Aquasilva Trilogy
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The Aquasilva Trilogy is a series of three fantasy books written by Anselm Audley.
Cathan's ascension from adopted son of the Count of Lepidor to global mover and shaker begins when extensive iron ore deposits are found under his home island. The sea journey to the trading port of Taneth, to help his father negotiate the shipping contract, is the start of a far longer odyssey -- three books longer, as it happens -- that pits him against the Domain, the theocratic masters of the planet Aquasilva, and against the brutal Thetian Emperor Orosius.
Comparisons between the Aquasilva trilogy and Dune are not unwarranted; Aquasilva tends more towards fantasy than SF, but there's the same casual mix of magic and technology in the story of a young man's self-discovery. The Domain, ruling through manipulation as much as open religious zealotry, maintains its hold over the watery planet through sole control of the SkyEyes, ancient satellites that are linked in some way to Aquasilva's violent storms, and through the use of Fire magic. (You might think Water magic would be more obvious for a planet whose surface is mostly composed of the stuff, but Water magic is heretical, as are Earth magic, Wind magic, Light magic, Shadow magic, and possibly one or two other forms of magic they haven't discovered yet.) The primary form of transport is the manta, a ray-like form of submersible that comes equipped with holographic technology and pulse weaponry. The trilogy has much of the generic feel, if not the specific atmosphere, of Herbert's masterwork
