Petty Magic (Hedge)
Petty Magic (Hedge) is the weirdest of the three
we're discussing because a) it's by far the most dangerous magic of the three,
and the most touched by Chaos, and b) it's by far the most accepted and
integrated into normal everyday life, already! Many Hedge spells are more along
the lines of Old Wives' Tales (given form). They're little peasant
superstitions, except they're real.
Many villages, especially further away from larger towns and
cities, contain a Hedge Witch of some sort—whether they're just a local
guardian of the Old Faith, or they're actually attuned to the Winds of Magic,
and have gone untrained and unnoticed by the Colleges of Magic. Either way,
they live in an uneasy halfway between civilisation and the wilds—hence
"Hedge", for they live along the hedgerow between the worlds.
Where Hedge Witches are found, you'll also find excuses as
to why they should be tolerated. The Hedge Witch is often a healer, or a puller
of teeth, or a warder of bad spirits. Whether they're actually doing a good job
at this, or not, is up to the individual…but it always seems like villages
with Hedge Witches do better than those without (though what are they trading
for their prosperity?)
How does this prosperity manifest? Let's have a look.
Protection from Rain
The Witch is protected from rain and other precipitation,
regardless of how heavy. This one, at first, seems like a weird spell…until you
consider that most folks wouldn't have parasols or umbrellas in this age, and
that to catch a cold is to flirt with death!
It may be disconcerting to see an old bent-over woman emerge
from the driving rain whilst being bone dry, but I'm sure you'll forget your
unease when they reveal your child, safe and sound, and unmarred by the rain.
You'll be thankful when the Witch is able to guide your sheep back in, safely,
when a flash storm occurs during the rainy season, or when they're the only one
able to find a lost trinket out in the storm.
Plus, it doesn't hurt when nasty things come calling, to have
a weirdly serene being standing among you, who has even made the rain afraid to
fall on them…
Magic Flame
The Witch creates a small blue flame in their hand. In a
world without lighters or easy access to fuel, being able to conjure even small
flames would be a massive time saver. Sure, the fire is blue, and the edges of
it look like skulls, and the back of your teeth taste like last Marktag when
you were sure you heard a whispering of grey and worms and shattering and
SOMETHING IS GETTING CLOSER!
Ahem. Excuse me.
Yes—the flame is weird, but it's flame. No need to dry the
kindling, to labour over the spinning sticks, or to spend all your time
tinkering with the flint and tinder.
Gust
The Witch creates a light gust of wind through an area,
strong enough to blow out candles and scatter paper, but not to knock over
objects of any weight.
Field work is tiring and very exposed to the elements. If
the day is particularly hot, and there is no breeze, it would make toiling all
the more difficult. Further, days of low-wind would aid crows and other
scavenging birds to pick at a farmer's fields, and maybe allow larger raptors
to steal young animals!
Quick, sudden, and unexpected changes in the weather, would
be disconcerting to any who are paying attention (which would definitely
include farmers and birds in the area), which would cause them to scatter and
go elsewhere… So, whilst this might seem like a great idea to do over a farm,
make sure the farmer knows the Gods are protecting them (or some other
convenient lie).
Ghost Step
The Witch leaves no visible tracks for an hour, no matter
where they move through.
Whilst the potential benefits of getting behind attackers
who are coming to raid a village are unmistakable, I'm more interested in
animals, here. There are plenty of situations where tracking animals could come
after villagers: a bear has wandered into the area, the wolves of Winter are
starving in the forests and are hunting closer to the village, or the Lord has
discovered a theft and has unleashed their hunting dogs!
Ghost Step would aid in circumventing these dangers, and
could be used to lure them away from the village, and throw off their trails.
Perhaps it wouldn't be enough to stop them altogether, but it would buy time
for the village to prepare: to hide the stolen goods, to gather their bows and
head to the keep, or to lock their doors and hold out the hunting bear!
Ghost Step is also one of the least uncanny spells on the
list: it is a talent that is conceivable to be trained (or at least, to trick a
peasant that it is trained). This might require some deception on the part of
the Witch, but it would be a strange Witch that didn't have to lie from time to
time.
Ill Fortune
The Witch enchants an item, so that its bearer is cursed
with bad luck.
This one is a little more obscured, but just remember: bad
luck for one person is good luck for another. Sort of. The life of a farmer is
a competitive one, and one measured in individual days. A single day of missed
opportunities may mean the difference between surplus to be sold at market, and
just scraping by through the Winter. Thus, cursing someone with failure, even
for a day, could disrupt their whole year!
Further to that, the price of grain (as with all things) is
set by the supply versus the demand. If the supply drops, and the demand is
bumped up (by a farmer not having surplus, and indeed being dependant on
purchasing more grain), then the farmer with the surplus will command a
higher price!
There are all sorts of other uses: curse the local Lord, so
they're less likely to notice their peasants short changing them, or curse the
travelling merchant so they're not as savvy with their hard bargaining.
Of course, these curses are very wide-reaching, and they
could have massively disastrous effects! The cursed farmer might not just be
unable to work the fields properly, but might break their neck! The cursed Lord
might take issue with the bad luck, and assume it's the entire village being
cursed for harbouring a Witch! The merchant might get robbed on the road, and
now the village will never get them back again to trade!
Ill Fortune is perhaps my favourite spell on the list: it's
the most Witchy, it's the most unspecific (which means it'll cause the most
drama when used at the table), and it's got such versatility. It's also, due
to it being the most Witchy, the one most likely to cause the Witch strife if
discovered. This sort of thing is why Witches get burnt at the stake, so be
careful with its use!
Shock
The Witch touches and stuns one person.
Shock is a relatively straight forward spell: whether you
need someone to stop, it has its uses. And there are definitely those times
in provincial life… A man gets too drunk and disorderly at the local pub:
that's a Shock. A dog goes rabid and pounces towards a young child: that's a
Shock. A cow starts acting flighty, and is at risk of setting off a stampede:
oh you better believe that's a Shock!
Again, however, this is a spell that looks off. It's not
calming them, it's not making them drowsy: it's stunning them via a shock! If
someone sees you doing this, they'll be very wary of you, and will start to
spread bewitching rumours. Beware!
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