Water Magic

When it comes to water magic, the Argon Federation has a rightly-deserved reputation for excellence. Our best Hydromancers can do truly incredible things with the power of water, and contrary to popular belief, a surprising amount of water is present on the average spacecraft, which can be readily manipulated - and when it can't be, a conjured water jet usually does the trick.
— Federation Navy Captain Matthew Howe

Water Magic has generally seen a storied history, with much more fame on the world of Aldrin than the core worlds of the cluster itself, but still has a strong representation. Intrinsically, its abilities allow for the control of water and the conjuration or control of ice, which can be used to skewer an opponent.

History of Water Magic

Before the Gates

The history of water magic prior to the gates is... complicated. The Hysilens seldom mention the use of water magic in the ruins present of their society, but they were believed to have used it in... inventive ways to pull water-laden asteroids around systems to create orbital habitats and the like. It's believed that, as a result, they primarily used it for utilitarian purposes; the magic seemed to have little value in space for the Hysilens, but on planets it was a different matter, with significant evidence of major, magical water-based changes to planets as the Hysilens expanded, though nobody knows for what ends.

Early History

Unlike most forms of magic, the Shard Ritual didn't actually change much for water magic, as it found purchase across the sector in the early days of spaceflight all the same; its uses in orbital agriculture made it nearly mandatory in the early days, as did its general ability to manipulate water and ice - it was fairly common for Hydromancers to be used to capture ice asteroids for extraction in the early days, prior to the significant technological advancements of the cluster.

Modern History

Nowadays, water magic has receded a bit from modern memory, with only a few powers - such as the Argon Federation - making active use of it doctrinally. That's not to say it isn't very valuable all the same, but the invention of more efficient technological solutions to orbital agriculture and water production that doesn't rely on ice asteroids or Aether has greatly diminished the perceived value of water casters. Some nations - such as the Federation - still make great use of water magic in nonstandard ways, however, with the Federation infamously using it during the Argon Crisis to effectively punch holes in ships and vent their atmosphere, a rather controversial tactic still utilised by the Argon today.

Aldrin History

In contrast to the cluster at large, water magic in Aldrin retains an incredibly prevalent degree of relevance societally; with so much water on the planet, its abilities are extremely valuable, and the ability to manipulate ice is very handy, as well. Generally speaking, most Aldriners consider water magic to be among the most important types of basic magic.

Hydro Shards

Hydro Shards are a relatively prevalent type of Crysium Shard, being located on most asteroids the cluster over that are home to ice or water, as well as most planets with natural crysium deposits, such as Aldrin - see the section on Aldrin for that. Generally speaking, the Argon Federation has control over most Hydro Shards, but they can be found almost anywhere. On Aldrin, Hydro Shards are found along the coasts of Aelnar and the deep oceans of the planet, as well as several other major bodies of water. While they are prevalent, most of the shards are underwater, being harvested and utilised by the various aquatic peoples of the world, and making the nations that can harvest and export them quite wealthy indeed.

Crysium Shards

Material | Apr 9, 2025

Crysium Shards are magically-infused crystals known to exist in space on asteroids and meteors, as well as on a precious rare few planets, such as Aldrin. Many tales are spun with regards to the origin of the shards.

Uses of Water Magic

Daughter of Atlas by Ryan Grady

Water Manipulation

Hydromancers can freely control water, which is their main party trick, and this allows them to wield it in a wide variety of ways; redirecting the flow of water, creating high-pressure jets of water and suspending it in the air are all famous components of what water manipulation is truly capable of. At the highest end, it's even possible to drain water out of the ground or create a small amount of water - albeit at a huge cost of Aether - which can prove very beneficial to certain industries, particularly on Aldrin. A few other uses of water magic are the ability to use water as a vector for the caster's other senses, and the ability to manipulate water with such finesse that stronger casters can redirect it around objects in the water to give them propulsion. This particular use has little application at large in the cluster, but on Aldrin it sees frequent use by seafaring, maritime regions, to allow for ships to be sailed even in lieu of wind.

Ice Manipulation

When it comes to offensive use cases, few facets of water magic can come close to the manipulation of ice, which covers the creation, control and shaping of ice. Initially, like all forms of magic, only small ice spikes can be conjured, but skilled water casters can control natural ice formations or form great spears of ice to launch at targets. That said, it's not an exclusively offensive form of magic; ice manipulation can allow for the sculpting of ice into a variety shapes with sufficiently fine control, allowing for skilled Hydromancers to create ice sculptures and such.

Liquid Manipulation

Generally noted to be the rarest and most advanced form of water magic, liquid manipulation is the ability for a water caster to extend their fields of expertise away from just water and ice, beginning to cover other liquids too. At first, a Hydromancer must stick to learning how to manipulate liquids that contain at least 40% water within them - such as blood, though it lacks the permissive abilities of true Blood Magic, being sharply constrained by the foundational laws of magic which makes these abilities only useful on liquids external to the body. The best water casters can even bridge the gap to use water magic on all forms of liquid that contain even a little bit of water.

Elemental Summoning

While Summoning Magic is the core magical overseer of the summoning process, elemental casters like those with water magic can establish a link to the elemental plane of water to conjure forth limited summons. These typically range from binding small water familiars to summoning larger water elementals.

Uses on Aldrin

Aldrin is notable within the discussion of water magic for having distinct abilities tied to its practice on the world, generally referring to the ability for water magic to be used for aquatic travel - something that is of little general utility in the cluster itself, but is very helpful on Aldrin. This technique tends to allow for exceptional abilities to breathe beneath the waves and utilise the ocean's currents to move far faster than would ordinarily be possible.

Ice Mage by EL-Geron

Combining Elements

The four elemental magics can generally by combined by highly experienced characters to create truly destructive things. To date, even on Aldrin there have only been successful combinations of two elements at a time, with three-and-four element combinations proving invariably fatal due to the sheer difficulty in controlling it.

Water and Air

The elemental combination of Air Magic and Water Magic allows for the creation of far more potent storms, allowing for the formation of conditions reminiscent of monsoons, as well as massive snowstorms and hail-storms. At higher skill levels in water magic, ice can be turned into an even stronger weapon by accelerating ice projectiles with wind manipulation.

Water and Fire

The combination of Fire Magic and Water Magic is one of the most famous, allowing a caster to create scalding water jets with the ability to burn enemies, or to regulate temperature using fire and water magic in concert. The most powerful casters can create magical clouds of heated steam, and can even use the ice manipulation component of water magic to chill fire and make fire that both burns and freezes.

Water and Earth

The combination of Water Magic and Earth Magic has generally more utilitarian purposes than many of the other options using either magic type; generally, it's used to infuse the ground with water or ice, which allows the ground to trap enemies in deep mud, or off-balance them with an icy slippiness. Beyond that, the other major known use is to create large streams of mud to damage settlements and structures from a distance.

Water and Dimension

One of the most famous combinations is an Aldrin-specific combination of both Water and Dimension Magic, which is more colloquially known as Puddle Jumping on the world. This combination specifically allows for the use of bodies of water as a medium of mid-range teleportation, typically being able to teleport from puddle to puddle - hence the name of the technique - but the best Hydromancers can even push it to larger ranges, though certain aspects of Aldrin's magical structure places limitations on the technique, such as it being unable to bridge massive oceans.