Air elementals are powerful, near-invisible creatures that rule the air and skies. They have a particular fondness for playing with wind chimes, hence the name.

As the second most powerful group of elementals, Chimes rule the skies and generally cannot be tamed. Their power and tempestuousness is immense. They can, however, be consulted, cajoled, tempted, and appealed to. They are not treacherous. Instead, they are playful and childlike. 

Naturally, they are extremely useful aboard sailing vessels, and the elementalists that can command them will never be short of work or coin. 

They build ‘nests’ on cliffs, between rocks, on clouds, and in the highest points of the largest ships. These spaces are strange little eddies of wind, often containing stolen objects or filled with odd, disembodied sounds and voices. 

Humans can also build nests for them out of large clay vessels called ‘whistling jars’. With a scattering of smooth holes across their surfaces, these whistling jars most closely resemble ocarinas, although much larger and not truly fit for playing music. However, the elementals make good use of them, playing through the holes and nesting in the hollow interiors.

It must be noted that most weather phenomena on Melusine is perfectly natural. Hurricanes, tempests, winds, gusts, and storms, are nothing more than mundane weather patterns, although they can be fearsome and destructive in their own right. Chimes, however, are capable of wreaking havoc. In terms of wild chimes, one alone usually isn’t something to worry about, but when they gather into groups, they tend to get particularly rowdy. As one might imagine, this can cause strong, violent winds. Older chimes, or extremely large groups of chimes present a particular danger, as there is a possibility they can brew up hurricanes and other weather disasters.

Another curious ability that these elementals possess is the ability to collect sounds. They are excellent mimics, often able to hear a voice or sound and reproduce it perfectly. The more intelligent an elemental, the more likely they are to use these collected sounds for rudimentary communication. Whether elementals of any sort are able to intelligently communicate at length is a matter of perpetual debate.

That said, the longer an elemental has a sound, the more degraded it becomes. Sounds will become eerie facsimiles of themselves and on windy nights, one might hear strange things out on the waves. However, sounds collected from supernatural beings, such as the gods, are as clear as the day they were collected.

Elementalists, priests, and people who study the elementals are often found following the flocks for the mere chance of hearing and recording words spoken in the voices of the gods themselves. This is can be a very profitable, but dangerous, endeavor. There have been tragic reports of truly ancient voices causing strange visions, madness, death; often, all three, and not always in that order. There are some things that are better left unearthed, but fortunately, there are few air elementals old enough to have such dangerous stolen voices.

And that is all for this week. Please enjoy the illustration, and I plan to  be back next week with more about the brines!