Witch Background Roll
Witch Training: [Initiated] When you came of age, a coven of witches initiated you into their circle because you showed great promise. After your initiation ritual, you changed on a fundamental level.
Callius Waterborne
When a group of Gillman brought the keystone of the fallen Arch of Aroden up from the depths to the people of newly-formed Andoran, it wasn’t just as a gift. The piece of the once great monolith was more than a symbol of support. It was a request to be accepted by the people of the fledgling democracy, although most common Andorans go about unaware the Gillman have made a home for themselves in the deeps far off the coast of the growing nation.
The city of Tidesmarch has grown in that time, now hosting a few thousand Gillman. Much like Andoran they have chosen a democratic form of government, electing a council from among the people of the different districts of the city. The council also includes representatives of the church of Gozreh—worshiped in her aspect as goddess of the sea—and members of the Emissaries of the Waves, a group of witches attuned to the heartbeat of the sea.
Becoming an Emissary of the Waves is no easy task. The sea witches watch the populace of Tidesmarch, opening their sense to search for an individual's direct connection to the depths. Children who show promise, as young a six but no older than ten, will be taken from their families and trained to be the voice of the ocean. Not every supplicant survives the training with their mind intact as the ‘thoughts’ of the sea itself can be quite alien.
Callius Waterborne the middle sister of a large family showed her gift at an early age. Her parents who were both shapers of coral, expert artisans working with living material, saw her gifts early and called for the Emissaries to test her. Callius was accepted among the sea witches, as was her younger sister two years later. One child in many generations of a family line to show a connection to mother ocean was rare, but two in the same generation was practically unheard of.
Although Callius had been undergoing the testing and mastering the teachings of the Emissaries for three years before her sister came, when the two took to studying together they began to outstrip all the other students. Callius and the Emissaries, however, were blind to the toll such quick growth in power was affecting young Jindira. The younger Waterborne daughter began to rail against the followers of Gozreh claiming they had no true connection to the sea. Unlike the witches, they need an intermediary to touch the true mind of ocean. This led to Jindira manipulating her sister to help her disgrace and humiliate members of the church of She Who Guides the Wind and the Wave.
Bringing out the worst in her sister was only the beginning. The true betrayal came when the witches realized that Jindara had never been receiving her power for the ocean. Jindara’s mind had been hidden from them and corrupted by the thoughts of the Gillman’s long removed creators, the Aboleth. Her power came through her connection, not to the sea, but to the void to which the Aboleth looked to as a divine nothingness. When Jindara’s insanity became clear the Emissaries tried to do away with her. She killed many and called to her sister, Callius, to join her but at that moment the older Waterborne knew she couldn’t. Jindara thrust a trident through her sister’s side, leaving her for dead as she swam off to join her masters.
Callius decided to leave the Emissaries after the incident, although they assured her she still had a place among them. She looked for her own life outside the city to take her mind away from the loss of her sister. She picked up with an Andoran merchant vessel, having to keep close to the sea as constrained by her biology, but needing to be apart from it. It was on the ship that she met the mercenary Felrick and saw how humans could put a monetary price on anything. Although his dealing were always fair Felrick never did anything for free. “Time is money,” the Andoran would always say.
Many years later she would return home to her family. Trying to put her past behind her she has taken up the family business of coral sculpting. Still wary of Gozreh, Callius has taken up the worship of Shelyn like her parents revelling in art and freedom. But deep down all Callius wants is safety and security for herself and the ones she loves. Her tainted sister is still out there, and as much as she tries to hide it, she still feels the call of the waves. What her future holds for her she doesn’t know and dares not ask.
Was a witch what you would have picked? Would you have gone with the Gilman Rogue archetype Eldritch Raider? Who do you see as the betrayer of our heroine? Take a look back at the rolls one more time and tell me what you would have done different.
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