RE: (TFT) Butterfly Wings --> I like

["rsmith" <rsmith@lightspeed.ca>]

Hi Mark,
	I agree with your uneasiness about
the amount of fST it takes to change the
weather.  Your spell I think is great.
I've studied chaos theory (where the term
'butterfly effect' is endlessly over used)
and I think your spell is too _weak_.

	After a 90 day lead up, any normal
weather for that season / climate should 
be possible, even fairly extreme ones.  
(Say you could not get a 100 year storm
but you could easily get a 25 year storm.)
If you wanted snow in July, you might get
a cold rain or a flurry in a thunderstorm
that melts about 0.2 seconds after it his
the ground etc.

	Rick


-----Original Message-----
From: tft-owner@brainiac.com [mailto:tft-owner@brainiac.com]On Behalf Of
Mark Tapley
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 9:55 AM
To: tft@brainiac.com
Subject: (TFT) Butterfly Wings


All,
	Continuation of the Weather-Control Spells thread from a month or
so ago. Something was bothering me about that. The amount of energy
required to stop a cold front barrelling down the plains, or even to just
hold it back for 24 hours or whatever, is in the MegaJoules. It's *way*
more energy that what a fireball takes, or any of the other effects I can
think of from the spell list (relativistic abuses of the Gate spell
notwithstanding).
	But weather control *is* typical Wizard territory, and not covered
in TFT, so I do feel some addition along those lines would be good. But it
took me a long time to figure out what I think it should be.
	Enter the "butterfly wings" effect. By taking advantage of the
chaotic nature of the climate system, a wizard can tweak just the right
predecessor to cause weather events *far* in the future. He can't stop
things that are already in progress, but he can change things that are just
beginning to get started.

IQ 18: Call/Avert Weather Event:
A Wizard can call or avert "seasonal" weather events (ie Blizzards in
wintertime, tornadoes in summertime, hurricanes near the equator on the
coast during hurricane season) by casting this spell. But the spell *must*
be cast at least 90 days in advance of the day it takes effect. Also, no
calling (e.g.) Blizzards in summertime - there must have been a similar
weather event (or lack thereof) at the same location in a previous year
within two days of the desired date for the spell to be effective. ST: 20

IQ 20: Shift Weather Pattern:
Change the climate for a region for one (90 day) season. By shifting the
jet stream, etc. the wizard can either halve or double the average seasonal
rainfall in a region the size of Texas, causing droughts, floods, etc.
(Referee interpretation is needed.) Spell *must* be cast at least one year
in advance of the start of the season to be affected. ST: 100

For both spells:
	Referee makes the Wizard's DX roll and keeps the result secret.
Multiple castings of the spell in opposite directions will cancel - but
neither Wizard will know that there was an offsetting spell - it just won't
work. Multiple castings of the spells in the same direction will *add* but
not multiply (eg rainfall amount will go X2, X3, X4, or /2, /3, /4; there
will be two tornado-bearing storms in a day (or *really* nice weather),
etc.

	These don't bother me nearly as badly (perhaps because I'm not a
real meteorologist) in terms of energy needed to carry them out.

	Comments welcome, as always.
								- Mark
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"