Witches are mortal supernatural beings descended from Spirit, one of the divisions created by the First Severance. Witchcraft is not something an ordinary human can learn through study alone. The ability is inherited through blood, though it may remain dormant for generations before appearing again.
Witches age, bleed, become sick, and die much like ordinary humans. Their power does not come from physical superiority, but from an innate connection to forces most humans cannot perceive.
Magic is the ability to reach beyond the physical world and influence what already exists. Witches do not create something from nothing. They channel, manipulate, bind, move, transform, or redirect existing forces.
Their hands are natural conduits for magic, allowing them to direct power through movement, touch, and concentration. Simple magic may require little more than intent, while powerful workings often require rituals, symbols, herbs, candles, blood, personal objects, prepared spaces, or the combined strength of several witches.
Common branches of witchcraft include elemental influence, telekinesis, spirit work, protection and wards, curses and bindings, divination, ritual magic, and limited healing.
Individual witches naturally develop different strengths. One may excel at communicating with spirits while another possesses exceptional talent for curses, elemental magic, or protective enchantments.
Magic is never an unlimited resource.
Minor workings cause little strain, but greater magic places increasing stress upon the witch's body and mind. Overuse may cause exhaustion, trembling, headaches, nosebleeds, fever, unconsciousness, or severe physical pain.
A witch may attempt magic beyond their normal capability. There is no invisible force simply preventing them from trying.
This is known as Overreach.
The greater the magic exceeds the witch's ability, the greater the consequence. Extreme Overreach can cause permanent injury, uncontrolled magical effects, or death.
Age, training, natural talent, bloodline, emotional state, preparation, and cooperation with other witches can all influence what a witch is capable of surviving.
Every witch possesses some degree of sensitivity to the boundary between life and death.
They may sense supernatural disturbances, feel the presence of spirits, or detect echoes left behind by powerful suffering and death. Not every presence they feel is a conscious ghost. Particularly traumatic events can leave impressions behind—fragments of emotion or memory repeating long after the person responsible has died.
Some witches develop Spirit Work far enough to perceive or communicate directly with the dead.
The dead, however, are not reliable sources of truth.
Spirits may lie, manipulate, misunderstand what happened, forget important details, or be so damaged by death that their memories no longer reflect reality clearly.
Death represents one of the most dangerous boundaries in witchcraft.
Returning the dead is not a reliable spell or ordinary magical practice. A sufficiently powerful witch may attempt to reach beyond that boundary, but resurrection demands extraordinary power and carries unpredictable consequences.
The witch may die. The returned person may be changed. Something else may follow them back.
There is never a guarantee that what answers from beyond death is truly the person the witch intended to call.
Emotion influences witchcraft.
Fear, grief, rage, love, and desperation can temporarily produce extraordinary magical strength, but power gained through intense emotion is significantly harder to control. A frightened witch may therefore accomplish something beyond their normal ability while simultaneously causing unintended damage.
Training teaches witches not merely how to become stronger, but how to remain in control when their emotions are not.
Witches have existed alongside Vampires and Hunters for centuries, sometimes as enemies and sometimes as necessary allies. Their ability to create supernatural enchantments makes their cooperation particularly valuable.
The Daylight Rings used by Rosewick's vampires are products of witchcraft. A vampire cannot create or enchant one alone, giving witches considerable influence in their relationship with vampire society.
Despite centuries of knowledge, witches do not understand the complete truth of their own origin. Their oldest traditions teach that Spirit belongs to them.
Very few have ever questioned why ancient symbols sometimes suggest that Spirit was once only one part of something larger.