Accursed Worldbuilding Part 3: The Witches
Ross Watson
Morden is haunted by the influence of powerful forces of evil. These villains are known as Witches, for they are all centers of formidable magic and cruelty.
Note: There may be more than 13 witches, but there is only 13 that are known of.
Ten years ago, Thirteen of these Witches came together to form a Grand Coven. United, the Witches had enough power to deal with their hated foes – the kingdoms of light – once and for all.
Until this point, individual Witches or small groups found themselves stymied by the Kingdom’s Heroes, turned back at the brink of victory every time.
The Grand Coven, however, had more power concentrated into one place than had ever before been known upon Morden.
The Invasion Begins
The Grand Coven and their army of Banes – monsters formed from blood and magic – boiled over the mountains in a massive horde. The Grand Coven quickly overran the outer regions of the Kingdoms of Light, conquering several outlying nations in a matter of days.
Formation of the Accursed
The leaders of the Grand Coven were surprised by the level of resistance they encountered in the outer regions. Every farmer, every merchant, every peasant child fought courageously in defense of their homes, and the dark horde encountered heavy fighting every step of the way. The Grand Coven met and decided that they would find a way to turn their enemies into allies; prisoners captured from the outer regions were herded into camps and branded with a Witchmark, a special symbol that possesses a terrible curse. These people became the Accursed, transformed into inhuman monsters and forcibly conscripted into the front lines of the Grand Coven’s horde.
The Final Assault
The Kingdoms of light gathered their greatest heroes to face the Grand Coven’s invasion. The Heroes came up with a desperate plan—they gambled that a surgical strike would destroy one of the Witches, and, at the same time, they would reveal to the rest of the Grand Coven that some of their number were plotting treachery.
The Betrayal
The Heroes’ plan worked – to an extent. At least one Witch was believed to be destroyed. Others were sorely wounded, and the revelation of treachery amongst themselves sundered the Grand Coven’s alliance. However, the kingdoms of light were lost – all their Heroes were dead or were forced to flee, and their armies were routed by the combined power of the banes and accursed.
Several of the Witches returned over the mountains, taking with them large portions of the fractured dark horde.
Some Witches remained behind to rule over the conquered lands.
The Accursed had no home to return to and few who would accept their new, inhuman nature – so the Accursed became wanderers, rogues, bandits, mercenaries… and adventurers.
Witch Lore
Name: The Blood Witch
Lore: Created the Vampires and the Dhampir.
Her magic is centered around blood and passions (anger, desire, etc.)
Region: The Blood Witch settled in “Transylvania.”
Notes: Several acolytes (known as “Blood Daughters” serve her. Many, but not all, are vampires) serve as her handmaidens and agents. Only a handful of Dhampir serve her still.
Name: The Crone
Lore: Created the Golems.
She is the oldest and most powerful of all the Witches. It is she who has inspired stories of other witches in other realms (basically, every fairy tale witch)
Her magic is centered around storms and weather. She can bring life to inanimate objects.
Region: Unknown – she returned across the Mountains.
Name: The Chimera
Lore: Created the Mongrels.
She delights in experimentation – she’s a “mad scientist” witch, and tampers with things that should not be. Her magic is transformative (turns people into tentacle horrors, changes flesh into slime, etc.).
Region: Unknown – she returned across the Mountains.
Name: The Djinn
Lore: Created the Mummies. It is said that the Mummies were born from a very poorly-worded wish from the former ruler of an ancient nation.
Her magic is centered around the desert, imprisonment, and the granting of wishes – often in unintended ways.
Region: None. She was believed to have been destroyed during the last battle. Numerous acolytes and servants remain in “Egypt.”
Name: The Morrigan
Lore: Created the Revenants. She is the creator owner of the dark cauldron, from where the Revenants are born.
Her magic is centered around necromancy, telling the future, and slaughter.
Region: She settled into “Scotland.”
Name: Baba Yaga
Lore: Created the Vargr.
Her magic is centered around nature and winter.
Region: She settled into “Carpathia/Russia.”
Other Ideas:
· The Dark Queen/The Succubus
· The Banesidhe (Fey? Creator of the Will-o-Wisps?)
· The Huntress (Dryad type? Rules the Witchwood?)
· Harpy/Siren
· The Gorgon
o Stone
o Statues
o Basilisks
o Serpents
· Ice Lady
· Worm Queen/Wyrm Queen (maybe all about dragons!)
Note: It is likely what I’ll do is weed out the two weakest ideas and simply never reveal them – leaves a bit of “White Space” for GMs to build their own Witches.
Banes
Servants of the witches, creatures born of blood and darkness. Basically Banes are an excuse to create monsters and bad guys themed around the Witches they came from.
Witchmarks
A witchmark is a symbol that forms on the flesh of an Accursed – the witchmark embodies his curse. The Accursed unlocks additional layers of his witchmark over time as he learns to either embrace or move away from his curse.
The main elements of the witchmark are the same for all Accursed (outer ring, inner ring, and center). Some elements (symbols in the inner ring) are different for each type of Accursed.
As an Accursed either comes to terms with or successfully resists his curse, he unlocks more of his Witchmark and it becomes more elaborate. The final stage is the center of the Witchmark where a symbol appears that represents the Accursed’s individual soul and resolve – a kind of “personal heraldry.”
MATTHEW STEEN
From: Ross Watson <spy...@clansmith.org>
To: accursed-wo...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 10:21 PM
Subject: Accursed Worldbuilding Part 3: The Witches
Ross Watson
Yep!
dar...@darrellhardy.com
annoying. Is there a way to reply to threads directly on the Google groups
site?
Anyway....
I had some thoughts on the "last-ditch effort kills a witch, stops the
invasion, and reveal a split in the witch ranks" idea. Here's the pitch:
One of the nations of light (or some other group of good guys) secretly
approaches one of the invading witches with a plan: "We'll betray the
other nations, you (and your friends) betray the witches, and we'll rule
the land together -- under your guidance, of course, according to this
document I've drawn up."
The witch buys it, maybe recruits a couple other witches, and things are
going swimmingly for them until the moment when the supposedly-traitorous
good guys double-cross them. They kill their witch contact and allow the
witches' treachery to be revealed.
When the other witches see that this sub-coven was trying to screw them
over, they head back over the mountains and invade those traitor witches'
territories, leaving the traitors in the lands of light. "You want this
land bad enough to screw us over? Fine. Now this land is all you have."
This puts an end to the invasion, but now none of the other kingdoms of
light will trust the kingdom that was "pretending" to betray them. "But it
was just a ploy!" they insist. "Maybe it was," say the other kingdoms. "Or
maybe you just got cold feet when you realized the plan was going to
fail."
(See also "Why it Sucks to be Severus Snape" vol. I-IV)
If the "traitorous" witches are the ones still in the lands of light, that
can help shape their motivations:
- Bitter: "I'm stuck here? I'll make these people suffer for my humiliation!"
- Vengeful: "I'm gonna raise an army and march back over the mountain and
take my lands back!"
- Ambitious: "Since I'm here, I'm gonna take over ALL the kingdoms of light!"
- Content / Isolationist: "All I ever wanted was to a kingdom of my own.
Let the others play politics. I have country to run and people to
oppress."
...and of course, these differing motivations puts them into conflict, and
more conflict is more better.
- Darrell
Robert Morris
http://www.guedelon.fr/en/the-guedelon-adventure_01.html
_____
'Our voyages are very educational... We learn about the natives before we slaughter them.' - Nescaf (Asterix and the Normans)
_____
Patrick Dennis
Ross Watson
What I'd like to consider more carefully is the tone of the setting -- I think having the witches fighting amongst themselves makes sense, and presenting the betrayal as something perptrated from the kingdoms of light /could/ work... but I'd like to twist it a bit.
What if the overture actually came from the Seelie Fey? We know the Seelie were wiped out during the massive battle, so it stands to reason they really pissed off the witches. So I'm thinking that the overture from the kingdoms of light was actually from the Seelie Fey trying to be tricksy as faeries are known to be.
Patrick Dennis
That's pretty badass. I need stuff like this to populate the map. I have a couple landmarks in my head. Pyramids in the Egypt lands and the Weeping Colossus the is on the edge of one of the inland seas in the Scotland area. I'll get my rough sketch up tonight.I'm making a totally badass digital version.
Ross Watson
She possibly even styles herself "Queen" of Valkenholm, but she is referred to as "Milady Witch" in her court.
MATTHEW STEEN
Subject: Re: Accursed Worldbuilding Part 3: The Witches
Ross Watson
Yes, Countess Bathory is a big inspiration.
I’m tempted to have her assuming the title of “Countess” rather than queen. J
MATTHEW STEEN
Subject: RE: Accursed Worldbuilding Part 3: The Witches
Ross Watson
Very nice.
Texashex
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MATTHEW STEEN
From: Texashex <texa...@yahoo.com>
To: "accursed-wo...@googlegroups.com" <accursed-wo...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: "<accursed-wo...@googlegroups.com>" <accursed-wo...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 4:50 PM
Texashex
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Scott Johnson
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