Witches, Part 2 - Structures & Sirloins

It Is Not Who You Are
Art by Tithi Luadthong

Middling

As practitioners of The Primeval Forces, witches share much in common with the druids who thrive amongst them. The artform is a fundamental part of a witch's practice, stewing together slow, powerful magic with the more explosive forces of The Occult. Through this combination, witches are considered masters of feats which other casters would find impossible, such as the sewing of hexes. 

Covens exist on a leyline between two different worlds. By locking themselves between the urbanite and the natural world, a witch lives in both but belongs to neither, helping themselves to the little tricks by which magic subsides. Witches have succeeded in reverse-engineering many of the gifts possessed by druids, such as the transformation of the body through wild-shape, much to the dismay of the druids themselves. Witches found in their homes, ripped limb from limb by brambles or teeth, discourage exiles from joining a coven.

Witches are not druids, but they are also not wizards. Their spells are informed by quieter, older powers, and the rituals they undertake are tinctured with chaos. Much of the structure surrounding a witch's power involves convolution and process. Witch problems require witch solutions, only solved through witch processes. 

The Faux-Rabbit

Fear The Hound Who Speaks In Threes
'Shape on the Stairs' by Dappermouth

It is not easy to transmogrify oneself into the shape of another. Legend tells of the great lengths the ancient Deûlémain had to undertake to sculpt their physical forms, picking apart the flesh of their mountainous prey. Whether through ritual or plague, druids of the wild-shaping variety may claim to have simplified the process, although it remains nonetheless strenuous and gruesome. With the introduction of Occult doctrine, witch ideology chose to ignore this process in place of its own.

A witch's glamours do not hold up to the same scrutiny as a druid's wild shape. Witches who drink their potions and apply their oils merely add layers to the canvas, a potent mimicry of wildlife. They contort themselves into shape, prancing along on hands and knees, dancing along the earth like a puppet on strings. A witch's disguise is near-indistinguishable from the beast she shadows, but more than once has a hunter struck a deer or wolf from afar, only to peel off its coat to reveal the woman inside.

A witch's disguise is limited but versatile. She does not adopt the flesh or biology of her borrowed form, but retains its physical adaptations. The difficult task of maintaining their facade and the question of size means that most witches who engage in mimicry limit themselves to less expressive beasts—mammals such as wolves or deer. A witch can maintain a larger or more shrivelled form, but many report the experience to be uncomfortable, even requiring dexterity (especially in the case of flight). Mimicking the appearance of a creature rather than transforming wholly into it means that the witch maintains much of her own mind, a fact lesser claimed by the druid, and most witches even claim to be capable of complete speech while inside. 

In some covens, revealing as much of the original body as possible without destroying the facade is considered a kind of sport.

An Alchemist's Pet

By the very nature of the practice, witches do not trust familiars. Many genuinely love their pets; familiars are trained by the boatload for this reason—clever tools in collection and espionage—but even the young witch is aware of the danger an Artisan's companion resides. Whether tamed by witches or the partner of a Republican Artisan, familiars are hosts to intelligent minds capable of tact and humour alike. 

Sisters and Siblings, Brothers In Arms
Art by Koukouvayia

Most familiars take on the shape of animals, but not all familiars are animals themselves. Although some may claim that the bond between man and beast is akin to one between humans, witches see this relationship as shaky at best. Most will resort to other approaches if the opportunity does not reveal itself. 

Calling is popular among possessive witches, who prize their familiars more as tools than companions. Invoking the powers respondent to them, a witch can embed their magic into a still vessel, constructing their familiar from baubles and parts and producing loyal homunculi. Most called familiars assume the appearance of regular animals, but inklings of their magical creation occasionally seep through the cracks. This sometimes serves to the witch's benefit.

What's Wrong With Your Dog?

1. Eyes sprout from the familiar's face and body, their pupils alien and unnerving.
2. Feathers take the place of fur, and manes adorn a plumaged brow.
3. It caws when it should bark and mews when it should shriek. Was that a laugh?
4. Synthetic material relieves the flesh; feathers of silver and classic stones.
5. Stitches can be seen along the neck or the back. Something peers from within it. 
6. It responds to stimuli others cannot see. Forgotten tongues and forces of nature, as if happy to reply.

Life-Weavers

Out of all the tools in a witch's arsenal, the hex is the tour de force. Hexcraft exists in all forms, in all manners of being, permeating the very existence of a witch's craft. No deal is made beneath a witch's tongue, and no action is made in her cauldron without first acknowledging the power of its icons. 

Hexes are commonly associated with symbols or runes, but not all maintain a physical form. The process of sewing a charm is interpersonal to the witch. Although there is a multitude of universally-accepted curses, most witches design at least one for themselves. Witches are taught early on to sew this magic in their belongings. Mundane objects become magic items, clothes and accessories become animated or living tools, and each flick of the occult festers more profound power. 

Some Of The More Infamous Curses Are Commonly Associated With Birds. Perhaps Another Time?
Art by Rea Kolarova