Witchcraft

Witchcraft is a sorceress and founding member of the Champions.

## Biography

Bethany Duquesne was born into a life of sorcery. Both of her parents were accomplished spellcasters, and both she and her twin sister Pamela were taught the Art from childhood.

Bethany rebelled against her family, however, refusing to join her parents' sinister cult, the Circle of the Scarlet Moon. Although she enjoyed magic, Bethany didn't see herself as superior to common, non-magical folk and thought that the practices of the cult, which included necromancy and diabolism, were backward at best and unspeakably evil at worst. Her parents hoped that she would "come around," though her sister Pamela mocked her for being weak-hearted and she began to fall behind in her studies. Eventually, on their shared 18th birthday, the twins were to be inducted into the cult. Bethany backed out at the last moment, shaming her family in the eyes of the Circle, and as a result both she and her sister were barred from its membership for life. Her parents disowned Bethany immediately, and her sister Pamela swore bloody revenge on her. Bethany had no choice but to flee.

Thankfully she found a sanctuary in the mountain-top monastery of Master Dragonheart, a mystic sage and millennia-old teacher of white magic. Judging that Bethany had the necessary fortitude and character to uphold the responsible use of magic as a tool for good, Dragonheart trained the girl with the rest of his apprentices, and after a few years she felt confident to emerge with the knowledge that she was able to protect herself from her sister and any other evil spellcasters who might be on her trail.

But Bethany wanted to do more than just survive; she wanted to wield her potent spells for the forces of good. Very few spellcasters walk the path of the hero, as it is dangerous, restrictive, public and poorly-compensated, but Bethany was no typical spellcaster. She moved to New York and did her best to integrate into the culture of young super heroes that thrived there in the early 2000's. Styling herself as 'Witchcraft,' she quickly established a reputation as a magical 'fixer;' if you had a curse or a mythical creature causing trouble, Witchcraft could usually resolve it for you.

While operating in this capacity, she met Defender, who was at the time studying under his mentor Iron Maiden. When Defender finally established his own team, the Young Vanguard, Witchcraft was his first recruit. She and Defender have worked together for decades, first as the Vanguard, then later when they moved to Chicago to form the Champions.

Witchcraft has been fighting crime in Chicago for many years now. She knows nearly every super hero in the country, usually having done a favor or two for most of them, and is the team's liaison in the super-powered community.

Witchcraft spends much of her time either researching magical problems or keeping an eye out for new ones. As a spellcaster, she is aware of problems that only her kind can detect, and her friends have learned that when Witchcraft is concerned they should all be on alert, even when it appears that nothing is amiss in the city.

## Personality

Witchcraft is the most cool and rational member of her team. She prefers quiet contemplation and consideration to rash action, and seems almost incapable of outwardly displaying anger. Both on and off the battlefield, she prefers to stay in the background and watch, assisting others when possible and only entering the fray when necessary. She keeps a level head even when a mission goes completely sideways, and when acting as a leader (she is Defender's lieutenant and takes over battle command in his absence) she always takes the most rational, tactical approach.

Beneath her serious, professional veneer, Witchcraft is a serial romantic. Of all the Champions, she is the one most bothered by the fact she can't enter into a relationship with someone without putting them in danger. This means her potential dating pool is limited to the narrow field of super heroes or the occasional UNTIL Agent. She and Defender were a couple for some years, though they separated amicably.

## Powers

Witchcraft's powers fall under the broad umbrella of Sorcery, that strangest of all power sources, and are not easily defined. She has a spell for nearly every occasion, and can serve any role on the battlefield, though usually with less effectiveness than a specialist. She has access to all schools of magic, with varying degrees of expertise; the eight schools of magic, and a sample of their powers, include:

* **Abjuration**, to shield her allies and break curses
* **Alteration**, to sculpt the battlefield and transform her foes
* **Conjuration**, to summon aid, heal wounds, and teleport where she wishes
* **Divination**, to see at a distance and occasionally glimpse the past and future
* **Enchantment**, to befuddle and persuade
* **Illusion**, to create false images and provide invisibility
* **Evocation**, to conjure deadly blasts of fire, lightning, and ice
* **Necromancy**, to contact the dead and bind them to service (Witchcraft's least-used and weakest area of knowledge)

Outside of combat, Witchcraft is the team's versatile problem solver and solutions provider, using her vast experience and comprehensive magical library to craft a unique magical answer to any dilemma (leading Kinetik to nickname her "Magic Bullet"). She provides the team transportation in the form of her portal-conjuring spells and acts as the Champions' healer and chief advisor. She can even travel to the Blazing World, though for reasons of her own she is loathe to do so unless invited by some entity from that realm.

Witchcraft owns a number of enchanted objects, some of which she loans out to trusted friends but most of which she keeps carefully secured in a mystic, extra-dimensional vault. She wields an enchanted sword, but only uses it as a focus for her spellcasting; she is a mediocre swordswoman, but when pressed can wield the blade adequately.

## Weaknesses

Witchcraft refused to follow her cultist's training through to the end, so there are a few pieces of major arcana she hasn't mastered and a handful of glaring weaknesses in her magic. Despite Master Dragonheart's tutelage, her casting style is based on the dark magic her parents taught her as a child, and as such her magic is relatively weak for a sorceress of her experience. A more accomplished evil spellcaster, such as her sister Pamela, tends to overpower her sorcery unless she is carefully prepared.

Due to a curse laid on her by the Circle of the Scarlet Moon, which she has yet to be able to escape, Witchcraft feels cold much more intensely than most humans and is particularly vulnerable to cold-based attacks.