Post by Nobody on Dec 25, 2015 23:41:53 GMT
Practitioners appear to be humans with magical talent focused through a variety of rituals. The novels contain numerous passing references to witches.
Upon issuance of a warrant, Practitioners now may be executed rather than captured and held for trial because, like vampires, there is no reliable way to confine a witch safely. Some witches can pass through bars, while others can use their powers from within a cell.
Similar to the relationship between a vampire and its human servant, a Practitioner's powers are magnified if the Practitioner's familiar is nearby.
A sufficiently powerful Practitioner can curse others the result of a practitioner focusing his or her entire magical power on another.
The term "Practitioner" is apparently used very generally, to refer to everyone from Wiccans to dark magicians and covens.
Most Practitioners connect their power and rituals to nature in some way.
Powers:
Spellcasting: Probably the most obvious characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a spell, a "spell" being the word used to signify the means employed to accomplish a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these. Spells traditionally were cast by many methods, such as by the inscription of runes or sigils on an object to give it magical powers, by the immolation or binding of a wax or clay image (poppet) of a person to affect him or her magically, by the recitation of incantations, by the performance of physical rituals, by the employment of magical herbs as amulets or potions, by gazing at mirrors, swords or other specula (scrying) for purposes of divination, and by many other means.
Cabals:
A group of Practitioners are called a Cabal, within this group their are generally two leaders, a Priestess (female) and a Priest (male) both representing the God and Goddess in wiccan religion. In many traditional cabals there is a degree system, when a new Practitioner starts in the coven they are a First Degree, and as their powers grow, Second and then Third.....once the Practitioner has complete control over his or hers powers and are a valuable member of the Coven they are classed as an Elder. Most cabals just have a particular typr of practitioner in them, but some have been know to take on other humans with supernatural abilities....
Sorcerers
People who got magic through demonic-or worse-power. They bargained for what they got and bartered their souls for money, comfort, lust, power. But some were a version of possession. People weakened by some flaw: mental illness or even a flaw of character. The right kind of flaws can attract evil.
Animators
Typically, an animator engages in a ritual involving drawing a circle and sacrificing an animal, usually a chicken or goat. However, in some cases, no ritual is required.
The longer time a person has been dead, the more powerful an animator must be in order to raise the zombie, and the greater of a sacrifice is required to do so. No animator can raise a body until its soul has passed, which usually occurs in about three days. Some Animators have the ability to sense the dead.
Some animators are vaundun priests. These animators are trained in the rituals of vaundun and can use their abilities in more sophisticated ways, including the creation of magical talismans called gris-gris.
Necromancers.
Necromancers have power not only to affect zombies, but have power over all of the dead, including vampires. They are able to sense other magic when active, and can destroy many spells simply by flooding the affected object with their own raw power.
Voodoo or Vaudun
It is both a religion and a power. You cannot be a Vaudun Priest without worshiping their gods. And many work death magics.
Necromancy and Vaudun mix easily, and those who are both usually turn 'bad' as the temptation of easy power is too great.
If attempting to kill a powerful Vaudun, they should be treated like vampires - cut the head off, dig the heart out and burn the body, as they can be brought back from death.
The Religion
Voodoo, not to be mistaken for Hoodoo, is a complex mix of many different older religions created by African slaves in the Caribbean during their transit. Their gods, or the Lao, and the worship of the Lao, called Iwa, teaches that there are no accidents. Practitioners believe that nothing and no event has a life of its own, that everything and everyone are interconnected.
Euphemisms
White Goat - Human sacrifice
Hornless Goat - Human
Vaudun Magic:
Gris-gris - A charm of woven rope, feathers and beads, worn as an armband and fed with blood. Some gris-gris can cheat death, but they must be fed with immortal blood - mortal blood will undo the spell. Other gris-gris can bring wealth, power or sex - these require the sacrifice of virgins, children or preadolescence boys. A necromancy-testing gris-gris is made from black feathers, bone and a mummified hawk's foot, which reacts to a necromancer.
Verve - Symbols drawn in a Vaudun sanctuary to summon The Lao. Usually brackets a pathway to the altar, or on or around the grave of the person they are raising.
Miscellaneous
They cannot enter a cemetery at night without a permit, because of their stereotype
Signs of a vaudun ritual include verve drawn in chalk, blood and sometimes a dead fire.
