One x One Life's a Witch || Lore & More

[Malibu]

In Character || Chat Room || Characters || Lore

Hear now the words of the witches,

The secrets we hid in the night,

When dark was our destiny's pathway,

That now we bring forth into light...

Mysterious water and fire,

The earth and the wide-ranging air,

By hidden quintessence we know them,

And will and keep and silent dare...
​

 

[Malibu]

The Earth had been swiftly descending into chaos, decay, and destruction.

Pollution had destroyed and toxified the land, intoxicated the air, and contaminated the water; crops were failing and animal populations were quickly dwindling; cities were overpopulated and overcrowded; crime rates were at an all time high worldwide as were the numbers of those living below the poverty level. Resources and morality were scarce. There was talk of this being the apocalypse. People believed the world was beyond saving, that the human race had doomed itself. And that might have been the way of things.

However, the governments around the world were able to recognize that the world was rapidly spiraling into death and destruction. They realized that something had to be done about it, and soon, they decided, or else their current trajectory spelled a tragic end for the human race. So, in a landmark decision, the world governments came together to create a worldwide decree and decision to revert back to a simpler time in the hope of restoring the Earth’s natural cycles.

Factories were quickly shut down and abandoned. Any vehicle that ran on any sort of fossil fuel or energy was dismantled and scrapped. Tradespeople and craftspeople were encouraged to share their knowledge and teach their skills to other people so that there would always be access to necessities and resources and so that people could make a viable income in a now severely depreciated worldwide economy. People were given incentives to move from the cities, which had been re-zoned and fortified with thick, high, and nigh impenetrable walls, to the countryside to cultivate land that was on the brink of death. Big businesses were broken up and dispersed in favor of the small, local businesses inside the newly walled cities, run by the local craftspeople and tradespeople. Travel into and out of the cities as well as population numbers were now highly monitored and regulated to avoid the overcrowding and consequential rapid spread of disease and high crime rates that had previously plagued them. The hope was that this shift to a simpler, more rustic world, void of nearly all modern technology, would help restore the lost balance on earth and revive the ecosystems that had been so greatly destroyed by man’s carelessness.

The transition to these new changes was slow and difficult, especially in having to adjust to not having the modern conveniences of technology. But, in a process that took several hundred years, small things began to happen that hinted at larger change. Slowly, the forests began to regrow. The soil grew dark and fertile again and the pollution that had clouded the waters and air slowly seeped out and dissipated. Animals were beginning to thrive again and grow their numbers. A fragile sense of hope began to bloom in the world; the apocalypse had seemingly been averted, at least for the time being.

Now, nearly four-hundred years later, cities continue to be closely monitored and regulated and more and more people have moved to settle the countryside, to grow crops or to the forest to hunt and gather, or even the mountains and deserts for a sense of isolation. At last, there finally seemed to be peace in the world.

Deep in the northern wilds of British Columbia, everything is just as happy and idyllic as the rest of the world. The city is a bustling center of trade, crops grow well in the fertile soil, and there is enough forest to provide wood for shelter and warmth, wild game is plentiful, and herds are successful. Everything is perfect.

Until they aren’t.

It starts out small. A giant sinkhole opening up just outside of the walled city. Then, an entire murder of ravens is suddenly found dead, ravaged by some mysterious disease. A string of strange events with no explanation begin plaguing the people of British Columbia. Most people initially considered such events to be an unfortunate consequence of living on a volatile and ever-changing earth. As time goes on, though, the more skeptical and paranoid and fearful they become, concerned that these strange events signal a return to the path towards the apocalypse humanity avoided hundreds of years before.

Only a small group of people in the city know the truth: the witches of the Columbian Circle know the reason for the strange events and are just as frightened by the reality. Turns out, the common people are not that far off, for the strange terrors suddenly plaguing the city means that one of their own as broken the cardinal Rule of magick: never, under any circumstances, make a deal with the Devil.

Now, while the people of the Columbian wilds try desperately to hold onto their fragile thread of hope and peace, the witches must discover who among them is a traitor and put an end to whatever dark bargain was struck. Further complicating is a newly resurrected order of zealous witch hunters that have infiltrated the city and the surrounding countryside, intent on eradicating the entire witch population. But, as the city and the world begin to fall closer and closer to demise, both sides may have to learn to cooperate and lay aside their beliefs and differences in order to save the Earth and all of mankind

 

[Malibu]

Witch society operates under its own strict set of laws and rules and has multiple sets of checks and balances that keep it heavily monitored, regulated, and enforced. As a general rule, though, witches tend to be very self-regulatory; exposure is dangerous not only to themselves but also to other witches. Because it is against the Laws to reveal oneself as a witch to a common person, witches have existed in relative secret since time began. That hasn’t stopped curious people from looking a little too closely and human paranoia about supernatural occurrences from running rampant, of course. But witches are incredibly secret and private about their society and have continued to remain relatively unknown and unacknowledged throughout history. Both males and females are referred to as witches, though witch society is matriarchal and lineage is traced through the mother. Only dark witches, of which there have been few and far between throughout time, witches who use their magick for dark or nefarious purposes, are referred to as sorcerers and sorceresses. Still, even dark witches know to never break the First Law and bargain with the Devil.

A witch’s Coven is based on familial ties, whereas a witch’s Circle is based on geographical location. Every witch family has a Grimoire, a spellbook that has been handed down to the first born witch from generation to generation (though other children keep their own spellbooks). The first born witch then adds their own spells or knowledge to the book before passing it down. Witches utilize multiple methods in helping to channel or focus their magick. The most popular method is through the use of a focusing stone, though the particular gems or stones that help to focus a witch’s magick varies for each witch and is usually discovered through trial and error. Another method of focusing is through an animal familiar, though these are more rare since the bond with a familiar is spiritual and cannot be made intentionally or by force. Animal familiars are a unique boon to witches because, on top of helping them focus their magick and even sometimes acting as a defense, witches can slip their consciousness briefly into their animal familiar, able to see and experience through their eyes.

There are six types of magick in the world. None of the magicks are inherently light or dark as each has the potential to be used for malicious purposes. A witch is born with proclivity for one type of magick, which develops during adolescence. Very few witches are born with a proclivity for two types of magick and, if they are, one is almost always stronger than the other. It is even more rare (in fact, entirely unheard of) for a witch to be born with proclivity for three or more magicks.

 

[Malibu]

Black magick draws strength and power from the moon and is strongest at the moon’s zenith. This magick is incredibly spiritual in nature and deals largely with things outside the physical realm (though not exclusively). Because of its link to the spiritual realm, black witches typically have some form of precognition or clairvoyance and are skilled mediums and scryers, as well as gifted in the art of necromancy. Black witches are often given the honorific title of prophets and prophetesses within the magickal community. They can manipulate physical elements such as cold, shadows, and subtle intricacies of death.

White magick draws its strength and power from the sun and is strongest at high noon. White magick tends to deal with the less tangible elements of the physical realm. Because white magick is a very energetic and passionate magick, it is very closely linked with human emotion. As such, white witches have a powerful understanding of human emotions and moods and are able to sway and manipulate those to a degree, typically through the use of potions. White witches can also manipulate heat and bend light.

Green magick draws its power from the physical earth. As such, green witches have a deep and abiding connection with the earth and the flora and fauna that inhabit it. Since their knowledge of plants and other elements is seemingly instinctual, most green witches go into something related to medicine as they are most skilled as healers (both through magickal energy or more physical and natural sources like elixirs and poultices). They are also the most skilled when it comes to mixing potions or charms. They can manipulate the physical earth and terrain around them to a marginal degree.

Blue magick draws its power from water, be that physical bodies such as lakes, oceans, and streams, or the water present in the air around them. With such a deep connection to water and air, blue witches have the unique ability to influence and manipulate weather conditions are thus often referred to as “weather witches” within the magickal community. Blue witches are able to communicate with creatures of the water and have a strong sense of direction as well as being talented scryers. They can manipulate physical liquids and can also pull water from the air if necessary (though, it should be noted, not without consequence).

Charm magick is perhaps the most unusual of the magicks in that it must be manifested physically. Because charm magick is almost exclusively an energy, witches who practice this type of magick are always some sort of craftsperson and incredibly gifted with their hands. Charm witches can imbue objects with magical properties and spells, done by transferring magical energy into items such as medallions, talismans, or crystals. Once manifested in a physical object, charm witches can then use the item for its magickal purpose. Charm witches must take extra caution though, for if their charms fall into the hands of a hapless and clueless common person, things can go wrong.

Though not necessarily dark by nature, blood magick is very volatile as well as holding the potential to be exceedingly powerful. As the name implies, blood magick draws power from blood and life force, given freely or otherwise. While most blood witches use animal blood for their spells, human blood creates a stronger and more potent magickal energy, and dark blood witches are not above human sacrifice. Blood magick is unique in that it is a physical act that transfers and creates magick to be harnessed. Through the spilling of blood (it does need to be fresh for magickal purposes, so storing blood is an improbability for most blood witches), these witches can harness the energy to influence human will and thought and even other bodies in some particularly dark cases.

 

[Malibu]

It is said that, for as long as there have been witches, there have been witch hunters. Their own texts date their service back to ancient Babylon, though nothing has ever been conclusively found to indicate the veracity of these claims. This organization does not operate under a single moniker, has existed under a variety of different names throughout history, instead referring to themselves inclusively as The Order. Their primary symbol is a four-pointed star, stylized to look a bit like a cross and they consider their mission to be a holy one, indeed.

According to their lore, witches were the product of a union between Adam and Lilith, queen of the demons. To them, witches can be nothing but dark and evil because of their supposed ancestry and lineage. They believe that all witches are out to destroy humanity and place blame squarely at their feet for the earth’s near-destruction several hundred years earlier. Witches are a black stain on the perfect humanity that God created through Adam and Eve and they have tasked themselves with being holy warriors against this blight on humanity. Their mandate and mission is clear then: hunt down and eradicate all witches.

Still, just as witches have lived in relative secret from the common world, so too have the hunters lived in secret from both the common people and the magickal world. After all, it does a hunter no good if their prey knows they are coming after them. Witch hunters would appear like any normal citizen, holding down a job and a home. Their hunting duties are strictly extra-curricular so as to avoid detection and harm. Most hunters favor some sort of sword or knife as their hunting weapon of choice (guns are outlawed among The Order, because it gives witches “too quick a death”). Surprise, then, is their biggest advantage. Hunters will typically get close and become friends with the person they suspect is a witch and then kill them when they least expect it.

The Order is incredibly zealous in their mission to hunt witches. Still, there has always been murmurs of discontent within the organization and those who are less kill-happy than their older superiors. Not every witch hunter believes witches to be evil, though saying so aloud is heresy….