Witches of Krystallos
Contents
Witches in Krystallos
Witches exist in Krystallos, largely as defined by the Pathfinder class originally found in the Advanced Player's Guide. The major exceptions to this are delineated below under Spheres of Power, which explains how the magic of witches is being done differently using that supplement and its replacement magic system, rather than standard Pathfinder spells. However, what is not answered in any of that material is what witches are and what they represent in Krystallos, let alone how they are received and perceived by the peoples around them.
How Do They Fit
A witch is a curious blend of arcane and divine magic, in a way that defies both traditions. The witch studies her magic, rather than it coming from prayer like divine casters, or derived from marshalling the energy of one's innate bloodline like sorcerers. To that end, they have the most in common with arcane casters like wizards. But their magic crosses the boundaries between what is expected of wizards and what is expected of priests. And a witch does not study musty tomes for her magic; she communes with her familiar.
As a result, witches are seldom understood, even by each other. Each has a unique, personal relationship with her familiar and the magic and wisdom that is hidden within, accessible and understandable by no other in the world. They are not condemned as heretics by the Totems, but they are generally not welcomed into the hierarchies of their temples. Neither do orders of wizards welcome them, save at a distance or merely as passing visitors with similar interests of study.
How the common man or woman on the street accepts or treats witches is an individual thing, based largely on how he or she presents herself and what she does. Clothing and style, carriage, manners and habits of speech all play a part. A witch who adorns herself with bits of the bones of the dead, cackles madly at seemingly nothing, and has conversations with things others cannot see will be shunned and feared by any sane commoner. By comparison, a quiet and humble herbalist woman and midwife who does all she can to help others may be a bit odd or sometimes unsettling, but will usually find a degree of welcome and even acceptance amongst the common people of Krystallos. Of course, as with all things relating to witches, exceptions abound.
The Birth of a Witch
Witches in Krystallos are not made, or trained. Or rather, they can be both of those things, but first they must be born. None can be a witch in Krystallos who is not born to it, and it bears some discussion of the circumstances of such births.
Each witch in Krystallos is born at a conjunction of ley lines - the largely unknown and unmapped lines of magical energy that course through and sustain Krystallos. She is usually born at a time that represents an astrological conjunction or other important moment, though the events of that important moment may be happening so far away as to be unknown. And most importantly, each witch is touched at the moment of her birth with energy from a plane of the Great Beyond - something other than the Prime Material Plane (worlds like Krystallos), the Astral or Ethereal planes (which do not, as far as anyone can tell, touch Krystallos at all). This could be and often is an elemental, quasi- or para-elemental plane. Or it can be an Outer Plane, such as Bytopia, Gehenna, or many others. Whatever this energy is, it is the representation of the witch's patron, an important force in shaping her pursuit of her life as a witch.
The Familiar
Lastly, but equally as important, a witch's familiar is born at the same time and in the same place. Note that this means familiars for witches of Krystallos are more unusual, special and precious than their counterparts in the standard Pathfinder rules and worlds. On Krystallos, the witch's familiar is a unique creature; replacing a lost familiar would, at a minimum, require some kind of strange mystical ritual to bind the spirit and energies of a slain familiar with the living form of some replacement. In general terms, it means that the familiar cannot be replaced. It also means that familiars tend to age much more slowly, as they are bound to the life forces of their witch, and by nature will live as long as their witch, passing through the same levels of physical maturity as the witch at the same time.
