Cerulean Storm

The Cerulean Storm, in addition to being the title of the final book of the Prism Pentad, refers to a magical weather phenomena plaguing the Dungeons & Dragons world of Dark Sun after the events of the Prism Pentad novels.

Creation

During the events of the novel "The Cerulean Storm", the current ruler of Tyr and would-be replacement Sorcerer-King Tithian was involved in events that saw Rajaat freed from his prison in "The Hollow", an extraplanar void, in the lava-surrounded city of Ur-Draxa, the former home of the Athasian Dragon Borys. In that realm, Rajaat had undergone a transformation into a powerful archomental in his own right; upon returning to the physical world, his spirit became embodied as a monstrous giant with cerulean blue storm clouds in lieu of flesh, a living manifestation of his desire to restore Athas to its Blue Age. Thanks to the intervention of the mul sun cleric Rkard and the magic-amplifying Dark Lens, Rajaat's spirit was banished back to the Hollow, leaving the elemental matter of his body to disperse. But in the process, Tithian - who had been clinging onto the Dark Lens to try and wrest it from Rkard - was inundated with magic and transformed into an elemental; his soul became bound to the clouds, and yet he also became linked to Rajaat from his prison in the Hollow.

Present Day

The Valley of Dust and Fire is now called the Valley of the Cerulean Storm; the lake of lava and the ruins of Ur-Draxa have become obscured by swirling blue clouds, lightning, rain, and boiling steam. The storm's duration can't be determined, but it shows no indication of abating any time soon.

Trapped in the Black yet tied to Rajaat in the Hollow, Tithian can interact with Athas's physical dimension in only one way - through the Cerulean Storm. His rage at his failure manifests as wind and lightning, while his frustration and loneliness falls like bitter tears, a torrential deluge of cold, stinging rain. He has become, in effect, a spirit of water, haunting the valley and inadvertently protecting the Dark Lens that could otherwise be used to free him. Tithian's violent storm, and the scalding steam it produces over the lake of lava, prevents rescuers from reaching the Dark Lens.

The storm over Ur Draxa is an aberration produced by the intermingling of powerful supernatural forces, and appears frightening to even the hardiest, most well-traveled adventurers. The effects of the rainfall on the molten lake, like the great clouds of boiling steam, have created hazardous conditions that have left Ur Draxa uninhabitable.

Effects on Athas

The Cerulean Storm calves off smaller storms that then go racing through the Tablelands frequently; known as "Tyr-Storms", these offshoots hit a region of the Tablelands at least once per month, though no region sees a Tyr-Storm more than once per year. They last an average of 20 minutes to an hour, and whilst you might think they're doing a good thing by returning water to Athas, the fact is they hit with immense and indiscriminate destructive force, leading to them being destructive and often causing casualties when they hit.

Cerulean Wizards

Naturally, with a new source of magical yet elemental power available to it, Athasian wizards began tinkering with trying to draw power from it. This resulted in the debut of the Cerulean Wizard amongst the other kits in the splatbook "Defilers & Preservers: The Wizards of Athas".

Class Restrictions: Cerulean Wizards can be Defilers or Preservers as their base class, but cannot dual-class or multiclass as any combination other than Cerulean Wizard/Psionicist.

Available Races: Aarakocra, Elf, Half-Elf, Human

Stats Requirements: Intelligence 15, Constitution 12

Alignment Requirement: Any Chaotic

Nonweapon Proficiencies:

Bonus: Lens Crafting, Weather Sense

Recommended: Ancient History; Artistic Ability; Engineering; Gem Cutting, Languages (Ancient), Reading/Writing, Spellcraft, Spellweaving

Special Benefits:

Eye of the Storm: Cerulean Wizards don't use spell components. Instead, they use a blue glass lens, which requires a week of work (4 hours/day) and a successful Lens Crafting proficiency roll to make. They can only have two of these spell focuses at once.

Tyr-Storm Drinker: By using a blue glass lens as a focus point, a Cerulean Wizard can attempt to drain a Tyr-storm that is within 30 miles of their present position. If the Wizard succeeds a save vs spells at a -2 penalty, the Tyr-storm is rendered harmless (DM's call on if this turns it into a gentle rainstorm or simply makes it vanish entirely) and the blue glass lens is filled with enough energy to power the wizard's daily allotment of spells. If the save is failed, though, the lens shatters and the Tyr-storm immediately falls upon the wizard's present location.

Lesser Elementalist: A Cerulean Wizard can cast up to 4 elemental spells per day without attracting the hostile attention of the elemental spirits... exactly what this means isn't explained in Defilers & Preservers, and the idea appears nowhere else in Dark Sun.

Special Hindrances:

Fickle Power Supply: A Cerulean Wizard must make a Power Gathering Check, like a Defiler. Due to the nature of the Cerulean Storm, they roll a D10 to determine the "terrain type" portion of that table; 1 = barren, 2-4 = infertile, 5-7 = fertile, 8-9 = abundant, 10 = lush.

Focus Dependent: If a Cerulean Wizard loses both of their blue glass lenses, then they cast spells as if they were a Preserver of (Level-3) and must supply the normal spell components for their spells. If this drops their effective level too low to cast spells, then they can't cast spells.

Unwitting Storm Herald: Every day that a cerulean casts spells in the same 10-mile radius area, there is a 5% chance per cerulean level that a Tyr-storm will spontaneously manifest in that area. Roll a d100 once per day to make this check.

Voices in the Storm: Once per month, the cerulean must make a Wisdom check with a -2 penalty or have their alignment shift by 1 sep stowards Evil. If already Evil, they are compelled to perform a simple service for Tithian. If their alignment shifts, success on the next month's Wisdom check lets the cerulean work towards recovering their original alignment.