Witch's Coven

Esadora Norwood was a great Witch who lived many hundred years ago. She had very firm views on what exactly a Witch ought to be, and thought that the Witches needed to get a bit more organised if they were to do any real good for the Valley. In the weeks leading up to her death she wrote extesively in her journal about these two very things, and penned several letters to other Witches she respected with an outline of how she thought the Witches could be organised. She sadly died before she saw her ideas brought to fruition, but eventually the first Coven was formed, and the Witches began to have a purpose.
Many of the Coven's guiding principals came from those last Journal entries written by Esadora, but there have been other great Witches since Esadora that have left their own marks upon the Witch's code. The Coven doesn't have many rules as such, they are more a set of obligations. They lay out a Witch's responsibilities to both the land, and to the people and creatures which inhabit it. They do however require Witch's to pass a certain number of tests or trials before they are accepted into the Coven.
The Coven is headed by five Witches, who are elected into position by the Coven. Every member of the Coven gets a vote, and only those who have worn the Hat for over thirty years are eligible to be voted for. Once a Witch has been voted in, they serve until death or until they become incapable of performing their duties.
These days Witches are generally given a modicum of respect by most folks, though they can fall from grace as easily as the next person if they cause trouble for folk. The head Witches of the Coven are usually invited to meetings of state, as well as public gatherings, they are known to be shrewd thinkers and try remain impartial in state dealings. The current ruler of Rooksfell is known to have a particular fondness for Witches, as one of them saved their mother from a nasty curse.