Dead Air is a region of the atmosphere in which flight is all but impossible. Cloudstone loses its most characteristic property in such a region, and a Convection Engine sputters and fails almost instantly. Dead Air can be navigated by a specially-modified smokeship, but this has certain side-effects which, while they were ultimately useful, are not ideal for routine travel. It seems arwhals instinctually avoided Dead Air, and birds flying through it invariably became sick.

Non-flying beings, such as the human passengers of the first few craft to attempt navigation of Dead Air, reported no ill effects from their contact, but for years afterward, birds would shy away from them. Additionally, many of these passengers developed a phobia of looking in mirrors; this is difficult to explain in light of their complete lack of other symptoms.

Behavior and Origins

But does the term "Dead Air" refer to a region of the air, or a kind of air? It appears to have been a bit of both. Its initial appearance at one of the Dipoles strongly suggested that the phenomenon was associated with that rather unique place. However, as new regions of Dead Air were discovered with increasing rapidity over the next decade, it became clear that they were not tied to any particular location. Furthermore, the pockets of Dead Air often drifted with the wind. But they were not entirely independent of location: even when Convection Engines were run in reverse to attempt to disperse the Dead Air, it tended to recur in the same place, and such experiements ultimately served only to spread the phenomenon.

The genesis of Dead Air has always been a matter of great controversy. Orthodox Meteoromancy has always held that it was an inevitable and naturally occurring phenomenon, perhaps linked with the Dipoles. Others were quick to blame the Convection Engine. Neither faction presents an entirely compelling theory. The former are at a loss to explain the apparent effectiveness of the Year of Prohibition in slowing the spread of Dead Air, while the latter must surely concede that the apparently related phenomena in Gravitopolis were not due to any flight technology.

—Iohannes Edgardus Quobertius