#local winds

[mask131]

Weird Winds: A map of French winds

If you do not know, France doesn't just have one or two or four winds. When you look at the winds of France, you won't just find your typical cardinal division East/West/North/South. Oh no! You will get tons and tons of winds, with all sorts of bizarre names. Each region has its own set of winds, with its own names, meteorological effects, and cultural associations. The result is that people can write entire books about the French winds just by listing them all.

I just found a little website that can serve as a good introduction to the winds of France. It is a website dedicated to learning French when you're a foreigner, and it has one tiny page about the winds of France. It notably offers this simplified map selecting fifteen winds:

Here is the list of the winds, corresponding to the numbers on the map.

Le suroît. A South wind of the Bretagne region, hot and humid.

Le nordet. A Bretagne North wind, that makes the air colder and causes downpours.

La bise. A dry and cold North wind.

La bise. (Yes, they put it twice)

Baslerwind, an Eastern wind of Alsace.

La lombarde. A dry and violent winds of the Alps and the Savoie region.

La tramontane. A violent wind of the Languedoc and the Roussillon.

Le levant. The gentle and humid East wind.

Le ponant. The (usually) soft, Mediterranean West wind.

Le sirocco. The hot wind that carries into France the Sahara sands.

Le cers. The West wind of the Roussillon region, known to scatter clouds away and bring a sunny weather. The cers is considered a componants of the tramontane.

L'autan. An often strong sea wind, that blows in the opposite direction of the tramontane in the Toulouse region and the Tarn. It can be gentler or colder depending on the places.

La tramontane. A cold and strong wind that blows in the Languedoc-Roussillon. It is also the North wind of Provence.

La galerne. A local wind of the Pays Basque, which blows by "hits" (in an irregular way). Through strong gusts, it lowers the temperature and brings rain.

Le mistral. A typical wind of Provence, which also blows in the Var region and in Corsica. It is known to usually blow several days in a row.

The website also had links to other pages that explained in greater details a handful of those winds. I'll put the explanations below:

A) Le Ponant. When it comes to regional Mediterranean winds, le Mistral or la Tramontane usually come to mind - but people tend to forget le Ponant, whose name indicates its position as the West wind. "Ponant" itself is a Latin-inherited term designating the place where the sun sets (opposing the "levant", where the sun rises), and thus in terms of winds, le ponant wind is the west wind, opposed to the Levant wind, the east wind. However, originally, the sailors used "ponant" and "levant" merely as cardinal directions (West/East), and by extension to designate the two bodies of water they travelled across: the Ponant was the Atlantic Ocean, the Levant the Mediterranean Sea. As such, the French sailors called the "Ponant ports" towns such as Brest or La Rochelle, and "Levant ports" Marseille or Sète. It was only afterward that the two terms came to designate the East and West winds.

The Ponant is a western wind with southern components. It is usually soft and gentle, especially when it blows from the south-west, even though it can be strong on the Balearic area. While it blows all year long, it is most present during spring and autumn.

B) Autan. The autan wind is known for its violence by the inhabitants of the Tarn and Toulouse regions. It is even often called "the mad wind" or the "insane wind". The Autan is one of the three local winds of the Occitanie region, alongside the Tramontane and the Marin. While it is mostly focused on Tarn and Toulouse, it can sometimes touch Quercy and Rouerge. The autan is actually the prolongation of the sea-wind blowing on the coasts of the Languedoc-Roussillon. The "triangle" between which the Autan is the most common is formed by Toulouse, Castelnaudary and Castres. It forms the opposite of the tramontane, which comes from the Mediterranean sea. The autan wind can go from 10 km per hour to 90 km per hour in the span of just two hours, and it can come back several times throughout the year.

Legend claims that the autan wind drives people mad - the superstition seems to come from the fact that the autan wind is very local, meaning in a precise area it can blow very strongly, while it is still and peaceful right next door. This is because the Autan is created by the presence of the Pyrénées, the wind being "channeled" by a series of valleys (the Agout valley, the Tarn valley, the Lauragais-Garonne). When the wind arrives from the Mediterranean sea, it is very humid, but by the foehn effect it dries up by going over the Corbières and the Black mountain - and it is only once the wind is dried up that it becomes the "autan". There are actually two types of autan according to local beliefs, the "white" autan and the "black" autan. [Note: the website unfortunately does not give the exact difference between the two]

C) Le Cers. "Le cers" is actually one of the oldest, if not THE oldest wind-name in the French language. Blowing from west to east, this wind regulates and rules the weather of the Languedoc-Roussillon region - more precisely of its western half. This wind, that removes the rain and scatters the clouds, blowing on all season, usually three days by four, is what gives to the region is very sunny and shining weather, and it is thus considered a "healthy" wind. You can even see how the Cers sculpted the region: the trees of the area are all leaning to the east! And the old houses of the area all are turned with their back towards the cers, to prevent heating problems. All the gardens, great openings, pools, terraces and other things of the sort are placed east. The cers is not a mountain wind, but a plain wind, that passes between the Massif central and the Pyrénées, through Naurouze. On the Golfe du Lion, there is absolutely no north wind - only the cers that blows from inside the lands. On the heights of Saint-Cyr, near the towns of Ouveillan and Sallèles-d'Aude, you can find a former Roman temple that was built to the god Circius - aka, the Latin embodiment of the cers wind... And this temple seems to be located precisely at the center of what is known as the sunniest area of all France.

D) La galerne is a well known phenomenon of the Pays Basque region, called "enbata" by the locals, and the terror of the sailors. A "coup de galerne" (a galerne hit) is a brief and local phenomenon of the Pays Basque coasts, which sometimes extends itself to the south of the Garonne region. You recognize a galerne by the sudden degradation of the atmospheric conditions, and a brutal drop in temperature. The wind suddenly blows from the north-west, and it can blow really hard, up to a 100 km per hour and above. All of this is usually happening alongside a gathering of clouds, and outbursts of rain. The galerne can hit all year long, but is most frequent between spring and summer, usually between April and September.

The galerne starts out as a little movement of cold air coming from the Golfe de Cascogne. This movement of the air, carried on by winds, becomes stronger thanks to the mountains that cover the Spanish coasts (the Cantabrique mounts). These mountains force the wind to go towards the Pays Basque, while strengthening it - without these mountains, there wouldn't be any galerne. Since this air comes from the sea, it is colder than the local Basque air, which comes from inland. This is what causes the brutal drop in temperatures - and of course, the humidity of the galerne is also because it is carried from the sea.

[the-storyteller78]

I fully think Odysseus expects to never see Athena again after he turns down her offer. Yes, it’s clear she’s changed—the Athena he knew would never say something so sentimental—but he’s familiar with her nature. She won’t be back now that he has no use to her.

I also fully think that Athena would absolutely rock back down to Ithaca after a week of letting the family reunite (she’s taking this empathy thing seriously, guys) and just be chilling at the breakfast table in the morning. Just visiting. No biggie.

(This becomes a regular thing.)

[maesonc-artistic-adventures]

The return of air jail.

Whatever he did, Warriors absolutely deserves this and I hope Wind has fun 😌

[velveteen-vampire]

complete the group!!!!!!!!!!!

[rocketbirdie]

taking matters into my own hands and giving us the gongaga we deserved

[spookythesillyfella]

told you guys ive been plagued by the analogue horror fixation again

[cowgirls-blues]

One of them knows how to install a doorknob.

[localceilingdevil]

off string designs for visceral growths. puppets actually built for moving around!!!

myths is technically already an "off string model" so i won't draw her design :p but here's the others

since they can't function without their neurons they have tiny ones inside of their body!!! i could go on about the functions. thinking about this stuff is so interesting to me.

rambles below the cut

ok so uhm the main thing i had to keep in mind with their off string design was mobility. OBVIOUSLY. their legs are built the way they are for the sake of traversing through harsh, bumpy and uneven terrain (for a multitude of purposes. i think in general their ancients would just want them to be mobile for important meetings and even in case of emergencies! ancients thinking about the future that DOESN'T involve mass ascension ... unheard of) and have springs based off the "prototype"'s (myths.) feet to absorb impact when falling. fields especially has a special ability to jump higher from the added mechanisms he has in his legs :]

their feet are talon-like for the sake of grip and their legs are generally very agile despite their chunky design! with multiple joints that allow for flexibility. their hips are also built to allow their legs to stretch to the side and whatnot. they're just very flexible in general.

now for my favorite part!!! the jelly-like substance that each of their puppets has acts as their "blood". despite being considered iterator blood it isn't fluid, and is comparable to the texture of the silicone from a breast implant—doesn't spill, is a great regulator for heat, and prevents any possible damage to their innards !!! the ancients figured that they'd need their neurons to function properly sooo they just shrunk down copies of their data into tinier neurons and just. filled em up with them. the neurons float around freely inside of them.

i also think that their cores are somewhere inside their torsos like a real heart, protected by the silicone. they also have a bunch of wires and functions inside that require frequent coolant so they probably have a bottle for it somewhere along their back that can be taken out at any given moment.

i think that's all i have to ramble about so far. they're so neat and fun to think about and ough. they're just like their superstructures fr fr <333 I'll probably yap more later but for now that's all

[cindydartist]

Just two people talking about the aerodynamics of heroes. XD

Part of the reason I liked Groose as a character from the first meeting was that his musical theme has a very similar vibe to Windwaker’s pirates’, who are very dear to my heart.

[thematicparallel]

📚 2025 READING LIST 📚

@helbrides & @libraryleopard tagged me to post some books i want to read next year. thank you!! taking notes from your lists 💌

tagging @archmotif @diasdelasombra @metamatar @ossifer @gh0s1y @captainamsel @perditious @swannkings + anyone else who wants to do it!! i wanna see 👀 everyone's TBR 💖

[temporary-joyride]

Actually laughed when I saw the headcannon that Sakura smokes because the dude can't afford curtains where the hell is he getting cigarettes AND a lighter

[irishplaguedoctor]

Winding Depths lore

Pt. 1: https://www.tumblr.com/irishplaguedoctor/773434517977481216/a-bit-of-oc-local-group-lore-depths-below

Pt. 2 (you’re here)

In a separate conversation, Some Place Warm makes the mistake of mentioning the Great Problem and her lack of drive to get it done.

Pebbles is Not pleased with this answer.

He and Moon find out why.

Transcript: (tweaked to sound better)

FP: Have you even tried?!

SPW: …

FP: You’re twice the size of a normal iterator. Surely if anyone could have made a dent in solving the Great Problem, it would be you.

FP: But no. Not only have you made zero progress, you have made no effort to try in the first place!

FP: ⚡️WHY?! WE COULD HAVE SOLVED IT BY NOW! ⚡️

CA: …Moon, I respect you.

CA: And from the many interactions we have had over a plethora of cycles, I have come to understand that you are kind and diligent leader.

CA: So I’ll share this with you.

CA: But only you.

SPW: …

CA/SPW: …(She/I) can’t.

[venacoeurva]

I know Skyrim would have just exploded if they did this, but I’m visually playing with this concept, but if they made Alduin Bigger, like substantially, blanketing the sky in some areas like an oppressive heavy cloud moving in he would have been so much more intimidating and they would have likely had to do something other than “Dragon number 34838947394 but in special nord heaven this time”

[velveteen-vampire]

my updated iterator lineup for use in a project somewhat soon...

[kingofanemptyworld]

Choji’s Team:

Cinderace (Partner Pokemon)

Monferno

Torracat

Castform (Sunny Day Form)

Litleo

Charcadet

Yes, Choji has three starter pokemon evolutions on his team. I couldn’t help myself and neither could he, apparently. Choji’s definitely been abroad a fair few times, both before and after becoming his town’s gym leader, and it’s like he’s got a sixth sense for finding the pokemon in each region that are going to give him the biggest challenge. The rarest and most difficult to catch have all been starter pokemon so far (and Castform, which he may or may not have stolen/liberated from a weather research facility in Hoenn). Cinderace is his ace (ha) pokemon, and it’s… totally because he’s got the kanji for rabbit in his name (correct me if I’m wrong but that’s why everyone uses the rabbit emoji for him, right?). Also fire types just felt fitting for Choji. Bright and burning like the sun, just like him! Hence why Castform is perpetually in its Sunny Day form. Monferno matches his acrobatics in a fight and Torracat is for Shishitoren!

As for Litleo… gonna be totally honest here, I briefly forgot Torracat existed and thought this was the closest I was going to get to a tiger. And then I did find Torracat, and I thought about dropping Litleo from the line-up. The eyes, though. Litleo’s damn eyes reminded me too much of Choji, so I kept it. Also it’s cute and I can very vividly imagine Choji play-wrestling with it. And probably playing soccer/football with Cinderace. Choji would dominate in a lot of sports but I’m partial to soccer, so. Might as well tack that headcanon on.

(Also, hey. If my very tired brain is misfiring at the moment and shishitoren’s animal is a lion, not a tiger? I did Litleo on purpose)

Last but not least, Charcadet. I said this in another post but I literally have no idea what goes on in Scarlet and Violet. I don’t know if this is a rare pokemon, or one Choji could feasibly have without completing some plot-relevant quest. But we’re throwing logic out the window for this one because I took one look at Charcadet and said, yeah, that’s Choji’s. No need to look for a backup sixth pokemon, that’s him all over. Tiny fire child warrior!! No regrets.

[fromtheseventhhell]

Now, if George was smart? He'd be working on finishing up Winds asap and coast on HOTD's downfall, cause a press run full of shade toward unfaithful adaptions would have book readers and locals alike tuned in