Witchblade
A short Goh'Blyn speaks the name of a noble Ridge before she dips a piece of the Ridge's fur into a pot of boiling blood. The pot ruptures and a dark shadow flies from it toward the intended target, turning invisible as it nears the Ridge.
An Umbra Drakk wanders through The Wild Wood in Arkenwald, searching for what ever made the surge in the Weaves of Magic. He comes across a large furred beast and immediately invokes a terrible curse to slow the target down. He summons the blade given to him from the otherworldly entity and readies for battle.
A weathered Human in a beaten cloak looks across his card playing opponent and whispers something under his breath. His opponent plays a high card game, but he played a better one. The hexes magic changing his losing hand into a win for him.
Witchblades are mysterious, clever, and powerful wielders of the magics to them from a powerful entity. They are the seekers of forbidden knowledge, the creators of terrible curses, and the users of harmless— but helpful— hexes to aid them. Witchblades tend to watch from the shadows and work with their diabolic magics alone. They decide the fates of each person who crosses paths with them for the worse. To them, a mynute brawl with a drunkerd is beneficial in enacting the drunkerd's terrible, terrible curse. With the skills of these curses and hexes gifted to them, they also know the ways around a blade or two. Do not cross a powerful Witchblade, for you could become the target of their next seance.
Career
Qualifications
Witchblades need to know their way around the Weaves of Magic as well as the entity they've struck a bargain with to have access to these powerful magical abilities. A Witchblade can be given this knowledge at any point of their lives, sometimes resulting in small children striking deals with these powers or even elderly Elves who's lost their Arcanist ways and wish to retain those talents.
Additionally, the Witchblade has basic knowledge of swordplay and even some archery.
Career Progression
At first, Witchblades only know a few curses and some hexes, but as the Witchblade progresses through their years, they gain more and more knowledge of the magical world and how to influence it. When they first begin this journey, young Witchblades are known as Witchdaggers; and as they progress, they earn their Witchblade title.
Payment & Reimbursement
Much like Exorcists, Witchblades have a unique way of living. They can offer protective wards against a family's bloodline, curse the family a client wants or even live off of winning from gambling or something similar.
Witchblades are often hermits in the woods, earning them discrediting names, but they live life in pursuit of their Cursed Entity's pursuits.
Other Benefits
Some of the benefits that most Witchblades like is the solitude. They prefer to be working on their own, only helping other Witchblades and very rarely cross paths with a wandering Exorcist. They enjoy being surrounded with their occult collection and not having to share it with everyone. Additionally, the Witchblade can practically harm anyone and deem their fates "unworthy" of them living if they really see fit.
Perception
Purpose
Witchblades are another way for a creature on Rakasha to have results that their churches and religions would not condone. They serve as the seekers and the soldiers, or swords, for the entities that have given their powers. More often than now, you'll see a Witchblade going forth and adventuring in the world in the pursuit of obtaining magical knowledge and discovering secrets that the Weaves of Magic hides behind its fickle strings.
Social Status
More often than not, Witchblades are considered to be "hidden" or "false." More of the Rakasha populous tends to consider them a myth or legend.
Demographics
More than 25% of the populous on Rakasha is considered a Witchblade, or at least a Witchblade in training. Witchblades are located across all of the continents with a majority on the continent of Ashpon and Arkenwald.
History
The Tyrant Era
Witchblades And The Mirage
During the time when the Nine Tyrants ruled, the Witchblades were seeking their cursed Entities through means of extraplanar communication, or they would make their deals when the Entity would talk to them. This was the period the Weaver Witchblades fluorished. They were most often regarded as some of the most elitest warriors, strong enough to take on the Exorcists and even win some of the battles. But alas, those were the times before the Mirage.
When the mirage happened, most of the Witchblades started seeking different Cursed Entities, seeking more older entities. They started to seek out the voices calling from the Evergleam Forest; started to contact with the Elder Things that were trapped and sleeping in the land of Ihetlo, where the Elder Ones lay dormant before their slumber would be broken during the Calamity.
The Witchblades started out as simple people on the supercontinent of Rahk, able to weave the curses and hexes into something of a miriccle. They seemed to use magic granted to them, but not from the Weaves of Magic. One such Witchblade was Darum Hexenklinge, a Sand Troll of the coast of the now made Ashpon. He had struck a deal with one of the Prime Karathigan in the port city, Sharlian, nearest to the Shalian Shores. This Prime Karathigan's name was never exposed to Darum's friends, family, or even clients that would come his way.
The Reveal of The Aberrant Mind Witchblades
Darum Hexenklinge was an interesting Witchblade to have made this deal with a Cursed Entity—seemingly— he just wanted power so he could enact his revenge upon his Aunt and tribe leader, Zara Helum. She had been accused several times of possessing the ability to curse and manipulate the Weaves of Magic via small magical traits called Hexes.
When Darum finally confronted her, she appeared to have employed the power from one of the Elder Things from Ihetlo. She had started the very long and trecherous fight with a few hexes. Darum employed the use of some of his hexes passed to him from the Prime Karathigan, but the fight really began with the Curses were invoked and each were knocked down a peg.
Most of the other Trolls in Darum's tribe didn't want to help in the encounter for fear of being infected with curses and magic they were using. This was a bother for Darum, but he managed to perservere and manage to defeat his aunt. But it was also the first time that he had really understood what Zara had made a bargain with. When she had been felled, her body didn't decompose nor was it eaten like traditional Troll burial customs. It was sucked into a void by an eldritch mass of tentacles.
The Godling Era
Witchblade Myth
Throughout the history of the Godling Era, little is konwn about the Witchblades of this time. It wasn't until the Calamity for most of the knowledge about the Witchblade myths to begin. They started to uncover strange ingredients in secretive tombs and shacks. Nobody understood why these ingredient were there or even where they came from, but all they knew was something had to use them. This ancient knowledge of the Tyrant Era went to start the myth of the Witchblades.
At first the proposal that another Weave of Magic user might exist was slim to known. They knew the Oathslayers, Devoted, Grove Wardens, and Arcanists were the ones to use the Weaves of Magic. That was all the prove any Arcanist needed to see that they were making a myth about the Witchblades.
The Cosmic Era
Current Witchblade Knowledge
Only a small amount of the Witchblades that started when the Mirage was unleashed upon the world. Now, some of the Witchblades tend to keep their origins a secret only letting clients who've come to them for hexes or curses.
Operations
Tools
Witchblades equip the use of the mystical and the magical. Using the components to cast Incantations and even materials or chants to enact their curses. A hex for them requires no real material. As such, they don't really have use for the mundane tools such as distillers for alchemy or brewing, or pens and paper for calligraphy.
Materials
Depending on the Witchblade, they might carry on them materials used for Incantations and curses, or if they have a focal point for their magic, they carry that. Usually these focal points of a Witchblades magic comes in the form of a shards, but the focus has been able to, and more often or not will, take the shape of a weapon the Witchblade chooses.
Additionally, the Witchblade will carry around them their coin so they can purchase different components or even stock up on components for their Incantations and Curses.
Workplace
Witchblades often don't show their workspaces. But for the people that have seen it, they would often describe it as occult, foreign, strange, and off putting or weird. There are books of eldritch magics and even papers of strange writings in another language the person doesn't know. Another thing one might find with the Witchblade is bones. Animal bones and sometimes humanoid bones are used in some of the Witchblades curses.
Additionally, weaponry might be a occurence, or even small animals that don't look or feel like animals upon touching them or prolonged staring.
Dangers & Hazards
Witchblades often than not deal with an angry client or two, but the client is usually taken care of, or killed, if it comes to blows. But they also deal with the religious terror of the Devoted and their several dieties wanting to be rid of their influence.
Alternative Names
Hags, Monsters, Witch In The Woods, Warlocks, Curse Harbingers, Ill Omens
Type
Arcane
Demand
Not High
Legality
While offering curses to those who might now want them may be unfortunate, Witchblades are in a grey area when it comes to the law. Not technically legal, but also not illegal to operate as well. Most, if not, all lawmakers don't think otherwise about the Witchblades because of they're thought to be rumors and myths.
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