Witch

Those, mostly women, who practice forbidden magic.

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Atjoya

Endruin criminalizes all forms of non-infernal witchcraft. As such, most witches are considered criminals. Those who work for the Blue Grith either wield the power of matrilineal ancestry, the power of grandmotherly love, of anarchy, or of giving and generosity.

An atjoya learns their craft from a mentor, learning the ways to help women in the community or to help those who do not conform to patriarchy. They also learn the arts of ancestral memory and the power of aemoa, the energy derived from reaching back to ancestors before the Fall. They do this by engaging in ancient practices handed down mentor to mentor, mother to mother, parent to parent, involving meditation, special substances, and deep visions. Almost anyone can access their ancestral memory, though it is not easy, but to access ancestors from before the Fall requires eradicating all patriarchal assumptions and indoctrinations first. One must be entirely free of patriarchal values to be able to go back that far.

Once someone breaks past that barrier, they may access it only briefly without being drawn into it. Most, therefore, either connect with a single ancestor or small number of them, or they only go back occasionally, or, as the atjoyas do, they focus on one kind of ancestor. In this case, they focus on other witches and protectors of women and gender non-conformers. They often have an ancestral guide, one from just before the Fall, and a handful of preferred ancestors to connect with, all of them some kind of witch. In order to access them, they associate some object with them, usually a piece of clothing or something they use in the course of taking care of others. They use that focus to instantly connect and gain wisdom or advice. They can also draw powers, skills, and abilities from their preferred ancestors, but in order to do this, they need to spend more time and effort than a quick connection via their focus. Usually, they need to enter a trance (using meditation and an hallucinogen) for a few hours and find the ability, skill, or power in a symbolic vision, led by their ancestral guide. Any skill, power, or ability drawn from their ancestors may only be temporary. If they hold onto it for more than a few hours, they risk having the ancestor's memories over take and replace their own.

Atjoya's witchcraft attunes them to the cycles of their ancestors, and the power of their ancestors before the Fall are extremely potent. As witches, they have a wide variety of spells at their disposal. Witchcraft is ritual magic that creates a delayed effect. Any effect they want to happen instantly must be prepared beforehand and attached to some triggering object - if they wish to hex someone, they need to have a focus they can store it in to release later when they have a target, for example.

Because witchcraft comes with so many potential spells, player and GM will develop the list together if this occupation is chosen. All spells will revolve around ancestral memory, skills and powers relating to serving women, fighting patriarchy, supporting gender non-conformity, or healing or soothing victims of sexual violence.

Part of the Committee for Support.

PRO -1 ATH -1 STR / AWA +2 WIL +4 PRS +1 STH /

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Babusya

Witchcraft is illegal in Endruin, and thus all witches are criminals, no matter how they practice their craft. Elemental witchcraft is bonded to the cycles of natural things, such as the moons or plants. Two types are common in the Green Grith: those bonded to the moons and those bonded to evergreen trees.

Babusyas bring the tradition of their magic from the far north, the great taiga, the coniferous forests, where they attune themselves to the cycles of the plants living there, specifically the alternation of generations of the conifers in these forests, cone and tree. Babusyas bond to a specific tree or set of trees for their powers, and as the year progresses, their powers are affected. Their spells are cast long before the effect takes place, triggered by some part of the cycle, though some are stored for immediate use later.

There are two types of babusya: the young and the eld. The young are attuned to the cone phase, the eld to the tree phase. Both take on some resemblance to their phase. They store their powers in various objects to wield them later.

• Pinecone talisman: a pinecone enchanted to store any spell the babusya wants, these are their commonest tool. Usually, they are imbued with offensive or defensive charms.
• Pineskin cauldron: a cauldon made from the bark of a tree of the taiga that refreshes any food or drink placed within.
• Needle broom: a broom made of needles from a pine tree that cleanses anything it sweeps, absorbs blood, and allows the babusya to fly.
• Sticky tincture: a tincture made from pine sap that makes anyone who drinks it slow or paralyzed.
• Wintergreen perfume: a perfume of pine scent that makes the wearer feel younger and stronger.
• Evergreen dress: clothing made from any part of the taiga's trees that protects from infernal powers.
• Cold hearthstone: a hearthstone washed in cold ash from a fire of pine logs, thus keeping a place warm even in the coldest times without a fire.
• Owlfeather shawl: a shawl made from the feathers of owls of the taiga that gives the wearer greater wisdom.
• Moose antler staff: a staff topped with moose antlers and ornamented with pinecones that channels the full might of the taiga.

These witches can commune with any conifer, gaining wisdom and knowledge from them, by sleeping next to them on a bed of pinecones. They can use conifer branches for divination, and they can connect with any animal native to the taiga to gain a familiar.

They are skilled with herbalism, traditional medicine, and other skills of witchcraft.

PRO / ATH / STR +1 AWA +2 WIL +3 PRS +1 STH /

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Bamuso

Endruin criminalizes all forms of non-infernal witchcraft. As such, most witches are considered criminals. Those who work for the Blue Grith either wield the power of matrilineal ancestry, the power of grandmotherly love, of anarchy, or of giving and generosity.

A bamuso is a grandmother, usually literally, but sometimes metaphorically. A bamuso is almost always a woman, but they can be some form of gender non-conforming, nonbinary, or transgender, even a cis man in very rare cases. But their role is one of a grandmother, meaning someone who has two generations of family - blood or chosen - after them to protect and care for. She forms bonds with these members of her family - usually some subset of the Blue Grith - via her love for them, and seals it with a ritual of blood magic that mixes all their bloods. This ritual involves spilling that blood on some symbol of their family, which becomes the focus of the bamuso's powers. Any new members must perform a simplified version of the ritual to join, except children born into it, who are automatically made part of it. If a third generation forms, the bamuso simply gains more power.

Via her bonds, she can provide protections, healing, emotional support, information, skills, or powers to her family. As witches, she has a wide variety of spells at their disposal. Witchcraft is ritual magic that creates a delayed effect. Any effect she wants to happen instantly must be prepared beforehand and attached to some triggering object - if she wishes to hex someone, she needs to have a focus they can store it in to release later when she has a target, for example. This focus is usually some variant of her family symbol.

Because witchcraft comes with so many potential spells, player and GM will develop the list together if this occupation is chosen. All spells will revolve around ancestral memory, skills and powers relating to her family and the generations she protects.

Part of the Committee for Support.

PRO / ATH +1 STR +1 AWA +2 WIL +3 PRS / STH -1

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Bellona

All witchcraft is illegal in Endruin, so all witches are criminals. There are many kinds of witchcraft, but the two most common in the Red Grith are those who study "women's" sciences and a sect of women warriors.

Bellonae belong to a sect of women warriors (who also welcome other non-cis men of any gender) who combine the arts of witchcraft with war magic. They use ritual combat to ignite their powers, specifically focusing on the use of sword, shield, spear, torch, whip, and chariot. Every bellona chooses one of these to focus on, but they have some skill in all of them.

The ritual combat they engage in happens every three months, and they fight to first blood. At the start of the fight, they ritually wound their arms and/or legs as a blood sacrifice to make sure blood is spilled. When blood is spilled, both victor and loser of the fight absorb it into their weapons for its magical power. This blood is used for spells that enhance their combat abilities. Initiates spend three years training before they are let to do anything on their own as a bellona. The spells they gain in that time include the following:

• Fury of battle: after the first round of combat, if they invoke this power, they get a counter attack against any attack against them for an entire round.
• Flame of strife: during combat, they can create a raging wall of flame that covers the entire combat area, damaging everyone, friend or foe.
• Wild abandon: they can enter an unfocused, erratic series of strikes that add +3 to all damage rolls if they hit, but are always open to counter attacks.
• Bloodlust: every time they draw blood, they gain +1 to PRO, ATH, or STR (their choice, but it must be the same for the entire battle) that lasts for the length of combat.
• Dismembering strike: they can make a called shot without penalty to attempt to remove body parts from their target (as long as it's not the neck/head/back).

The brutality and gore of their sect is feared by all, even by other members of the Red Grith.

PRO +3 ATH +2 STR +2 AWA -1 WIL -2 PRS -3 STH -1

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Besomer

All witchcraft is illegal in Endruin, so all witches are criminals. In the Violet Grith, they most commonly draw their powers from stories of witches or from the essence of magic itself.

Besomers are witches who enchant objects to store their spells and wield their magicks. They are much like cailleachs in all regards, but with a stronger focus on objects and spells that accompany them. Their main magic is their brooms (hence their name), in which they store spells of flying, cleansing, scouring, and wind. Other items include the following:

• Cauldron: making potions and poisons

• Hat: protection

• Mirror: divination

• Athame: fire magic

• Boline: enhancing ingredients

• Bowl: healing and water magic

• Pentacle: sealing

• Staff: offensive magic

• Poppet: binding people and earth magic

• Grimoire: lore

• Candle: illumination and communication

A full list of spells will be developed with the GM, but their magic is very similar to a cailleach’s, just attached to an item.

PRO -1 ATH +1 STR / AWA +2 WIL +3 PRS / STH /

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Cailleach

All witchcraft is illegal in Endruin, so all witches are criminals. In the Violet Grith, they most commonly draw their powers from stories of witches or from the essence of magic itself.

Cailleachs are quintessential witches who wield the power of legendary witches and stories passed down from mother to daughter, from mentor to mentee, from coven to coven. They have covens of three, the classic maiden, mother, crone trio, and they learn magicks that all three may cast together via ritual as well as ones they use individually. They also learn herbalism, medicine, and crafting, and they are considered the wise women of their communities.

Their magic derives from cycles of magic itself. They study and understand the flow of magic through the world, guided by the lore, and they learn the arts of witchcraft from one another. When they are young, they are initiated into studying witchcraft by an older cailleach, who tests them and guides them until they are ready to become a maiden-witch. “Maiden” does not mean virgin in this context, but simply a younger woman (or non-man) by tradition, though some men do become cailleachs in rare cases.

Because their magic is so deep and wide-ranging, there is no preset list of spells. Stronger spells are done via group ritual while other spells are able to be cast individually. Their magic often focuses on cycles, nature, and fairy lore, but they have many other spells. Consult the GM to develop a list of magicks.

PRO -1 ATH +1 STR / AWA +2 WIL +3 PRS / STH /

Archwarden

The sixth archwarden of the Violet Grith is an ancient crone, a fairy of incredible power older than the empire, whose coven is the original coven of the Violet Grith. She is only spoken of as a rumor.

PRO +2 ATH +3 STR +2 AWA +5 WIL +7 PRS +3 STH +2

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Laqo

Endruin criminalizes all forms of non-infernal witchcraft. As such, most witches are considered criminals. Those who work for the Blue Grith either wield the power of matrilineal ancestry, the power of grandmotherly love, of anarchy, or of giving and generosity.

Laqos are witches who are attuned to the cycles of chaos. They are anarchistic witches who obey no mortal law, provide support and aid to their communities, and seek alternative forms of power and structure. They have their own codes, and they refuse to be bound by patriarchal or oppressive values, codes, or chains. To maintain their powers, they defy consistency and change something about themselves every single day.

To become a laqo, someone (often a woman or someone who is not a man, but not always) must be mentored by another laqo, often already a member of the Blue Grith. They taught basic skills of witchcraft, community support, and soft power. They are taught political philosophies. And they are intiated via rites of passage and power involving special substances, visions, and special arts using magical objects like tarot cards, mystic incense, or powerful symbols. After years of study, rituals, and training, they develop a library (literal or not) of spells, powers, and insights, and they engage in a potent ritual that sends them on a dream journey into the heart of celestial chaos. During this, they are tested, scoured of any connections to mortal, patriarchal laws, and released with their full powers.

Their powers defy and disrupt the laws of men. They have spells that can provide support outside of existing systems, protect those who are cast out of the protedction of mortal laws, and empower people to care for themselves. As witches, they have a wide variety of spells at their disposal. Witchcraft is ritual magic that creates a delayed effect. Any effect they want to happen instantly must be prepared beforehand and attached to some triggering object - if they wish to hex someone, they need to have a focus they can store it in to release later when they have a target, for example.

Because witchcraft comes with so many potential spells, player and GM will develop the list together if this occupation is chosen. All spells will revolve around chaos, and therefore, they will have an element of unpredictability. For every critical or exceptional success or failure, they roll a d100 and risk one of the following effects:

Roll	Effect
1-2	The laqo is stunned
3	All allies within 33' and the laqo gain +6 to any stat that they choose for 5 minutes
4-7	Food fills the larders of every house within 1 mile
8-10	All enslaved or imprisoned people within 1 mile are teleported 10 miles away to a safe place
11	The laqo's next spell is an automatic special success
12-13	The laqo's next spell is an automatic normal success
14-15	The laqo falls asleep
16	The third person to the left of the laqo, no matter how far, is polymorphed into a songbird for an hour
17-23	The laqo and allies are teleported 10 miles away to a random location
24	Everyone within 33' has their gender presentation altered for an hou
25-26	The laqo loses on of their five primary senses for 5 minutes
27-28	The laqo's next spell is an automatic normal failure
29-32	Everyone within 33', including the laqo, is soothed of any stomach ailments
33	An angel appears
34-35	The laqo loses next action
36	Everyone within 33' is stripped nude
37-43	A wave of bluest water washes over everyone withinn 33', harming the infernal and helping everyone else
44	All enemies within 33' take -6 to a stat, skill, or power of the laqo's choosing for the next round
45-47	Everyone, including the laqo, within 33' hallucinates for 5 minutes
48-51	Bright lights shine on the laqo and her allies, revealing them to everyone nearby
52-54	All documents of mortal law within a mile are mixed up and altered at random
55-56	The laqo suffers a normal wound
57	The fifth person to the right, no matter how far, of the laqo is polymorphed into an apex predator mammal for the next hour
58-63	Impeentrable darkness surrounds the laqo and allies for five minutes
64	Every door within 33' is unlocked if it is locked and locked if it is unlocked
65-71	Beautiful music plays within 33' of the laqo
72	A rainbow bridge appears allowing the laqo, allies, and any oppressed or exploited to cross it to a safe location of their choosing
73-74	The laqo suffers a deep wound
75	The laqo communes with celestial chaos, gaining one piece of ancient wisdom
76-77	All plants within 33' release soothing scents or a foul stink
78-80	Folie a deu for everyone within 1 mile
81	A celestial storms sweeps over the area for 3 miles around
82-83	The laqo falls ill for the next hour
84	The laqo's favorite non-sentient animal appears
85-86	All wounds of everyone within 33' are healed
87-91	All illnesses of everyone within 1 mile are healed
92-95	Everyone within 33' can sense each other's emotions and thoughts for 1 round
96	A rainbow serpent appears
97-99	+9 to the lowest stat of everyone within 33', ally or enemy, but not the laqo
100	Celestial chaos reigns for a day and a night

The power of each roll is determined by a roll of 3d10 against which unwilling targets roll a relevant base stat, usually WIL.

Part of the Committee for Liberation.

PRO / ATH / STR / AWA +3 WIL +3 PRS +2 STH +1

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Moonwitch

Witchcraft is illegal in Endruin, and thus all witches are criminals, no matter how they practice their craft. Elemental witchcraft is bonded to the cycles of natural things, such as the moons or plants. Two types are common in the Green Grith: those bonded to the moons and those bonded to evergreen trees.

There are three moons around the world of Shem: the Grey Moon, the Green Moon, and the White Moon. The cycles of the moons affects the amount of elemental moon energy cast upon the world. The White Moon is the weakest, but it is better when used for attacks and bindings. The Green Moon's is the next weakest, but it is best used for transformations and emotional magic. And the Grey Moon's is the most potent, which is best used for protections, healing, and findings.

Each moon has a cycle ranging from new (unseen) to full (wholly visible), waxing and waning from crescent to gibbous. The White Moon has a 26 day cycle; the Green Moon has a 30 day cycle, and the Grey Moon has a 28 day cycle. Lunar magic is solar magic reflected from the moons. When a moon is new, it produces no accessible lunar energy. When it is full, it is at its greatest strength. (This is reverse if you are on the moons, but that is unlikely to come up.)

The phases of a witch's life are reflected in the phases of the moon:

• Maiden (waxing): associated with the Green Moon (Devica), the Maiden phase is a witch before she reaches maturity. In this phase, she is associated with youthfulness, innocence, newness, rising, energy.
• Mother (full): associated with the Grey Moon (Mati), the Mother phase is a mature witch (not necessarily a mother). In this phase, she is associated with nurturing, protecting, healing, fullness, power.
• Crone (waning): associated with the White Moon (Krona), the Crone phase is an elderly witch. In this phase, she is associated with wisdom, death, withering, age, insight.

Each phase comes with its own powers. A witch casts spells based on the moon her phase is associated with, so if a crone uses magic under a full White Moon it does not matter if the Grey Moon is new.

The practice of witchcraft is a series of rituals, dedications, and traditions that allow them to access the flow and cycles of lunar energy. The practices include sacrifices to the moons. These rituals involve a set of symbolic materials, a giving of blood, and either incantations or readings from ancient texts.

Witches often gather in covens, groups in multiples of threes (no less than three, no more than 27 - though the latter would be a massive coven). A coven always has a maiden, a mother, and a crone for every three witches. These always form subgroups within the coven, each teaching the other generationally. Covens, when gathered and performing rituals together, are immensely powerful. In the Green Grith, they tend to have three witches per terrorist cell, if there are any witches in them. Witches may join a coven either by inheriting it via a matrilineal succession or by being initiated. Those who are not born of a matrilineal line of witches must be initiated. Initiations are rituals that occur under a waxing moon.

A brother-witch is a witch who, regardless of gender, serves as a counterpoint in a coven or triad, a fourth member of any three witches who represents the masculine (whether they are or not), represents outsiders, represents the sun. They still wield all the powers of a regular witch, but their outsideness gives them the ability to use certain powers without the presence of moonlight. To become a brother-witch, a witch must be literally or symbolically resurrected after dying (again, literally or metaphorically) under a new moon. The ritual to cause this resurrection is one of the most closely guarded secrets of witchcraft. The power of the brother-witch derives from their crossing of lines between day and night, gender lines, ancestral lines, etc. These are very rare.

Powers that reflect the powers of the Moons:

• Soft light: a witch make create a soft glow of moonlight, usually an orb of it, to appear via simple incantation.
• Finding: a witch may cause a missing or hidden object to glow with soft light via incantation and simple ritual.
• Light step: a witch may make herself or others lighter, as if less affected by gravity, by sigils on clothing or shoes or by potent ritual.
• Tidal draw: a witch may make water react to herself, her will or her gesture, by washing in pure water under the full moon and performing a blood ritual within it.
• Returning cycle: a witch may invoke the ending or re-beginning of a cycle of any kind through powerful ritual.
• Invisibility: a witch may, under a full moon, become invisible by invocation of a complex ritual, washing themself and their clothing in blood, moonwater, and ash.

The most powerful ability witches have is reflecting other powers. Lunar energy repulses other energies, especially infernal ones, providing protections to anyone affected by it. Witches have many rituals, traditions, superstitions, and spells that provide protections to others, giving them lunar energy in some form or another to repel other powers. Marking with one's own blood, creating a poppet or mirrored amulet, or drawing a circle of power are the most common ways.

Witches can engage in a form of divination by looking into mirrors, which absorb lunar energy when left out under the full moon.

Witches can heal and soothe people by using their breath to drive away other energies. They supplement this with herbalism and other arts.

By affecting emotional resonance with lunar energy, witches can affect the emotions of others. They do this through simple incantations.

Powerful witches who have tapped into their ancient, ancestral magic can use the power of the new moon, the absence of lunar energy, the deep night, to draw in and devour targets. This is done via an ancient blood rite.

The most commonly used power of witches is to bind a person, place, or thing to a cycle. This is done via ritual involving something belonging to the target. When the target is bound to something, it will be affected by the cycle of it; for instance, witches use lunar energy to connect themselves to a moon during their initiation (unless they inherited a binding). For others, they may use lunar energy's senstitivity to cycles to cause something to be attuned to a cycle, thus making them react to the cycle. This can be binding to a different energy, or it can be binding to a natural cycle, etc. Unbinding is done similarly, but using lunar energy's reflective properties to break a cycle.

Witches bind to animal familiars via rituals that synchronize their living cycles with the animal. This allows them to sense the thoughts and feelings of the familiar, draw powers from it, see through its eyes, and influence its behavior.

Witches can send their consciousness into the flow of lunar energy around them during full moons. They do this by falling into a special sleep. They can send their consciousness anywhere under the light of the full moon.

The completion of a cycle is a moment of transformation. When witches complete a cycle, they have a moment of transformation, which usually results in their moving from one phase to another in a larger cycle (cycles within cycles, leading to greater and greater transformations). Knowing when they are near a completion, they can tap into the power of lunar energy to transform as the moon shifts phases. They must never do this going to or from a new moon, but any other phase shift will work. They can use a ritual in these circumstances to transform themselves or others (including objects or places), usually subtle changes such as an improvement or penalty, but sometimes major changes, including changing physical or metaphysical forms. The ritual to create a brother-witch is the most powerful example of this.

PRO / ATH -1 STR -2 AWA +4 WIL +4 PRS +1 STH +2

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Stabula

All witchcraft is illegal in Endruin, so all witches are criminals. There are many kinds of witchcraft, but the two most common in the Red Grith are those who study "women's" sciences and a sect of women warriors.

Stabulae are scientists who either study fields of science that are beneficial to women and non-men or who are women or non-men in scientific fields usually barred to them by patriarchal society. The Red Grith is not particularly feminist, but these women often turn to it because there are experts within it who know how to use hyperscience and have no care for the laws prohibiting them.

In the Red Grith, the stabulae use advanced scientific processes to study any kind of science they wish. They perform hyperscientific experiments that allow them to run multiple experiments with the same ingredients at the same time. For example, if an experiment needs one fluid ounce of water, they can run that experiment twice at the same time with only one fluid ounce of water, allowing for use of controls and A/B testing to experiment more rapidly.

In order to tap into this power, a stabula needs special equipment - equipment made from a glass called potiri - and neutralized ingredients, and decades of study into hyperscience. The Red Grith sponsors women who come to them seeking this knowledge if they promise to use their work to help the Red Grith for a certain amount of time.

Some examples of works stabulae involve themselves in include the following:

• Hyperastronomy: study of comets.
• Hyperbiology: reproductive health and gender-transition science.
• Hyperchemistry: study of reaction kinetics between chemicals.
• Hypergeology: cartography and topography and geological classification systems.
• Hypermeteorology: study of cyclones.
• Hyperoceanography: bathysphere exploration.
• Hyperphysics: study of radiation.
• Hyperpsychology: children's behavior, self-psych, experimental psychology, sexuality, memory, mental illness, psychopathology, and more.

Whatever field they are in, they have devices that help them in their work that have interesting powers.

PRO / ATH / STR +1 AWA +3 WIL +1 PRS -1 STH -1