The Storm Lure

There are many on White Reach who would call the farmers who lay claim to land in Wildstorm Valley as "crazy" or "utterly fugnuts" to use the local color. These men and women choose to eke out a life farming in a spot which is known to kick up violent thunderstorms for almost seventy-five percent of the year. There isn't really a good count on mortality percentages, because there's no accurate idea of how many people live in the area. However, it's known this is one of three places on the planet which provide for the whole population's agricultural needs. Despite the worries about the residents' sanity, their harvests are a key part to making sure few go hungry on White Reach. If Wildstorm Valley was not cultivated along the edges of "the storm path", then grain-based food would be more expensive. The small communities of farms here thus end up being important to the continued comfort of the citizens, and the Wildstorm frontier-folk know this.

So the farmers have taken to a solution to this threat from the cloudy sky: "The Storm Lures". Simply put, they put a lightning rod in place near the spot they choose to work in every day. The theory goes, the storms which move in fast will have lightning strike these rods and dissipate the electric charge into the ground. The reality is much less comforting, but many would note the Wildstorm frontier is full of folk ready to happily believe "it can't hurt [our] chances" and do it anyway.

The Storms of Wildstorm Valley

Any talk about the Storm Lures and their use would lack context without covering the region's weather patterns. During the time between early March and late October, severe thunderstorms are common along a known area known locally as "the storm path". Centuries of meteorological records point to most storms following a certain behavior over the valley itself, picking up power in the warmer waters north of the Jedora continent and dissipating rapidly once reaching the cooler southern reaches. What is more terrifying are the number and intensity of lightning strikes which have been reported within the records; there are several hundred strikes which reach the ground within a 'season'. Each of these strikes have the potential to blast apart metal with the impact, up to and including military-grade standard armor plating used on BattleMechs. Because of this, the storms are not taken lightly by the residents of Wildstorm Valley; conversely, citizens elsewhere on the planet consider those willing to face those dangers yearly to have some form of insanity.

Using the Lure

While some of the residents might use Storm Lures by thrusting them directly into the ground, but it is more common for it to have a socket which it slots into. This socket is often connected to an underground wire which helps dissipate the electricity from the lightning strike, away from the Lure itself. In almost all cases, the Lure is positioned to be distant from any work area so as not to inadvertently damage equipment or crops. A few of the larger farming settlements have permanently-secured Storm Lures in place, though ingrained habit has each person carrying a Lure on them when out and about. As residents would say: "one can never be too careful with these storms, and it is better to be prepared than unlucky". For them, it's not soothing enough to have Lures placed regularly, it must be done with one's own hands to be certain all that could be done to avoid a strike was - in fact - done.

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