Rigoria (Stormshapers)

“Do not fear the storm…feel the storm. Become one with it. Drift with it, and it will take you places you’ve never thought of in your wildest dreams.”

Rigoria is a fairly new Arcanoi seen in the Shadowlands. The creation of it can be traced to shortly before the Fifth Maelstrom; some say it was in use before then, but many historians scoff at this idea.

The creator of Rigoria is said to be a Victorian-era scientist named Augustine Bennett. Bennett came into a Wraith world thrown into chaos by the increasing ferocity of the Tempest. Deeply logical and very curious, he studied the Tempest, gathering data himself or from local Doomslayers and Ferrymen. As he worked, he fell witness to the Fourth Maelstrom; struck by its power and the damage and pain it caused, he went about his studies with renewed effort, attempting to wrest data from the local Legion offices and even daring to attempt to speak with Charon himself. Shortly after the Fifth Maelstrom, Bennett apparently succeeded in using his data to create a new Arcanoi. Not on the best of terms with the Hiearchy, Bennett began teaching the difficult art to the nearby Renegades and Heretics. The Legion eventually got word about the new powers; afraid that they would be used against the Hiearchy, they tracked down and captured Bennett. Bennett was never seen again; it is rumored he is in a prison, teaching his arts to the Legion officers by day and the other prisoners by night.

Stormshapers can be identified by their eyes; the eyes will appear filmy at first glance, but a closer look reveals a mist swirling over the surface, just like the Tempest. Most Stormshapers eventually develop white flecks on their normal eye color as well.

The informal Guild that formed after Bennett’s dissappearance dubbed themselves the Stormshapers. The select few who had mastered the art set up “studios” where interested wraiths could go after much searching and learn Rigoria. These studios are discovered and disbanded on a regular basis, but there are always a few in secret. Stormshapers themselves, because of the confines they must teach and learn in, are quite amicable to each other. A Stormshaper in any given area will know almost all, if not all, of the others by name. As a result, the Stormshapers have formed a neat network that is making it harder for the Legion to locate and shut down the training schools. Traitors are frowned upon and are almost always tracked down and punished accordingly, usually by throwing them into the maw of a Spectre or disappating them and throwing them into the middle of the Tempest.

Ghostly Air: By using this ability, the user causes a small portion of the Tempest to gather around them, blowing around them like a mist. This has a number of uses, from creating an intimidating-looking fog around the user to helping them gather material to shape for use.
System: Roll Manipulation + Rigoria (difficulty 5). Only one success is needed to get a small portion of the Tempest to gather and float around the user. More successes create a thicker mist, and thus more material. One success is equivilent to a fistful of mist.

Spider Web: With this art, a Stormshaper can temporarily harden the Tempest in mist form. The user can “walk on” the Tempest, create a small net to briefly trap an enemy, or skim materials out of the storm.
System: Roll Dexterity + Rigoria (difficulty 5). One success creates a small, paper-thin patch of solid Tempest that will support the weight of an average wraith. More successes make the patch thicker or stronger. The thickness may never exceed two inches. The patch will only last for a few turns, no more than the number of successes, before fading away.
This art costs 1 Pathos.

Level One: Foggy Clay
In order to make useful things from the Tempest, all Stormshapers must first learn to form solid matter from the Tempest. This art is the first taught to any potential Stormshapers and sets the stage for the later, more powerful abilities. The clay created is fairly soft and slippery; it will not do much damage by itself unless it hits the eyes or is slipped on. After a few minutes, the clay will fade back into the Tempest.
System: Roll Wits + Rigoria (difficulty 5). Each success creates a handful of clay from the Tempest; three successes create the equivelent of three handfuls, for example.
This art gains the user 1 Angst if there are any botches.

Level Two: Mist Shaper
Once the Stormshaper uses Foggy Clay to make the material, this ability allows them to create something with it. With the material at hand, the user may spend anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes shaping it into a useful item, such as a sword, rope, armor, etc. Once shaped, the item becomes temporarily rigid and no longer slippery so it can be used. Once the amount of time and Pathos invested into the item is gone, the item disappates.
System: Roll Dexterity + Rigoria (difficulty 6). One success allows a simple item to be shaped; more complicated items require more successes. The item will then last for roughly a scene; if the user wants to keep it around, they must invest a point of Pathos to keep the item from disappating.
Initial use of this art gains the user 2 Angst, in addition to any Pathos the user chooses to spend.

Level Three: Storm Shield
This useful ability allows the user to weave the Tempest around them temporarily to form a shield. The shield is a solid wall and is completely immobile, forming a dome around the Stormshaper. It is roughly six feet in diameter, placing the user in the middle. Anything or anyone inside the shield remain there with the Stormshaper. The shield cannot be hurt by any material and can withstand a Maelstrom. Wraiths who use the Arcanoi Argos cannot Flicker in and out of the area inside the dome.
System: Roll Stamina + Rigoria (difficulty 7). For each success, the user erects a shield around them for a turn. If they wish to increase the size of the shield, they must spend an extra Pathos for each two feet they want to expand it.
This art costs the user 3 Pathos.

Level Four: Tempering the Tempest
With this ability, any items made out of the Tempest clay can be hardened into permenency. This includes the raw clay or items fashioned out of it. The material it turns into, dubbed Stygian silver by Stormshapers is similar to Stygian steel, with the added factor that the silver cannot be melted down and reshaped into other items.
System: Roll Strength + Rigoria (difficulty 8). One success is all that is needed to turn the item from clay into silver. Stygian silver does aggrivated damage, just like its steel cousin.
This art costs the user 2 Pathos and 2 WP.

Level Five: Cloud Rider
The ultimate mastery of the Stormshapers is to become one with the storm itself. This art allows the user to temporarily disappate and become “part” of the Tempest. The user of this art has little to no control over where the storm takes them, but in a pinch, this art can be used to evade enemies, camoflauge themselves from Spectres, and scare lemures away. Users cannot be summoned or shaped using the other arts of Rigoria.
System: Roll Stamina + Rigoria (difficulty 8). One success allows the user to dissapaite and become part of the Tempest. In order to choose a general direction to travel in, the user must roll Willpower + Strength (difficulty 9). The more successes, the more directly the user can travel in that direction. Failures or non-steering forces the user to drift along with the Tempest…a very chancy prospect indeed. To resume wraith form, roll Stamina + Rigoria (difficulty 6.) One success is all that is needed to resume normal shape. Wraiths with the Flaw Fragile Corpus have their difficulty for reforming upped by two.
This art costs the user 3 WP and gains them 2 points of Angst.