#great storms

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Just wanted to let all of you know: I’m going to be taking off for the night, but! I will gladly answer the rest of the Great Storm asks tomorrow.

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Thanks again for sending in so many Great Storm asks! There are currently five people whose Storms I have yet to design. I’m exceptionally tired right now and am going to be heading to sleep, but! Rest assured, your Storms are coming soon.

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my favourite kind of weather is a gentle storm at night, with quiet thunder and rain to lull you to sleep...

That sounds so peaceful. One of the best ways to fall asleep, honestly.

Your Great Storm is Throom. Category One: Nearly harmless, preys on small animals only. You can find it in Dhragia’s Mountains of Inspiration.

Throom is the largest Category One Storm in the world. It’s a full story tall at the hips. It resembles the ankylosaurus:

Just imagine its body being entirely made of gray rock, moss growing atop the plates, and you’ve got a good picture of it.

Despite its large size, Throom is actually quite peaceful. It’s perfectly content to munch on various ores found throughout the mountains and not bother a soul. It particularly likes rocks that have been weathered by steady rainfall. That’s why it creates rain: to help make more of its favorite snack. Its footsteps, and the sound of it eating, make a thunder-like rumble that reverberates through the mountains.

(Fun fact: its name comes from the sound its thunder makes!)

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For your weather question, I like a night of heavy snow and then a morning of sunshine to gleam on the fresh snow. :)

This is one of my favorite kinds of weather, too! Other than being right in the middle of the heavy snow itself. :D

Your Great Storm is Kjaroch. Category Four: Actively hunts humans, most likely has a secondary food source of a more esoteric nature. Don’t go outside! Can be found in the far northern forests of Sveland.

Kjaroch looks like what would happen if a wolf and a dragon were to have a child. Its thick fur is arranged in scale-like plates, all of it the white-blue color of ice. It’s quite large, easily bigger than even the reindeer and moose that also roam the forest. Despite its size, it has large paws that act like snowshoes, allowing it to run swiftly even in deep snow.

When passive, Kjaroch is perfectly content to either sleep or munch on pine trees. You could walk straight past it in this state and be completely fine. 

When active, however, it goes into full hunting mode. Kjaroch hunts mostly at night, though it starts its snowstorm just before the sun goes down to try to trap people outside away from home. And the snow gets really bad, really fast. 

Just imagine this, but the vague shapes of a car in the distance is significantly larger and has a lot more teeth.

Kjaroch can also mimic the human voice with astounding accuracy. It will often lure people outside into its storm by copying loved ones’ voices.

(Side note: that guy in the video with the firefighter’s gear? Yeah. He’s an honorary weatherist now.)

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Light drizzle?

A light drizzle is perfect writing weather, to be honest.

Your Great Storm is Scerpio. Category Two: mostly preys on larger animals, will take human blood if hungry enough. Can be found winding its way through Barria’s Great Marsh Preserve.

Scerpio, as you might have guessed from the name, resembles a snake:

What a cutie! :D

Though Scerpio is quite a bit bigger. About 35 feet long, three and a half feet wide in the middle. You…probably shouldn’t boop this snoot.

It creates a light, almost misting drizzle filled with a pheromone that lulls its prey into a false sense of security. Scerpio then winds around its prey in the most aggressive hug ever, similar to how a boa constrictor would.

(Fun fact: Scerpio is one of the biggest reasons why the Barrian government declared a good portion of the eastern coast a national wildlife preserve!)

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@greenhousewriting Trust me they get excellent pay and some nice vacations to take away the Stress(TM) Also! I love the pet stormcloud idea!

[riverwarren]

Gun Control: The Red Herring

By Brian Wojtalewicz Published 01-15-13 in the Appleton Press

Appleton, MN – So many Americans seem to be distracted by the gun debate, while the real crises that will devastate our nation and planet grow worse with inaction.

Devastating global climate change continues, with record setting heat and its widespread severe drought, floods, great storms and forest devastations. Yet our leadership is either bought or too gutless to do the right things.  Their obeisance to the corporatocracy that has established greed as the soul of this country is shameful.

Too many think that their salvation lies in having a personal arsenal, as they are steadily beaten into a peasantry.  This nation has the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any on earth, and starker inequality than at any time since the roaring 1920’s.  The family that owns Wal-mart has more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans.  The top 1% owns 42% of all wealth, while the bottom 60% has 2.3%.  As of 2010, the top 1% pulled down 93% of all new income, while the bottom 99% shared the remaining 7%. 

The politicians that are fervent gun-rights champions are usually the same Right Wing bunch that push for every law that can make the mega-corporations and the very rich even richer.  They are out to cut Social Security, veteran’s programs, Medicare, education, medical care and food help for the poorest, and refuse to get serious about rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.

Meanwhile, they preserve our third major crisis - - the permanent war status, with bloated military contracting corporations and the ugly, horrible reign of death, destruction and waste.

Time is drawing nigh to do something serious about these crises, instead of being distracted by gun control. Nothing serious is going to be done about it anyway.

[smashworst-blog]

"A through and through trucker adventure. Written by a long-haul driver of decades of experience on the road. After reading this you will never look at that stranger high up in the cab on the freeway the same way again. With great storms, honest dialogue, unexpected twists in the road, and rugged writing it is an interesting read."