Witches (Character Role)

Witches are one of the two main “species” or roles your character can take upon entering the game world, the other being a Monster. Players are free to choose between Monster or Witch, as well as what type of Monster. This choice cannot be reversed once your application is accepted. Witches wield magic and rather than undergoing a transformation, their journey will be that of controlling and managing the magical energy inside them. **Magic left unchecked can lead to madness and even death** as Witches are prone to exploding when experiencing an intense magical overload. This is especially true for Mirrorbound Witches (the characters). Thus, it is important for Witches to find a Bond before this occurs.

If your character is a magic caster of a kind from your world, they’re welcome to be a Witch in the game, as well, **but they will not keep their original powers** and they will still need to **relearn how to control and use this new form of magic**. They may find the magic feels different, “off”, or not entirely like their own at first. Past experiences can make the learning process smoother and a little quicker, however.

This article is about the mechanics of being a Witch character within the game. For information about the status of Witches in the world of Geardagas and how they fit into Aefenglom society, see Witches (Faction).

## Attending Classes

Classes at the Coven in Aefenglom are available for all Witches to attend. Mirrorbound and new Witches alike are encouraged to attend lessons, but it’s not mandatory. Characters are welcome to learn magic entirely by themselves -- it’ll just be more difficult if they don’t have much experience and the process may be slower. Classes include both hands-on lab work and more theoretical lectures. In addition, there’s plenty of room on the training grounds for Witches to safely practice their spellcasting.

While these classes are magical in nature, Witches may find Monsters attending simply to gain knowledge or learn in classes that don’t require casting spells, such as theory, alchemy, and herbology. Monsters are also welcome to accompany their Bonded in lectures so long as they’re not being disruptive.

## Magical Limitations

**Magic always costs something.** For most spells, this is simply stamina and energy. Magical exhaustion can occur if a Witch expends too much of their magic stamina; they'll feel light-headed and sick, and will find their spells backfiring for several days if they attempt to use their magic while recovering. Like ordinary stamina, this can be built up through exercise (both of the physical and magical kind -- that is, practicing spells), and as a Witch grows their risk of exhaustion lessens.

For other spells, however, the cost is a little different. Alchemy requires ingredients, such as herbs, fur, bodily fluids, etc -- the majority of the time, while spells that are large or more powerful in nature -- such as major healing spells, reviving the dead, forming massive barriers, teleporting a group of people larger than twenty, and so on -- require materials that are a little harder to find, or are difficult to part with.

Greater healing magic is particularly notorious for this, requiring blood and in some cases parts of the caster themselves to be cast. Necromancy and resurrection magic both require a loss of life, as it's transferred to the deceased, with the former drawing on larger quantities due to the body being much longer dead than in ordinary resurrection. This can come in the form of humans, of animals, of plant-life -- the experience of the caster is key here, as the more experienced they are, the more fine-tuned their control of what pays the price of bringing back the dead is. **Necromancy falls under Restricted Magicks and Forbidden Magicks**; as such, the average Witch won’t be touching these spells.

Finally, **spells can backfire** and these can create some detrimental effects: trying to set fire to a woodpile might cause a Witch’s hands to burn instead, casting a sleeping spell on someone else might cause the Witch to fall asleep rather than the target, etc.

### Bonding and Magic

Forming a Bond (or Bonds, plural) is the preferred way of strengthening one's magic and keeping a Witch safe; having a partner enables a Witch to reach new heights, much like having a familiar in the days of old. Aside from bonding, there are tools, instruments, and things that can be ingested that can help boost or diminish one's magic, depending on what a Witch might need. These can be found in the same places as materials for spells, or gathered on the Witch's own time, though some ingredients may be difficult to get. Every so often, tasks set by the Coven for such hard-to-get items may be posted in the Coven's main hall for those with enough time and power (magic or will) to attempt (see Quests/Jobs).

Mirrorbound Witches will find that, unlike the non-practicing “humans” in Geardagas, they cannot simply ignore or dampen their magic with potions and boosters. The Coven is unsure of the reason for this, but it’s likely to do with the Mirrorbound’s connection to the mirrors and the land’s magic. As a result, Mirrorbound Witches **must find a bond** eventually. While temporary solutions exist such as temporary Bonding potions or familiars, they have diminishing returns and going more than several months without a Bond carries a high risk of madness, explosion, and death.

### Magical Overload

Witches are at risk of magical overload. The practice and pursuit of magic opens them to constant buildup, and individuals who don't use or channel that magic will find that it can have negative effects. This may result in a Witch feeling restless, agitated, and snappish. The feeling can intensify into aggression, as they start to feel a slippage of clarity. If they continue on this path, they may even encounter hallucinations and paranoia as the magic seeks an outlet.

Failure to cycle or otherwise expel their magic may result in something akin to the Witch going supernova. The magic finds that outlet, and the discharge can have dangerous results; at best only the Witch dies, in these scenarios. There's more than one story of a building being destroyed due to a Witch losing control.

Magical buildup can be hard to detect, at the onset. It can actually cause a bit of a high in some Witches, due to the fact that it's more power, and more magic, to work with. There are individuals who let it build up intentionally -- effectively fasting -- so that they can accomplish much bigger spells. But there comes a point where it feels as if a fire has been started in the heart of a person, spreading through their chest and outwards. Intense migraines will accompany this, eyestrain and blurred, reddened vision with it, and from that point on the clarity begins to slip. Magic literally burns through its host and eats them away from the inside out.

With consistent practice, a Witch can go Bondless for closer to four months before the magic buildup overwhelms them; they experience the effects of it slower over the course of the months, before a spell they use voluntarily or one their body simply uses to expel the extra magic turns into a very big, very bad explosion, leaving the witch - and anyone or anything around them -- with a low chance of survival. Without that consistent practice, however, **a Bondless Witch will find themselves at the same end in closer to two or three months**, depending on player discretion.

## Lunar Effects

Because of the two moons of Talam, there's a strong lunar magic available to practicing Witches that dwell in this world, especially as they grow in experience. Many big spells are done based on the phases of the Sisters, to ensure that they're done correctly based on the needs of them. Witches native to Geardagas are strongest on the full moon, and weakest on the new moon.

However, **the Mirrorbound will find themselves -- as they get more and more acclimated with the world of Talam -- considerably weaker on full moons.** As if the draw of the moons' power has left them. Perhaps not completely, but their magic may fail if they don't take precautions to accommodate for the difference.

**Their powers will actually increase on the new moons** as they develop their magic as Witches, **which is at complete odds with what the Coven has known for hundreds of years.** Spells run the risk of going awry if they don't find some means of balancing their already existing skills with the increase of magic that they suddenly find themselves with, the immense boost that they're not receiving. Their emotions may also be a little higher, making them more prone to dropping all pretenses if they're caught off guard. Witches who don't heed the phases of the Sisters could very well lose an eyebrow -- or worse -- if they get a little too gungho about their spellwork on a new moon.

Eclipses are largely dependent on the time of year, and the alignment of the Sisters and the sun when this happens. Updates will be posted with detailed descriptions of eclipses, whether lunar or solar, as they occur.

## Familiars

Witches can own familiars and many older Coven members prefer the company of their various familiars to others. Witches who choose not to Bond tend to have more than one familiar so that they can effectively cycle their magic without harming or overloading their companions, and will switch between them every few months.

Mirrorbound Witches can have familiars, as well, but just like magic-suppressing potions, the type of magic a Mirrorbound possesses does require them to find a stable Bond eventually and the Coven will recommend they do so. As such, **familiars are only a temporary solution to Bonding for the Mirrorbound** and cannot serve as a permanent alternative to it the way they can for the native Witches in Aefenglom. Nonetheless, even with a Bondmate, a familiar can be a useful tool as well as a great companion for a Witch. It’s not unusual for a Bonded Witch to also have a familiar.

The spell for Bonding a familiar is similar to the one for Bonding a Monster, but on a smaller scale -- the Witch still stands in a particular spell circle holding or touching said familiar, and makes a personalized vow to it. (Obviously, the familiar can't say vows back unless it's been enchanted to talk, but that's alright, it will still work as long as the creature is friendly to the Witch in question.) Luckily, it doesn't require another Witch to officiate. The spell is short and readily available in the Coven library.

Any creature can be familiar. Cats are preferred by many Witches, but other creatures are possible familiars as well. The more domesticated a creature, generally the easier it is to Bond with, and so exotic familiars are considered more impressive.

## Foci and Tools

Magic will typically vary depending on the practitioner as well as the class. For example, alchemy requires ingredients and written out "instructions," as it were, but no spoken magic -- transmutation circles, arrays, runes, etc. Foci in the forms of wands, staffs, pendants, etc have historically been used by many Witches, but this style of magic is more in trend with older Witches than the newer generations as they use Monsters as a sort of foci instead. Foci can even include an instrument, if a Witch is especially musically inclined -- and spells are just as effective when sung.

Spells can also be pre-written on paper (or other surfaces) to be activated by a touch, word, emotion -- anything the spellwriter enchants it to react to. This is very in line with how magitech operates, as a spell has been effectively pre-loaded by enchantment into the mechanisms of the device, possibly in a stone or by carving in runes or spell words to make it a sort of battery. Enchantments and magitech allow for Monsters to use magic by proxy.

Non-verbal magic isn't uncommon, but requires a confidence and focus that typically comes with experience. The more used to magic/using magic you are, the more likely you are to be able to cast it without having to say or write anything in the world of Geardagas. Interestingly, there's no set language or spell words for any class of magic, as if it's all been compiled together. As such, **new arrivals would likely be able to adapt the phrases and methods they're used to from home** in their newfound life here until they reached that level of adeptness.

Blood is always a powerful ingredient in magic, and can even be used as a focus to enhance a spell. Desperation has allowed healers to accelerate the recovery of a wound simply by using the very blood from the injury itself in their healing spell. Typically, however, animal blood will do just fine, especially for large scale spells. **The use of human blood in large quantities is banned by the Coven, due to the questionable sources that it came from.** This doesn't stop sellers in the goblin market from trying to skirt under their noses, though.

## Spells and Magic

For information on the types of spells that a Witch might be able to find and use in the world, as well as what would be considered Restricted or Forbidden Magicks (trying to learn or use these types of magic will lead to severe consequences), see Magic.