Storm God

A Storm God is a giant weather-shaping machine used alongside Lovelock engines to terraform planets and moons.

Description

The top hull of a Storm God has a diameter of roughly 1 kilometer. They have gravity engines underneath to enable flight, which create a field of low gravity underneath when positioned above the ground.

History

Storm Gods were heavily used to manage and control the weather of planets and moons as they were terraformed by The Society. Officially, Storm Gods were decommissioned and removed from a sphere once their purpose was complete. By the 8th century PCE, it was widely believed that the only remaining Storm Gods were stationed on Triton and Pluto. 

In reality, House Lune covertly left seven Storm Gods buried on Mercury beneath the planet's polar ice caps as a contingency against rebellion by its ruling Votum family. The only records of their existence were kept in the Hyperion Citadel's Crescent Vault. At some point before 743 PCE, Lysander au Lune was made aware of their existence by his grandmother Octavia.

Following the death of Octavia during The Fall of Luna, the new Solar Republic gained access to the Crescent Vault in 747 PCE through the efforts of its Sovereign, Virginia Augustus, and a team of Green hackers. With this access, Republic ArchImperator Darrow O'Lykos learned of the Storm Gods on Mercury.

In January 754 PCE, the Republic's Free Legions excavated and reactivated the Mercurian Storm Gods on Darrow's orders. The machines were then used in the Battle of the Ladon to scramble enemy communications and electronics, as well as ground enemy craft in the atmosphere. Darrow promised the Master Maker Glirastes that the Storm Gods would only be used at their lowest setting to prevent mass civilian casualties. However, during the battle, Imperator Orion xe Aquarii disobeyed him and attempted to power up the Storm Gods to Level Four, out of a desire to punish the Mercurian population for their collaboration with the Society Remnant.

Darrow forcibly disconnected Orion from her Storm God, killing her in order to avert planetary destruction. With Orion's death, the storms began to level off, however they had still become strong enough that several cities across the planet were destroyed and millions of people killed.