Here are some common questions players have about witches, and their answers! If you don’t see your question answered here, ask in discord!

 

What happens when a witch arrives at the Ordo Luna House?

 

If the witch is unowned and has been transferred from another city or is coming straight from an academy, they will usually travel via plane, then boat, attended by an ISF escort.  

 

When they arrive, it is usually with a small amount of luggage and, if they have one, a familiar. The luggage is set aside and the Nocturnus or whomever might be assigned the task) greets them and scans their arm to verify their identity and report that they have arrived unharmed. 

 

From there, they are familiarized with the rules of the Ordo Luna house, probably given a snack, then given a tour of the facilities. They are assigned to a bunk and given an account card. 

 

The witch’s magic and skills are then discussed, as well as any notes that may be on their file. It is suggested that they take some time to familiarize themselves with the city and the witches of the order, and some suggestions are made for work. Some witches come with the express purpose of working for ISF or as an employee of the house etc. so instructions would be given about getting started with that before leaving the witch to rest and settle in.

 

If you discuss it with the Nocturnus OOC first, this scene can be done “off stage” so you can get right into RPing. Otherwise, set up a time to meet and it’ll get done then.

If I am a registered witch, do I have to be part of the Ordo Luna?

 

If you’re unowned, yes. If you are owned, you are still technically part of it, but you can be part of a fraternity without participating in it actively. Of course, we would love to have you play with us, and there are many benefits to it IC, including access to more materials, the knowledge base of more experienced, powerful witches, and most importantly to a witch, a network of peers that can assist in rituals and spellwork to make your own magic more powerful.

 

 Can I have X for a familiar?

 

There are a few factors you need to consider when you’re selecting what your character is going to get as a familiar. There is one, hard fast rule, and it is that other than handmade objects for technomancers, familiars must be live animals that exist in the modern world. There are no unicorns, no jackalopes, no tribbles, no reanimated corpses/body parts and definitely no dragons.  Even if those things existed in the world, they would be inappropriate for a familiar, as they should not be magical creatures. 

 

Can you have an exotic creature? A tiger? A panda? A komodo dragon? If you can justify the why and how of it, you can have it. But there are caveats. One, your character has to have a place to put it. Two, they have to have a way to care for it. If you are a low level witch who is unbound or bound to a vampire of limited power and means, you probably have no way to pay for its upkeep. Three, is it going to be useful? It is fun to think “Oh, my familiar is going to be a googly eye sticker”, and sure, I guess you can have that if you’re a technomancer who makes very bad decisions, but you’re going to lose all the other benefits. A familiar is a very large part of a witch’s potential power, but they have limitations in regards to the physical.

 

In that same vein, if you’re owned by a powerful vampire and somehow he agrees to let you have a tiger as a pet, maybe from some defunct zoo, think about what that means beyond feeding and caring for it. Familiars are most useful when they have a degree of freedom and agency. A domestic cat can roam around a city relatively unnoticed. Cats are common, they’re everywhere, they are not large predators capable of murdering a human with ease (no matter how much a cat might like to do so). Think about what you, as a person, would do if you saw a cat running around town versus a lion. Like in any city, authorities would be called and they would go to detain and possibly even kill the animal before it hurt anyone. And if you had to keep a lion in your bedroom, not only would that smell terrible very quickly, but also they would surely be depressed, sick from lack of sunlight and exercise, and probably very ornery and uncooperative. 

 

Also, Familiars cannot be something that could potentially kill someone with a lethal venom or poison. Theoretically, they could be, but in the interest of fairness and a desire to not kill characters willy-nilly, the answer is no Murder Death Scorpions. 

 

I want to play a bred witch, but I do not want to be a slave. Do I have to be?

 

Yes and no. In this setting, bred witches are an investment by the empire. All witches are owned by the empire until they are purchased or assigned to a vampire. 

 

IC you are always in danger of being selected as a witch to be owned or bound to a vampire. But not every vampire is looking for a simpering slave to lick their feet. If that’s what you two are looking for OOC, go for it. But the primary reason for binding a witch is so the vampire can go out into daylight, and that they can have access to their particular abilities. Some just want someone pretty to stand by them and look important. There are a lot of reasons, and while technically you are magically bound to obey their commands, that doesn’t mean you have to do a full on BDSM power exchange thing.  OOC communication is KEY here. If you do not like to do any OOC conversations but you are adamant you do not want to play a full on servant, playing a witch is not the role for you.

 I want to play a witch but I am not coming in with an owner already in place, is that okay?

 

Yes. Officially, you are government property, bound to the Ordo Luna House. A government owned witch can work for the ISF, the Ordo Luna in a variety of different jobs, or really pretty much anywhere they can get a job.

 

I am a registered witch, am I allowed to have money?

 

Technically, witches are not allowed to have their own money. They are given access to accounts that are tracked (the way everyone’s credit account is tracked) and if necessary, frozen.

 

Unowned witches bound to the Ordo Luna house (the entity that takes care of such things for the government) are granted a weekly allowance, modest in nature. It is generally enough to go out for lunch a couple times a week, buy a new outfit, buy amenities. A lot of things, they don’t need to purchase. All of their meals and toiletries are paid for.  Once your character gets a job, their paycheck goes to the Ordo Luna and a percentage is added into the allowance. This is controlled by the Nocturnus, and for the most part, they do not mess with it much. However, when necessary, funds may be decreased or frozen.

 

Owned witches are at the mercy of their vampire master. They tend to be given account cards, upon which the vampire puts an amount depending on their resources and what they think the witch will need. More powerful vampires tend to give their witches more money so that they can flaunt their status better, but it’s an individual thing. Figure this out IC. Vampires may also require every purchase to be verified by them or to cut the witch out of the account entirely for punishment.

 

I want to do X but it is not a spell that is listed or I am not sure how to approach it. What should I do?

 

 If it’s an easy question, ask in the questions section of discord. If it is something more complicated or you do not want to advertise to everyone that you are trying to do, please file a ticket on discord.

 

I want to play a witch in CR but I don’t have discord, is that okay?

 

I can’t really make you get Discord, but if you’re going to RP here, you really need to get it, even if you don’t log into it every day. Discord is an integral part of our sim. Most events are listed primarily on Discord, Our OOC conversations are on Discord, which includes planning for events, requests and invites to RP scenes and just generally getting to know each other. Also gifs. So many gifs. It is also where you pop information into the government monitoring, which adds a layer to the surveillance aspect of the RP. If you are in ISF, it is organized there. If you want to text someone IC or file a ticket OOC, you need to do it on Discord. This is how we keep it all organized and maintain transparency between admins. You can ask questions on the Discord and know someone will see it. Please do not send notecards inworld for owner/admin questions. We will lose it. Some of us highly prefer IMs in Discord to SL, simply because they ping us when we’re doing something in another window.

 

Who do I contact if I have a specific witchy thing to ask or character concept I want to have okayed before I apply?

 

Please put it in the questions channel on Discord if it is for a quick verification, but if it is something that requires more conversation, message Kit/Abd (Witches/Humans) in the CR Discord, who will get to you when they are able.

  

I am playing a technomancer. I want to have a more cyberpunk aesthetic. Can I have implants and cybernetic enhancements on my avatar?

 

Yes. But they do nothing mechanically but look pretty. You can say something is how you view the internet or whatever, but they give you no bonuses. If you have enchantment or work with an enchanter, you can make a talisman, which may look like your tech visor or neck plugs no problem. Please see the rules on talismans under Enchantment for this.

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It says that all witches can do level 0 magics of all seven magic circles, can I learn higher level spells in those magics?

 

No. You can grow in power in your primary and secondary magics when you take another rank. There are some high ranks that have access to a third magic, but you cannot learn all the magic spells. Just as a scientist has a specialty but a general knowledge of some basics, so do witches.

  

Can I take a mer magic?

 

No. If you want that magic, you will need to play a mer. At the moment, the knowledge is not shared between races, and those humans who have unlocked the secrets of mer magic are hunted down viciously and with extreme prejudice. 

  

I rolled a witch but I changed my mind about the circles I have. Can I change them?

 

If you haven’t used the powers IC or done any RP that is contingent on you having those abilities (Like taking a role as a healer because you have life magic), and it’s been less than a month,  just message Kit/Abd (Witches/Humans) in Discord, and I will switch them up for you… ONCE. I prefer that you do that only for secondary magics, but if you really feel another one makes more sense for your character’s primary, that can be changed. 

 

I want to do X but the magic page says it will take a group of witches. Why can’t I do it by myself?

 

For witches in particular, magic is generally a communal effort. Chants, rituals, channeled energies etc. This facilitates RP. If you want to do something big, wouldn’t it be boring to do it by yourself anyway? Organize it IC. Gather reagents. Trade favors, recruit other magic users, set a date and do it. It can always be put on the event calendar to bring more witches into it. Not every witch in the ritual has to have the magic in question to lend power to it.

 Can I form my own coven? 

 

Everybody has cliques and groups of people they are more comfortable working with / are very in sync with. If you want to form a group within the group, go for it. It won’t be anything official, as you will still be part of the Ordo Luna, but you can still recruit for it. It can be secret or not, seditious or not. Having your own little club could also be a great way for stirring up some IC trouble, so don’t be surprised if it gets unwanted attention from the Nocturnus or the ISF. If you want your own channel in the discord for it, just let me (Abd/Kit) know, and I will get it set up for you.

 

​Rules of Ordo Luna (See link)

 

Employing or petitioning a witch:

 

Employing Witches

 

All witches who come to Kaho’olawe are expected to have occupations beyond assisting with the magical needs of the Ordo Luna, and by effect, the Regime. These jobs can be anything from working directly for the government or an individual, in the Ordo Luna house, as a ferryman, at one of the businesses on the boardwalk, at the club, so on and so forth.

 

Those seeking to employ a witch should make a point to contact the Nocturnus to assure that the aforementioned witch is available, or even qualified for the job for which they wish to hire them. It should be noted, however, that employment, even as a personal steward, does not constitute ownership and comes with no rights to physical violence or demands that one would not expect of an employee of any other race. 

 

Procedure for obtaining a suitable witch to bond:

 

1) Contact the Nocturnus of the local coven and arrange a meeting to discuss one's personal needs and/or desires in a witch. Be aware that one's wishes in this matter will not necessarily matter. The rank of the witch obtained, and their primary circles of magic, are determined by the rank and standing of the vampire making the request. Those with more social/political pull will get the better choices. It is unlikely that a lower ranked vampire who is not in direct service to the Empire will be presented with a Master Witch for bonding. Petitions for such things are generally denied on the spot unless one has special dispensation from the Governor ((Abd)), the Council or Consular ((Which in this case is the NPC Nassir.)).

 

2) Upon being presented with a potential witch, there is a week-long period in which the vampire and witch are given the opportunity to get to know one another. These meetings are generally chaperoned if in a private venue. 

 

3) In the wake of the first week, should the vampire wish to continue with the process, a contract is drawn up with the Nocturnus detailing the particulars for a trial period between the two. Given the fact that this contract takes the witch off the market for a period of weeks, there is always a sizable fee involved. The fee is paid to the Nocturnus and goes toward the operation of the coven house. 

 

4) In the wake of the trial period, the vampire has the opportunity to either dissolve the contract entirely, refusing the witch in question. Or, alternatively, to take the witch into their home as a servant, if they are already in possession of a bound witch, or a bound witch. It is not necessary for the vampire to bind the witch immediately upon gaining their contract. And it is, in fact, illegal to do so. Once the contracts are signed and the witch taken into the vampire's care, there is an enforced waiting period of one week before the bond between the two can be formed. During this time, the witch is able to file a petition to have the bond denied, should they be able to show just cause. In the event that such a thing occurs, the witch and Nocturnus must present their case to the Magisters as per the rules outlined in petitioning the bond found on https://www.crimsonregime.com/witch/

  

How many witches can I own:

 

This depends entirely upon one's social and economic position within the empire. 

 

Vampires who do not hold any rank within the Regime, censor, magister, praetor, questor, Governor ect, will be allowed a maximum of one bound witch and one blooded witch. Should they desire more, they are free to petition the Nocturnus but such petitions are generally deemed frivolous and denied. 

  

• Censor - are allowed a maximum of one bound witch and two blooded witches. Blooded witches, however, must be of one rank lower than the Censor in question.

• Magister - are allowed a maximum of one bound witch and three blooded witches of lower rank.

• Praetor - is allowed a maximum of one bound witch and three blooded witches of lower rank.

• Questor - is allowed a maximum of one bound witch and four blooded witches, one of which may be Master rank. 

• Governor - is allowed a maximum of one bound witch. The governor may take as many blooded witches as they feel they can reasonably provide for. Generally speaking, these witches are retained until such time that the Governor finds a suitable vampire for them.