[Cw: child abandonment: paragraph 4, misogyny: paragraphs 4 and 5, discrimination in paragraphs: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 12.]
Witches, and therefore magic, exist in the world of Wreathseria. Witches are beings that are able to manipulate energy in the nature, objects, organisms and other things in order to create magic. This can be done by focusing their own energy and becoming in tune with those around them. Witches typically need an object [an “anchor] in order to focus and therefore strengthen their energy and to then pull in the energies of those around them.
Examples of an anchor: wand, staff, lantern. Anything as long as the witch in question can focus on it.
“Witch” is a gender neutral term. Anyone who is able to be in tune with energies will be a witch. These people are often sensitive to slight changes around them, from temperature to mood. Witches have a mark somewhere on their body, this mark manifests after they’ve manipulated the energy of another [whether intentionally or not is irrelevant.] There is no set colour or design for this mark. A person is not guaranteed to be a witch just because someone in their family is one nor does having no witches in the family mean a descendant in that family couldn’t be born a witch.
It is due to these uncertainties that witches can be seen as an aberration. In those communities people with marks are sought out and cast aside in fear of the mark “spreading” to others or these people being manipulated by the witch in question. This fear has led the more ignorant to cast out children with strange birthmarks, believing their child to be a witch. The mother is often cast out with the child as these people believe the burden of whether a child becomes a witch or not is on the mother’s shoulders.
“She must have done something to upset the goddesses.” “She must have been a witch herself.” Is the assumption.
The mistreatment of witches tends to present different depending on whether the witch lives in a rural area or in the gated cities.
If in a rural area, part of the fear comes from the fact aberrations that devour magic exist. They’re attracted to the energies witches collect and will thus seek them out. Due to the rural areas being less protected the inhabitants will exile the witches in order to protect themselves. Sometimes, if the fear is too great, they’ll execute them.
In the gated cities they don’t have to fear aberration’s sneaking in to harm them, really. Therefore the fear is solely due to the disgust of witches being “aberrations” and the idea of them being manipulated by a witch.
It’s due to this that witches are either secretive of their identity, solitary or live in communities of witches/those that don’t view witches as aberrations [the latter being a rare thing.]
Witches often have a specific form of magic that they’re interested in delving in. This is often due to the pull they feel towards the object/magic in question.
Examples include:
Candy witch
Moon witch
Plant witch
Blood witch
Steel witch
Emotions witch
As you can see, witches can differ greatly from harmless to (potentially) harmful and it’s that uncertainty that scares people. Especially because many don’t seem to know (or believe) that a witch can’t deviate much from the category of magic they feel a pull towards.