Realistic or Modern Lore of Salem Academy

[Neo Alice]

Important Words:​

I recommend you to read these even if you think that you already know what they’re supposed to be, I’ve given them new or specific meanings that are important to know.

Spoiler: Coven:

In old times this word was used to refer to groups of witches but in the modern era this is the proper name given to schools like Salem Academy. These covens are sacred grounds protected by magical wards that hide its presence to humans and protect them from magical harm, as long as they follow the rules of the Covenant.

Spoiler: Supreme:

The principal of a Coven is denominated its Supreme, the job of the supreme is to enforce the laws of the Covenant and ensure the protection of the witches under their jurisdiction. They have the authority and duty to excommunicate a witch if they break the rules of the Covenant inside of their coven.

Spoiler: Covenant:

The supreme order that governs over witches, they are an international organization that controls the covens and the status of all witches within them. This government was made to protect witches from exposure and ensure their lives, so their rules must be respected at all costs. Betraying the Covenant is the highest crime a witch can commit, depending on the offense they could be excommunicated or just physically punished accordingly to the crime.

Spoiler: Pledge:

In the first day of their last year on a coven students must oath their allegiance to the Covenant, a sacred vow to follow their rules and acknowledge their authority above all else, accepting the consequences of going against it. This is why the last year on a coven is named “Pledged” since they’re legally responsible for their actions in the eyes of the Covenant after they’ve made the pledge.

Spoiler: Witch:

They are people (Male, Female or otherwise) born with magical blood flowing through their veins; this doesn’t make them any different from other humans until they turn 14 years old. A unique magical power is awakened that day, usually incomplete or with a great price, and they become able to use the magic in them to fuel that power. On the old days witches had more than one power, even shared a few among them, but after years of crossbreeding with non-magical humans the power in their blood has been diluted.

Spoiler: Pentacle:

Pentacles are medium sized flat discs of metal with an engraved pentagram on the middle, the background color, the pentagram color and the letter color in the middle are related to the status of the witch in the eyes of the Covenant. In the back of it there’s the basic information of the witch it belongs to. They also allow the witch access to their magical charms so excommunicated witches can’t use charms. Only Supremes and authorized charges within the Covenant can excommunicate witches. Pentacles are bonded to their owner and can’t be separated from them or they will feel horrible unending pain until reunited, so like Charms they can magically glue themselves to their owner’s skin. They can't be detected by human machines, cameras, animals or humans, only witches and maticores can see them, feel them and smell them.

Spoiler: Wicca:

Is a way to call witches that abide by the rules of the Covenant, they consider that the balance must be kept as it has been over the years. They’ve forgiven humans and know that the future of witches is living among them in secrecy. Their Pentacle’s background color is green, with a silver “W” on the center of a silver pentagram.

Spoiler: Warlock:

Is a way to call excommunicated witches. They’re quite chaotic and believe that the covens should focus on training witches to rule the world instead of just fitting into human society. Their Pentacle’s background color is ash-gray, with a red “W” on the center of an upside-down red pentagram.

Spoiler: Abjurer:

The most respected agents of the Covenant, they are in charge of hunting down excommunicated witches and deconsecrating covens that have gone rogue. When an abjurer has been sent to solve an issue it means they speak on behalf of the Covenant itself and thus they have the highest authority. Since they represent the covenant, any act against them is considered worthy of excommunication itself. Their Pentacle’s background color is Black, with a golden “A” on the center of a golden pentagram.

Spoiler: Charm:

Magical Charms are ancient spells contained in powerful talismans that allow witches to use them by fueling their own magic to them. All witches are given some basic and generic charms to protect themselves and ensure their survival but some are rarer, unique and powerful. The basic charms are produced on mass with the help of ancient magic in special factories in the Covenant, so they’re nothing special for witches, the powerful and unique charms were made on the medieval era or before with great unrepeatable magic on today’s world so they are quite invaluable. In order to use a charm a witch must be touching it so all charms magically glue themselves to the witch’s skin for an easy usage.

Spoiler: Excommunication:

Witches that have broken the rules from the Covenant become excommunicated and are hunted down by abjurers. Excommunicated witches lose all of their rights so killing an excommunicated witch is not a crime on the Covenant’s eyes and is actually encouraged with a reward on money and prestige. In order to excommunicate someone the witch must have a charge within the Covenant and verbally state directly that the law breaking witch will be excommunicated or if they’re not in their presence, call to the Covenant administration office so they make the procedure. However certain unjustifiable acts, like killing a high charge of the Covenant, give to the murderer’s pentacle an automatic excommunicated status without needing of any external procedure.

Spoiler: Deconsecrating

Covens are considered sacred places protected by wards where young witches are protected and learn to use their powers. An abjurer may deconsecrate a Coven if they’ve broken the rules of the Covenant. The Supreme of that Coven is considered excommunicated but the students and teachers that had nothing to do with the breaking of the rules are escorted to another coven since the wards protecting that one are deactivated immediately. The process is made by the administration office but must be requested by an abjurer first.

Spoiler: Convergence:

Working in team with other witches allows you to bond temporarily and boost each other’s magic in the process. In order to canalize another witch you must hold hands or have a personal object of them.

Spoiler: Manticore:

Manticores, derived from the word “Man-Eater”, are descendants from the familiars of ancient witches. In order to make them witches fused animals together to bring out the best qualities and power on a single companion, so they are quite the diverse race. They can only be tamed by witches since they instinctively recognize them as their masters and will try to hunt any human they encounter if they are not domesticated. Although more powerful than regular animals and some even have minor magical abilities, they’ve also suffered from crossbreeding with normal animals and thus have diluted their magic compared to their medieval counterparts. Every witch is expected to own at least one since they’re faithful and loyal partners.

Spoiler: Samhain:

Is the title given to those that belong the Council of the Covenant, a witch of each country is elected by their peers and serves as a representative for all witches of said country. A Samhain is the highest charge within the covenant and hold the highest authority in the organization. They can be considered the witch equivalent to being a president.

 

[Neo Alice]

The Covenant:​

"Rules are what separate us from animals, without them chaos would reign and witches would have gone extinct thousands of years ago." —a Samhain of the Covenant.

Spoiler: Rules of the Covenant

Any witch that takes away a right from another witch will be breaking the law.

Breaking the law of the Covenant is inexcusable; depending on the crime a punishment will be delivered. The murder of a fellow witch is worth Excommunication.

An excommunicated witch has no rights and a deconsecrated coven is no longer under the protection of the Covenant.

All of those that help an excommunicated witch in any way will become excommunicated as well.

A witch must follow their duties or they’ll face the consequences.

Witches are forbidden to use their magic in front of humans, unless they’re enforcing their right to self-defense. In the case of self-defense they can’t be any human witnesses or proof about the existence of magic nor witches, clean your own mess or be excommunicated.

Spoiler: Rights

All witches have a right to live.

All witches have the right to be properly educated in a coven, even if they don’t want to.

All witches have the right to own and tame manticores.

All witches have the right to seek the help of the Covenant and any coven.

All witches have the right to defend themselves with their magic from attacks of both human and other witches without suffering any consequences.

All witches have the right to own basic charms for free and to replace them when needed without any cost.

All witches have the right to buy a sell authorized rare charms, manticores and magical objects.

Spoiler: Duties:

All witches must be loyal to the Covenant above everyone and everything else.

All witches must report an excommunicated witch upon seeing them; if they manage to capture them either alive or dead they’ll receive a reward for their service and loyalty to the Covenant.

All witches must ensure that another witch’s rights aren’t violated and must report it to the Covenant if they think they are.

All witches must report any witch that dares to disobey and betray the Covenant.

All witches must help all abjurers they encounter and never obstruct their missions in any way.

All witches must protect the secrecy of magic and never allow humans to know the truth.

All witches must show both sides of their pentacle to officers of the Covenant if requested, without exception.

All witches must register any charm that they’re on possession of.

 

[Neo Alice]

Bestiary:​

Do you think witches are the only magical beings? Think again! This is still a WIP and everyone is encouraged to message me with a new manticore to add, but please use the same format I’ve used. Manticores created by players have their name tagged, this means they have exclusivity for taming those manticores and if you want to tame one you must ask for their permission (they are free to say "no"). The ones without a tag can be tamed by everyone (And no, no one has or will have exclusivity over untagged manticores)

Spoiler: Format for Manticores

(Image, anime or drawn only)
(Brief description of the Manticore and the name their particular variant has. Also, what they’re used for by witches.)
Anatomy: (Describe in detail how it’s their body and any additional powers it may have because of it)

Behavior: (Psychological patterns that all of them share, aside from trying to eat humans. Include how do they use the powers or physical characteristics previously described in anatomy)

Connection: (From which fused animals is this Manticore made of? They must be 3 or more)

Mounts: These manticores are big and strong enough to be able to carry a witch or two through large distances without problem and are used instead of cars or other vehicles because of their efficiency and power.

Spoiler: Shirshu

The shirshu is a large, quadrupedal creature. Its highly developed sense of smell and ability to paralyze a target make it well suited for both tracking and hunting respectively. Since witches have a different scent than humans, they often use them to find new students for a coven or hunting down excommunicated witches.

Anatomy: The shirshu is a large, star-nosed mole-like mammal that has no eyes and thus relies on its highly specialized sense of smell. The manticore's face has a large, muscular snout that ends in a collection of small, pink, fleshy tendrils surrounding the nostrils, used to detect scents in the environment, and that effectively allows the shirshu to "see" its surroundings. The shirshu can smell a particular scent over hundreds of miles away, making it an ideal tracker. In addition to its strong olfactory abilities, the shirshu's saliva contains paralyzing agents. Along with its large, sharp set of teeth, the shirshu has a whip-like tongue, tipped with large, triangular papillae, which the shirshu uses to disable its prey. Depending on the target's size and how hard it is hit, the shirshu's tongue can either stun or paralyze prey for a period of time, ranging from a few minutes up to several hours.

Behavior: Tamed shirshus are mainly used for their superior tracking ability; they can detect a particular scent anywhere in the world, paralyze their prey from afar without doing permanent damage, are extremely fast and agile, and can travel over great distances without tiring significantly. Shirshu saliva contains powerful toxins, making it highly valuable; it is used in the production of paralyzing darts. Despite its size and weight, the shirshu has outstanding agility and can hold its own in close combat situations. Using its powerful claws, it can easily protect itself from most threats, though in the majority of cases, close combat is unnecessary: the shirshu's tongue can reach up to several meters and incapacitate opponents before they have a chance to get near. Its critical weakness is its highly sensitive sense of smell, which can be overwhelmed by strong scents, effectively "blinding" it and, in some cases, inducing a frenzied panic.

Connection: The shirshu is a combination of a giant anteater, a German Shepherd, and a star-nosed mole, which engenders rumors that it has excellent digging ability. Instead of digging with its nose, the shirshu uses it much like how a bloodhound uses its nose as a tracking device. Additionally, some species of moles, such as the European mole, are venomous, matching the shirshu's paralyzing tongue.

Spoiler: Saber-tooth moose lion

The saber-tooth moose lion is a large mammal that becomes extremely vicious when threatened or commanded to. Abjurers use them along with a Shirshu to improve the success rate while hunting a criminal.

Anatomy: The moose lion cub is very small, approximately the size of a small dog. The cub is very intelligent and friendly, and it vaguely resembles a light brown hippo with a mid-length bushy tail and large ears. As it lacks an adult's large teeth and antlers, it appears harmless and playful. It is difficult to identify one as a moose lion until its horns and fangs have grown in. An adult saber-tooth moose lion stands at least ten feet high, with brown fur, a long muzzle, and a pair of palm-shaped antlers on its head. Its body and tail are feline in appearance and its two enlarged upper fangs extend past its lower jaw. It also has large clawed paws.

Behavior: Its large teeth, long horns, and ferocious attitude make it a formidable creature. Although it appears intimidating, the saber-tooth moose lion is, for the most part, a friendly manticore; however, if a mother feels something is threatening its cub, it can become very violent even to witches. They are domesticated to show the same level of violence on command and to defend their owner from attackers, but aside from that they’re quite peaceful.

Connection: The saber-tooth moose lion is a clear mix of the moose, the lion, and the prehistoric saber-toothed cat, or Smilodon. Both sexes of the saber-tooth moose lion sport the moose's massive antlers, not just the males.

Spoiler: Eel hound

The eel hound is a quadrupedal creature used for efficient transportation over both land and water. It doesn’t have any particular tracking or strength skills and are mainly used by their high speed.

Anatomy: The eel hound is a large, amphibious creature that exhibits the ability to swim and run quickly. It is at least eight feet tall and roughly twenty-five to thirty feet long with dark green scales, except along its ventral side, from its jaw to its tail. The eel hound is green in color with a lighter shade on its underbelly, and a darker shade of green on top of its body.

Behavior: The eel hound has a very wild nature, which can make it challenging to train. As such, very few witches attempt to do so, making the manticores not commonly used as mounts. Once it is properly trained, however, the eel hound's nature calms, and they can be used for swift transportation; they are credited to being the fastest known manticore over land and water.

Connection: The eel hound is a cross between a greyhound and an eel. With its long, powerful legs, deep chest, flexible spine, and slim build of the greyhound combined with an elongated neck and tail similar to an eel, it slightly resembles a gigantic greyhound and can run at similar speeds.

Spoiler: Duoling

It's a feline-bat hybrid that flies around surveying the area and transmitting what it sees to the Witch that tamed it. It's mainly used for surveillance and reconnaissance while young but as adults they have the strength to carry their master on earth and while flying too. ( Yuu Vee Rays )

Anatomy: The Duoling mainly looks like a feline. As a kit, its about the size of a medium sized housecat, and once it's grown, it's about the size of an adult panther. It has two tails, raven black fur, and it's paws are like a cat's except that it's more leathery like a bat's wings. It's back paws have claws that aren't retractable while the front are retractable. It sports black leathery wings like a bat on its back so it can fly overhead. It's ears are also more bat-like in shape. It's sight isn't as good as a feline's but isn't as bad as a bat's. It'd be more useful to say it has about an average human's sight. It can, however, use echolocation like a bat, but with magic it can tell someone's mana level by hearing. It isn't as accurate if their are obstacles such as brick or cement in the way.

Behavior: A Duoling's temperament in the wild isn't unlike a wild cat's. It's guarded and will attack if cornered. It's claws and fangs are like sharpened swords, being able to tear into flesh like it is butter. But once tamed, it can be used like a more accurate drone in terms of surveillance and info gathering. It will, however, only obey the Witch that tamed it and those that Witch tells it to obey. Just like a housecat.

Connection: The Duoling is a hybrid of a black panther, a black housecat, and a fruit bat.

Attacking: These manticores have fighting capabilities, they have magical abilities that make them fit for direct combat but aren't capable of transporting their owners because of their size.

Spoiler: Snapflight

View attachment 735566

Snapflight's are small, agile creatures that Witches use for assassination, capture missions, and to add a step up their opponents in battle. ( Yuu Vee Rays )

Anatomy: The Snapflight is a black viper with the attributes of a vampire bat. It doesn't get very much bigger than your average viper, but it makes it up with it's unique ability. It is able to suck out the mana of a person it bites into, swapping that with the poison that it makes. It also has secret wings covered by scales wrapped around their body, having decent flight capabilities as well.

Behavior: A Snapflight's temperament is kill or be killed when in the wild. It survives by dulling it's targets senses and movements with it's poison, it's dosage ever increasing as it swaps it with it's mana. A couple of drops of it's poison is enough to stiffen the muscles. Some more dulls the senses. And, given enough, the poison attacks it's targets inner organs, shutting it down from the inside. It isn't possible to tame unless it's surrounded by Witches from it's birth. When it is tamed, it is trusting of Witches, following their orders. Though, just like in a pack, it will follow the orders of those at the top (The Witch that tamed it, then whoever it deems as the next strongest) first and foremost. It's main functions are to cause paralysis to those the Witch wants to stop and/or capture, kill their target, and while doing so, steal their mana so that they may replenish it using what the Snapflight sucked from those it bit. It can also chose who the poison/mana swap happens to, so it can bite the tamer without worry while it transfers the mana it stole to the Witch that tamed it.

Connection: The Snapflight is a combination of a black viper snake and a vampire bat.

Spoiler: Iguana Parrot

The iguana parrot, also known as the reptile bird, is a hybridized creature between a parrot and an iguana. It's used mainly because of its recording capabilities and sound related magic to spy or gather evidence.

Anatomy: The iguana parrot resembles a cross between a green parrot and an iguana. This creature has feathers and is capable of flight, but also possesses a number of reptilian characteristics as well. It has a parrot-like beak, a feathered tail, and wings ending in claws, and it moves on four limbs when it chooses not to fly. Its feet also seem to lack the reversed toe characteristic of many modern birds, and it has a small dorsal fin on its back. It's small and light enough to stand on the shoulder of its master comfortably for both. Its magical power involves sound, it can copy any sound and reproduce it exactly as heard but it's incapable of creating them itself, aside for a powerful stunning screech they use in combat and powerful sound waves. Iguana Parrots are highly reliable sources of evidence but also useful in combat because of this and they're usually sent to spy the enemies.

Behavior: This flying reptile is temperamental and loyal only to the person on whose shoulder it perches. Otherwise being mischievous on the wild, it will use its magic to lure humans into traps or play pranks on witches.

Connection: The iguana parrot is similar in character to the classic pirate's parrot, showing loyalty only to its owner, though in terms of appearance, it shares traits with proavis.

 

[Neo Alice]

Charms:​

Spoiler: Basic Charms:

(Charms From left to right: Presence Concealment, Raw Mana Manipulation, Mana Perception, Spell Manifestation and Translation)

Basic charms look like simple stones with ancient carvings that light up when used; still they provide some extra power to witches and must be always attached to their bodies for protection. Except for the Translation Charm, these used to be basic abilities that all witches had back on the old days but have been lost, to compensate for this all witches are gifted basic charms and will never have to pay if they need to replace them in case of theft or being damaged.

Presence Concealment Charm: A basic and useful charm that hides the user and their manticores, it doesn’t work on witches or magical creatures but cameras, humans and animals will not be able to see, smell, hear, feel or sense you while you’re using its power. It can’t hide vehicles but it can hide Manticores used as mounts, this is the main reason that witches prefer to ride manticores instead of just using cars.

Raw Mana Manipulation Charm: Mana is another name for the magical energy that flows through the veins of all witches and is also present on the ambient itself; in its purest form is pink energy but unless used by a witch is invisible. With this charm witches may mold that raw energy into a physical manifestation using their hands and feet to create complicated constructs or defend themselves with shields of pure magical energy. The purity of the mana that a witch controls is reflected in color with blue for inexperience and untrained witches, purple for those with medium training and pink for expert witches. The strength and power of this energy on your hands is related to how much training you put into its usage (i.e. the shields of a less trained witch would be blue and can break as easily as glass while a highly trained witch can stop even bullets with their pink shields remaining intact).

Mana Perception Charm: The capacity to feel magic itself is granted by this charm, this allows the witch to know if something has a magical reason behind it (i.e. a mysterious weather that was caused by the ability of another witch) and to identify other fellow witches with just feeling the magic inside of them.

Spell Manifestation Charm: Not to be confused with the “spellcasting” ability, this charm gives a less powerful version that is restricted to the magical ability of the witch. Unlike the spellcasting ability, the users can only make spells related to their power (i.e. a witch with Earth Palms can’t just make a golem, they must use this charm for it.) but won’t lose their voice at all.

Translation Charm: Quite self-explanatory, it allows you to understand any language as long as it’s active. It’s quite important since the Covenant is an international organization and is the only basic charm that wasn’t a common ability for witches on the old days.

Spoiler: Abjurers Charms

These are high quality charms made only for abjurers, they are trusted to put them on good use and need them since they hunt excommunicated witches. They only work for a witch with an Abjurer’s pentacle.

Mind Ward Charm: A protective charm that makes them immune to mental manipulation and intrusion. Telepathy and all kind of illusions are useless against them because of it.

Presence Concealment Charm (Upgrade): It works on excommunicated witches as if they were humans but not on magical creatures.

Pentacle Tracking Charm: It allows them to see in a map the approximated location of the pentacle of a specific excommunicated witch assigned to them, it’s not too precise so they still need to use a shirshu to find the specific location of the witch.

Communication Charm: A magical charm that uses ley lines instead of cellphone towers to telepathically call to the administration office of the Covenant and allows them to receive telepathic calls from them as well. This is how they deconsecrate covens, ask for backup if needed and communicate with each other.

Spoiler: Unique Charms:

These are a work in progress but they are gems instead of just stones. There’s only 1 of each and are more resistant and powerful than basic charms. Everyone is encouraged to message me with a unique Charm they want to add to the rp.

Spoiler: Lost Charms

Charms that are believed to be lost forever, ancient relics of great value haven’t been regulated by the covenant and must be registered if founded. As such, all witches can use them even if excommunicated. This is still a WIP too, everyone is welcome to message me to add more, but please base them on ancient cultures.

Resurrection Charm: Is shaped like a scarab and allows the user to resurrect people and themselves. It was created by an ancient powerful Egyptian witch.

Mana Warping Charm: Shaped like an Ankh, it allows a greater control on the mana than the basic charm. The user can bend reality to a degree and use spells for it too. The “life” energy that the ancient Egyptians believed to be associated with the Ankh was in reality mana.