Coven of the Witching Hour

Coven of the Witching Hour

## Overview

Elsa Grimston is the daughter of the arcanist warlord Vigo and the succubus Enêpsigos whom had been summoned for a foul ritual to grant a magical heir. The entire occult pregnancy that resulted took place within the course of a single night under the first full moon of the year. Elsa was born at the conclusion of the ritual, her entire development having been accelerated by the ritual being fed potent lunar essence.

When she was born female, Vigo was not pleased as he had intended to have a male heir. Upset by the way the ritual had ended, Vigo cast Elsa's mother back to Hell and turned Elsa over his servants to raise as a scullery maid. When Elsa learned of this later, she vowed to destroy her father someday.

Though not trained by her father in the occult arts, Elsa learned enough through instinct and attempted to call upon her mother to rescue her from Hell. However, by the time of this attempted summoning, Enêpsigos had become indentured to the King of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar and thus her summons requests were brought to the Devil himself for approval.

After hundreds of requests came in from Elsa over the course of several years, the Devil went down to Carpathia to investigate and found a beautiful young woman. Attracted to her physical appearance and mystical potential, Lucifer Morningstar seduced her into exchanging her soul for a portion of his power, becoming a very powerful witch in the service of the Morningstar.

Elsa spent the next century and change traveling the world at her benefactor's behest to study under the great mistresses of the Grand Coven. She only returned to her homeland to visit the site of her father's execution and laugh until she cried. Believing she had failed to fulfill her vow to kill her father, Elsa instead pledged to wipe out those who had followed or revered him - until she had destroyed every memory of him. However, that proved difficult to do in the lands that her father once ruled due to her resemblance to the tyrant so many remembered, forcing her to flee to other lands and bide her time.

Elsa did manage to slay several of her father's former disciples as they had migrated to their countries across the world. When her prospective targets realized the focus of her vendetta, they used their mutual enemies to target her - discreetly reporting her to the Spanish Inquisitors and the Men of Letters.

Elsa narrowly survived the attempts on her life orchestrated by witchhunters in America and inquisitors in Europe, first causing her to question her lifestyle choices and become increasingly reclusive as she did her best to survive on her own, cutting contact with the Grand Coven as a precaution.

When Aradia tracked her down after Lucifer's abdication, she found Elsa at the head of small cult in South America, having convinced most of the residents of a small village to worship her as a goddess. Lucifer's abdication had voided Elsa's contract, leaving her less powerful than before but still more than capable. Aradia attempted to reinvest in Elsa, granting her more power in exchange for her renewing the contract on her soul. Much to Aradia's surprise, Elsa declined in favor of sustaining her life with the worship of her mortal followers.

One day, Elsa was called to the Oblivion Bar by Lucifer Morningstar. With terms very similar to what Aradia offered decades ago, Lucifer requested Elsa's service to him once more. Though she no longer had any desire to be a witch, she agreed to do so when Lucifer asked her to use that power to destroy the Order of Ancient Mysteries.

Part of her deal with the Devil, Elsa was given authority as Crone of a new coven and bestowed with the power to choose two other witches. This would lead her on a path that would bring Kara Valentine and Sook Lee into the coven. Elsa, Kara and Sook spend their nights fighting against the expansion of the Order of Ancient Mysteries.

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* Though the coven retains possession of their souls, it is owned by their infernal benefactor, Lucifer Morningstar. They cannot act against him directly and can be summoned to him at any moment. As a result of this magical contract, there are some magics that cannot affect them without Lucifer's permission.

### Notes

* The group comes from *The Witching* Vertigo series.

## Links and References

* Appearances of the Coven of the Witching Hour
* Team Gallery: Coven of the Witching Hour
* Membership of the Coven of the Witching Hour

1. ↑ Network Files: Elsa Grimston