The Greenwood Witch Hunt
Falling in the wake of a wave of sickness that overtook several towns and villages, the Greenwood Witch Hunt was an event orchestrated by a gathering of Detrucian thegns, from the Greenwood region in Alabast, that took place in 2E 742. The Greenwood Witch Hunt is considered to be the largest to take place on Nïr Morred since the reign of The Old Alabastian Empire in the first era.
The Greenwood Witch Hunt took place on two fronts, in the primeval woodland known as Greenwood Fen, as well as within the very towns and villages that the inciting sickness had nearly laid waste to—
In Greenwood Fen proper, hunting parties would terrorize all manner of magical creatures and woodland folk. Common folk who simply lived alone in the wilderness were met with the same perils as fae-folk, like Satyrs and Dryads. Entire druidic circles were rooted out and destroyed for fear of their collaboration with witches, an action which ironically was met with a plethora of curses that turned witch hunters into animals, or caused crop blight that afflicted several settlements near the woodland. Even peaceful gnomish and delnnish communities were not safe from hunting parties blinded by zealotry, eager to bring "witches" to justice in exchange for compensation and status.
In more heavily populated areas, however, the witch hunt took the form of heated accusations and largely unfair court trials, many of which were exploited to cede land from troublesome nobles, or pesky neighbors. Indeed, the Greenwood Witch Hunt saw a restructuring of local society on the coattails of many of these trials, with entire households ousted or executed on suspicion of witchcraft. This event was usually exacerbated by clergies and priories throughout the region, especially among more puritanical settlements, still seeking to regain popularity and stature in a post-imperial Alabast.
Though the Greenwood Witch Hunt generated an anti-magic sentiment that was seen by The Circle of Alabast as "concerning", as one magister once put it, they would eventually propagandize the witch hunts in an effort to rally support for institutionalized magic.
Some scholars even point to this period as a major contributor to the eventual rise of state-run Mage's Guilds in Alabast in the later half of the second era, as well as the sentiment of "Good Magic Vs. Evil Magic" still held by modern day Alabastians.
The witch hunt was ultimately quelled by The Circle of Alabast in the 2E 745. And, in a final ironic twist, most of the thegns originally in favor of the hunts were discovered to be consorting with witches and sorcerers themselves. For their crimes, and their hypocrisy, they were sentenced to hanging by The Circle, and new thegns were chosen by Circle magisters. In the years that followed, The Circle made great efforts to soothe the damage done by the ordeal and they focused much of their efforts, in the period that followed, on using their magic to aid the local populace in restoring crops and curing sicknesses, alongside the church. And in the end, even though magic was accepted once again in the aftermath, the opinions of certain magical spheres like Conjuration, Enchantment, Oneiromancy, Sanguimancy, and Necromancy did not recover, and many are still illegal in Detreux to this day.
All attendees would philter into the courtroom, and the presiding holy person would lead the room in a prayer before the judge addressed the case.
In the case of more well-to-do settlements, a writer would transcribe the hearing for their records.
After addressing the case, the judge would allow the plaintiff to speak, then the defendant-
Crosstalk between other attendees was usually quieted quickly so as to not influence the jury, but the bias of a particular judge would have played a factor in this.
After the opening arguments are made, the judge would question the accused, then the accuser; this would have gone on until the judge was satisfied.
The jury would then deliberate during a short recess, delivering a verdict when they reconvene.
There, the defendant would either be absolved or be served their sentence if they were found guilty, which was the more likely outcome at the time.
If the defendant were to be found guilty of being a witch, they would be sentenced to death by burning, or drowning.
In some, more notable, cases, the church might also employ beheading by a blessed weapon.
If the defendant was found to be a sympathizer, such as someone lying to protect another who had been accused, they would be immediately branded and exiled.
This would be a fate suffered by many people who were suspected of aiding a witch in any way. A typical accusation could come in many forms, such as the accused being the subject of recurring nightmares. Someone may have claimed that they saw the spirit of the accused in the form of a black, shadowy dog, or a great, dark brown bird. There might have been physical evidence of witchcraft, such as clay likenesses of another individual or something as simple as apothecary supplies. Whatever the accusation, it could have come from anyone, for any reason. Children testified against family out of fear or coercion, while pillars of the community faced the accusations of those who felt slighted by them in some previous exchange. Even with so many frivolous trials, however, there were fair handfuls of legitimate witches sentenced and executed by the courts. In one such trial, Madeleine Grey, known by her contemporaries as "Lady Madeleine", set fire to a courthouse in the middle of her trial. A jet of flames erupted from her fingertips, killing several members of the town guard, the judge, and a man amongst the jury before she was finally slain by a priest's holy dagger. In another trial, Guillaume Creux detonated a magical glyph, killing himself and everybody in the courthouse. After word had spread of such trials, the Circle of Alabast began stepping in. As they became more involved, the number of convictions dropped drastically as the hysteria slowly began to follow.
In The Courts
The court trials could be anywhere on the board, from completely legitimate to totally frivolous, though the fervor running rampant at the time could see even the flimsiest of accusations make their way to execution or exile. A judge and jury typically presided over "witchcraft hearings" much in the same way that they would other legal proceedings, however, nearly all trials held during this period also featured an acolyte or a priest from a local church or convent. In some cases, even monks and friars were used due to the deluge of regular trials. A witch hearing would progress somewhat like so:All attendees would philter into the courtroom, and the presiding holy person would lead the room in a prayer before the judge addressed the case.
In the case of more well-to-do settlements, a writer would transcribe the hearing for their records.
After addressing the case, the judge would allow the plaintiff to speak, then the defendant-
Crosstalk between other attendees was usually quieted quickly so as to not influence the jury, but the bias of a particular judge would have played a factor in this.
After the opening arguments are made, the judge would question the accused, then the accuser; this would have gone on until the judge was satisfied.
The jury would then deliberate during a short recess, delivering a verdict when they reconvene.
There, the defendant would either be absolved or be served their sentence if they were found guilty, which was the more likely outcome at the time.
If the defendant were to be found guilty of being a witch, they would be sentenced to death by burning, or drowning.
In some, more notable, cases, the church might also employ beheading by a blessed weapon.
If the defendant was found to be a sympathizer, such as someone lying to protect another who had been accused, they would be immediately branded and exiled.
This would be a fate suffered by many people who were suspected of aiding a witch in any way. A typical accusation could come in many forms, such as the accused being the subject of recurring nightmares. Someone may have claimed that they saw the spirit of the accused in the form of a black, shadowy dog, or a great, dark brown bird. There might have been physical evidence of witchcraft, such as clay likenesses of another individual or something as simple as apothecary supplies. Whatever the accusation, it could have come from anyone, for any reason. Children testified against family out of fear or coercion, while pillars of the community faced the accusations of those who felt slighted by them in some previous exchange. Even with so many frivolous trials, however, there were fair handfuls of legitimate witches sentenced and executed by the courts. In one such trial, Madeleine Grey, known by her contemporaries as "Lady Madeleine", set fire to a courthouse in the middle of her trial. A jet of flames erupted from her fingertips, killing several members of the town guard, the judge, and a man amongst the jury before she was finally slain by a priest's holy dagger. In another trial, Guillaume Creux detonated a magical glyph, killing himself and everybody in the courthouse. After word had spread of such trials, the Circle of Alabast began stepping in. As they became more involved, the number of convictions dropped drastically as the hysteria slowly began to follow.
In The The Woodland
Witch-hunting parties permeated Greenwood Fen for roughly three full years- And their judgement was no less swift and harsh than in the Detrucian courts. Though they managed to capture and kill a number of magical hags and the occasional blood witch, the effect these groups often did far more harm than good. Mercenaries occasionally harassed the homesteads of some Gnomish and Delnnish folk, stealing from them and, in extreme cases, killing them for alleged witchcraft. While Gnomes and Delns would mostly be left alone, other Dyr would be given no such consideration, and bands of witch-hunters captured and killed all manner of magical or fae-folk. Fauns were often assailed for information regarding witches or other magic users, sometimes being murdered for unsatisfactory information. Some Dyr, like Faeries, Sprites, Brownies, and Squirrelfolk were imprisoned, extorted for information, and in some cases sold in Alabastian cities. Other creatures, such as Goblins, Tragos, Boarfolk, and Wolfkin, were often slaughtered indiscriminately in the crossfire, fae-folk or otherwise. In the witch hunt's third year, near the height of it's hysteria, several groves of dryads and other nymphs were captured and burned by those who claimed they were witches, an event which brought about retribution at the hands of a number of local Druid Circles. After what the some call "The Night of Nymph Tears", many witch-hunting parties were met with fierce resistance from the druids, and many bands of mercenaries, many who had been profiting off the exploitation of the witch hunt for years, were confronted and slain. This led to a short period known by locals as "The War of Druids", wherein witch-hunters and druids alike fell in battle across the whole of Greenwood Fen. Though formidable, the druids were eventually outnumbered, and the surviving druids receded deep into the wood, leaving many areas of the woodland at the mercy of the witch-hunters until the Circle of Alabast stepped in and fervor surrounding the hunt finally began to die out. In the aftermath, a new Druid Circle, the Greenwood Druid Circle, was formed from the remnants of several other shattered Circles and was granted a protected status by the Circle of Alabast. Any who would harm a member of the Druid Circle would be sentenced to death by scaphism at the hands of the druids. A sure deterrent to any who might hold resentment towards them. The Circle mages also aided the druids in rebuilding and concealing their groves from the outsiders, in order for the Greenwood Druid Circle to begin rehabilitating Greenwood Fen. Though some individuals continued the hunt, even after the hysteria had finally abated, these numbers began to dwindle severely as the Circle of Alabast began shedding light on the exploitative endeavors that many these groups engaged in, clearing many druids and other magical folk who had been wrongly accused of witchcraft. The Circle also made captivity of fae-folk and some other types of magical creatures illegal under punishment of imprisonment, with the length of the sentence usually matching the number of years the creature was kept in captivity or a minimum of 3 years. Eventually, many rural towns and villages grew to distrust, and then to resent, witch-hunters as hucksters and troublemakers, often not worth the hassle they bring. Thus, witch-hunting as a profession fell out of favor, with many former witch-hunters either in prisons, carving out lives as mercenaries and sellswords, or as outlaws permanently on the run.
Year: 2E 742
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