The Ceaseless

Current author: Bill Dickson

The Ceaseless is a family, the anthropomorphizations of the fundamental elements of weather on Earth. The Family and its offices are eternal; the offices themselves, however, are filled by mortals, and handed down along familial lines. When a new mortal fills an office, he or she stops aging indefinitely. Upon settling down to raise a family, normal aging resumes where it left off. Thus, several of the offices have been occupied by a given person for many centuries.

Being a fundamental element of weather isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be. Sure, it's got some advantages: the rules of the cosmos state that only mortals and other Family members may spill your blood, and you get to live for a good long time, and you get some pretty keen powers. But contrary to popular belief, you don't get all kinds of ultimate control over weather.

In general, a Family member has influence over his or her element -- Wind could raise a fairly stiff wind, enough to make sailing interesting but not really dangerous. But to achieve particularly strong effects, cooperation with other Family members is usually required. This is not often easy to get, as they tend to have a fairly laissez-faire additude toward their elements. The weather is perfectly capable of functioning on its own, of course; the Ceaseless simply exist to bring a sort of sense to it.

This is not to say they are pushovers. With their powers combined, the Ceaseless can wield essentially limitless power over the planet's weather system. And they are fickle -- the strangest insult to a Family member, real or perceived, could provoke a catastrophic response. It usually doesn't, since almost nobody knows they exist, but it could. The one thing guaranteed to provoke such a response would be for an immortal to break the rules against harming a family member. The only one ever to get away with it was Radian, the Dark Goddess.

The Ceaseless are, to put it mildly, an eccentric bunch. Their most reliable trait is a strong, unwavering love for good chocolate chip cookies.

The Family is made up of the following brothers and sisters. One brother is missing; his identity has yet to be revealed.

Chill: The eldest of the Ceaseless, Chill was here at the beginning, permeating the edges of the solar system, waiting for the sun to form from the gasses around him. Wrapped in his heavy brown parka, bearing a large slab of ice, he tickles our feet on fall nights when they poke out from under the covers, nibbles at vegetables left in the garden too long, keeps your ice cream stiff.
Ideal: At times genderless, sometimes male, sometimes female, occasionally both, Ideal coaxes its siblings into combining their powers perfectly on the first day of spring, driving humans and other animals into a mating frenzy. It teases us with summer breezes and gentle puffs of cloud into fields and onto mountains, often allowing the balance to tilt and collapse before we have begun to enjoy ourselves.
Weird: The youngest of the ceaseless, her hair flowing and changing, one eye filled with fear, the other with exhilaration. She runs her fingers up the backs of our necks before storms; she sends the cats scurrying under couches during winds that seem to blow in exactly the wrong directions. She whispers in our ears on still nights, urging us to run to the door if we wish to make it inside alive.
Wet: Nora Bergensen, AKA Rainy Day Woman, currently holds the office of Wet of the Ceaseless, having recently replaced her grandmother. She is Sprin'kull in the ancient tongue, Caller of the Worms to the Sidewalks, Dampener of Large Manly Men's Clothing. She is by far the youngest current officeholder, but is well-liked by the others. They do not, however, approve of her public use of her powers as a superhero and member of Team Cynical.
Heat: Kra'kull is a tall, gaunt, brown man, his wild black hair done in thick braids that swung every which way. He wears only a flowing, almost amorphous black loincloth, which he adjusts, constantly and uncomfortably, in an eternal effort to get sand out of it and to prevent wedgies. He sends the soothing warmth into your muscles as you bask in the sun's light; he warps the cassette tape you carelessly leave on the dashboard.
Wind: Unattractive -- some might say ugly -- some might say downright hideous -- Wind sits alone at the far end of the table when the Family gathers. She brings the breezes that sway the straw and flutter the rose petals, she fills the sails of the fishing boats as they tack across the Sound in search of the day's catch, but she also emits fairly noxious odors.

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