Herbal Coven

Herbal Coven

Witch School

The foundational Herbal Coven preserves Otan’s oldest magical tradition, using culinary recipes and potion-making to heal, protect, and enhance. Operating via intimate apprenticeships, these Witches quietly blend into normal society.

Training for	Witch

The Herbal Coven is arguably the most important school of Power on Otan. Most Sophists agree that the Herbal Coven was the first school and the model from which all other schools were derived. When people were first granted powers and did not know what to do with them or how to focus them, the first to use their Powers expressed them through their cooking.

These clever cooks learned to use their culinary creations to heal the sick, soothe the heart, and massage the soul. They created networks of cooks, who later came to be known as Witches. To communicate their discoveries when they were able to match a recipe to a powerful effect, they invented magical writing, which is now commonly used for notation by Wizards.

Brutes soon saw that these cooks learned to toughen the flesh. Warlocks paid attention when they learned to mend bones. Bards took notice of the music required in the recipes. Shamans formed a whole archetype around the understanding of the natural cooking ingredients. Psychics and Divines saw the effects of these recipes on the spirit.

Today, the Herbal Coven is a vast network of Witches who take delight in harvesting herbs and making potions that seem to cross over into every other archetype. That is no longer a wonder, as the Herbal Coven was the first archetype, and Witchcraft was the predecessor of the rest.

Teaching Methods

Unlike other archetypal schools, Witch covens are far more intimate. Classes usually consist of one-on-one instruction and take place in the Witch's home. In rare circumstances, there may be two or three students, but the standard intake is a single apprentice. Witches seeking new powers will live with their instructor, perform chores, and labor in the setup of any rituals needed to manifest the Power.

Students help grow and care for the Witch's garden to maintain their herbs. More powerful Witches will have access to underground locations or forest groves where they harvest fungi, crystals, small fauna, and other curiosities for the boiling pot. Students also practice the storage and labeling of ingredients used for a particular Power.

The Power will come with ease after enough time is spent engaging in these various activities. Students may leave immediately after the Power is granted, but they must then be careful to write down the "recipe" for the power and cling to it dearly. Payment for the lesson is as varied as the Witches themselves, but it often takes the form of a gift or favor. Herbal Coven Witches are particularly partial to rare herbs and new recipes not already in their collections.

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