Dissonance

There is a kind of sympathy between people and their actions, the patterns and movements of the natural world, and the fluid boundaries of the spirit world. This delicate rhythm is invisible when it’s in harmony. When it falls into dissonance, however, the consequences will eventually become impossible to ignore. According to common wisdom, dissonance arises when:

It’s said that when people fall out of harmony from the world, the warning signs always come first from the wind and the waves.

Warnings of Early Dissonance

   
1 Unseasonable weather is marked. The sky seems to shift without warning, as though it can’t make up its mind.
2 Wildlife seems more erratic. Predators are more aggressive than usual, while prey is unusually skittish.
3 Everyone seems to be irritable and tense lately, even if no one can explain exactly why.
4 Enchantments waver and spells misbehave in small ways. A troubling tension can be felt by those who work magic.
5 Unlikely coincidences are noticed, making daily life just a little bit stranger.
6 People hear whispers and see glimpses of things that aren’t there.

Symptoms of Growing Dissonance

   
1 The weather grows dramatic. Events like sudden storms or flash floods disrupt daily life.
2 Wildlife is clearly disturbed. Some beasts attack without regard for their safety, while others throw their lives away.
3 Some grow unwell as sickness spreads. Others get embroiled in bitter feuds that seem to spring from nowhere.
4 The natural rhythms of magic are disrupted, and it becomes harder to work. Spells feel like they’re fighting the caster.
5 Probability is perturbed. Good and evil fortune alike are magnified, making daily life more chaotic.
6 Local elementals show their displeasure, and otherworldly beings are able to interfere with the lives of ordinary people.

Reverberations of Grave Dissonance

   
1 The land is wracked. Earthquakes and hurricanes leave tumult and desolation in their wake.
2 Wildlife is corrupted. Plants and creatures twisted by dissonance become unnatural monsters.
3 Crops fail. Plague and madness abounds. The land itself is falling into decay.
4 Magic runs wild. Even simple spells can spiral from the caster’s control and wreak havoc.
5 Causality is untethered. Events become disordered and dreamlike, and even space appears warped.
6 Dramatic portents appear, written in the stars and howled by the wind. They warn of the wrath that is to come.