An introduction to witches (Dark Silver)

Kindling · January 16, 2013, 09:07:31 AM

Folk often use the word witchcraft to mean sorcery or any strange goings-on. Wise women and wanton girls are called witches by some. Those who study esoteric lore know of the Copper Witches who battled demons in an age before the First Empire.

Such is always the way with commoners who speak of things they do not understand. They will call anything monstrous a demon whether it comes from the Beyond or not, and they will call anything secret and alien to them witchcraft, and any woman they fear or distrust will be branded a witch.

Whether true witches first called themselves Witch and then humans learned the word, or whether humans first called them Witch and they learned to bear the title with pride is unknown. The truth - held by few other than the witches themselves - is that they are ageless and inhuman, born in a time before history when the pre-human serpent volk created them as hybrids of mortal women and demigods.

The Copper Witches sang howling metal songs that beat and pierced their foes, and they were great lovers and friends of humankind. At one time they were the most numerous of witches, but they all died or vanished long ago, during the time of the First Empire.

Now there remain three rare breeds of witch in the world, and they are isolated and hermit-like, bitter, lonely and silent. All stand tall and painfully thin, with faces at once girlish and ancient; long thin faces with odd bone-structures and over-large yellow eyes. Their bodies are like those of human women, but as if beneath the skin the form has been constructed of bones and muscles stolen from animals so that they fit together inhumanly, bestially. They are at once graceful and awkward in their movements. They love to dance, especially alone and especially without music.

Pale Witches, the Maidens of Frost, have alabaster skin with a fine tracery of thin blue veins clearly visible and hair of silver or pure white. Their totem is the snowy owl and they have power over wind and cold, ice and winter.

Dark Witches, the Mothers of Dread, have skin the colour of dry, blackened scabs and hair like ink. Their totem is the raven and they have power over shadows and visions, lies and truths.

Grey Witches, the Thorns of Crone, have hair and skin of matte grey that never match, so that they always have dark skin and pale hair or pale skin and dark hair. Their totem is the wolf and they have power over wild things and predators.

O Senhor Leetz · January 16, 2013, 11:51:17 AM

Awesome as always Kindling! More Dark Silver!

You've made the classic witch fit perfectly with your setting. I'm assuming that witch is not a profession then, but a particular creature? Do the remaining three witches consort with demons, fight them, or ignore them?

How do you imagine them fitting into a campaign?

Xathan · January 16, 2013, 01:07:49 PM

I love the Dark Silver setting too, and this has me intrigued. As an introduction it's hard to get more details, so I'm just going to echo Leetz' post and eagerly await more.

Though I do have one questions: do you envision witches as playable, or are they more NPC type things?

Steerpike · January 16, 2013, 01:08:45 PM

Achingly cool. I'm also interested in Xathan's question.

How do Witches interact with other supernatural creatures in Dark Silver, i.e. those creepy Elves, Demons, etc.

Kindling · January 16, 2013, 07:40:08 PM

I had seen witches - true witches anyway, as in those of the Pale, Dark and Grey varieties, rather than simply women spellcasters who might get called witches - as definite NPCs rather than PCs. They're almost like my take on a less always-chaotic-evil version of Hags from DnD; definitely humanoid creatures rather than human magicians.

Witches' interactions with other supernatural creatures would probably be something I'd handle on a case-by-case basis. There's only one witch so far in my actual Dark Silver campaign. She's a Grey Witch and the PCs' main contact with her so far is when they fought and killed her sons who were essentially werewolves explained in Dark Silver logic... "well they inherited a bond with predators and wolves and stuff from their magical mother so they can transform into big wolf-man-things" rather than "it's this weird disease called lycanthropy." However, as much as she's probably upset about that whole thing, she might just about be persuaded that helping out against the bigger bads could be more important.... we'll see.

Basically though I could easily imagine that while one witch might see demons as enemies, another might make pacts with them to further her own aims and still another might not care, simply wanting to be left alone by everyone and everything to live in splendid isolation.

O Senhor Leetz · January 16, 2013, 07:57:18 PM

Important question: do Dark Silver witches float?

Kindling · January 21, 2013, 10:06:29 AM

Yes. Their lungs are like 3 times the size of human lungs, so they're a bit more buoyant.
Also, I feel I should give credit where credit is due - my witches are pretty heavily inspired by Zak S's Wolves in the Throne Room adventure, which I plan to run my players through once they manage to escape the Frozen Halls of Vith Khel (of which more later)

O Senhor Leetz · January 21, 2013, 02:42:17 PM

Quote from: Kindling
Yes. Their lungs are like 3 times the size of human lungs, so they're a bit more buoyant.

That's strangely a terrifying visual.

Xathan · January 23, 2013, 01:04:56 AM

Quote from: Kindling
Witches' interactions with other supernatural creatures would probably be something I'd handle on a case-by-case basis. There's only one witch so far in my actual Dark Silver campaign. She's a Grey Witch and the PCs' main contact with her so far is when they fought and killed her sons who were essentially werewolves explained in Dark Silver logic... "well they inherited a bond with predators and wolves and stuff from their magical mother so they can transform into big wolf-man-things" rather than "it's this weird disease called lycanthropy." However, as much as she's probably upset about that whole thing, she might just about be persuaded that helping out against the bigger bads could be more important.... we'll see.

This is awesome. Are the male offspring of witches all teiranthropes of some variety? Or is it just werewolves? Do some give birth to different versions of male monsters?

Kindling · January 23, 2013, 03:45:48 PM

well, they would all be massive weirdos if that's what you mean :P

in short, I haven't decided yet. I do, however, imagine that it's pretty rare for witches to have children in general, so our friend the Thorn of Crone in my campaign is something of an exception.

HippopotamusDundee · March 24, 2013, 07:52:57 AM

What are the relationships like between the three breeds of witch (and what were they like with the Copper Witches) - to go with the hag analogy, do witches hang around in mixed-breed groups or do they tend, as far as they socialize, to stick with their own kind?

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An introduction to witches (Dark Silver)

Kindling

O Senhor Leetz

Xathan

Steerpike

Kindling

O Senhor Leetz

Kindling

O Senhor Leetz

Xathan

Kindling

HippopotamusDundee