I'd better be going.
And once again when the river swelled during the rainy season and roared loudly, Siddhartha said: “Is it not true my friend that the river has many voices? Has it
not the voice of a king, of a warrior, of a bull, of a nightbird, of a pregnant woman and a sighing man, and a thousand other voices?”
“It is so,” nodded Vasudeva, “the voices of all living creatures are in its voice.”
— Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
You can’t swim in the same river twice. The water flows, con- stantly, in constant flux, constant change. The waters renew themselves constantly, and gradually change the nature of their landscape. The waters have many voices for change.
The waters are the very origin of creation. They’re the living fount from which all other things take their being. The symbolic river runs to the primordial ocean, which contains all life forces. The waters bring fertility. The rain that waters the parched land brings life from what once was barren and dead.
The waters excite sensation. The gentle flow of water across human skin. The rise and fall of the fluids in the body dictates the physical response to desire, the transfer of life borne in water its culmination, its purpose.
The waters purify. Catholics flock in their thousands to the holy shrine of Lourdes to experience the healing powers of its waters. Hindus visit the sacred city of Varanasi, to cleanse themselves in the restorative waters of the Ganges.
The waters erode. The waters constantly alter their surroundings. The gradual erosion of the rocks happens over millennia. And yet, the gentle, persistent movement of the waters hides frightening powers. Water can just as easily bring destruction and death, in the devastating power of a tsunami, the wild, unpredictable anger of a flash flood. The river, without warn- ing, becomes the mysterious depths that kill and annihilate. Water is healing and fertility, but water is also the dark habita- tion of demonic powers, the element of “tehom” or Tiamat — the dragon of watery chaos. The principle of life becomes a principle of death all too easily.
To Tame the River is to become water, and to become all of these principles. The Tamers of Rivers, for as long as they have practiced their magical arts, have claimed to have held the keys to life and death and everything that lies beyond. They’re all change, all transformation, and, like the path of the conceptual River that represents all rivers, it's a constant journey, from spring to river to sea to sky to ground to spring... and back again.
Their role in society has always been to be agents of change in all things. Sometimes they join with artists and radicals. Sometimes they're the activists. Sometimes they're healers and teachers. Rarely do they stick with one job or one identity. The Tamers of Rivers make the constant flow their tool. The unpredictability of this River, the symbolic representation of what they have become, makes soulcrafting fraught with pain and personal insecurities.
Every artist knows that, just as the ability to create beauty comes from somewhere outside of herself, so the source of her inspiration could just as suddenly dry up. Every inspired healer knows that, someday, his ability to heal could simply disappear, irretrievably and forever.
The River can run dry. This fear, that one day their power could be made drought, inspires many to continue creating. Many do so at a prodigious rate, feeling compelled to do as much as possible before the power to do so deserts them. Many Tamers of Rivers experience periods, which can be anything from a few days to months or years at a time, when they feel devoid of creative energy. They ebb and flow, going through phases of low and high water. When the rain of inspiration has not fallen for some time, the Tamers of Rivers can embark on periods of the blackest depression. Most come out of the other side of times like this, springing from the dry ground with renewed vigor and freshness. Some may fall into cynicism and stagnate, no longer having the will to continue developing the Attainments of the River.
Tamers of Rivers, like the River itself, don’t settle in one place for very long. Historically, they were always travelers. Part of a tradition that began among some of the earliest matrilineal societies, they moved from tribe to tribe, city to city, promoting the arts of healing and childcare and teaching the benefits of culture, literacy and the arts.
These days, many of the “Travelers” have permanent homes, but the need to keep on the move still lingers. Many move their home at least once a year, and avoid putting down firm roots for fear of getting stuck in one place. The principle of their soulcrafting depends on them becoming water, becoming constant change, becoming embodiments of frequent movement. The idea of spending a lifetime living and working in a single city or town is all but anathema: still waters soon become stagnant waters. If they take jobs at all, they usually avoid office jobs, preferring the freedom of jobs that let them move around. Their relationships are frequently fraught with difficulties. Lovers of Tamers of Rivers often accuse them, not always unfairly, of a fear of commitment.
Similar to the other Elemental Masteries, the Tamers of Rivers value the Sleepers and choose to live among them. Having been, in a real sense, reborn, the Travelers feel compelled to share some of their newfound energies with those around them, to put things right, to restore wholeness and completeness and bring beauty into a world that is often ugly and fragmented.
Not everyone welcomes their interventions. Not everyone considers a perfect society to be an itinerant one. Many other mages dismiss the Tamers of Rivers as oddballs. This doesn’t stop them from trying to help and sharing their vision with the world. Mages who have given their all to the River are not doing it for respect and praise.
They’re doing it because they can’t help it.
Orders
- Few Tamers of Rivers come from the Adamantine Arrow.
- Members of the Guardians of the Veil have little time for the principles of constant change the Tamers of Rivers espouse, and very few consider the Travelers a fit course to take.
- The Tamers of Rivers are very at home in the Free Council.
- The Mysterium’s members often value travel — it’s a great way to gather information, and a reason to join, although not the only reason.
- Mages in the Silver Ladder have few issues with the Travelers.
Attainments
- Refresh the Waters
- Mold the Waters
- Tap the Wellspring
