Long ago, so the tale goes, the Quirithi left the Old Forest as it died, in
search of a new home. They journeyed for hundreds of years, eventually
settling in the oasis of Shimmerhaven within the Sheltered Sands. But the
desert was so foreign to them and full of dangerous creatures. As they
learned the ways of the winds and the sand and how to protect their people,
a new fighting style known as the Tempest was born.
It was a style that relied on technique and quickness, which plucked the
threads of the plentiful Aether that suffused the wind and sand around them.
Whirling, spinning, and leaping, Quirithi cut through the desert, their
arc-knives glinting in the sun. They learned to harness the fickle winds,
aiding in their movements when it blew the right way, and cutting at their
foes when it turned.
The style flourished and evolved over millennia as the Quirithi gradually
tamed the desert. Its movements gave way to a ritualized martial dance and
developed into a highly-choreographed art form celebrated in Shimmerhaven
for its spectacle and costumery.
As its artistic and performative offshoot evolved, so too did the style of
those who practiced its fighting techniques. An ill-fated duel involving an
ale-soaked wager in Yrena's name led to a Vaelandri wingship captain and a
Quirithi Tempest crossing blades in storm-blown sands. When the dust
cleared, the legend holds, Captain Phjir stood the victor. From that day
onward, knives gave way to bladed fans, the latter proving easier to hold
and far more effective through their tumultuous, cavorting movements.
The style became like a deadly dance of blades, slicing winds, and burning
sand. The wind grew to be a more intentional part of the dance, whipping up
as they whirled across the battlefield, though its ever-fickle nature could
never fully be tamed.
When the Blight came, it is thought that only a small contingent of Tempests
on their Sojourn survived. They established a new order in Altheria to
preserve their ageless traditions and train new students in their fighting
arts.
The Tempest style is a highly-skilled art in which practitioners typically
use a matched pair of bladed fans, one in each hand. They balance precise
movements in sequences called kata along with improvization to read and
opportunistically harness the Aetheric wind when it flows in a desirable
way. It is a dance of flashing blades and cutting winds.