Lore
Before the dead were put to rest,
before the wizard kings were cast off thrones of pale bone... before their unassailable walls crumbled to dust, and wonder seeped from the cracks in our skin... there were WITCHES who wove the threads of all things, carefully adjusting each string to tune.
Before the dead were put to rest,
before the wizard kings were cast off thrones of pale bone...
before their unassailable walls crumbled to dust,
and wonder seeped from the cracks in our skin...
there were WITCHES who wove the threads of all things,
carefully adjusting each string to tune.
WITCHES wander the weird wilds of the world, unafraid and unfettered. They drip from moonlight and the edges of stars, sculpt each other from beeswax and jackal fangs. They dance in the flames of the citadels they burn.
WITCHES live in the in-between. In the space between eyelids, in the spines of books. WITCHES build treasures with toadstools, turmeric bricks, turpentine, twine. They brush their hair with henna for luster and blood for shine.
WITCHES own the Milky Way. They’re smart with the property market like that. They hold little rocks in the plushness of their hands and haggle them down to get a good deal. They are collectors, curators, equal admirers of rubies and refuse.
WITCHCRAFT is about intuition. About listening to the quiet, about the freedom to choose and go where one wishes, about maintaining the balance of things.
A WITCH does not grow in ways you expect; they only grow stranger.
While no one may own a WITCH, anyone can become one. And when you’re aWITCH, you cannot be bound — may you be naked in your rites until the last of your oppressors are dead.
Welcome, WITCH!
Crypto Coven is an experiment in decentralized worldbuilding. While we craft the foundation of the world, we build in collaboration with our community to expand the weird wilds. Our goal is to foster a series of multi-media, narrative experiences that both share in and expand our ethos and aesthetic sensibility. We’re thrilled you’re here and have compiled the following guide to aid you in your writing, drawing, coding, and magic-making.
The Philosophy of a WITCH
A WITCH is, at their core, a being with great personal agency. Our goal in crafting these characters is to make space for explicitly feminine narratives of power, control, and intention. A WITCH is not subservient or defined by their relationship to others. While they may be masters, students, siblings or spouses, these roles are secondary to their positions of power and enhanced capability. A WITCH is not inherently a woman and can take on any gender identity they so choose. We use they/them pronouns for WITCHES in the abstract.
The Archetypes of Power
These branches of magic, in combination with variations in attunement, present more possibilities than we can contain to the page. The following is not exhaustive, but rather exemplification of that range of possibility.
Enchantresses
An ENCHANTRESS is a being of glamour. Your hand may pass through the waves of their hair, the weight of their cloak, the wonders of their lips. They are simultaneously here, there, anywhere, with power to grasp and feeble minds to conquer. You must move out of an ENCHANTRESS’s way when they walk. You see reality shimmer in and out of being with each click of their heel. They cast you into love so deep with a wave of their arm you do not care they have demolished your city to clear the western view from their tower.
An ENCHANTRESS beguiles your paramour, charms your enemy, counsels your king. When they wink and their mask slips to reveal the hungry grin beneath, you must have the sense to take it to your grave.
TL;DR
ENCHANTRESSES are masters of charisma, illusion, transformation, and manipulation. Effortlessly charming, they take naturally to positions of leadership and political strategy. A wondrous ENCHANTRESS may lead their people to a life of communal prosperity. A woeful one may partake in mind-altering hypnosis to realize their goals.
Hags
HAGS can only be stumbled upon. They exist at the fringes of things — tucked into tree knots, hollow logs, or mushroom rings. You find a HAG by following a trail of crumbs, the whistled notes of a working song, the smell of berries sweetening to jam. You must always ask permission to enter their cottage. You must turn away forever if denied.
In a HAG’s company you will eat well from the earth. You will find firelight to warm you and thread to mend your clothes. You must gift something of value for all that you receive. A HAG will claim a memory, a well-loved sock, a chapter of your favorite book. Do not overstay your welcome lest you give more than you can lose.
TL;DR
HAGS are creatures of the earth. They are most connected to nature and its bounties, be it animal, food, medicine, or poison. A wondrous HAG may use the fruits of their garden to cure the sick and feed the hungry. A woeful one may turn their enemies to ants and crush them beneath their feet.
Mages
You approach a MAGE when questions are more important than answers. When you have opened your mind to the arcane, when you see magic as something to be deconstructed, analyzed and understood. A MAGE is a master of order, of examination. They pick the world apart molecule by molecule, hair by hair. MAGES calculate consequence. They calculate the weight of things. They calculate how fast they can break you to pieces and put you back together.
When you gift a MAGE a query, you must be prepared to accept their response in all of its great and terrible density. You must bear the weight of their will, the stasis of their study. What is built from layers of parchment, texts, and sigils holds the wisdom of the world.
TL;DR
MAGES are eternal students. They achieve their abilities through rigorous study and excel when they reach deep specialization. A wondrous MAGE may use the power of invention towards kindness, sustainability, and access. A woeful one may tear apart anything in their path for the satisfaction of understanding its destruction.
Necromancers
If you ask a NECROMANCER a favor, they will grant it only once. You must meet them in a moon-soaked cemetery, a field of cypress, your own parlor beneath a veil of organza and elderflower leaves. You must watch as herbs are ground and combined, must turn away as the potion, once gargled, lends their voice to the muted tones of your father, your daughter, your love made wretched by time or drought or disease.
A NECROMANCER walks where other WITCHES cannot. They wet the hem of their cloak on the frigid waters of death. You must show respect to their austerity. You must give what they are owed. You must hope that the NECROMANCER who comes across your spirit would rather be your guide than your master.
TL;DR
NECROMANCERS have access to planes beyond our own. They can speak to, embody, reanimate, or control the spirits of the dead. They feel the pace of life and manipulate it to their will. A wondrous NECROMANCER may guide lost spirits to their final rest. A woeful one may guide death to their enemies and become master to their souls.
Occultists
When you cross an OCCULTIST, you must grip tight to your soul. They are flame dancers, altar tenders, arbiters of demon deals. They hunt in packs, howl like beasts, wander the darkest depths of the forest with eyes that blaze with frenzy you cannot tame. They speak in hidden tongues, serve weird and terrible masters. Never share your name. Never share your destination. Never back out of a deal, once decided.
If you betray an OCCULTIST, you are already dead. Whether in this lifetime or the next, you will not wake in your bed. Pray to whatever god you worship. Hope they can hear.
TL;DR
OCCULTISTS are the most collective kind of WITCHES and collaborate in large packs. Their spellwork, grounded in chaos and consumption, is at its strongest when spun by many practitioners at once. They are ferociously loyal. Wondrous OCCULTISTS may protect all creatures within their territory from outside intervention. The woeful may devour any witless who cross their path.
Seers
You don’t interrupt a SEER when they’re talking. They may talk for minutes or hours or terrible, terrible years, but you must not shimmy, shift, or breathe. You must inhale prophecy, exhale truth. You must moisten their throat with some lemon water, bug’s breath, slime from the spine of a toad.
A SEER knows both the things you want and want to avoid. They’re sensible enough to charge a premium to not involve the latter.
TL;DR
SEERS are gifted with sight beyond the present. They see pasts, futures, and iterations of the present across intertwining paths of time. They understand choice, consequence, and the power of time beyond our own. A wondrous SEER may use their gifts to guide others to salvation or peace. A woeful one may drive their foes insane under the weight of fractured destiny.
The Weird Wilds
The wilds are primarily inhabited by “unattuned” humans—people who have not attuned themselves to the flow of magic. Many never will. Any unattuned person has the potential to connect with and learn to wield magic, though it can be a grueling and difficult task. The recent creation of the THE HALLOWED HALLS, an institution of learning, has made this path to magic more accessible. MAGES are the most likely to learn the craft through force.
The other archetypes are most likely to feel their way to magic through intuition. Traditionally, WITCHES are crafted—from the earth, from sounds, from stars—and know their magic from the moment of their creation.
Urban areas of the wilds, or collected cities and settlements, keep their inhabitants safe, at a cost. Many WITCHES prefer isolated living spaces with greater agency, yet greater danger.
Locations Known To You So Far
The Wastes
THE WASTES are a vast desert, home to THE ORACLE.
THE ORACLE is a near-divine entity manifested from the soul of a great and powerful SEER. Visitors must pass trials to access its wisdom.
The Woods
THE WOODS are a dense forest that covers a large stretch of the wilds and where many witches live, especially HAGS and OCCULTISTS.
The City of Mirrors
THE CITY OF MIRRORS is a glamorous, crystalline city founded on top of an unknown demon deal long ago by RIJHA and NULL.
THE TOWER is home to a council of ENCHANTRESSES at the center of the city.
The Demon Market
THE DEMON MARKET is a bustling collection of stalls and shops run by DEMONS looking to trade anything and everything, for a cost.
The Hallowed Halls
THE HALLOWED HALLS is a school for MAGES to study all branches of magic, relatively new to the wilds.
The Asylum
THE ASYLUM is a monkey-tended ryokan for LOST WITCHES whose minds have been consumed by magic.
The Timeline
From what we know from the NARRATOR so far…
In the far past...
THE WASTES were a great ocean. The unattuned peoples of the wilds were largely disconnected, and WITCHES led solitary lives. The SEER AVISA and NECROMANCER CYPRESS calmed the spirits of ORACLES past and dissolved the ocean. The HAG IONA was the first unattuned person to find her way to magic. TheWITCH DOVE sought the aid of THE ASYLUM to give shelter to LOST WITCHES, consumed by their power.
In the past...
The ENCHANTRESS RIJHA and OCCULTIST NULL founded the first city upon a great DEMON deal, laying the groundwork for future large-scale settlements.
In the recent past...
The MAGE SPINOR founded THE HALLOWED HALLS as a place of learning. The entire MAGE archetype accelerated in growth and discovery.
In the present...
We explore the stories of 9,999 WITCHES—9,906 roaming in freedom, 93 embroiled in the wily grasp of the VOID WITCH.
The Magic System
The magic of the wilds is pulled between two dichotomous forces: WONDER and WOE. WONDER is a light kind of magic: giving, growing, healing, connection. WOE is dark: thieving, wilting, harming, separation. WITCHES can pull from either force to suit their needs and channel their other ATTUNEMENTS through these lenses. Participating in one kind of magic does not necessarily exclude you from the other, and many find interesting spaces betwixt them.
Will
Denotes decisiveness and dedication. The willful have both vision and the resolve to see it through. They are steadfast, difficult to deter, and rarely capitulate. Their magic is fueled by ideology.
Wisdom
The attunement of insight and perception. The wise think carefully before they act and often have a complex understanding of their circumstances. Their magic is driven by both attentive consideration and learned experience.
Wit
Marks acuity and cleverness. The witty are quick to a joke, retort, or sharp observation. They excel at conversation—both with others and with the world around them. Their magic is often creative and resourceful.
Wiles
The attunement of scheming and guile. The wily keep their proverbial cards close to their chest, all the better to surprise you with. They are difficult to deceive or keep track of. Their magic is unpredictable and capricious.
Most WITCHES can only develop skills within their archetype. The more specialized the knowledge or ability, the stronger. MAGES may pull magic from other archetypes, though only with intense study and no innate ease. The greater the magic, the greater the cost: physical, mental, or ingredient.
The Creatures
There are a few known varieties of creature that roam the wilds:
Demons
DEMONS are not native to the wilds and enter the world through CREVICES between theirs and ours. They are beings of great evil and deceit, governed by rules beyond our own. Their power comes from dealmaking, and they are forbidden from direct untruth. They often use manipulation or concealment to get what they want. The weakest DEMONS prey on the easiest to deceive—animals and children—and wear their parts and faces as prizes. The more complex the DEMON’S appearance, the more powerful. A DEMON with the true face of a WITCH is the most chilling to be feared…
Beasts
BEASTS have roamed the wilds as long as WITCHES. They are known to be in a constant state of evolution—sometimes animal, sometimes mindless creature, sometimes magic user, sometimes friend. BEASTS and WITCHES have an occasional mutual respect, though it is tenuous and unpredictable. There is more to know, and more to be wary of.
Formatting
And finally, some tacks of brass:
“the weird wilds” is stylized in lowercase to be true to our original intention, mirroring “the weird wilds of the world” to the “www” of olde.
Proper nouns like titles, names of note, and locations are stylized in uppercase—for example:
- The WITCHES of the wilds are as cunning as they are curious.
- THE ORACLE spawns from the soul of a great SEER.
- Only the truly cunning can find treasure in THE DEMON MARKET.
We also capitalize important nouns for emphasis. For instance: BEASTS, DEMONS. You can use this distinction to differentiate between a magical being and a non-magical one. For example, a “beast” may refer to any animal while a BEAST is a particular magical entity. Same for a pet “cat” versus a kind of magical familiar, or CAT.