Water Study

"All things return to the tide—secrets, blood, and truth."

The Hermetic study of water is not a school, but a trail of secrets and lore and no one seems to know where it began.

It might have sloshed ashore in the bowls of a sunken library. It might have trickled out from mountain ice, or seeped from the mouths of drowned gods. Its practitioners leave few names and fewer footprints. They carry their grimoires in waterproof skins or tattoo spells on the backs of their hands.

Water study has no known origin but it can be found any where. There are 16 known grimoires always tattooed on hide or skin and many scrolls or fragments of spells scattered across the world.

• Naṉal Katai (Tamil) – “Bundle of Reeds”
• Livro das Três Correntes (Portuguese) – “Book of the Three Currents”
• Mizu no Koe (Japanese) – “The Voice of Water”
• Tizatl Chalchiuhatl (Classical Nahuatl) – “The Jade Waterscroll”
• Pust’ Vetrov (Russian) – “Let the Winds Blow”
• Llibre de la Saleta (Catalan) – “The Little Book of Salt”
• Kisima ya Kilio (Swahili) – “The Well of Sorrow”
• The Whispering Wake (English)
• Kar Derzî (Persian) – “The Tailor’s Flood”
• Draíocht na Sileach (Old Irish) – “Sorcery of the Dripping Ones”
• Libro del Olvido Fluido (Spanish) – “Book of Flowing Forgetfulness”
• Boek van de Diepte (Dutch) – “Book of the Deep”
• Al-Kitab al-Nadayat (Arabic) – “The Book of Callings”
• Sách Của Dòng Sông Ngủ (Vietnamese) – “Book of the Sleeping River”
• Kōrero Waiata (Māori) – “Sung Water-Words”
• Jangwonmul Gyeongseo (Korean) – “River Source Scripture”

1. Drink caller

• Difficulty: 1
• Q Cost: 1
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Ritual: Flick fingers while whispering the “Name of the Drop.”
• Effect: net 1 success = Summon up to 1 pint of water into a container or your palm.
  • net 2 successes = Summon 1 pint of Flavoured water or weak Ale
  • net 3 successes = Summon 1 pint of Wine
  • net 5 successes = Summon 1 pint of spirits
• Use: Drinking, rituals, minor clean-up, flavouring, extinguishing a candle.

2. Slickflow

• Difficulty: 2
• Q Cost: 2
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Ritual: Spill water in a spiral and snap your fingers once.
• Effect: Coats a 3 yard square with a slick layer of water.
  • Targets crossing it must test Dexterity or fall prone.
  • Can be used to douse flames.
• Use: Battlefield disruption or fire suppression.

3. Flow Along the Edge

• Difficulty: 2
• Q Cost: 2
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Ritual: Draw a line of saltwater with a brush or finger along a surface (wall, floor, object).
• Effect: For 1 minute, you can move along that line regardless of gravity (as if walking on it).
  • Just keep painting that line if you wish to go further, once you stop painting you cannot restart but you can use what you painted until that point.
• Unique Use: Climb ceilings, sneak across walls etc

4. Tidewall

• Difficulty: 3
• Q Cost: 3
• Casting Time: 2 actions
• Ritual: Raise arms while standing on the edge of a water source (stream/river/sea).
• Effect: Conjures a 3yard-wide, 3 yard-tall wall of water in front of you. It lasts as long as you concentrate
• • Provides cover 2 armour.
• • Extinguishes fire passing through even magical fire.
• • Ranged attacks suffer 2 black dice to hit through it
• Use: Defense, battlefield control, protect an ally or caster.

5. Vapor Cloak

• Difficulty: 3
• Q Cost: 3
• Casting Time: 2 actions
• Ritual: Exhale across a heated silver dish containing saltwater and crushed lavender.
• Effect: You become partially mist-like. For 3 initiatives:
  • Ranged attacks suffer 3 black dice penalty
  • +3 bonus dice to avoid any type of detection.
  • You may pass through small gaps
  • Cannot run or climb
• Unique Use: Espionage, escape, infiltration.

6. Geyser Surge

• Difficulty: 4
• Q Cost: 4
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Ritual: Strike the ground and shout the “Burst Command.”
• Effect: Erupts a vertical blast of high-pressure water under a target within 20 yards.
• Deals 3 Bashing Damage per net success half armour.
• Target is launched 3 yards upward and falls prone unless they pass Dexterity test
• Note: Leaves a dangerous hole in the ground, good for making wells.

7. Waters way

• Difficulty: 3
• Q Cost: 3
• Casting Time: 1 minute
• Ritual: Draw a circle on still water with a reed or finger while intoning the Litany of the Flow.
• Effect: You and up to 2 willing targets can swim in any water for 10 minutes at the casters full movement with out getting wet and without needing air.
• Note: Who needs a bridge

**8. Clearing Wave

• Difficulty: 4
• Q Cost: 5
• Casting Time: 2 actions
• Ritual: Twist a ribbon soaked in seawater and cry the “Depth Syllable" while partly submerged in a body of water.
• Effect: A 10 yard wave of rushing water crashes forward limited by amount of water present.
• • Anything or anyone in the way take 1 Bashing Damage per 2 net successes and are pushed 10 yards.
• • Targets must test Strength vs net Successes or fall prone
• Note: A good way to move water or launch a boat.

9. Undertow Grip

• Difficulty: 5
• Quintessence: 6
• Casting Time: 3 actions
• Ritual: Strike a shallow bowl of seawater with an iron rod while chanting the names of sunken ships.
• Effect: A ghostly underwater current grabs all people in a 200 yard line or a single ship and drags them 10 yards underwater.
  • Ships and boats sink.
  • All people in the area of effect pulled under must pass 3 concurrent Swim checks or start drowning as they become lost in the deep.
• Use: Powerful if situational.

10. Form of the Floodwalker

• Difficulty: 5
• Q Cost: 6
• Casting Time: 1 minute
• Ritual: Bathe your hands in water and drink a mouthful of ocean while sitting calmly.
• Effect: For 20 minutes:
  • Gain immunity to cold and drowning
  • Move through enemies as if made of water
  • Half Physical attacks pass through you (roll per hit)
  • Can enter water and vanish without a ripple
  • You can travel through water undetected and at your normal movement rate.
• Unique Use: Near-invulnerable tideform—elusive and mythic.