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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 3208842" data-attributes="member: 2020">The atmosphere, mountains, and gravity  If the atmosphere rises up and over mountains and plateaus, there is a simple way to handle the atmosphere:  assume the atmosphere begins gradually 'rising' long before a mountain range is reached, so that when the range is reached the topmost peak of that range serves as a point of atmospheric pressure at sea level equivalent.  Lower down the mountain and at low altitudes all around, atmospheric pressure is actually higher than sea level (but only barely:  there is no steep increase in pressure, not even at the base of 50,000 foot mountains.)  Gravity, in this case, operates normally.  Cloud heights, storm heights, cloudtop heights, and jet stream heights gradually rise as one approaches the mountains, going up with the rising level of sea level pressure (this could cause a lot of problems with dry lightning and virga in general.)  Or ...  Gravity pulls one down, relative to the way one is standing, anywhere on the planet.  Thus, on a sheer mountain side, up is OUTWARD.  Houses, trees, and crops thrust sideways out of the cliff.  People walk up and down the cliff normally (gee dad, why is half the sky filled with land?) (gee, dad, a thunderstorm came *down* upon us, from the west, yesterday.  Today, one is coming *up* at us from *below* the mountain, from the east.)  (gee, dad, the sun rises in the morning overhead, and sets when it's hottest at what the surface people call midday.)  Likewise, clouds, winds, and anything else *up* such as birds, move up and down.  The very jet stream itself (the high altitude winds) blows up, over, and down, relative to the mountain.  In very large caves and where great overhangs exist, gravity allows one to walk on the ceiling and walls (the drow and illithid love this, naturally.)  If the cave is large enough, 'clouds' can form in the middle of it, and it could even rain (all ways.)  In this second scenario, a resolution must be made.  How far 'up' can someone on the side of the mountain go, before he is 'up' relative to the flat ground around the mountain, and subject to normal gravity?  The answer to that is that the gravity well varies drastically with terrain, and there is no good answer to the question, close to the ground.  What is 'up' over here, may be 'sideways' over there, pointed 'left' yonder, and 'right' further yonder.  Higher up, a more gradual change occurs regarding what is 'up' (which the clouds, jet stream winds, tropopause, and stratosphere, etc. follow) but nevertheless a person could accidentally pass from one 'zone' to another gravity 'zone' by mistake.  If this is the situation, strange wind eddies and turbulence occurs near the ground, as the surface winds react to the constant changes in gravity.  Sudden windstorms, changes in wind direction, whirlwinds, and odd phenomenon occur.  Tornadoes are even more freakish than their usual destructive selves.  Snowstorms are a strange delight, as the snow falls in all different directions.  Rain is even stranger, and pools form in bizarre spots where gravity all bends to that point (hey dad, look at the upside down lake.)  In this second scenario, a great tower might stand beautiful and majestic on a mountain peak.  All around this tower, pointed nearly sideways, is the fortress guarding the tower, with walls pointed almost straight outward.  Walking the outer wall allows you to walk all the way around the mountain.  Below this, the city sweeps down the mountainside, some buildings pointing up, some sideways, and a few downward from underhangs.  Trees and brush mimic the buildings.  No rockslides (or normal erosion) exists, streams meander gently down sheer cliffs (or flow backwards up underhanging cliffs) and placid lakes stare out across the distant surface geography.  The primary thing of note in this scenario is the conflict in the lower atmosphere, below the cloud level.  If I am standing sideways at point A, and you are standing upright at point B, and point C is above us both, gravity is not pulling both ways from point C towards me and you (hopefully!)  Yet, gravity wants to do just that, since 'up' is a mere state of reference, depending on how the ground slopes.  Since the atmosphere IS affected by gravity, strange things are going to be the norm, as the 'points of reference' compete with each other for dominance (will gravity be determined from point A?  Point B?  Somewhere else?  Or will it shift back and forth?)  All flying creatures, all missile weapons, all thrown and catapulted items, are subject to the push and pull of competing gravity reference points.  Perhaps a really big mountain is facing a small mountain.  Everything falls 'up' towards both mountains.  But the point in between where falling reverses might be close to the small mountain, because the big mountain has more 'strength' of force to enact it's gravity.  Or perhaps the line of demarcation varies (though it stays closer to the small mountain.)  Or perhaps the cloud giants have used their magic to completely overthrow the small mountain's effect (everything on the small mountain falls towards the big mountain unless tied down, and the mountain itself is trying to tear free of it's moorings.)  This effect could occur in microcosm.  A big house might affect gravity more than a small house.  A big tree might win over a small tree.  A large embedded rock wins over a small embedded rock (maybe pulling it out of the ground.)  An embedded LIVING BEING would affect this gravitational tug of war, so the cloud giant who embedded himself in the ground would overwhelm the gravitational pull of the small rocky outcropping the party is standing on, causing them to all fall (because what was 'up' for the party changed just enough to unbalance them.)  Creatures and objects not somehow attached or embedded in the ground would not affect the gravity.  Air would never affect it;  air would only be affected by it.</blockquote>

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