Micah Campbell

*A Self-Taught Witch*

* Overview
* Sheet
* Background
* 'Ships
* Logs

Micah is a young and self-taught witch who has come to Beacon Hills chasing his destiny. He believes the Fates send him out to do ...something. They don't provide orientation manuals, people. While is family and community back home kept him politely but firmly at arms-length because of his differences, he's hoping to actually make friends do some good in the world. Or just graduate college with a degree in history. One or the other.

## Personality

Micah is a cheerful, almost manic at times, young man. He absolutely loves uncovering a mystery or chasing down a bit of trivia, mundane or magical. He's inquisitive, sharp as a whip, and a little theatrical. And all of that is a really good distraction from the fact that he is profoundly lonely and feels distinctly unloveable. Having one's family politely, kindly but firmly telling you that you're permanently exiled is rough. Sure, he's financially secure, but that doesn't make up for losing his relatives, even if they were distant to him growing up. Micah has abandonment issues and uses distancing techniques to try to get others to give him space, afraid to get hurt again. On the other hand, he has a strong need for companionship and a kind of almost over the top loyalty to those people he likes (even as he tries to keep from getting too close). That makes him a good friend, but one who is really hard to pin down with questions as simple as 'how are you feeling?' and 'why are you dancing around your backyard naked, waving burning sage overhead?'

## SIGNATURE ABILITY

### Fate's Pawn

Micah threw himself on the mercy of the Powers that Be and asked them to pick a fate for him. They did. He just doesn't know what it is yet. On his way to fulfilling it, he has a bit of a charmed life. Things just tend to work out for him. If not 'great' then at least 'okay'. Micah can usually count on a wild coincidence or twist of fate to save his ass, if not his dignity or pride. The flip side of that is that sometimes weird situations and/or circumstances come his way and he has a sense that he's supposed to help. There will usually be signs and portents and omens to let him know he's on the right track. Ignoring those hints from his otherworldly patrons creates situations of escalating suck until he gets back on the right track, though.

## SKILLS

The kid is an autodidact with a huge storehouse of things he's read a handful of books on, giving him a kind of broad scientific and humanities grounding that few people his age have managed to get. But because he is largely self-taught, there are some gaps in what he knows and how these things all fit together.

Look, the right way to weed a large field, how to bale hay without breaking yourself or how to milk cows is probably not going to come up, but if it does, Micah is ready! He was raised on a farm and knows horticulture, animal handling and more esoteric things like the care and use of tractors, grain storage, canning and drying goods, etc. Useful if there is ever an apocalypse or if he gets stuck on a desert island.

He can do this. He should NOT do this, but he can. And occasionally does, because he cannot accept being so bad at it. But Micah knows the principles and lore of Alchemy. He can identify the processes and products of the art. But he's so, so bad at the practice.

Micah keeps himself in shape, reasoning that one can't do magic well if one can't master one's own body first. He's a good runner, swimmer and has excellent endurance for a human. On the other hand, he's not a power lifter or any good at team sports in general.

He knows enough to install Linux and a VPN, but he's not going to be hacking the Gibson anytime soon. Still, he has enough computer expertise to handle any routine situation that comes up.

You can't become a vegetarian on a farm without learning to cook for yourself sometimes. Happily, Micah enjoys working in the kitchen and putting together tasty meals and treats. Unfortunately, he (wrongly) believes that his talent for putting together a great eggplant lasagna means that he should also be able to handle potions and reagents in alchemy. It's all the same thing, right?

In Micah's family, it was unlikely to grow up on a farm in Iowa without learning how to safely handle firearms. Micah is not a crack shot, but he can fire a pistol, rifle and shotgun without harming himself or endangering anybody he wasn't planning to endanger. He's not a huge fan of the noise, though.

Bandages and splints and gauze, oh my. He doesn't need this for himself so much these days, but he learned the skills in the Scouts and is kind of proud of them.

Micah has had several years of strip mall karate lessons. Whether that's actually useful is kind of debatable, but he does know how to throw a kick and punch and block them. He could use a lot more practice before becoming anything approaching dangerous, though, no matter what his brown belt certificate says.

The occult Craft includes herbalism, spellcraft, research, the preparation and performance of rituals, awareness of the supernatural world, and more. A practicing witch is competent and versed in all these things, understanding the properties of plants and their role in magic, knowing a variety of spells and how to use them, and certainly knows how to seek out information they don't already have. Whether based on their own knowledge or using a grimoire, they are able to recognize, analyze, and counter spells, and even come up with original spells or alter existing ones.

## ABILITIES

He can do this. He should NOT do this, but he can. And occasionally does, because he cannot accept being so bad at it. But Micah knows the principles and lore of Alchemy. He can identify the processes and products of the art. But he's so, so bad at the practice.

Micah doesn't so much do telekinetic effects as he imbues objects in an area with a kind of motive force and innate magical direction. He doesn't have to focus on any one thing, just the effect he wants to achieve. For instance, when he's baking cookies, he might have a recipe book floating around, a bowl and spoon whirling as the batter is mixed and various bottles and jars adding a pinch of this or that. Think 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' rather than 'Jean Grey'. House cleaning day at his place is either terrifying or hilarious, depending on how comfortable one is with animate objects who are occasionally a bit on the sassy side, in a mute way. He can animate up to the volume of a large room, or something as massive as a large personal vehicle (think F150 truck, not a whole Semi and trailer or a jet). He can use these effects to harass, restrain or damage others, though the latter is not something he usually likes. He can also use this ability for much more subtle effects, like unlocking doors and handcuffs, untying rope or even asking cameras and such to stop recording while he's there.

Minor telekinesis (under a couple of pounds), witch lights, causing candles or kindling to ignite, wardrobe changes (very handy!), minor chilling and heating effects, etc. All of the little 'witchy' perks that come with being born with magic in your veins. None of these effects can do more than mildly impress normals or be handy, rather than crossing a room, but they save time and trouble. And are just cool.

Throwing the runes, reading the cards, scrying bowls and black mirrors, Micah has a half-dozen techniques for seeing the future and the hidden. Or at least he tries to see those things. While it is an area of study that deeply interests him, it is also one that is very hard to master and takes a lot of time and practice to make reliable. He can generally get clues about what he should be doing or where he should be looking, but specifics are definitely beyond his powers at this point.

Something Micah discovered early (and that caused him to focus on magical stealth) was an ability to access the Ways, albeit in a somewhat limited and odd fashion. Essentially, Micah can cause any doorway to be an entrance to the Ways. He needs to focus, concentrate and probably mutter an incantation under his breath, but then he can step through the door and be in the Ways. Once he is in the Ways, though, he has to travel to find his exit, usually in stealth mode, because there are things there that find him crunchy and delicious as part of a balanced breakfast.

Micah is just not very good at making things explode. Yet. But he can throw a lightning zap or bolt of fire if he really has to. He just isn't great at either summoning or aiming said bolt. Sudden, forceful uses of his magic are also draining on him. Perhaps because he's not a 'sudden, direct action' kind of person.

An off-shoot of his healing magic and agricultural skills, lets Micah grow just about anything, given a patch or pot of soil, some water, sunlight and time to beam some serious love at said plant. It's another thing he doesn't talk about but is obvious if you see where he lives. He loves greenery and having thriving plants and trees around. He can even convince indoor fruit trees or berry bushes to fruit in the winter, as it won't harm them. Also, it tends to mean he gives his friends houseplants that happen to be herbs to promote health, well-being and happiness. These low-level magics really do have a very minor effect, as long as you keep the plant alive.

Micah's magic is inclined towards healing, but he has no training in it yet. When it comes to self-healing, this ability is more like a low-level regeneration. His magic constantly flows through his body, trying to fix damage and negate toxins and infection. The result is something akin to supernatural healing, slower than most supernatural creatures. This would theoretically allow Micah to survive damage that would kill a normal human, but he's not keen on testing that theory. When it comes to healing others, he needs foci, in terms of ritual items and a quiet work space. Consciously using this ability, rather than just passively healing himself, is enormously taxing.

Micah's ability to cast glamors and seemings is pretty damned spectacular. His illusions are full sensory and animate, able to completely alter one's environment, Star Trek Holodeck style. Normal humans can almost never figure out they are being fooled, but a smart supernatural type will notice that they aren't getting sensory feedback for things that Micah himself can't sense. Like his illusionary people will have heartbeats and body scents, but they will be versions of those things that a human would sense. A whiff of musk and sweat, perhaps, but not the scent of fear or excitement. Or a psychic would see a person there, but not get a sense of a mind. Like his Animation powers, this is an area based ability, though he can refine it down to adding or deleting a single thing from his environment.

Being self-taught, Micah is not great with incantations and rituals. The gestures, materials and pronunciations are all fiddly and precise and it is very hard for a solo practitioner to get them right. While he has a few basic rituals under his belt, like cleansing a place from passive hostile energies and other 'domestic' magic, he's ignorant of the higher, more scholarly forms of magic.

An offshoot of Micah's illusions is an ability to just make himself vanish from perception. He can fade from view, hearing, even scent and psionic perception if he needs to do so. He can't share the ability, unfortunately, but it does allow him to pull the 'Batman vanish' technique and ninja away from a situation. In a quiet, calm environment, most supernaturals will pick up on his presence eventually, though most mortals would not. In the midst of chaos or battle though, it truly is nearly impossible to keep track of him when he uses this ability. It is also an exclusive power. If he's in stealth mode, he can't do any other magic. On the other hand, this ability is both instinctive and instant for him. He can vanish in the time it takes him to realize there is a threat, with no gestures or incantations. It literally takes everything he has to keep this power running and it gets exhausting after a while.

This is something Micah is really very good at doing. From creating zones that repel spiritual invasion to throwing up walls of force between himself and a hail of bullets, Micah has practiced his ability to ward himself until it is instinctive and reaction-level in terms of how quickly he can summon said wards. However, once he starts expanding them out from himself, they quickly get more taxing and slower to deploy. For instance, if he were trying to get out of a fire, his ward would automatically kick in at the first hint of danger. But expanding the field to cover his best friend next to him would take a second or two and would be harder to hold. In general, the more people and/or area he tries to cover, the faster this drains his endurance. So he might be able to do a superhero style forcefield to protect a group, but it would last only minutes or seconds and leave him exhausted afterwards. Also, he can only ward against things he's experienced. Keeping the rain and cold away? No problem! Lava? Not until he's been uncomfortably close to it. Which can be an issue.

Barriers on the other hand, don't take personal energy and are far less spectacular. Basically, he can use symbols, hex signs, salt, mountain ash, etc to create zones of denial that will not allow supernaturals (or even specific types of supernatural) or magical effects through said zones. He can even ward against humans with ill intent. The barriers take time to set up and need to be refreshed every new moon, but they can be damned useful.

Born with a talent for magic, a witch can accomplish quite a variety of effects through spellcraft. These range from conjuring, enchantment, transformation, warding, or illusion to the summoning or banishment of spirits or creatures, to a variety of other effects. For thematic, role-play, and plot purposes their abilities are nearly endless so long as they have the right spell available. For practical purposes, their castings all operate at the Enhanced level in most instances. With ritual preparation these may all be expanded, but any exceptional use would have to be approved by staff.

## ADVANTAGES

Truly a spotty and patchy few volumes that Micah has read a hundred times each. But they are what he has and while there are only four or five of them, the spells within do actually work. Granted, they are mostly about fortune telling and making the crops come in, but hey, it's something.

Everybody laughs until they need something hauled. Be it a wardrobe, a TV or a body, somebody always needs something hauled somewhere. And Micah's trusty, completely forgettable minivan does the job. Yes, he could afford a nicer car. But ... bodies. You never know.

Witches are well known for the "Power of Three." That is, they are especially adept at combining their individual strengths in order to cast much more powerful, impactful magics. Some of the most powerful spells a witch can cast require a circle of others to cast, and a circle is usually formed out of triads of witches, each wielding the Power of Three. Power of Three spells can be done by any three witches, but they have to have the same focus on their goal and ideally be on the same page. Witches who are at odds with each other may even have the spell fail or go wrong. For even greater effect, various groups of three can assemble into larger circles of nine or twelve, and a circle of thirteen is particularly potent.

Micah isn't going to be buying mansions and yachts, but he's set up for life. His parents gifted him (like all of his siblings) with a generous trust that is only going to get bigger over time. Micah isn't allowed to touch the principal, plus another ten percent of the gains per year to handle inflation, administration and growth of the trust. Even after taxes, what's left is more than enough to let him live comfortably in Beacon Hills. (If he lived in Manhattan or San Francisco, he'd have to get a job to keep up, more than likely.)

## WEAKNESSES

He can't leave it alone, but it's something of a blind spot for him. He's awful at it. Potentially even a danger to others. But Micah can't stop trying to get better at it, even with the occasional small explosion and need to air out his living space. For weeks.

Micah never met a mystery he can resist. It's bad. From being a little lowkey nosey to obsessive study of new things that interest him, Micah can be easily sidetracked by a good mystery. He will tend to get so dialed in on it that he'll forget social and academic obligations and need to be reminded.

While he is very, very lowkey about it, Micah is a pagan who has a special identification for the triple goddesses of fate. He usually invokes them as the Moirai, but the Norns or even the Morrigan have enough similarities that depending on his purpose and mood, he might call on them as well. His own personal belief system isn't very complicated, but he does believe in it with all his heart and it limits some of his actions. For instance, he's a vegetarian (well, ovo-lacto vegetarian, because he's not THAT dedicated), he tries to put positive change in the world, because whatever you do comes back to you three-fold, etc. While his particular faith doesn't forbid violence, he does believe that he will always pay a price for it. And because magic is shaped by belief, he's right. In essence, it means Micah is always striving to be kind and do as much good as he can, while being reluctant (but not unwilling) to throw down, even with those society calls 'monsters'. If he can, he wants to talk it out. That hesitation can be dangerous or even fatal.

Micah tries to be a good friend, but at the same time, he tries to keep a little distance between himself and others because he feels that he was abandoned by his family (which, to be fair, he was) and considers himself fundamentally flawed in regards to keeping friends and loved ones. This leads him to being standoffish and distant at times and overly protective and worried other times. He's a mess, emotionally.

Because he is largely self-taught, most of Micah's powers come from within, rather than pulling in power from other sources or the environment in general. While he can throw illusions for days, passively heal himself nearly for free or use cantrip level magics without drain, wards, Way travel, stealth, evocations and animations used combatively or over a large area drain him as though he was physically active and under mental stress at the same time. Magical exhaustion is something that happens to him when he pushes too hard. He tends to crash hard and wake up feeling like he has, in his words, 'a sunburn under my skin'. It usually takes a day or two at least to shake off the effects of drain. Longer if he really pushes it.

Micah knows he's smart. He lets that get in the way of being practical or taking chances that he should take at times. Other times, he leaps and expects his native intelligence to see him through, regardless of how dangerous or foolish the situation might be. If there is a way to over-think or overly complicate a situation, Micah will do so.

Born outside of Ames, Iowa, Micah was raised on a farm and had a pretty idyllic childhood up to the point of puberty. His parents were hard working people, with his dad Joshua a full-time farmer and his mother, Andrea (Andi) a teacher and part-time farmer herself. Micah was the youngest of five children and was always a bit of an odd-man out. The rest of his family were down to earth, practical folks and Micah was always, even as a small child, something of a dreamer.

There were a few hints that Micah was something special before he hit puberty. Once, when he fell into a river "swimming hole" while his older siblings were supposed to watch him, he spent a good ten minutes underwater, with no apparent ill-effects. He just slipped under the surface and was eventually found hugging a rock on the bottom of the river. When asked why, he explained that he was "listening." Another time saw Micah, sick of being cooped up in the house over a long, rough winter, declaring that "spring is here!" And sure enough, there was a day of 70 degree temperatures and bright sun. But only over the Campbell family farm. And in February.

But the true signs of how different Micah was didn't start until he was about thirteen. Around that time, all hell broke loose. Dishes would go flying across the kitchen with nobody near them, rattles and thumps would sound in an attic that nobody even went near except at Christmas, things would inexplicably go missing and return, etc. After exhausting all rational explanations, the family asked a minister to come bless the house. The minister soon recognized that they weren't dealing with a ghost. Something of an amateur (and unpowered) occultist himself, he recognized that Micah had a gift for innate magic. Under the guise of counselling the boy (which he also did), he taught Micah how to control his gifts and provided Micah access to his own esoteric (and spotty) library of the occult.

The result was that separated from the wider world of practitioners, Micah grew up with a quirky, off-beat set of magic skills. And while things were largely settled down, except for the occasional magical mishap, his family never really accepted or adjusted to Micah's differences. When his parents announced that they were selling the family farm and distributing the funds after taking care of their own retirement, it was kindly but firmly made clear to Micah that his path wasn't with his family. They just didn't want to be a part of that world. Didn't want to be reminded it even exists. They weren't bad people, but they were people who wanted the world to be safe, predictable and small.

The windfall from selling a couple of thousand acres of prime farmland was pretty amazing. Enough to set up each of the Campbell kids with a generous trust after securing a worry-free, luxurious retirement for their parents. Josh and Andi moved to Hawaii, most of Micah's siblings bought smaller farms of their own and left with no idea what to do with himself, the young witch cast his fate to the Fates themselves, offering up an invocation and prayer for where they wanted him to be, rather than where he wanted to go. Giving yourself over to the Moirai is a rare thing, mainly because the plans of higher powers are rarely those of mortals. But the next day, Micah received an acceptance package to a college he'd never heard of, in a town he'd never heard of. It was a full-ride scholarship that he was fairly sure he'd never done any paperwork for. But with no better options and a willingness to go where the Powers That Be wanted him, Micah headed off to Beacon Hills.

Logs featuring Micah Campbell:

*Coming soon!*