>>6091533It is December now. The rains have not ceased, far from it. Helsinki, and indeed many cities in the Nordic region, are subject to heavy downpour with the approach of winter. The burned ozone layer meant some equatorial regions were, for a long time, uninhabitable, and much life is still trying to successfully return, and until then the land can barely take in the water that falls upon it. Some people live underground, or in canopied platforms in the oceans. Germany was north enough to not scorch, and now the forests have become as well-grown as the Amazon of eld.
But in Helsinki, where there was once mid-autumn snows, the hot temperatures of the south give way to heavy monsoon season until winter finally comes and the water falls as snow. Conditions in the stormdrains are reportedly <span class="mu-i">awful</span> as a result. Word has it the region the Undercity exists in had undergone specific modifications from standard Stormdrain waterflow to protect the ancient buildings the Stormdrain had built itself upon.
The rainfall beating upon the windowpane even past the web of CCTV cables is rancorous, but there’s the slightest of cracks to let in the petrichor. The office is a bit humid as a result. It is calming.
But perhaps too calming. Maybe there’s something in the air, but you have been hearing things. If you shut your eyes and listened, you’d think you were in a zoo with all the kinds of strange footsteps you think you’re hearing. The claws of a dog across the floorboards are a normal enough sound, sure, but you swear the other day you heard a moose snort. And sometimes you think you’re seeing them, too, sometimes.
The Noita seem to have an answer for this for you; though they introduced these concepts to you as a means of tracking and following others, and perhaps communicating with them on a mission.
“Fylgja” are a rare form of spirit animal, provided to the faithful adherents of Norse faiths, such as Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, and, yes, even Germans. Because the Stormwatch often recruits from outside lands, these demographics are common, but Fylgja are rare.
On the other hand, “Luonto” are parts of the Finnish soul which manifest as animals. Every Finn has one, and they shape the kind of person the Finn naturally becomes. It's accepted that luonto are a catalyst of which Noita perform their arcane arts when they are not calling upon the gods. Typically Luonto are based on regular animals, but studies are being done on luonto that are very much not regular animals. Those studies have yet to take off due to the jaded and uncooperative nature of their owners, the Noita lament, and you will have to approach them with caution in the mean time.
