“I can show you all sorts of things: to look at people from afar, to throw people around the seas, even to call up a living elemental of water.”
-- Jissashial, Grand-Master of the Waveborne
Drawing from the element of life, water scholars weave spells of mending and healing. They offer protection as well as succor, yet they are not to be provoked, for they control battering waves and deadly ice.
Introduction
Encompassing the powers of healing, protection, and knowledge, scholars of this sphere draw their influence from the powers of water.
During the War of Fire, not all humans were swayed by the temptations of darkness and destruction that drove the conflict. Mortals led by Aramril woke Jolinn at Thaering Jad, and the titans, who had slumbered since the Sundering, taught them the magic of water. Imbued with the love of life, the tumultuous seas and the icy rage of blizzards, these first scholars of water joined with the aelin to quench the armies of fire. The sphere has since found favour well beyond humanity: the caladaran seek out the peace its healing brings, the ch'taren take joy in the avenging nature of its magics, and the nefortu treat it as a commodity, since there are few in the world who are not willing to pay for such skills.
Minor scholars of water primarily learn cantrips of healing and purification. Those who practice the sphere as a major scholar tap into the power of ice, and refined skills of healing and protection.
Granted by Jolinn and resonating with gold, this sphere cannot be chosen as a discipline by scholars of red resonance. Those who do not follow the Lord of the Sapphire Spear are not uncommon, but all mages who manipulate the sphere would do well to keep His nature in mind when deciding their actions; He is not a gentle god when offended.
It is said that the highest magics of the water sphere may still be learned from the titans, and that when dark forces spirited them away for a time, a powerful mage who wanders the plains around Earendam stepped up to fill the gap, and teaches still to this day.
Traits
Major water
Greater Paths
A scholar who takes water as both major and minor sphere becomes a greater water scholar (see greater spells), and later follows one of these paths:
Living Waters
Hailed as healers of unparalleled skill, these scholars combine a deep knowledge of medicine with the power of life itself to cure most any ill.
Waveborne
Immersed deeply in the magics of the seas, those of the Waveborne gain mastery over waves, oceans, and the pure element of water.
Wintertide
By focusing on the chill power of ice, these heralds of Winter serve as a constant reminder that water magics can be as destructive as they are restorative.
Mixed Spheres
A water scholar who minors in another sphere gains some abilities that mix the two; see minor spells for how minors work, and the class's ability table for the mixed spells.