Exotic weather

So, we know the gloom, that pollution from Silvertear Skies that makes Mor Dhona look like the sky is ceran-wrapped with a weird fog of umbrally charged aether from the void.

Now in the skies above Abalathia's Spine, we see weirder things:

*Umbral Static - plasma charged lightning storms above the Churning Mists
*Umbral Wind - like ordinary wind, only there's weird green clouds overhead

And while not marked any different, Thunder weather in Azys Lla looks like a green version of Umbral Static.

So...what could be causing the weird weather up there? And why isn't there any Astral versions of weather?

I think, similar to the strange weather in Mor Dhona caused by aether of all elements, the weather in those two zones can be attributed to the immense volume of crystals of a very specific element. The islands in the Sea of Clouds are kept afloat primarily by wind-aspect crystals, while the islands in the Churning Mists are kept afloat by primarily lightning-aspect crystals.

Without a side quest to confirm it, I'd say that something, maybe even a random spark, triggers a reaction in the area's crystals causing them all to light up at once, resulting in the unique weather phenomena we see. Like light through a colored lens, it's not consuming anything, just changing the "color" of the neutrally-balanced aether around it.

</talking about magic in videogames like I'm some kind of scientist or something>

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Originally Posted by Fenral

neutrally-balanced aether

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I don't think any of the affected aether could be considered balanced.
I've theorized before that what defines "umbral" and "astral" is the sheer amount of aether present - Umbral being aether-heavy, Astral being lighter concentrations. It seems to me these anomalies work hand-in-hand with my theory.

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Originally Posted by treuhavik

I don't think any of the affected aether could be considered balanced.
I've theorized before that what defines "umbral" and "astral" is the sheer amount of aether present - Umbral being aether-heavy, Astral being lighter concentrations. It seems to me these anomalies work hand-in-hand with my theory.

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And I believe quite differently. I believe that Umbral is a state of rest and recovery, and Astral is a state of action. An Umbral Era is begun by a great catastrophe, and the realm spends this era recovering from the damage it took during said event, just as a Thaumaturge spends his time in Umbral Ice recovering his mana. An Astral Era is marked by a state of growth and action, the realm having sufficiently healed from the previous catastrophe and is ready to expand and grow once more, in much the same way that a Thaumaturge spends his time in Astral Fire casting his magic more rapidly and with greater results.

That said, surely aether could be balanced, or at least not Astral-ly or Umbral-ly aspected. Take most magic we cast, for instance. A Thaumaturge may use Astral and Umbral magic, but an Arcanist or a Conjurer do not. Not because their magic is aspected by both, but because it does not lean one way more than the other.

Further, if we take a look at the elements, surely we can observe these weather phenomena with reason. As we are told concerning the six elements, one creates another in a specific order. The important note with the Umbral Static and Umbral Wind should surely be held within this fact. For example, the islands in the Churning Mist are held aloft by wind crystals. When wind aether, according the the cycle of elements, gathers the clouds and creates... Lightning! Now, it would be reasonable to believe that the Sea of Clouds should also suffer from Umbral Static, but you must remember two additional things when considering this region: the Floating Lakes of Voor Sian Siran and the Three Conquests (Or was it the Three Subjugations?). The Lakes of VSS (gonna start using shorthand for that now) are of course filled with water, and the islands they are on, and the rest of the islands in the zone are held aloft by wind crystals, same as the Churning Mist. Likewise, the wind crystals should cause an abundance of lightning energy in the region, but why doesn't it? The Three Conquests tells us the reason, for Lightning boils the Water, and the mists rise and create a continued abundance of Wind energy, manifesting as the Umbral Wind.

Now, that's only a theory and takes some leaps to reach those conclusions. Alternatively, using my idea of Astral and Umbral Cycles, one could reach the conclusion that the region has spent a great amount of Lightning (in the case of the Churning Mist) or Wind (in the case of the Sea of Clouds), and those weather patterns are simply the region attempting to balance itself out by recovering those elements.

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Originally Posted by WyrahFhurrst

That said, surely aether could be balanced

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How could the weather be aetherically balanced if it's titled "Umbral"?

That was my point - it's Umbral static and Umbral wind, and it's obviously doing some funky stuff. It only makes sense that something is causing this activity. We already know that abundance of air-borne aether in Mor Dhona causes the gloom weather seen there, and in Churning Mists and Sea of Clouds we literally have massive crystals in the sky. How many more clues do we need to link the Umbral part of the weather with the abundance of aether hanging within it?

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Originally Posted by treuhavik

How could the weather be aetherically balanced if it's titled "Umbral"?

That was my point - it's Umbral static and Umbral wind, and it's obviously doing some funky stuff. It only makes sense that something is causing this activity. We already know that abundance of air-borne aether in Mor Dhona causes the gloom weather seen there, and in Churning Mists and Sea of Clouds we literally have massive crystals in the sky. How many more clues do we need to link the Umbral part of the weather with the abundance of aether hanging within it?

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Oh no, I didn't mean the weather was balanced, I just meant that there is neutral aether in general. I may have started that part of the conversation erroneously, thinking you were saying aether couldn't be balanced, which may or may not have been out of line.

But as to the rest of that, did you read the rest of my post? I tried to explain the actual phenomena of Umral Wind and Umbral Static.

I would argue that it's just a side-effect of having so much elementally-charged aether in that place. The Sea of Clouds has a lot of wind aether up there; it's what allows the islands to float, after all. Naturally there's going to be some weird weather effects. As for the Churning Mists... not sure how that stays aloft, but perhaps there's enough lightning-elemental aether up there to do it (the floating things at Moghome do glow purple, similar to certain things in the Sylphlands).

The aether would then just build up over time until it reaches a critical level and is discharged, producing the exotic weather effects.

As for Azys Lla, it's impossible to say because that place runs on tech and science we don't understand at all.

Ah, that may have been my fault for not expanding a bit more on the idea. But, yes, the weather activity combined with the amount of air-borne aether present leads me to believe that "umbral" directly translates to "lots of aether".

Now, this of course would also roll into the umbral and astral periods in time as well. Just to name a couple side effects, an abundance of, what I'm assuming to be, global aether means more crystals for easier, more frequent and more powerful summonings. It also means that being from outside our plane of existance would be drawn here, as they too sustain themselves by feeding on aether. So, as you can see, this fits perfectly with the negative connotation umbral eras carry.

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Originally Posted by WyrahFhurrst

But as to the rest of that, did you read the rest of my post? I tried to explain the actual phenomena of Umral Wind and Umbral Static.

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Sure did! The elemental aspect of the aether and its transitions make total sense, I agree.

Wait a second, I just had a thought. The hours on an Eorzean clock are organized into the six elements, and further divided into Astral and Umbral. So there's two hours each day for Umbral Wind and two for Umbral Static, one in the AM and one in the PM. Has anyone checked to see if the times for those weather effects coincide on the same time each Eorzean day? That is, when they show up, which may not be every single Eorzean day.

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Originally Posted by treuhavik

The elemental aspect of the aether and its transitions make total sense, I agree.

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I was thinking more on this, and the bridge as to why the elemental affinity changes can be placed in my theory as well. Simply put, as aether gathers and transitions from astral to umbral it grows more and more volitile and eventually changes -- some sort of reation causes the aether to shift into the next element and dispurse, repeating for each element, of course.

Now, it's possible the above is linked to the global density of aether, but for now I'm going to settle with the idea that it goes through a similar, yet independent, cyclic process.

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Originally Posted by WyrahFhurrst

Wait a second, I just had a thought. The hours on an Eorzean clock are organized into the six elements, and further divided into Astral and Umbral. So there's two hours each day for Umbral Wind and two for Umbral Static, one in the AM and one in the PM. Has anyone checked to see if the times for those weather effects coincide on the same time each Eorzean day? That is, when they show up, which may not be every single Eorzean day.

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Nice catch! I'd be very interested in these findings as well.

I notice that that ship in the sea of clouds only shows up in the unique weather! Haha the new weather is cool, hopefully they'll do something with it :)

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Originally Posted by WyrahFhurrst

Wait a second, I just had a thought. The hours on an Eorzean clock are organized into the six elements, and further divided into Astral and Umbral. So there's two hours each day for Umbral Wind and two for Umbral Static, one in the AM and one in the PM. Has anyone checked to see if the times for those weather effects coincide on the same time each Eorzean day? That is, when they show up, which may not be every single Eorzean day.

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That's likely not the case. Weather changes 3 times at day and lasts for 8 hours each time, at midnight, 8am, and 4pm. And while it follows an algorithm and each zone within a region kinda lines up with each other's weather, other regions don't line up with each other for the most part.

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Originally Posted by Iromi

I notice that that ship in the sea of clouds only shows up in the unique weather! Haha the new weather is cool, hopefully they'll do something with it :)

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I believe you may be misinformed.

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Originally Posted by Reinhart

That's likely not the case. Weather changes 3 times at day and lasts for 8 hours each time, at midnight, 8am, and 4pm. And while it follows an algorithm and each zone within a region kinda lines up with each other's weather, other regions don't line up with each other for the most part.

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Ah, oh well. It was an interesting thought at least. It would have been very interesting if it did line up. It's close though. According to the chart on this page the Umbral Wind could still line up, and the Umbral Lightning time is an hour later, which in my opinion could be a decent approximation enough to work.

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Originally Posted by treuhavik

Simply put, as aether gathers and transitions from astral to umbral it grows more and more volitile and eventually changes -- some sort of reation causes the aether to shift into the next element and dispurse, repeating for each element, of course.

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So, Moose informed me last night that the elemental wheel can move both ways -- clock or counterclockwise -- which pretty much busts my theory, as I can't yet explain coherently how a light concentration of aether (astral) would suddenly become dense (umbral), or visa versa, upon transitioning to another element. The theory as it stands would dictate the element is plainly unable to change into another, continually bouncing between umbral and astral aspects of itself. This is all probably gibberish to most, but for those that follow, thems the breaks. :\