Blood Rain

Manifestation

Blood Rain is a weather phenomenon in which droplets of red liquid fall from the sky in the form of rain. This liquid, similar in colour and texture to blood, typically forms into larger, heavy drops, forming a moderate to torrential downpour rather than a drizzle. This rain retains its red colour when it forms puddles or falls into small bodies of water, but is diluted upon landing in larger bodies. Droplets striking cloth or stone will frequently stain the material, requiring extensive bleaching to remove.
The exact physical makeup of the Blood Rain is the center of academic debate, with the commonly held assumption being that the rain is actually blood. Others, such as the Gargoul guild les Alchimistes du Gros Horloge, posit that the rain is a result of volcanic ash in the high atmosphere. However, the temporal and geographic unpredictability of the phenomena has made directed study difficult. This is further complicated by the presence of Wyldstorms, which have been confirmed to produce confirmed rains of blood during those events.
Blood rains have taken on a prophetic meaning across Alvez, almost universally interpreted as a bad omen, a portent of destruction and slaughter to come. Blood rains are apocryphally linked to several major disasters, including the Northern invasion of the Contentin Peninsula, major outbreaks of the Yellow Plague and the Shivers, and the deaths of numerous rulers and public figures. A lack of reliable records for many of these prevents definitive linking, but the idea has spread across the popular imagination.
In addition to the prophetic implications, the rains can also lead to more direct destruction. A rain falling in Per-Ys during the reign of Childebert I, staining the clothing of the populace, led to a panicked riot as the terrified townsfolk ripped of their bloody clothing and trampled dozens of victims to death. Similarly, hysteria broke out during the construction of Kastell Gaillard, with a blood rain threatening, but ultimately failing, to prevent the completion of the Manchais stronghold.
Blood Rain is not to be confused with Silverrain.

Localization

Typically constrained to small areas in each individual instance, the phenomena itself is geographically widespread, recorded throughout Alvez. Instances of Blood Rain range greatly in duration from a few minutes to several days. Blood rain has been known to intersect with Wyldestorms to great calamity, raining down thicker droplets of blood, rather than the watery red liquid typically found in the more mundane storms.
Windships have made some attempt to study the blood rain, noting the reddish particulate in the clouds at close distance and a drop in air quality that renders the air difficult to breath. At least one story tells of a Windship that had the misfortune of flying into a wyldestorm influenced blood rain cloud rarely make the return journey, with wreckage of an identical windship and gore falling out of the glowing red skies. The story has circulating, with notable embelishment, across the windship fleets and ports of Kornôgel.

Type

Natural