Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.— Lao Tzu
Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it.— Margaret Atwood
The Deep remembers and the ink does not forget. Down here, in the dark, we shine.— First Mother
Aquamancy, or "water magic," has been practiced by
House Mollusca, and other
peoples of the deep ocean, for thousands of years. This magic is both ancient and immersive, perhaps in part because it has been all-encompassing in the Molluscan universe. Aquamancy usually affects liquids, but most of the world is made of water, and it is a shapeshifter. Mist, rain, ice, snow, tears, blood; these are as much water as the waves themselves.
Manifestation
Aquamancers spend a lifetime contemplating the mysteries of the Deep. Its practice is about going within, meditation, communion, and mystic insights and visions. Aquamancers know that time moves in cycles, and moving with the flow and tide will aid any action taken, while moving against the current is often a fool's quest. Many of their most powerful secrets take centuries to learn, and seasoned Aquamancers may well spend years, decades, or even centuries allowing their purpose to unfold.
Knowledge is power, and power is dangerous. It must be carefully dripped over time to wear at the stone, not crashed over someone like a waterfall.
By contrast, newer and younger Aquamancers "splash" more, simply running around obstacles rather than engaging with them. Perhaps because water is the element of emotion, they tend to have big feelings, and when those feelings run over, sometimes dams are broken and the land is flooded. More seasoned Aquamancers watch them with a combination of anxiety and indulgence, wary of the consequences, but knowing that sometimes, dams
need to be broken. They just hope the riptide won't tear things apart in the meantime.
Go to the Asteri? Not until the tides stop flowing!
Much of Aquamancy is concerned with the movement of waves. Sound waves are more difficult to start underwater, but carry farther once started.
Filking is often used to help enhance aquamantic magic, and the vocal training required for it can be of great assistance in its performance. Aquamancers often practice filking as a result.
Aquamancy lends itself well to cooperative magic, and indeed, Mollusca has more experience and skill with cooperative ritual than any other House. It often manifests in the movement of water, blue, teal, or violet light, the scent of fresh water, sea air, or petrichor, the sound of water rushing or gentle rain, and a soothing or refreshing feeling.
Aquamancy is more difficult to manifest in hot, dry environments, and is especially difficult to manifest against fire.
Aquamantic Law
The Law of Aquamancy
Even one drop can erode a mountain given time, but many drops together are an ocean.
An individual can do much with small efforts over time, but together, Literomancers can do so much more.
Corollary of Currents
It is easier to go with the flow than fight the current.
It's easier to harness the forces already present than it is to change them altogether, in life or in magic.
Corollary of the Tides
All things ebb and flow in time.
Things won't always be as they are now. The time for what you're trying to accomplish may not be now, but wait! It will come around eventually.
Corollary of Erosion
All things will eventually dissolve in water, given patience.
Persistence will accomplish almost anything eventually.
Corollary of the Deep
The greatest mysteries are found in the deepest depths.
Often, the most valuable insights and knowledge are found where the pressure is greatest, and where you can't trust your most obvious senses to guide you.
Corollary of the Stream
It is easier to go around an obstacle than through it.
Why pick a fight, or bang your head against a wall, if you don't have to?
Corollary of the Flood
Given enough pressure, any barrier will break.
This is both encouragement and a cautionary tale. If you must break a barrier, build the energy until it is irresistable. And don't get in the way of an irresistable force.
Corollary of the River
If a path forward does not exist, carve a new one.
While travelling well-established currents is usually easier and often less destructive, sometimes a new way must be found. Maybe you'll be the one to find it.
Corollary of Tears
Emotion drives action.
Trust in your feelings. They will guide you.
Corollary of the Waves
There is no control, only guidance. Water flows where it will.
Often, we can set a force in motion, but its outcome is out of our hands. Much depends on circumstance. Accept the results and work with what is at hand.
Corollary of the Shore
Life exists where the sea meets the land.
Wisdom is found in the depths, but it must be applied in a practical way to those places where people actually live. We must always try to consider the needs of others as well as our own.
Water Drop by Coco Parisienne (Pixabay)
Areas and Types
Literomancy Levels
Minimum level needed is listed before the ability/spell. Variations are listed below.
| Symbol | Level + Description |
|---|
| | Beginner: Anyone may learn this ability.
Similar to a cantrip or low level spell. |
| | Advanced : Achieved after study and practice.
If the mage is from outside the originating House or group of this magic type, they need to train under a Master of this magic school from the originating House or group. (If the power is shared between Literomantic schools, the Literomancer trains under one of the appropriate House's/Group's Masters for that area.)
In other words, please talk with the House or group that is known for that type of magic. |
| | Master: Achieved after considerable study and practice, usually after tutelage under a Master.
A Master may be a member of another House or group. |
| | Reserved: Epic level aspect, reserved ability.
This is usually reserved for an individual player, House, or group. |
Ebb
Magical acts that limit, restrict, or reduce.
Gift of Breath
grants the temporary ability to breathe water to another living being. This is a traditional power that is invoked by Mermaids, who often bestow it upon sailors with a kiss. Requires physical contact with the being to be granted the ability.
Surface Tension by Karen Nadine (Pixabay)
Surface Tension
the Aquamancer can shape water and direct it to move according to their will. Note that the Aquamancer views this more like "encouragement" to move a certain way, rather than "direction," and that sometimes it won't completely cooperate. This is the means by which Molluscans create "bubbles" within the water to ferry land-dwellers around safely. It may also be used offensively, such as to create water attacks causing drowning.
Advanced users do not need to literomantically sustain a water shape, such as a bubble, in order to maintain it for extended periods.
Masters can shape water around larger areas, such as buildings.
Epic uses of this feat can do such things as create the air bubbles that sustain Zafforza City.
Still Waters
allows the Aquamancer to calm the emotional tension in a room. This effect "brings down the emotional temperature," and while it will not necessarily prevent all fights, it does make them less likely as people are more inclined to explain their perspective than argue. This effect may also be used to calm frayed nerves and soothe shock.
(No emotion-based magic in Game of Tomes tells you how you must play your character. This ability is just an additional factor that we ask you to take into account if someone uses it in a scene. Essentially, your character should be a little less likely to be overwhelmed and upset than they might otherwise be. What your character chooses to do with that is still entirely up to you.)
Ebb and Flow
allows the Aquamancer to choose the best possible timing to evoke a magical effect in order to increase its chances of success.
(Work with the Game Master or the script coordinator on this one. Remind that person that your character has this ability, and then work with them, and the other players/actors, to use this to the best benefit of the overall story you're trying to tell.)
Sleeping with the Fishes by Pixabay
Riding the Waves / Sleeping with the Fishes
this power allows the Aquamancer to grant someone the ability to be carried, buoyantly, on the surface of the water without any risk of sinking or drowning. Alternatively, they can be made to sink despite all of their best efforts.
A Master could affect an entire ship.
Especially powerful casters could affect an aircraft carrier or a small city.
Cryosleep
manipulates body temperature to enter a state of suspended animation. A trigger must be set to release the Aquamancer from the hibernation state, such as a particular event or the passage of a specific period of time. This may be part of the method by which so many Molluscans have lived so long, and preserved their ancient secrets. (Shared with Vivimancy)
Poseidon's Curse by Canva (SA)
Poseidon's Curse/Blessing
angering the ocean has always been a bad idea. This power either grants unerring navigation, or destroys any sense of it. The target of this power will either have the sea's blessing, or could wander for years like Odysseus. This blessing or curse remains until removed or until the target successfully counters it.
Flow
Magical acts that involve movement, shifting, or change.
Conjure Water
this is not so much "conjuring" water from nothing, as it is drawing moisture from the ambient air to coalesce in a more tangible form. The drier the environment, the more difficult this is to do. Beginners can do this in very wet climates or over or in a body of water.
Advanced users can manage this in a normal temperate climate with typical rainfall, but would struggle in drought conditions.
Masters can accomplish this even in deserts, although extremely dry deserts may be an insurmountable challenge.
Rainmaker by Canva (SA)
Rainmaker
the Aquamancer calls together the moisture in the air and nearby environment to make precipitation. Depending on the ambient temperature and the method, this might summon rain, mist, snow, sleet, hail, frost, etc. (Shared with Aeromancy)
Advanced users can shift the ambient temperature to create unseasonably hot or cold weather. Alternatively, they can "dry out" an environment, dissipating rain into dampness, snow into frost, etc.
Masters can summon weather that is vastly out of season, such as a snowstorm in July in the Northern Hemisphere.
Stormcaller Hurricane by Canva (SA)
Stormcalling
the Aquamancer stirs up the ambient weather forces to create or call a storm. (Shared with Aeromancy.)
Advanced practitioners can not only summon a storm of greater power, but they can direct the storm to head in the direction they choose. This storm must fit both climate and season of the location they are in.
Masters can summon the sort of storm that is remembered for years, such as a massive prairie thunderstorm, a big tropical storm, or a weekend-long blizzard. Alternatively, they can summon a completely out-of-season or out-of-climate storm (a rainstorm in the Sahara, but not a monsoon in the Sahara).
Some powerful Aquamancers and Aeromancers are said to be able to summon legendary storms, like tornadoes and hurricanes. Some are also said to be able to summon epic storms that are completely contrary to season and climate, or completely unnatural weather (like Glitter Storms, or frogs falling from the sky).
Mystic Currents
manipulates underwater currents to enhance the Aquamancer's mobility, allowing them to move swiftly and gracefully through the battlefield. Also allows for quick travel through water.
Running Water by Canva (SA)
Running Water
traditionally in magic, immersing something in running water cleanses it of negative magical energies. This is often used to "un-curse" an item or remove negative emotional associations.
Advancement in this practice usually means being able to cleanse progressively more powerful items. No one can "cleanse" artifact level items without this being the center of a major plotline, and usually, it will require cooperative magic to do so.
Flushing
causes the body to "flush out" toxins by using the body's natural elimination systems on overdrive, such as sweating and urination. Can be used on oneself as well as others. A being experiencing a Flushing must drink at least twice the normal amount of fluids before, during, or immediately after the experience to avoid potentially serious dehydration.
Whirlpool by Canva (SA)
Whirlpool
allows the Aquamancer to open a vortex of water that serves as a teleportation portal. The Aquamancer must be surrounded by enough water to fully immerse themself in order to evoke this power.
Masters can make larger Whirlpools, given enough water to do so.
Powerful casters, or cooperative efforts, can make a Whirlpool permanent.
Riptide
Magical acts that are used in battle.
Aqua Ward by Pixabay (Kellepics)
Aqua Ward
creates a protective barrier of water that shields the Aquamancer from physical and magical attacks. Note that the specific "physical object" that this Ward is tied to is either an item carried by the Aquamancer, or the water itself; therefore, disrupting the water flow may destroy the charm. See Ward.
Tidal Surge
summons a powerful surge of water to knock back enemies and disrupt their formations.
Ice Weapon by Canva (SA)
Ice Weapon
Ice is also water. Once Surface Tension is used to shape water into the form of a weapon, this power allows the Aquamancer to crystalize this shape into solid blue ice and use it in battle. Note that this weapon is somewhat brittle, like any crystal, but may be supported by additional literomancy.
Ice Shield
as above, only forms a shield or other barrier.
Masters are capable of forming entire walls of ice.
Spectral Vortex by Canva (SA)
Spectral Vortex
salt and water are both traditionally used in magic to cleanse corruption and banish evil. This power conjures a swirling vortex of ethereal "salinized" sea energy that saps the strength of the Undead and weakens their supernatural abilities.
Abyssal Conduit by Canva (SA)
Abyssal Conduit
pens a portal to the depths of the ocean, unleashing a torrent of aquatic energy, and blasting opponents with a combination of pressurized water and raw magical power.
Water Elemental by Pixabay, Canva (SA)
Summon Water Elemental (water or ice)
The specified type of elemental is summoned, but the caster must be able to convince the elemental to do their bidding. Requires excellent negotiation skills, patience, and determination to keep the stubborn elemental from returning to its home. See also Elemental Summoning Spell.
An advanced user may summon a small to medium elemental of average strength.
A master may summon a more powerful one.
Summon the Ancients
ancient beings, far beyond Human understanding, dwell in the Deep. This power allows the Aquamancer to call forth one of these ancient beings. Usually performed as a cooperative ritual, and the risk of Magic Drain is extremely high. (Shared with Inanemancy )
The Deep
Magical acts used for the gaining of wisdom or learning secrets.
Scurry Communication
Much of Aquamancy involves manipulating waves, allowing them to carry over greater distances than they might in the air. Scurry communication allows an Aquamancer to send waves of thought between themself and another sapient being, thus communicating telepathically. Thoughts must be consciously directed, they cannot just be "read," and the exchange of information happens at the normal rate of spoken conversation. Beings communicating in this way must also share a common language to be understood by one another. This is a closely guarded Molluscan secret.
Dowsing
allows the Aquamancer to find the nearest source of water by sensing for it. Adaptations of this traditional form of magic will allow them to find other things. (Shared with Vivimancy, Geomancy )
Advanced practitioners can find other things using this traditional form of magic.
Scrying by Canva (SA)
Scrying
by gazing into a reflective pool or other surface, or the dark depths of the ocean, the literomancer may get glimpses of things they could otherwise not know. Examples include visions of the past or glimpses of the future, things happening at a distance, and warnings of trouble.
(Speak to the Game Master about the use of this power so she can tell you what you see.)
Call of the Sea by Willgard Fantasy (Pixabay)
Call of the Sea
similar to the Whisperer ability of Vivimancy, this power allows the Aquamancer to attune to, and communicate with, marine and aquatic animals. At the beginner level, this usually manifests one of two ways: either the Aquamancer is especially gifted at communing with one particular animal type (ie. "dolphin whisperer,") or is liked and understood by aquatic animals in general. Predatory or aggressive animals will co-exist peacefully with the Aquamancer, frightened animals inclined to bite will seek solace instead, etc.
Advanced practitioners can direct the behaviour a small group of animals, such as a single school of fish or pod of whales. They will even act on the Aquamancer's behalf, although they still possess normal survival instincts.
Masters can direct the behaviour of large groups of animals at once (ie. command the creatures of Zafforza City to flee disaster, command a shiver of sharks to charge the Undead battle line. etc.) Individual animals with whom the Master has developed an ongoing, intimate relationship may choose to defend the Aquamancer at the cost of their own life.
Illuminating the Depths
the Deep remembers. The subconscious records everything it sees and hears, even if people are not consciously aware that they have such information. The Aquamancer spends some time in meditation and contemplation, and if they are subconsciously aware of the information they are looking for, it bubbles to the surface.
(Ask the Game Master for insight based on the character's experience.)
Mystery of the Deep by Canva (SA)
Mystery of the Deep
the Deep listens. Sometimes, if an Aquamancer spends time communing with it, they can ask a question and hear the answer spoken back. The answer will always be given in a cryptic form that is a mystery in itself that must be solved to acquire the desired information.
(The Aquamancer may ask the Game Master one question and receive a cryptic answer, even if this is information they have no means of otherwise knowing, including insight into the past, future, or other dimensions. This may be used once per event only.)
Darkness of the Deep
the Deep conceals its mysteries. This power allows the Aquamancer to hide something from notice, allowing it to be "forgotten" and remain unremarked and undocumented if accidentally encountered. This is often used to protect sacred sites and ancient ruins.
Through the Power of Eight or the epic use of Literomantic Power, one could potentially conceal a whole city or a whole culture.
The Power of Eight
by bringing together multiples of eight literomancers together in a cooperative magic ritual, an Aquamancer can enhance the effectiveness of the ritual far beyond what any individual in the circle might be able to accomplish. The Power of Eight amplifies any magical effect through a powerful energetic resonance that feeds upon, and balances, one another. This rite is not without risk; if any one of the Eight falls, or is otherwise removed from the ritual, the balance is lost, and the amplified magical resonance can batter the other participants into a Magical Backlash.
The above is only a sampling of Aquamancy's possiblities. New discoveries from Aquamancers and research from the Zafforza Information Center will be added as they are discovered.
Known Variants In Other Houses
Cryosleep
Vivimancers share this ability.
Running Water
Another such broadly known ability that the "witches" among the literomancers use.
Scrying
As above, often used by witches and folk magic users.
Dowsing
Vivimancers and Geomancers both have their own versions of Dowsing.
Summon the Ancients
This power is shared by Inanemancers. Prince Galakrond, in particular, has used it, both as a living and Undead being.
Darkness of the Deep
This power has a lot in common with a lesser spell effect which Queen Sable calls an SEP Field .
THIS SECTION HAS BEEN REDACTED BY THE
MOLLUSCA PROTECTORATE FOR SECURITY REASONS BY ORDER OF THE
INKIES.
Information known to only a rare few in the GoTverse
Queen Sable was taught the secret of Scurry Communication by Scion Striker when he was serving as the Molluscan Ambassador to the Warren in
The Third Word War. She used it to communicate with Striker during the Battle of the Blood Tide, and again during the
Battle of the Tunnels and the Battle of Zafforza City in
The Fourth Word War to contact the Anassa. No one but the Bunny Queen,
Daciana Grey, Scion Striker, and the Anassa know that she knows this power except the Inkies; not even the
Owsla.
History
The practice of Aquamancy may well be the most ancient magic known. It likely dates back several million years to the Cambrian Period, when cephalopods first appeared and likely developed sapience. However, many of its secrets were no doubt lost and rediscovered over time due to repeated mass extinctions.
This shaped the "modern" Molluscan attitude about its mysteries, who have gone to great efforts to preserve their cultural legacy, including the Zafforza Information Center and the formation of the
Asteri.
Aquamancy was almost certainly linked to Atlantis, as well as its fall. Most of the peoples of the Deep, including Molluscans, Mermaids,
Aquatic Centaurs and more, have made routine use of some of its more common abilities as a matter of simple survival. Molluscan records indicate that the Power of Eight was invoked in combination with Darkness of the Deep to hide the Molluscans from the land-dwellers sometime in the late Bronze Age. It is likely that Coffee Quills led this ritual.
The modern literomantic age has produced challenges for Molluscans and Aquamancers. It is clear that no House will survive on its own, and in order to win allies, one must be an ally. The tension of what to share, and what to keep to themselves, is a constant dynamic within the House that is often hotly debated, and the Anassa must consider all such decisions with the greatest care.
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