Let's say that, being some kind of crazy masochist...

Water and earth magic, we created land from the sea by using both. We were and still are a trading nation, not just because our maritime influence but mostly because our trade networks.

The medieval dutch society was urbanised in the west while the eastern part of our modern country was more feudal. This does not mean that the west had no nobility, it had plenty, it just means the cities were very powerfull and able to go toe to toe with powerfull noblemen

Any more you can say about water related Dutch myths?

The thing is, the Netherlands' spirit has mostly been crafted since the 16th century onward. Before that (and a couple more times since then) we were part of other regions, like Germany, France or Rome. If you're looking for the spirit of the Netherlands, trading and accomodation it is. Water is mostly a Holland thing.

>implying Holland isn't the Netherlands isn't Holland

>This is what foreigners and the Randstad actually believe

>t. butthurt Belgian

>Randstad gaet heen ende blyft

Mercantilism, the power of devotion to not-having-a-good-time (if we're talking the dominant culture of the north.) Calvinism was a big enough thing to let us start a war with Spain over religious "freedom". But Calvinism wasn't a Dutch thing, but it could sort of work?

Waterbending would be a thing.

Batavian/Germanic folklore ancestor worship and nordic style religion could be a thing too if you look back far enough.

For context, in the 1st edition 7th Sea setting there was actually one country called "Vendel/Vesten" (exp.), which somehow sought to be both pagan Scandinavia and 17th century Holland because someone thought a game about swashbucklers just wouldn't be complete without horribly out of place vikings. The story was that in the Norvik Isles to the north of the world have lived for centuries the Vestenmanavanjar people (there's a running gag of how their language is unpronounceable), who are stereotypical vikings. The excuse for why they managed to remain stereotypical medieval vikings while the rest of the world went 17th century is because they had cheesy overpowered native magic called Laerdom which was basically D&D style wizardry with a runic theme in a setting that otherwise only handed each nation an incredibly specific, usually low-key ability. At some point in recent history the Vestenmanavanjar trader caste decided to shake off the yoke of the warrior caste and apply their sailing skills to trade instead of raiding. Long story short, within a century they've become the most powerful economic force in Europe and the most progressive and culturally advanced of all countries - they were so desperate to remove themselves from the Vesten stereotype they made a point of always dressing in the height of fashion, building the biggest universities and having the most expensive and sophisticated of everything. They invented the setting's form of universal currency and basically rule all trade and banking, and for ease of trade also changed their whole language to something foreigners can pronounce - hence them being called "Vendel" instead of "Vestenmanavanjar". Sadly, between sacrificing all of their traditions on the alter of greed, actually Christianizing and assraping their own language they lost their rune powers and have to make do without.

(cont.)

An interesting part of 1st edition's metaplot was about the struggle, both ideological and military, between the Vendel and the remaining Vestenmanavanjar and for such a normally black and white setting it was surprisingly intelligently handled. Both sides had their good and bad points and they both ultimately felt like their culture was being torn apart and everything would be good again if only their brother UNDERSTOOD WHY THEY'RE WRONG and embrace progress/return to the good old ways. Vesten are honorable, brave and mystical - but to the Vendel, they're a bunch of unwashed barbarians following warlords. Vendel are sophisticated, enterprising and forward-thinking, but to the Vesten they're a bunch of sissy, conniving, tradition shitting Jews.

All this went out the window with the 2nd edition, which decided it'd... accomplish something by combining the two nations fully. One anachronistic mishmash of a nation which is at the same time pagan medieval vikings AND 17th century Dutch.

This was not well executed, to put it mildly (and I'm not even referring to evidence in the core rulebook that the change was executed at a late stage in development with little to no editing - for example, one paragraph mentions most Vesten ships are oared longboats... then another in another chapter mentions they're mostly trade fluyts. One paragraph mentions how they like to dress in practical leather tunics and fur cloaks... And another that they always wear the height of fashion with top hats.)

In any case, no mention was made again of bullshit powerful rune magic and instead all the magic they got was "Seidr", which combines the ability to tell the future with runes and the ability to influence people's reputations by singing skald songs about them. (of course, because the poor editing is a running theme in those books there are still mentions of runic magical items that are now mechanically impossible to make and aren't supported by the fluff).

But let's imagine, for the purpose of this thread, the game isn't retarded say that the setting's not-Europe actually has two different nations: Vesten (which I would make 17th century Sweden except with a slightly more pagan bent, giving them seidr and fluffing it as something that some people still do in secret), and the not-Netherlands, which would have Vendel fluff for the most part but need their own kind of magic.

It should also be noted that giving them science for magic wouldn't work as this is already the shtick of the Spanish (they USED to have firebending but the Inquisition put an end to that during the Middle Ages. Now their magic equivalent is bullshit alchemy, with attribute boosting elixirs and bombs and what have you).

Geomancy, because driving the sea away makes more sense than using it as a weapon.

>firebending
>not holy magic

Spain is the Smiting Paladin of early modern nations.

As for your question, the dutch should have swamp related water magic like other anons say. This or jewish money magic, but you probably don't want that.

See. The Spanish paladin'd too hard and accidentally their magic (it was tied up in specific bloodlines which they all hunted to extinction). Practical alchemy's the closest they've come to replacing it.

I suppose it makes sense for the nation that persecutes witches to not have magic, and for the nation without magic to be the technological one. Spain having good technology is a bit out of theme, it's kinda against the archetype, but I guess it can work.

The historical spanish inquisition didn't persecute magic practicers by the way, since the catholic canon was that magic didn't exist. Killing witches was more of a protestant thing. In fact there's only a handful of examples of witch-hunting in Spain, ridiculous in number compared to other european nations. Of course you don't have to do this in your fantasy setting, specially since your players/readers will be expecting memes. And there's nothing wrong with it.

They actually explain this: the setting's equivalent of Christianity (the Vaticine Church) is actually a combination of Catholicism, Gnosticism and a surprisingly large amount of Mystical Judaism, of all things. It used to hold knowledge as sacred and science as a sacred work, so interestingly, the more religious a nation was the more scientifically advanced. Spain dominated science until recently (this was also used to partially explain how the Vesten got so advanced so quickly - it was tied up to their Christianization. Another thing that doesn't work in the 2nd edition setting as they try to claim at the same time that the Vesten remained pagan AND adopted the setting's Protestantism equivalent...). Then a new prophet (heavily implied, in the 1st edition, to ironically be a fire-mage disguising his abilities as miracles) rose who declared science and magic were equally haram and the country kinda deteriorated for a few centuries. In the metaplot of the setting, Spain's only recently started coming out of its lull and advancing in science, which is exemplified by having Practical Alchemy as a magic equivalent.

This is painfully stupid, holy fucking shit.

There the story of a guy putting his finger in a breaking dam to stop it breaking. Theres also many times the country flooded and tons of people died. Water is our eternal ally and our eternal enemy at the same time.

We mastered ice skating early and if we were invaded we would flood our country controllably as late as ww2.

Almost everybody who wanted to get anywhere by boat in the premodern period got there by boat. There are rivers an canals and lakes everwhere

>Almost everybody who wanted to get anywhere by boat in the premodern period got there by boat.
That does make a lot of sense

Isn't ice magic Not-Tibet's shtick?

Damn, that far east book for 1st edition really ate up all the good magic ideas.

That's an american story, that never actually happened here.

>Germany: Necromancy
Why

I think you need to get up, grab shoes and take a walk.
For about 20 miles.
Think things over, return and most likely write a nice suicide note before killing yourself.

>the Vestenmanavanjar people (there's a running gag of how their language is unpronounceable)
Witnessed. How is Vestenmanavanjar unpronouncable? It's just a bit long. And both Dutch and Scandinavian are supposedly among the easiest languages to learn for English speakers.

>Unpronoucable, because it's a long word and looks strange
Try say "W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie", the all-times favourite torture all Poles do to foreigners.
Here is how it should go:
youtu.be/GHizInxsBz8?t=4m5s
Set timer for 4:05

>That moment when it takes Portugese, Englishman and a Pole to explain how to say a single sentence
Polish - the real world Black Speech.

The bastards keep killing people. At least in this setting they have a reason to.

...