Witches from 'Motherland - Fort Salem'

 “ I do solemnly pledge to protect and defend the united states of America against all enemies foreign and domestic. I will faithfully serve and obey the rules and articles for the government of the army of the United States. All Secrets keep all commands willingly performed as dictated by the Salem Accord. ”

Witches in Motherland: Fort Salem





In an alternate reality, witchcraft is common and has impacted the course of US history since the Salem Accords – agreements between witches and the Massachusetts colony. Through the promise of the Accord, witchcraft has become the art of war and witches are trained to be soldiers.

The Motherland: Fort Salem wiki was instrumental in providing information on the series and has a great deal of background on both the characters and the world that is familiar in its scope and scale but vastly different and surprisingly well-versed.

For the purposes of this write-up I’m just looking at the specifics regarding witches in the Motherland: Fort Salem series – how their abilities work, equipment that is standard, and the general background and training that each witch goes through.

Powers:
The Witch’s powers:
Witches gain their powers through their unique physiology and mastery of Menishe or the mother tongue – the first of languages that witches master at their time in the service. Witches also have innate access to abilities which are further enhanced through work with their group, empowerment through activities, or through natural talents. Witches gain such abilities through matrilineal bloodlines, tracked and maintained often from the original witch-lines that were part of the initial Salem Accord.

According to show apocrypha and the wiki, Witches possess additional physical characteristics that allow them to perform ‘the work’, including modified and additional vocal cords and a series of additional mallea in their ears – by changing the pitches in tone and utilizing vocal commands in Menishe witches can affect the world around them in a variety of ways. Performing the work depends on the experience of the witch and two key qualities: the average of the witch’s Intuition and Psyche score. A witch’s power ranks are derived from these scores, hence there is no immediate base rank – it truly is different between witches and what skills they possess. Witches listed here are part of the Salem Accord and must use the subvocal commands in order to work, but witches from other places in the world do not seem to necessarily need to rely on such things (See Limitations). Witches possess the following capabilities:

• Environmental Manipulation: Witches have shown to be able to manipulate their environmental conditions – changing the weather or creating sudden shifts in temperature as well as create massive (and deadly) storms as well as control some animal and plant-life. Witches are trained to focus control over the air, able to do rank damage against targets while halving effective armor.
• Mental Control/Reading: Witches can manipulate the minds of other people and conceal information – including and not limited to ‘Puppeting’ individuals and controlling their actions while leaving them no memory of the event (As General Sarah Adler did with the President at one time). In addition, witches have shown that they possess the right incantation to transfer memories or events or manipulate emotional states to cause someone to murder others or themselves.
• Imitation: Although mostly seen in the Spree – the sect of witches who are engaged in open conflict with the Salem Accord, Witches can imitate existing people through an adoption of a visage which is burned away with a simple flame when finished.
• Specialization Areas: Witches can specialize in a variety of areas – including scrying, healing, necromancy, or more damage-oriented abilities which can do lasting effect. Specialization is usually recognized during training and a ‘coven’ or unit usually has a healer, a scryer, and combat witchcraft as basics.
• Damage/Age Transference: Although only seen immediately through General Alder (and taught to her as part of the agreement of the Chippewa Cessation), witches can transfer damage to willing (or unwilling) targets and ‘share’ age between a group of people (hence Adler looks to be in her 30s while being over 300+ years old – using a group of willing recruits called ‘Biddies’ to share her age).
• Energy Manipulation: Witches can manipulate emotional energy and draw additional power from it. As stated in the show and in the wiki, witches draw on primal energy of life, usually sexual energy (such as the ‘rush’ that the witches felt during Beltane as well as situations that grant additional emotional situations.
• Imbue: Witches can imbue items with their essence and/or create lasting charms – such as a defensive charm or a ‘last letter home’ which grants the person who holds it powers and/or protection. These items are usually very personal and are dedicated to a single person or group and must be given – they cannot be taken.

Equipment:
Witches deploy several key pieces of equipment through their work that provides them with the following:

• The Scourge: The weapon of the witch, the scourge is a whip-like weapon that ends with a metal series of tips that can be wielded expertly by a trained witch and can be used to attack, defend, or perform the work. Each scourge is hand-made by male witches and are presented to each novice usually during Beltane. Scourges can be empowered by the witch who wields it capable of doing rank damage and possessing greater material strength based on the power rank of the Witch’s craft. The Scourge requires a unique weapon* talent to wield effectively and cannot be adequately wielded by anyone who does not have the skill. Witches cannot empower another’s scourge effectively and suffer a -2cs for attempting to do so.
• Salva: A unknown plant derived drug that allows witches to fly or perform combat drops. A single dose will grant a witch Ex (20) levitation, while a more experienced witch can actually use Salva to fly with Ex (20) speed. A single dose of Salva can last about fifteen minutes depending on the skill level of the witch and her Endurance. Witches can use additional doses of Salva to extend their flight abilities or speed and can travel several hundred miles on a combined dose – but it is dangerous – a witch attempting to use more than one (1) dose must make an Endurance FEAT or be rendered stunned for 1d10 rounds. If a witch uses more than three (3) doses they may damage themselves and will need 1d3 days to fully recover, while suffering a -1cs to all physical FEATS during that time. Emotional state plays into the ability to one to successfully use Salva and an inexperienced user must make an additional Psyche FEAT when faced with emotional situations.
• Charms: Many witches have charms that were handed down through their families which can provide a witch with Gd (10) to Ex (20) protections against specific types of damage, bonuses to actions, increased Endurance against kill results, etc. Such charms are considered familial and are usually given from parent to child.

Contacts:
Witches have connection through the Salem Accords (In the US) or with their families/lines. In addition, soldiers within the Accord have the contacts with their units and additional combat groups as necessary.

Limitations:
Witches have several limitations including:

• Required Service: Unless granted a dispensation, all witches are required to serve the US military as part of the Salem Accords and are required to take the Oath of Service at 18. Dispensation is usually granted to bloodlines that have suffered a great deal of loss and are threatened to go extinct as well as consideration for familial service. Each witch upon reaching 18 undergoes a ritual of service – a bright light that appears where they must take the oath. Upon completing the oath, a medal of service appears listing the witch’s name, family, and date of oath. The medallion remains with the witch through her service and suggested through the remainder of their lives. Witches that do not take the oath are considered dangerous and are usually arrested or hunted down and killed – which has led to the uprising of witches resisting the Oath who are known as The Spree.
• Enemies: The witches of Fort Salem have many enemies world-wide, but none immediately that are as dangerous as the Spree. The Spree are witches who have resisted the Oath and have begun acts against the Oath and the civilian population. The Spree has been working to undermine the Salem Accords, placing agents within Fort Salem and working to ensure that as much damage as can be done to discredit the Accords as possible. In addition to the Spree an ancient order called The Camarilla has returned – witch hunters who utilize both a version of the Witch’s vocal powers and armaments which nullify the abilities of witches to perform the work. These enemies are ever present and dangerous and continue to work against the Accords and the witches of Fort Salem.
• Vocalization: Witches need use of their voices to perform the work – any muting of a witch and/or disruption of sonics/vibrations can render a witch’s ability nullified.
• Familial competition: As seen at different points the bloodlines of witches are very important, with open competition between families occurring with frequency. As such a degree of animosity can exist between families and continue to work against the witches of Fort Salem.