I don't think that there is much at all in the fluff about Witches, by which I mean stereotypical human witches, which are worlds apart from Witch Elves. Does anyone know of any fluff references to Witches, other than the one that appears in Mordheim?
Originally Posted by Malorian
They're not written on much are they? The only thing I can recall for certain is one of the witch hunter short stories from the black library, where one is using a... golem(?) thing to commit murders - fairly typical witch - cauldron, lives in a hut, old woman etc. I have a feeling Gotrek and Felix may have run into one at some point, if only because they've killed pretty much everything else...
EDIT - more of a necromancer, but I think the first storm of magic novella, Rauskmov's tomb, features a witch/lych within.
Well the witch stereotype we have today is due to medieval christian beliefs and misogyny. In pagan times witch was simply the female equivalent of wizard or warlock, which I guess is how it would apply in warhammer.
Gav Thorpe on his blog wrote something along the lines that medieval societies are very patriarchal, so in warhammer terms it seems unlikely women would be permitted to study at the colleges of magic. However get away from the major cities and the colleges of magic and it is possible the are women hedge-wizards among the common people.
Last edited by Craze_b0i; 26-05-2012 at 15:01.
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Good, glad there isn't much fluff already in circulation. That means I can pretty much write what I want.
There is a fair deal about witches written in the Beastmen books, they also tend to tangle with Necromancers and forest goblins in the woods. They range from salem style black masses to new orleans style Voodoo priestess. You rarely hear of them because they have no need to go to battle, people tend to go to them for help. All we get is they hold black masses under the chaos moon, cavort with beastmen, and join in their orgies.
There's pretty much room to accommodate whatever type of witch you want. Some of them live in the woods and consort with beasties, some of them fill a "wise woman" role in their local community (so long as the witch hunters don't find out) some are like stereotypical European witches with their "voodoo" dolls and the like...
There's a bit of a gender assumption being made in a few posts here... is the question about non-College magic-users, or female magic-users, specifically?
Nathan Long's Elfslayer, and Chris Wraight's story in Death and Dishonour, both feature female wizards from the Colleges of Magic. There are definitely female wizards. Of course, just because the Empire has wizards, and official colleges, doesn't mean they're not dangerous and unholy to the people they're defending. All it means is that some of them are gathered in the same place and they receive training to be even more dangerous and unholy. Can't live with them, can't live without them...
But they come from anywhere. Rural country, inner city, everywhere inbetween. The nearer they are to the colleges, the more likely they'll be found and trained. The more they grow into their own power without the Colleges' training, the more rogue and dangerous they are - and that's where the witch hunters come in. And rural 'wise' mages can just as likely be males as females.
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Well the OP asked whether there were witches of the stereotypical type, whether you like it or not the stereotypical witch in fantasy or medieval tends to be female.
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Was there not a witch mini in mordhiem?
Indeed there was.
Narrativium is correct: there are definitely female wizards of the colleges; Tome of Salvation suggests that some magisters at some colleges aren't keen on taking on female students, but they're not uncommon all the same (by the standards of wizards, that is).
The female wizards in War online are cool enough that it'd be a shame if they didn't exist in the actual fluff
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There's also quite a few female members of the Colleges depicted in Blood on the Reik, including female Jade, Bright and Light Wizards, so there's that.
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I seem to remember at least two female heads of collages so it's certainly not impossible for women to study there. Now they probably isn't nearly as common as men their for socio-economic reasons, but the Collages as institutions don't seem to care. The people in the institution might make it more difficult for them to rise in the ranks, but since most mages are just one step away from burning touches and pitchforks I could imagine camaraderie inside the profession outweighing socially induced misogyny for many wizards.
Maybe if I elaborate on the reason I asked the question to begin with. I play Vampire Counts, and to avoid jumping on the Necromancer Army bandwagon in quite the same way as many other people, I would like to create a VC army ostensibly based around the use of a Necromancer to lead it, but themed around a coven of Witches. These Witches are the typical haggard old female (unless they choose to appear differently through the use of some spell or potion) that we find in fairytales.
In my mind, the Witches will live in houses in the woods, hidden to all but those intended to find them. They are not evil per se, but they will do harm to those they perceive to be a threat. My Witches use potions and spells and charms and believe in the power of nature, so might have links to other nature deities like Taal. They also have the power to raise the dead, but through the use of, charms, pacts and 'natural magics' rather than through study of dark tomes like Necromancers. In fact, they are opposed to the Vampire Counts and Necromancers, believeing that their evil works are anathema to the natural order. The Witches army is one that has been raised in a different way to those raised by the evil works of the Vampire Counts and Necromancers, to stand against them.
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There are witches dotted around the BL fluff in various forms- pretty prominent with in the Sigmar series and one or two in Death and Honour with the Middenheim story? They crop up now and again but dont really have any strangely discerning characteristics that differ from the stereotype.
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There is quite a lot of background in regard to witches and witchery in WFRP 2nd ed.
There you have the classical Hedge Wizard with some innate abilities and who can use some Petty Magic. These people are normally hiding from Witch Hunters or even join the Orders of Magic in Altdorf. Those hiding and surviving for long enough could become a Witch with access to Witchcraft, meaning they arre able to use low powered spells by drawing from different Winds of Magic and some are even able to (sometimes inevtably) use Dark Magic in the process. Witches using Dark Magic could become Warlocks, if they survive long enough. These Warlocks tend to be either Necromancers or Daemonologists.
It also mentions the so called Hedgefolk, which is a sort of more organized form of Hedge Wizards living for ages within the Empire. The Hedgecraft Apprentice, Hedge Master and Hadgewise are more akin to druids and sort of opposed to "normal" witches, Witch Hunters, the Ruinous Powers, the Colleges of Magic and the Cult of Sigmar. They have access to Witch Lore and some Lesser Magic.
An ancient tradition of magicians survives amon the Ungols in Kislev and most Ungol communities have a Wise Woman, who has the "witchsight". Those Wise Women developing magical powers become so called Hag Witches, women who can invoke the spirits of Kislev and have access to Petty Magic and some Lesser Magic. The legendary Hag Mothers in turn are very powerful Hag Witches who can use their own Witch Lore.
The ice witches (Apprentice Witch, Ice Maiden, Ice Witch) of Kislev are a sisterhood of Gospodar women orginally formed over a thousand years ago by the Khan-Queens. They use their own Witch Lore (of Ice).
In Norsca exist Seer and Vitki that fill the role of wise (wo)men without being blatant servants of the Ruinous Powers, though at least the latter are steeped in the arcane traditions of the Ruinous Powers.
As far as I remember there are a few Orders (e.g. Jade College), where you even have the same number of female and male members, though in most Orders it seems there are more male Magisters.
In Early Modern Europe, witchcraft wasn't merely the use if magic, but altogether more sinister. A witxh was a practice of maleficium, a being that had entered into an unnatural and ungodly relationship with Satan's Get. Witchcraft was considered a blasphemous spiritual relationship. What was worrisome about witches wasn't the magic, but the apostasy.
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I'd say witch is a title given to them by others not taken upon themselves. Most witches probably don't even practice magic and others may do so without being aware that they do. (like the beggar in the mordheim rulebook, "My visions come from sigmar") also priests of the old faith use magic but wont acknowledge that they do even to themselves they'd probably be regarded as witches by the hunters. Then you have female warlocks and so on. A witch is a female who happens to be on the bad side of the local witch hunter at the moment.
You could have your coven be a cult dedicated to some ancient god of death from the time before sigmar, maybe they believe they're worshipping morr by raising the dead (yes i know that's the opposite of what the regular cult of Morr does) or something like that.
There could be other explanations aswell.
read The Wardstone Chronicles by Joseph Delaney, it bases its witches very much on folklore and is actually quite good.
Yes I am aware of the early modern perception. In talking about female wizards I was simply looking at the pagan interpretation.
Looking at CommanderCax's post it appears that the warhammer witch is more nuanced and varied than is the early modern stereotype.
Last edited by Craze_b0i; 27-05-2012 at 16:53.
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I think for the purposes of my themed army, refering to films would give a result closer to what I imagined than refering to history. I am thinking a blend between the Sanderson Sisters of Hocus Pocus, the witches from Macbeth, and the Graeae of Greek mythology. They are archetypal Witches, but also seers, and in tune with the shifts in the balance between good and evil.
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