Wind-Whistling

"Never, ever, ever whistle on board a sailing ship unless you know what you're doing! You could summon down a damn hurricane!" - advice to a new sailor

In the Great Ring, those who spend their lives sailing the seas have formed their own subculture, complete with their own particular version of Folk Magic. One of the most notable features of this is called Wind-Whistling. In the metaphysical environment present on most ships, whistling can be used to call to the winds, bringing them forth to help or hinder the vessel.

According to sailor legend, the god Zoí Epáno bound the troublesome winds of the world to the Turrhēnoi Islands, using the great gem-mountain of Kafkuh as the key to their prison. But if you can whistle the right call and know the name of the wind you want, you can summon one of the imprisoned winds to come to you. More importantly, you can also send it back again; leaving one of the wayward winds free to roam will eventually draw the attention of Zoí Epáno and the other gods of the sky. They'll return the wind to its prison, but they will also make sure that the summoner never has an opportunity to repeat their lapse.

Wind-whistling is extremely difficult to learn, and easy to make a mistake with. Mortal ears have trouble hearing the nuances of the wind's language, and can easily slip from one name to another, or change the nature of the call they put out. It is even possible to summon a wind without meaning to at all, as the wayward winds are always listening for any excuse to blow free of their prison for a time. Summoning the wrong wind can bring disaster to an entire region, as a mighty and angry gale drives through. Luckily, sailor's Folk Magic doesn't extend to the shore, or whistling would be hazardous on land as well as at sea.

Despite the dangers, wind-whistling is practiced by many sailors. The ability to call for a wind when needed is too valuable a skill to entirely ignore, and sailors known to be accomplished wind-whistlers can command high wages from merchants who depend on swift and safe shipping. The very best even know how to call the right wind to counter oncoming storms, and how their summoned winds will interact with the unchained ones. The efficacy does diminish as ships pass into the western regions of the Great Ring, as the wayward winds must travel from their prison to the ships location, but winds are swift and they make the journey faster than any ship could travel.

Writing System

While various notation systems have been devised to try and record the language of the winds, none have ever found wide usage. Most practitioners of wind-whistling learn the skill directly from masters, and practice it on land for years before attempting it on the open sea.

Geographical Distribution

Wind-whistling is practiced by sailors who travel all around the Great Ring, but is most common in the Southeastern Region due to the proximity to the Turrhēnoi Islands.

Type
Magical

Related Articles