Battle Witches of Ruskata

While the Queendom of Ruskata relies mostly on its armored Boyars, battle-scythe wielding levies, men-at-arms, trained archers and horse archers for defense, the kingdom is besieged at all sides by enemies with magical, monstrous or technological weaponry that would be devastating when facing a regular army.
The Ice-Witches of Ruskata, being the de-facto leaders of the country, take on the roles held typically by nobles in other lands. Their age, knowledge, wisdom and skill in the arcane arts dictating their place in the magocratic nation.
While the training form a young woman to become a full-fledged ice-witch can take over twenty years, many less talented witches are simply never fully trained, dropping out and becoming acolytes. There are those who just barely missed the cut to become full-fledged Ice-Witches. These apprentices are further tested and culled, the best among them are chosen to enter into a bloody sisterhood. The "Crows" as they are known for their deep black garb and tendency to cackle and caw as they fly by on broomsticks in a murder of their namesake, are the guardians of their covens and their land. They are responsible for holding the borders with arcane guerilla tactics. These witches take on similar roles to knights in Westrasi nations. There numbers rise and fall over the years with ongoing skirmishes across their borders, but a force of roughly 300 young witches are trained to focus their physical and arcane talents solely on arcane battle and aerial maneuvers. Each coven is expected to maintain a small force of Crows to act in their defence and that of their nation if called upon.
In combat, the Crows utilize speed, darkness, archery and magic to hobble the enemy. When engaging they first maintain distance by causing roots to grow and pin the enemy in the ground before letting loose vollys of enchanted ice arrows from carefully constructed shortbows. Over enemy soil they drop pestilence bombs into the enemy's livestock and horses, causing their food to rot and animals to sicken. Within moments of striking the Crows flee again into the night. They are as much a tactical weapon as a terror weapon. If drawn into melee combat or knocked from their brooms a Crow will rely on weaponry of their choice crafted from pure ice. The faster of the Crows are capable of conjuring thin spears of ice swiftly enough to impale an enemy a few mere feet infront of them.
Most of their number have bound actual crows as familiars, utilizing the intelligent birds as scouts and learning what they can of novel flight maneuvers. The eldest of the Crows are often those who have fully embraced their bloody work and delved into the darker arcane paths. It is not uncommon to see complex runic bindings tattood upon the skin of veteran crows. The bindings often hold all manner of magic, from bound spirits, lesser fey or demons to more blunt but equally effective destructive energies to be unleashed upon the battlefield. Regardless of the magics they bind to themselves and their equipment each veteran Crow eventually becomes a walking armory of arcane tools bindings and weapons.
Category:World Lore