Witch Courts

As the years of the Portal Morning turned into decades of history, the new settlements of folk growing out on the Network stabilized from informal camps and colonies of explorers, academics, archaeologists, and people fleeing a vengeful Earth into mighty cities and heaving societies in their own right. Managing all these souls peacefully requires some centralization of law and order; each city state handles things differently, but each is reasonably successful in broadly representing the interests of their people and preserving the fragile cooperation of our species in the stars.

## Hub Worlds

These worlds, where Gardener structures were discovered holding pathways to dozens or hundreds of other locations in their connected Sectors, boast an enormous amount of traffic and the highest population concentrations of all the worlds humans call home in the second century of the Portal Morning. Worlds on their networks usually accept the authority of their nearest hub, sometimes with mediation from local government. It is rare that a world might defy the order of the hub cities, but this order is maintained through respect and understanding rather than fear.

### Ganymede

**Ganymede Alchemists' Guild**

Perhaps surprisingly for the first large settlement founded after the Portal Morning, the formation of some semblance of government on Ganymede was remarkably smooth and painless. Perhaps dissenting elements could see that the size of the project on Ganymede would be too dangerous to disrupt, and moved for worlds farther afield. Certainly, much of Earth’s noble class found sanctuary on Mars, so already Ganymede had some room to thrive as an egalitarian society.

The Alchemists’ Guild on Ganymede is an elected council of city luminaries, and a particular interest in the actual discipline of alchemy is not required. They vote on decisions that will affect the entire population of their world – and usually, owing to Ganymede’s massive influence, most of Sector Solar and Sector Sentinel as well. It was by decree of the Alchemists’ Guild that the Triangle was established, initiatives independent of the Faculty dedicated to the largest and most dangerous problems faced in the new worlds, and it was their idea to license the most unpredictably powerful magicks. Needless to say, where Ganymede’s authority is respected the full judgement of the law will come against those who dabble in the forbidden arts.

### Brilliant Waltz

**The Hosts Of The Waltz**

Building on the explorers’ tale that the Hub at Brilliant Waltz is a festival of exploration and floral overdrive archaeology, those who could be described as “running the show” took on the title of “Host”, as if they were curating the gathering. The Hosts are composed of anyone with enough social clout to influence the moving stalls, clubs, and gardens of the Waltz, and decisions that will impact the future of life in their city must be agreed upon by a majority of the Hosts.

The title of "Host" comes with a unique title drawn usually from musical terminology - the Soprano, the Bass, the Opera and the Jazz of the Waltz have all gone on to make names for themselves far, far beyond the legend of the Hosts.

### Midnight

**The VIIIth Orchid Patrician**

When Midnight was settled, multiple powerful families and interests had different views on how to proceed with regard to the Gardener Pagodas and the endemic wildlife. These differences of opinion led to avoidable conflicts, and unfortunate accidents. After a disagreement resulted in the total destruction of Midnight’s largest pagoda and the deaths of five children, it seemed as though the planet would erupt in an arcane war. It took a tongue of the purest silver to talk the mystics down from total calamity, and resulted in that tongue’s owner’s appointment to a new office to oversee Midnight’s development.

Today we are several Orchid Patricians later, with each new leader elected by the dominant personalities of the day following the death of the last. The system is quite simple – their word is final, unless their word is deemed unreasonable. That early tragedy and the continuing succession of fair holders of the office has kept the population relatively respectful to each other and the realms around them. The current, eighth Orchid Patrician is the youngest so far to hold the office, after winning the closest vote in Midnight's history.

### Cassiopeia

**The Oracles in the Walking House**

Cassiopeia’s Oracles are the reason why a license is no longer necessary to practice the art of prophecy. They have lived on their world longer than anyone, they were part of the first wave of witches to settle here, the exact reason for their long lives is not known. When magic was first regulated, the Oracles objected to licensing prophecy and refused to be tested. Their predictions have been large and small, and their accuracies far outnumber their misinterpretations – that attempts to license prophecy would not last, is only one of them. They do not administrate Cassiopeia in any way like the other hubs, but it is widely understood that nothing takes place on that planet without their knowing, probably the entire sector, and some might guess their foresight stretches even farther.

As a result of the Oracles’ informal, mystical approach, to an unaware observer it might even seem as though Cassiopeia is lawless. Disorder often breaks out, and unlicensed warlocks have been known to find sanctuary here, but the faithful would say that the Oracles would ensure everyone will receive their just rewards.

The Oracles live in a peculiar cottage on an island in one of Cassiopeia's ocean swamps. Curious wanderers do not simply travel to it.

## The Faculty

Every individual Faculty has authority to act within its own sphere of influence, and beyond with the approval of the local Faculty. As a result, cities or domains beyond the concern of the hub administrations tend to defer to the guiding hand of their own Faculty, if they have one.

The Faculties of Hub Administrations are both respected advisors and independent bodies, they work together in preservation of their societies.

*(While the Faculty does not enforce violations of social morality, they do issue the licenses required to practice dangerous or invasive magicks. At present, licenses are necessary for practitioners of thanatology, extradimensional interaction, and deep core telepathy [i.e. anything more than speaking into the mind of a willing recipient]. Each Faculty has the authority to grant these licenses, and they need not all use the same pass criteria.)*

The following Faculties hold some distinctions from the wider organisation.

### Oparyllian

**Sailor's Vision**

This spire on Oparyllian commands more influence in its spheres than any individual hub city. It is at Sailor’s Vision that Angharad Wisehammer founded the Faculty, twenty seven years after mankind stepped through portals for the first time in millennia, with the explicit goal of understanding the universe that had been presented to us, and sharing that information. Today, Sailor’s Vision is the heart of overall Faculty policy and the home of many accomplished academics. Despite the autonomy of the Faculties, approval from Sailor’s Vision cannot be understated and they are the de facto arbiters of the entire Faculty curriculum.

### Scorpion

**The Eclipse Committee**

Scorpion, deep in Sector Garden, is the site of the Faculty’s entrance exam, and the team responsible for setting and assessing the Eclipse is afforded particular respect and esteem in the organisation for obvious reasons. Appointment to the Eclipse Committee is by supported nomination and election, so only those who are proven and renowned can make it onto the exam board.

### Thoth

**The University of Flowers**

Thoth, on Sector Garden's edge, is widely regarded to be among the most beautiful of all the Ancient Gardener worlds, and its student population outnumbers its permanent residents. The university on Thoth is the institution of some of the most brilliant minds outside Sailor’s Vision, and no other human academy boasts such fierce competition for its limited spaces – Thoth is a protected world, and the Flower Faculty insists that the overwhelming majority of its pristine jungles and ruins remain unsettled.

### Saturn

**Saturn Station & Galactic**

The first void-based Faculty operates from Saturn Station, nestled in the rings of the famous giant of our Solar system. Their base is a shipyard, and while most Faculties conduct their business from their own world, Saturn sends out craft of exploration and discovery into the wider galaxy, seeking to reach wonders and mysteries beyond the scope of portal magic – the outermost edges of the galaxy, nebula phenomena that interferes with portal generation, the space between stars where it is hard to see. Saturn is quietly confident they can build a ship that could navigate the Core before Dragon achieves it with portals, but they have not demonstrated any public success with this endeavor.

Saturn does, though, have a fleet of proven ships out in the galaxy, learning and moving.

### Dragon

**The Dragon's Eyes**

The name of the special team dedicated to the problem of “cracking the core”, and the building they operate from. The Core is often regarded to be the most pressing solvable mystery in the galaxy, as its stellar cartography makes portal travel impossible to millions and millions of suns and, of course, Sagittarius A\*, the black hole at the very center. Humans have never settled with the impossible, so now it’s possible to touch so many of the stars folks consider the Core Problem to be unacceptable. It says something for the complexity of the problem, that decades of research and magical application has still been unable to establish stable travel to even the outer core, let alone the far-denser stellar structures deeper within.

That said, the Dragon’s Eyes are enormously proud of Infinity Breach, a world they claimed on the Outer Core that they can only even visit when the Stars Are Right.

### Brilliant Waltz

**Crisis Response**

Sometimes something unexpected and catastrophic will threaten a population center, and severe and rapid application of magic will be required to save lives and property. Events such as asteroid impacts, supernovae, plagues, and colossal geological upheaval will elicit the intervention of the Faculty’s Crisis Response, a team of sorcerers who specialize in such overwhelming dangers. In some ways, the Crisis Response team has to be the best of the best.

### Cobalt

**Cobalt Radical Center**

It is worth mentioning the Sub-Faculty on Cobalt under Doctor Saffron, which operates with a degree of separation from Sailor’s Vision, notably in allowing minors to engage with some of the forbidden magicks without license.

## The Triangle

Imbued with authority across most human domains, these organisations were established by people seeking to safeguard humanity from hazards that might threaten its very existence. Other, less recognized, groups may claim the same mission, but are not afforded the same respect, earned through decades of proven service.

The leaders of the Triangle each hold the rank of Lieutenant, with the implication that their “commanding officer” is Humanity Herself.

***Previous entries in this article have taken a form where the heading refers to the planet, with the organisation in bold below. Entries from here shall invert this scheme, with the organisation's name coming first, followed by the location of their headquarters.***

### The Flash

**Oberon**

Throughout human space, witches and warlocks will be violating the regulations on high-risk magic. The vast majority of these cases will never make it onto the Flash’s radar – not because the Flash does not care or respect the ruling, but because a witch has to stand out *strongly* to catch the attention of the Flash.

If an arcane rogue is up to something that could legitimately jeopardize the safety of the entire species – which indeed, may not involve anything unlicensed – that’s where the Flash comes in. Their operatives are trained in anti-magic techniques, for they often have to incapacitate someone much more potent than them, and have an extremely keen sense for hidden danger. Usually the secrets held by those who entertain risks of the species are much too valuable to lose, and the Flash are not barbarians, so the usual procedure with a resisting renegade target is to attempt to incarcerate them in the Vaults on Oberon.

The Flash uses the following ranks:

* Cadet
* Inspector
* Sergeant
* Detective
* Sub-Lieutenant
* Lieutenant

### Coda Victoria

**Angel Basin**

The appearance of very obviously alien starships in Brilliant Waltz was a shock even if many were not “surprised.” It was clear it would be necessary to direct very specific resources into understanding this aspect of interstellar life, and this is the purpose of Coda Victoria. It would be decades before ships of that kind were sighted again, but in the years between several new species were encountered in the galactic south and the organisation has always been busy. Their activities range from monitoring evolution and ship movements, to facilitating diplomatic relations among willing parties, to quarantining entire worlds or systems in the interests of protecting our species. The ships at Brilliant Waltz were of the Crystal Curtain, a vast inter-species coalition in the far galactic north, and owing to their power, their particular social etiquette, and their peacefulness Coda Victoria chooses to give them a wide berth and advises all of humanity to do the same. The Chase, on the other hand, have regular dealings with Coda Victoria and with humanity in general in Sectors Serpent and Sentinel.

Coda Victoria uses the following ranks:

* Initiate
* Operative
* Agent
* Marshal
* Sub-Lieutenant
* Lieutenant

### The Far Bureau

**Amethyst**

If ancient folk tales hadn’t done the trick, the calamitous experiments on Mars were a blistering demonstration of what terrible things can be unleashed through misguided ventures involving the spirit dimensions. But dealing with wayward witches who might meddle in such things is the purview of the Flash, and the purview of the Far Bureau is, regrettably, meddling in such things. Of course, Lieutenants of the Far Bureau take the same oath to serve humanity that the Flash does, but they are watching for threats brewing in the spirit dimensions themselves. This task is fraught with danger in all ways, as practitioners of these arts are commonly viewed with distrust by the people they seek to protect, and they must routinely encounter beings that might look like us but operate on entirely alien systems – more alien, in fact, than the extrasolar species of the galaxy. Or worse, sometimes they don’t look like us. The team at the Far Bureau would say that their detachment is necessary and healthy, but it’s not hard to argue that nothing is healthy about the work the Far Bureau has to do.

The Far Bureau uses the following ranks:

* Initiate
* Waywatcher
* Arcanist
* Pathfinder
* Sub-Lieutenant
* Lieutenant

## Blocks

Other than administrative and educational bodies, there are those factions of commerce, discovery, nobility and learning, that carry enough influence and power to apply pressure on the concerns of the Hubs and the Faculty if it would suit their purposes. These groups tend to wield a vast amount of authority within a relatively small space, but rarely command much respect beyond their specific domains.

### Boa Cradle

**Cassiopeia**

The shipyards in Cassiopeia’s Boa Belt asteroid structures have produced vessels for humanity for over forty years, and have a well-deserved reputation for quality and integrity, as well as some ingenious magical application. With their magaitechnology identifiable around many human claims in space, their relevance is undeniable. Ships produced at the Cradle are the largest of anything witches can produce, larger even than Saturn's work, though they are routinely dwarfed by the craft of the Crystal Curtain.

### The Ministry of Birds

**Io**

A multi-faith coalition that explores the meaning of Earth’s religions in the Portal Morning, and attends to the spiritual needs of the population where appropriate. All are united in the assessment that the Portal Morning carries startling implications for their belief systems, and that these implications and disagreements need not lead to violence.

How much respect is afforded to this institution will depend on the individual, but it is widely accepted that the Ministry of Birds are folk of strong fair principles, at least. While their round table is situated on Io, they do operate embassies from the hubs and some worlds beyond.

### The Displaced Aristocracy

**Mars**

Once it was clear that Earth would not allow its so-called noble families to exist upon it any longer, they almost universally fled to Mars with all of the relics they had stolen from the less predatory cultures of their world. This vast plundered body of knowledge enabled these pioneers to develop their magical abilities at a heavily accelerated rate compared to the other new explorers on the portal network, and rather than using their techniques to impose their will upon a volatile galaxy they took the philosophy of isolation, and jealously guarding what they had learned. Even children have heard of the Calamities of Mars, when demons from the darker dimensions tore through the populace and sundered oaths shattered the beautiful Martian towers, a brutal and mighty warning of the dangers of pushing too hard without wisdom.

Evidently the Martian nobility has that particular concern under control now, and they do still continue to produce powerful and notable mages. While they still set store by some of the old ways, they did receive a dose of humility. But considering how pretentious they are given to be, it seems it wasn’t too large of a dose.

As a “block” the Lords and Ladies of Mars are not as united as they may wish to appear, but they are certainly united in their cold disdain for those they regard as beneath them.

## Local Lawless

Worlds with no Faculty, or with a Faculty that simply does not care for the affairs of the locals, need to set their own structures. This tends to be in the form of local committees and appointed sheriffs. There may be a respect for the broader laws of mankind, or there may be total disdain. These worlds tend to be particularly disconnected from the Hubs, although not always – Pluto, for example, operates entirely on its own terms, and the locals have historically not accepted anyone else attempting to disrespect their way of life or project their influence over the small town. Mercury, on the other hand, is grateful for authority from Ganymede, but is otherwise comparable to the habitation on Pluto. The petty decisions of organisations who are not part of galactic relations are unlikely to influence the minds in the cores, but strange things do often happen.