You've probably heard of the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693. But have you ever wondered what it would be like to actually be there? Or to be, in fact, one of the witches of Salem? Well then, here I present to you: Salem 1692.
A strange and mysterious witch arrived in Salem just in time for Yule, or the Winter Solstice. The local coven welcomed her, for even though she seemed off, it was the celebration of the God's annual birth by the Goddess and the transfer of power from the Holly King to the Oak King. She stayed for the entire celebration period, being hidden from the townsfolk by a spell. It was after she'd finally gained the coven's trust that she struck.
A curse was cast upon the people, causing fits and irrational behaviour. The coven, in their panic, captured and spellbound the witch, locking her powers up, before casting her out into the cold countryside, not realising what the future held.
Now, Bridget Bishop, the head of the Salem Coven and one of the New World's most powerful witches, has just been killed, the first of many. The coven is scattering, convening in full only at the Sabbats and not at every full and new moon, as tradition entails, though sometimes two or even three of them will meet at a time to convey messages and news from other coven members. It is now Litha, or the Summer Solstice, just about a week after Bridget's death, and a meeting of all the witches in the area has been called.
A curse was cast upon the people, causing fits and irrational behaviour. The coven, in their panic, captured and spellbound the witch, locking her powers up, before casting her out into the cold countryside, not realising what the future held.
Now, Bridget Bishop, the head of the Salem Coven and one of the New World's most powerful witches, has just been killed, the first of many. The coven is scattering, convening in full only at the Sabbats and not at every full and new moon, as tradition entails, though sometimes two or even three of them will meet at a time to convey messages and news from other coven members. It is now Litha, or the Summer Solstice, just about a week after Bridget's death, and a meeting of all the witches in the area has been called.
Most witches only have three powers, though some, like Bridget Bishop, have had more. Powers include:
- Control over water
- Control over fire
- Control over wind
- Telekinesis
- Telepathy (of which there are two parts: silent speech [speaking into someone's mind and hearing the reply], and memory reading [reaching into someone’s mind and forcibly reading their memories, perhaps even altering them])
- Charms (for stealth, better eyesight, invisibility, warding off curses)
- Flight
- Clairvoyance (seeing ghosts, nature spirits, and auras [which betray people's emotions as well as whether they are witches or humans])
- Remote viewing
- Invocation (offering one's own body as a vessel for a nearby nature spirit, thereby temporarily gaining powerful elemental powers, though this cannot be done for an extended period of time lest the spirit take over; furthermore nature spirits only exist where their corresponding element also exists, so you'd be hard-pressed to find a water spirit in the desert or a fire spirit in the middle of the ocean)
- Enhanced physical abilities (strength, speed, agility, etc. - nothing too extreme though)
- Animal shapeshifting (transforming at will into a single type of animal; if you can change into a wolf you can't change into a raven and vice-versa. Also, it can't be maintained for more than about an hour lest they begin losing their humanity)
- Cursing (causing misfortune and sickness to the target) - non-playable
- Precognition - non-playable
Witches
Somewhere along the evolutionary line humans split into two distinct groups; not different enough to be considered separate species but not similar enough to be considered the same species. We refer to these two 'races,' if you will, as 'witches' and 'humans,' referring respectively to those who can manipulate their environment and bend the laws of physics, and those who can't. For a long time they coexisted peacefully, but in the recent centuries the humans have grown more and more distrustful, so the witches had to go into hiding. Slowly human knowledge of witches has diminished, but they continue to remember their existence.
Ghosts, poltergeists and banshees
Ghosts are the spirits of dead humans. Most of them discover that they're dead and that the supernatural is very real very quickly, and eventually they accept it and get on with their afterlives. They can see the world of the living, but only the few witches possessing clairvoyance can see them, and they're fine with that, because as far as they're concerned nothing that occurs in the physical world really affects them, and they can't affect the physical world either, so why should the living matter to them? They remain ghosts for a few centuries before rejoining the reincarnation cycle.
For dead witches it's very different. They become poltergeists, a class of ghost that can affect the physical world whenever they please - though other than being able to pick things up they're basically powerless. They may as well be regular humans, though they can choose to not interact with the physical world, in which case they seem like regular ghosts until they wish to interact with materials again. They can choose between remaining ghosts for a few centuries before rejoining the cycle, and immediately reincarnating.
Then there are banshees. Frightful, skeletal figures with an ear-splitting scream that strikes terror into the most powerful of witches, they are those who died while a curse was laid upon them. They can't interact with the physical in the way that poltergeists can, but their screams can be heard by all but a deaf person. They are best to be avoided, but if that's impossible then the only alternative is for an exorcist to touch them, obliterating the banshee completely. They never reincarnate.
Nature spirits
Nature spirits, also called elementals, are the spirits that have existed as such since the world's creation, tethered to the same place by their very nature; elementals, as the name would imply, exist only where their corresponding element also exists.
Somewhere along the evolutionary line humans split into two distinct groups; not different enough to be considered separate species but not similar enough to be considered the same species. We refer to these two 'races,' if you will, as 'witches' and 'humans,' referring respectively to those who can manipulate their environment and bend the laws of physics, and those who can't. For a long time they coexisted peacefully, but in the recent centuries the humans have grown more and more distrustful, so the witches had to go into hiding. Slowly human knowledge of witches has diminished, but they continue to remember their existence.
Ghosts, poltergeists and banshees
Ghosts are the spirits of dead humans. Most of them discover that they're dead and that the supernatural is very real very quickly, and eventually they accept it and get on with their afterlives. They can see the world of the living, but only the few witches possessing clairvoyance can see them, and they're fine with that, because as far as they're concerned nothing that occurs in the physical world really affects them, and they can't affect the physical world either, so why should the living matter to them? They remain ghosts for a few centuries before rejoining the reincarnation cycle.
For dead witches it's very different. They become poltergeists, a class of ghost that can affect the physical world whenever they please - though other than being able to pick things up they're basically powerless. They may as well be regular humans, though they can choose to not interact with the physical world, in which case they seem like regular ghosts until they wish to interact with materials again. They can choose between remaining ghosts for a few centuries before rejoining the cycle, and immediately reincarnating.
Then there are banshees. Frightful, skeletal figures with an ear-splitting scream that strikes terror into the most powerful of witches, they are those who died while a curse was laid upon them. They can't interact with the physical in the way that poltergeists can, but their screams can be heard by all but a deaf person. They are best to be avoided, but if that's impossible then the only alternative is for an exorcist to touch them, obliterating the banshee completely. They never reincarnate.
Nature spirits
Nature spirits, also called elementals, are the spirits that have existed as such since the world's creation, tethered to the same place by their very nature; elementals, as the name would imply, exist only where their corresponding element also exists.
There are some witch hunters who are simply ignorant humans searching blindly about for witches and end up accusing humans 75% of the time; these present a mild threat, to be cautious around. Then there are those with a copy of the Malleus Maleficarum, which, while inaccurate at best, still provides useful information; these present a slightly larger threat. And then there are exorcists.
Exorcists are those who had witch ancestors with nearly no powers and ended up marrying humans and having powerless children. These children married yet more humans, producing more powerless children and further diluting the bloodline. This goes on for generations, the magic lying dormant, until finally a child is born who has just a drop of magic in their veins; enough to be useful, but not enough for them to be a witch. These are exorcists, and while they generally pose no threat to the witches, if one becomes aligned with the Church and becomes a witch hunter, they can be a hazard. Exorcists have the uncanny ability to tell who is a witch and who isn't through eye contact and engaging in conversation with them, and they are immune to magic, meaning that they remain unaffected by curses, are hidden from a witch's precognition and remote viewing, can bypass charms, are untouched by telepathy and telekinesis, and the elements under a witch's control can't get near them. They are basically big voids, the absolute antithesis of witches. They can also tell when a witch is lying to them as an extra bonus. However, witches with clairvoyance can also tell what they are, as they have no auras.
Exorcists are those who had witch ancestors with nearly no powers and ended up marrying humans and having powerless children. These children married yet more humans, producing more powerless children and further diluting the bloodline. This goes on for generations, the magic lying dormant, until finally a child is born who has just a drop of magic in their veins; enough to be useful, but not enough for them to be a witch. These are exorcists, and while they generally pose no threat to the witches, if one becomes aligned with the Church and becomes a witch hunter, they can be a hazard. Exorcists have the uncanny ability to tell who is a witch and who isn't through eye contact and engaging in conversation with them, and they are immune to magic, meaning that they remain unaffected by curses, are hidden from a witch's precognition and remote viewing, can bypass charms, are untouched by telepathy and telekinesis, and the elements under a witch's control can't get near them. They are basically big voids, the absolute antithesis of witches. They can also tell when a witch is lying to them as an extra bonus. However, witches with clairvoyance can also tell what they are, as they have no auras.
- I am OP. Ergo, I am God of this RP and my word is law (don't worry, I'm a semi-reasonable person).
- No godmodding. Godmods will be ignored. (If you've already worked it out with the other person please tell me.)
- Respect each other.
- Try to get at least 3 lines into each post. If you literally can't, that's fine, but please, try.
- I expect everyone to use proper spelling, grammar, and sentence structure.
- If you decide to drop out, please notify me.
- If you are absent for a week I will TG you; if I receive no reply after two days I will kick you out (if you do choose to return please explain your absence). The exception to this rule is if you tell me beforehand that you will be absent.
- I reserve the right to decline applications as well as to kick you out. (Don't worry, I won't abuse this right.)
- I reserve the right to ask for an explanation for any rulebreaking and to ask you to edit godmods out of your post.
- Code: Select all
[b]Name:[/b] (first and last name; if you want to use the name of a historical figure you can use the Wikipedia article (1), though historical accuracy really isn't really necessary as we'll probably completely obliterate history anyway)
[b]Race:[/b] (witch, human or exorcist)
[b]Age:[/b] (in years, please; please note that witch lifespans are no longer than those of humans)
[b]Gender:[/b] (male or female? Please note that witches can be either)
[b]Appearance:[/b] (a picture or good description)
[b]Personality:[/b] (what is your character like to interact with?)
[b]Profession:[/b] (AKA job; what your character does)
[b]Powers:[/b] (3 maximum - please note that I have labelled some of the powers on the list as non-playable; you may also suggest a power not on the list, although you may not get it)
[b]Bio:[/b] (A short paragraph on notable features of their life)
[b]RP Sample:[/b] (A link to some of your previous work or a few paragraphs of what your first post might look like)
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pe ... tch_trials
Witches
Casi Delasy - Lambrinisia
Joey Luner-Veredium - Psychological Hedonism
Robin Sena - Eireann Fae
Cecilia Williams - Nature-Spirits
Jake Patrick William - Kazarogkai
Exorcists
Gabriel Antinori - Firstaria
Charles Hunter - Mcnernia
Humans
James Sinclair - Videssos
Nature spirits
Ignatius - Prince-Bishopric Of Liege
Casi Delasy - Lambrinisia
Joey Luner-Veredium - Psychological Hedonism
Robin Sena - Eireann Fae
Cecilia Williams - Nature-Spirits
Jake Patrick William - Kazarogkai
Exorcists
Gabriel Antinori - Firstaria
Charles Hunter - Mcnernia
Humans
James Sinclair - Videssos
Nature spirits
Ignatius - Prince-Bishopric Of Liege
I'm deluded. Then I'll work on another app. No way I'm gonna do a crappy exorcist.
) and farmer on his home farm.
