-do-ne: moose wind
• Kedem: the East Wind
• Zephyrus: the West Wind
• Boreas: the North Wind
• Winds of Time: winds made of temporal aether
• Winds of Fortune: winds made of the fortune energy, impossible to control
• Tanuna: a Divine Wind, a wind made by the Sky God that can only be controlled by the most poweful magonians, legendary
• Imhullu: a wind from before the creation of the universe, a powerful wind only spoken of in legend, a wind more powerful than any ever conceived

Wild Wind vs. Controlled Wind

Why capture the wind first? Why not merely wield it via gesture, dance, or song? While 'Ahl Al-Riyh have long been winddancers and windsingers, most do not come from a culture where these skills are passed down. Almost none outside their culture have ever mastered such arts. And to control wild wind by gesture alone is very difficult; while a magonian can nudge wild winds with their gestures, it is not nearly as complete a control. Winds that have been captured become tamed after a certain period of time, and even if released prematurely, they are still generally easier to control when they are disoriented. A very skilled magonian may attempt to control wind without benefit of a satchel, but that level of skill is extremely rare.

To put it in game terms, it is a +12 difficulty to control a wild wind.

Anemoi, Kiir, and Other Elementals

As seen in the list above, many living winds are wielded by magonians. These viridianites sometimes make deals with magonians so that they are not enslaved, though many magonians do enslave kiir. Other winds are Aeonian elementals or anemoi. These are usually not the actual Aeonian, but wind created by them (i.e. not Boreas himself, but winds sent by Boreas). To capture an Aeonian in a satchel would be extremely difficult, and if done, would require either a significant deal or protections against vengeance.

The practice of kidnapping and enslaving elementals is frowned upon officially, but it happens a lot.

Variations

Some cultural variations include

• Among the 'Ahl Al-Riyh, magonism is rarer than windsinging or winddancing, but it is used at times. They call it Sahar Al-Rayah, and they sometimes use it in ceremonies where it is combined with winddancers and windsingers as well.
• Among falcon folk, it is called kiiric keya. They use their own feathers to fashion satchels and use beak-clicks as gestures.
• Among atomy fairies, it is called mala gaoithne. It is usually a communal activity, and they use it less to release winds than to capture winds that bother them.
• Among various Gyran cultures, it has a few different names and variations, but usually is based on supporting sky-sailing. Sea-sailors are also known to have a magonian on their ships if they can afford it.

Some specializations include

• Aerofacilitator: magonians who work on airships and planes to help them fly.
• Aeronaut: magonians who fly airships or planes.
• Air pirate: see pirates. Essentially, aernonauts who use their powers to hijack planes and airships.
• Caelscriptor: a magonian who creates artistic skywriting.
• Ifittex: a Gyran magonian who works as a detective.
• Kamadara: flying Majonese witches who combine magonism with witchcraft.
• Sasa pherna: a magonian whose control of air is so delicate they can use it to heal lungs.
• Taraxacum: a magonian who grows plants in the sky and floats around on dandelion seeds.
• Tibicen: a flautist who uses magonism to improve their breathing and their music.

Persecution

Magonians are much sought after in many cultures for their powers of flight and weather control, but they are also often misunderstood or demonized.

Skills

Some common skills include

• Weather prediction
• Flight
• Cartography/geography
• Direction sense
• Leatherworking
• Hunting/tracking

Stats

The average imager has these variations on the base stats of their nation/species:

PRO +1
ATH +4
STR -2
AWA +4
WIL +2
STH +1
PRS +1