Tidecalling
Power to command the tide, at the cost of memory.
Tidecalling is the power to make the sea draw back and return, associated with the people of Esk. Its practitioners are called tidecallers.
Overview
A tidecaller can command the water itself: in one call, the sea in Port Hallow harbour fell away twenty feet and then returned all at once. According to the telling of Esk, the people of Ilith were all tidecallers.
Rules & limitations
- Seren performed it holding a silver ring (from her lip) in her fist and speaking "a word that wasn't a word".
- Every call takes a memory from the caller, and the caller does not choose which one.
- The call leaves the caller physically drained, with a bleeding nose.
- In the Esk telling, a call made too hard can take everything the callers remember, and the sea may not go back.
Known uses
- The Ilithi called the sea in to drown a fleet that came for them, and drowned their own city (Esk telling).
- Draining Port Hallow harbour to ground Varr Dane's cutter and pass the Gull Gate chain (Episode 2: The Salt Barge).
Known users
- Seren of Esk
- The Ilithi (according to the Esk telling)
History
Episode 3 What the Water Keeps
Seren of Esk told how the Ilithi tidecallers drowned their own city by calling the sea too hard.