Witchcraft
Introduction[edit]
The first mortals to betray Rhyst were those who believed in the promised power of Paschia Fel. Without demons or High Fae to regard as her own followers, the Witch Queen appealed to the hearts of the ambitious and the desperate alike. At first, her magic was accepted as a means of fending off Fae intruders, but as time progressed and their patron turned on her fellow Void Eidolons as well, witchcraft became a signature weapon of demon hunters as well. Today, spurned as it is, witchcraft is still the most formidable magic a lone mortal can come to possess, as it is the only spellcraft that could kill a god.
Beginnings[edit]
When the Endless Void was shattered, the energy released was an explosion of destruction and horror. Where reality was forced apart, the tearing and friction spurred to life a violent flame that the Eidolons came to fear. While they were thrown about the fractured universe by the resulting cataclysm that their war had caused, some sustained burns where they came into contact with this fire. Certain myths claim they still bear these scars, and even as the cosmos stabilized, the flame of annihilation persisted as a threat and a punishment for the Eidolons’ hubris. Though even the mighty Vul'karik and the Prideful Oberon shied away from this manifested element, it was Paschia Fel who came to learn its properties, and so it was called Felfire.
Though she could wield this destruction, Paschia Fel realized she was alone. While she had learned this art, her fellow Eidolons had already begun to raise their armies through their own monstrous creations. She was outnumbered and out of place, and so she fell into the service of the Void King who she had initially allied with. Across the battlefields of Rhyst, mortals were slaughtered by the demon hordes, but for every thousand that were killed, maybe one was kept alive by sheer luck or for the benefit of the conquerors.
The Witch Queen appealed to Vul’karik’s desire to see his military grow, and he allowed her to twist the minds of some of these prisoners so that they might serve him alongside the growing demon host. Through these servants the first covens were born. It was through this combined force that utilized both the impenetrable Paedion as well as the ever burning Felfire that all came to fear the Void. Despite their success, Paschia Fel never believed it necessary to conquer the rest of reality.
As soon as their borders had been laid down and fortified, the Witch Queen turned her eyes toward the throne of the Void itself. Where Vul’karik was a brute, lost in his desire for vengeance, Paschia Fel saw herself a fair and intelligent leader. She believed in a realm that she commanded, where the demons listened to her orders of strengthening the Void while the rest of the cosmos tore itself apart. These thoughts bloomed into her grand betrayal, and both the Eidolon and her witches made their move at what they believed to be the end of the campaign upon Rhyst.
Forced into the stalemate that still persists today, Paschia Fel must continue fostering witches to her cause. For this reason, throughout the ages of Rhyst, the world has known witchcraft. Some civilizations have been founded upon it, others have been destroyed by it. It is said that so long as moral selfishness exists, witchcraft will live on.
Philosophies and Tenets[edit]
Witchcraft as a school of thought lends itself to the preservation of the individual. Despite being intimately intertwined with Paschia Fel, the ideals of those who practice it are almost always self-serving and single minded. One cannot bring themselves to wield felfire itself without recognizing and accepting the notion that they hold true oblivion within the palm of their hand. To this end, the witch serves her patron, her superiors, and her coven, but ultimately her motives must be for her own betterment and cause.
Witches strive to live for as long as they can, a counter to Vul’karik’s necromancers who long to pass on into undeath. In their mortal life, a witch is capable of influencing Rhyst far more than she will as a phantom, for though the immortal shadow promises continued existence, it is still viewed as a monster to the people of the world. Mortal witches walk among cities, they live alongside neighbors, they have friends and families of their own. Though no witch should fear death, they must also recognize that the more they accomplish before their mortal chapter ends, the greater the reward will be when they reach the Burning Lake.
Once pacted, witches turn the rest of the cosmos into their enemy. To this end, the undermining and betrayal of their coven is highly discouraged. Though it’s not unheard of for a shift in power to take place, a witch’s actions ordinarily align with their only allies, for together they might reach farther than they would alone.
Though every witch walks her own path for her own ends, the ultimate subjugation of the Void is the goal of every practitioner. Paschia Fel desires to rule, and so every step is in service to her. Demons are hunted and killed, Fae are burned away, and no one is to be truly trusted, for there are no others that would see the Witch Queen come to power.
There is not much that is disallowed or forbidden in terms of methodology. So long as her aim aligns with the Eidolon of Felfire, any witch is permitted to pursue what she would like. This goes as far as toying with Faemagic, establishing bloodlines, and seeking out the truths of the cosmos that other powers would see hidden away.
Rituals and Magic[edit]
Though Felfire is the most notable form of a witch’s magic, there are many who are not prone to the pyromantic arts, for the sorceries of Paschia Fel go beyond the lone element. In a simple view, witchcraft is similar to truth magic, though where the Fae alter reality, witches twist its already founded rules. It was through this mechanism that Felfire was first used in her arts, and by understanding the laws that govern it, the Witch Queen and her followers came to use it. This understanding of the universe and how it is structured is how witches create rituals and boast an ever expanding collection of spells.
Witches have come to understand ways to polymorph a living being into another, how to target the blood of an opponent, and how to manipulate the spread of diseases and plagues. They conjure illusions and walk within the nightmares of their victims. There are some who believe witches to be the most intelligent sorcerers in the universe, though surely only a witch herself would support such a claim. Witches have even learned how to manifest a lesser flame, that which is dubbed as ‘witchfire’, by forcing the entropy of the cosmos into an ordered state.
Covens have been known to pray to their patron queen and her Phantoms, for through sacrifice and complex spellcraft they might be able to share and combine their power. When these sacraments are had, the collective pool of all that serve the Witch Queen may be drawn from, and spells that no lone witch could bring about are able to manifest.
It is through this bending of the rules that witches go as far as to avoid the ultimate consequences of death itself. Like the Void King’s necromancers, witches are destined for an afterlife that does not follow the Cycle of Souls. As soon as their names are placed within a coven’s Feltome, their soul will break away from the Styx as it passes into the Void. This transformation turns the witch into an immortal phantom, a wraith of their former self. In this form, the witch has shed her remaining humanity. Morality and care are undone in order to better serve the ultimate goal of claiming the entirety of the Void for Paschia Fel.
Feltome[edit]
A coven’s connection to the greater knowledge held by all of Paschia Fel’s witches. Ordinarily, these cursed books are authored and enchanted by a Phantom of the Void who becomes something of a minor overseer to a coven of mortal witches.