Nanite Storm

One of the most terrifying and deadly things in the Gamma Age is the nanite strom. Made up of billions upon billions of individual nanites--so many that the conglomerate swarm is actually visible to the naked eye--nanite storms look a lot like sandstorms, except not as large. A typical nanite storm looks like a cloud 40 to 50 feet in diameter.
No one is quite sure how nanite storms arose, though they are most likely leftover weapon AIs that continue to try to complete their final missions--missions that involved killing everything in their paths.
There is little anyone can do to defend against a nanite storm. The only reliable defence is to get out of the storm's way. Nanite storms tend to travel in somewhat straight lines. They zig and zag quite a bit along that line, but usually continue moving in the same general line of direction. On rare occasions, they will change direction entirely. When this happens, it is sudden and without warning. What reasons the nanites might have for changing direction can only be speculated. However, because a storm will usually maintain the same overall direction, it is relatively easy to stay out of its way.
A nanite storm will completely devour any living thing in its path, leaving no trace of the creature behind after the storm has passed. Intriguingly, the storms completely ignore all non-living material in their path (including the bodies of creatures that are already dead). When a nanite storm passes through a community, it will devour all the people and animals down to the smallest bacterium or microbe, but leave all the buildings and materials completely intact.
Nanite storms are mostly found in desert areas. It is thought that this might be because it gives them a certain amount of camouflage due to their resemblance to sandstorms, but otherwise, no one really knows why this is the case since nanite storms are certainly more than capable of residing anywhere in any kind of climate.

Controlling Nanite Storms

Characters capable of controlling and using nanotechnology can conceivably do so with a nanite storm. However, it is not an easy task, and can end up deadly for the character.
Nanite storms are considered areas rich in nano. However, the area bonus (normally +12) is reversed to a -12 penalty, and is applied to both the Concentration check to activate the nano and to the following control roll. If either roll is a failure, the character's own nano supply is reprogrammed by the nanite swarm. The character is immediately devoured from within. The character must make a Fortitude save (DC equal to the DC of the effect the character was trying to use +12). Failure results in death and there is nothing left of the character. Success drops the character to -1 hp and dying. If the character is not somehow removed from the storm, she dies one round later as the nanite storm devours her completely. If the character does manage to escape and survive, her nano supply is reduced to 0 and it will not re-accumulate until the character successfully goes through the process of initial contact all over again. Essentially, the character is treated as if she has never been able to control nano, and she must start from scratch.
If, despite these extra hazards, the character succeeds in controlling the storm, the effects work normally. Any additional attempts to control the nanite storm suffer the same penalties.