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[Nissui]

Please see the follow-up post for exposition.

Geography of Coricia

Coricia

Straddling the equator, Coricia is the largest of the continents. Home to sweeping meadows and plains, large deserts and forests, and high plateaus and low-lying marshlands, it is also one of the most diverse. The Eyniletti Plains on this continent are the ancestral lands of the Starkmanir Tribe. The Vherokior Tribe's ancestral lands are also on Coricia, in the Greater Sobaki Desert, north of the Sobaki Sands.

Just south of the Sobaki Sands is Mithuris. Situated on the coast, in the former lands of the Starkmanir, Mithuris is fast becoming a government town...

- EVElopedia

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Note: the above image was submitted to ISD teams for clarification and/or confirmation that the landmass in question could be inferred as Coricia's eastern half, as the global orientation, along with the presense, span, and orientation of biomes is consistent with the EVElopedia article on Coricia. After approximately 5 weeks, I haven't yet received a response, so I will likely edit this post in the event that such confirmation cannot be granted in the future.

Also worth noting: the landmass pictured here would be approximately 623000 km², estimated based upon Matar's radius and the curvature of its surface. That would give this 'eastern half' roughly the same area as France.

Winds of Coricia

Known to be strongest at the end of the year (while Coricia is on the equatorial band, this falls in Autumn in Matar's northern hemisphere, Spring in the southern), the wind called ‘Habri’¹ arises when tropical low-pressure weather systems move northeast toward Coricia’s southern coast. The dry air above the Greater Sobaki Desert is pulled south, resulting in a warm wind carrying great plumes of dust over and beyond the Sobaki Sands and into the sea. Many residents of Mithuris refer to it as the ‘Second Storm’ since it can follow or accompany squalls that pass to the south.

When tropical depressions move eastward along Coricia's southern coast, they draw hot, desiccating air from above the Greater Sobaki Desert southeast over the western Eyniletti Plains. The stifling wind called 'Vherahi'¹, while not particularly strong, can carry dust and sand along with sweltering heat, often bringing surface temperatures in the plains up to 320K. These heat waves can last for days at a time, threatening crops, and are most likely to occur in the middle of the year's second half. Some shamans claim that this is part of Old Mother’s test for her many and varied children.

'Leurodi'¹ is the wind that forms as high pressure weather systems move northwards over the sea toward Coricia. The moisture these systems drive over the ocean returns to the Eyniletti Plains in the form of dense cloud, warm rain, and thick mists. The fertile central basin of the continent reaps the benefit, and as the system clears the northern coast is left with clear, warm weather. In this way the Leurodi is often considered a double blessing, and many Matari still use ‘met leurodis’ as a greeting and again as a blessing when parting ways.

In the middle seasons of the year’s first half, the northern hemisphere’s volatile polar jet stream moves closer to the more stable subtropical jet stream, bringing masses of cool air which flows south over Coricia. The wind called ‘Rati’¹,² is known also as the ‘biter’ or ‘driller’ due to its tenacious intensity, often gouging huge ravines and causing massive sandslides in the Greater Sobaki Desert. Further east on the Eyniletti Plains, the cool, driving wind aids in the pollination of much of Coricia’s flora, and the clear skies it brings are evoked as a boon granting safe travels.

[1] The prominence of these types of winds among many Vherokior clans who claim heritage around the Sobaki region can still be seen in their conventions for marking the passage of seasons on traditional Matari calendars: seasons often bear the names of winds which are prominent within their duration, in some form or another.

[2] The jointly-crafted Sebiestor-Vherokior translator worm that has caused trouble for a certain Matari pilot and her clan was almost certainly named after this wind.

[Nissui]

In my continued quest to inform the cultural references that the Suidisir family would find commonplace within the greater Matari milieu, I came to the conclusion that the proverbs and blessings passed down from successive generations of Vherokior should be colored, in part, by the elements of shared Matari heritage, one being the habitation of Matar itself at some point in the past, whether distant or near. To that end, wanderers of the desert would likely pass on the knowledge of key weather patterns, particularly of those which bring windstorms, as they traverse the dusty wastes to lush fields in search of enterprise. As Minmatar society entered into successive ages of increasing technological advancement, the wider implications of meterology and climatology would dispel much of the myth for many Matari, but not the experience.

Thus, a few of the many Vherokior winds are here named as a representative body of the breadth of cultural influence imparted by the elders with regard to the clime of their ancestral home.