Magic System Overview
In Of Pride & Providence, our magic system is built into activity points and the activity points store. While characters possessing magic will need to invest in levels of acuity based upon the merit of their activity earnings, the levels are “open”. Meaning we provide some guidance of the direction of each level and prowess capacity, but the rest is up to you and your creativity to imagine the plethora of spells accessible in that level of that path. There an original 10 paths to choose from with 5 levels each from Novice to Master. Aside from the two, Nullification and Wild Magic, you can mix and match all the paths to customize your character’s magic casting practice.
Nullification and Wild Magic are both isolated paths with no levels due to their nature. They are rare, and for very unique and limited builds interested int exploring that story.
Unlike Witches, Daemons have access to a single path of magic of which they can use like abilities. They require to level up the same way as Witches to master their gift. In Addition, they have access to Daemonic abilities unique to their species. If there is a desire to branch into other paths, it is impossible without the use of artifacts.
Unlike Daemons and Witches, Vampyres have no access to these magic paths, instead have their own set of unique abilities only available for Vampyres. Due to the nature of Vampyres and their abilities, to allow them magic would make such immortal creatures nearly unstoppable when they are already formidable. They can however, frighten everyone in the harnessing of magic through artifacts, as any other.
What is Magic
Magic is the living framework that holds existence together. It is the space where thought becomes matter and where intention gives rise to form. It moves through every living thing and every act of creation, unseen yet constant. It is neither substance nor deity but the invisible bond between awareness and the physical world. When a mind learns to recognize that bond and to shape it with purpose, the act is known as magic.
At the dawn of existence there was only stillness and the potential for being. From that stillness came a vibration, the first motion that broke the silence and gave the universe its pattern. That vibration is the oldest trace of magic, the pulse that allows reality to hold its shape. The Old Ones discovered how to move within it, but they were not its makers. Magic was already there, waiting to be noticed.
Magic endures because the world requires a bridge between energy and consciousness. It carries the intention of every living soul into the matter of the world and returns consequence in kind. Through it, life sustains balance between order and chaos, allowing change, growth, and renewal. Without magic there would be only stillness, a world without creation or motion, untouched by will or meaning.
How to Access Magic
Patronage aside, magic flows through all living and nonliving things, but most never sense it clearly. To shape it on purpose, a person must align three conditions: resonance, focus, and channel. These are not rules but natural requirements, like breath, sound, and language working together to form speech.
Resonance is the internal vibration or frequency that allows a being to perceive the current. It is shaped by awareness, emotion, and experience. Some are naturally attuned; others reach resonance through meditation, ritual discipline, or moments of deep crisis that open perception.
Focus is the will that gives magic purpose. It transforms awareness into command. Focus may arise from faith, discipline, desire, or conviction, but it must be steady, wandering intent causes the current to disperse or turn unpredictable.
Channel is the path that lets the current pass into the world. It may be physical, such as symbols, gestures, spoken words, or crafted tools, or it may be internal, vision, thought, or spirit projection. The channel determines form and limitation; it defines how the energy manifests and how much strain it places on the caster. How this manifest is known as “magic quirks,” as they are quite personal to the witch and Daemons.
When all three align, the current of magic answers. Weak resonance yields silence; scattered focus causes collapse; a broken channel twists the effect. True mastery lies not in power but in control, knowing precisely how much of oneself to lend to the flow without being overtaken by it.
All magic is purchased through our activity point store.
Magic Levels of Practice
There are 5 tiers of practice for each path. While one might be an expert in one path, thy may be a Novice or entirely unpractices in another. This is an easy way to gauge what a magic caster may be capable of. These tiers exist for all magic paths, purchasable in the store. Please see the Magic Paths guide below to understand what each tier my represent in each indavidual path.
Novice – Just beginning to unlock the path; difficult to cast, can do minor spells but may not be able to hold them or perform consistently. Before the fireball, one must light a candle. Before the Gust of force, one must start with a gentle breeze. Before one can shapeshift, they must change their eye color. Everyone starts somewhere.
Intermediate – Practiced consistently such that they can do minor spells more effortlessly and are now growing towards more moderate spells that take more than small tricks. Their success rate is 50/50 beyond the minor spells, but they can start to feel they have potential for greater things, and yet hitting frustrations of their inaccessibility.
Advanced – The most common place witches settle on average. They are experienced enough to perform minor to moderate magic. They can stand on their own in both defense, offense and know enough about magic to understand what they are capable of what is yet beyond their capacity. Where casting a fireball may come easy, larger spells that breach the laws of physics, cover regions, go long distance etc. might be started but fail without assistance. But what they do know, they know well.
Expert – Breaching into more advanced spells that cross greater distances or greater density of power. Spells that take more energy and focus to cast and hold. Most expert spells are best performed in groups due to how much is taken out of them. Examples of such spells is summoning storms, parting water, holding protective barriers, locating people or things, deep divination.
Master – One has reached a mastery of their path. That is not to say that casting magic is easy, but they know all there is to know of the path, and have a 99% success rate of casting. They can work easier with synergy, seeing how each path flows into another. If they have not yet explored those paths, they will have to in order to connect that that synergy to step into full Master Magic.
Magic Paths
The paths are categories of Magic determined over a millennium based upon observation and documentation of Daemon kind. There are 5 tiers to ach Magic path that signify training level. Whether Witch or Daemon, no entity is born expert in magic. Like a muscle one must learn their strengths, weaknesses, and practice consistently to gain advancement. One who trains on their own may find themselves at a disadvantage of one who trains with Masters.
Note: the following list is more of an in-depth Guidebook to what must be purchased in the store.
- Elemental Magic : Earth, Fire, Water, air, and the synergies between the elements, such as electricity. This is the most common path of which the majority of Witches access first as nearly every Patron of the Pantheon provides affinity towards. Though it is not only about harnessing the elements to bend to one’s will. It is also bout using the elements in spell crafts and rituals, such as making clay corpses (akin to voodoo dolls), stacking stones as sensory markers, traps and more. It is this path that can make electrical lights flicker, fire extinguish or light, to sink people into the Earth, or drown another in a dessert.
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- Blood Magic : Blood magic can manipulate the blood of others in various ways: increasing or slowing heart rate, easing anxiety, invoking fear, causing or removing pain, healing or opening wounds, and even causing a body to explode. Tasting blood can reveal what species someone is, how much magical power they contain, and other identifying information. Practitioners of these spells can feel what species people are, sense their magical capacity, bring them back from the dead, and kill them again. They can resurrect with or without the soul—which determines whether the result is a mindless zombie of necromancy or the person they used to be. Blood path can control the movement of the body as well as consciousness through restriction of blood flow. This is what life force manipulation truly means.
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- Spirit Magic : The path of soul magic is unique. While minor spells open the path of communing, with entities, stronger higher-level spells can bridge between the physical and spiritual plane. From channeling spirits, to banishing, knocking souls from bodies into the astral world, this spell craft compliments mediums and warriors of light. Spirit magic connects deeply with souls, allowing various spells from soul reaping to soul weaving (binding souls together such theat they feel each other, share life force, and prevents being killed unless both die at the same time) . Spirit is also the path of the self, being able to send oneself or others into inner worlds of their own mind to dance with their own demons including inducing the long-sleep.
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- Shadow Magic : Aligned under the moon, shadow magic works better at night or in the dark then under light or the day. Shadow magic is a path of illusions, and giving power to the imagination through Shadow manipulation, casting illusions, changing appearances, rendering oneself invisible, bending the appearance of reality like a dream without ACTUALLY bending reality itself and even drawing things to life. These spells often depend on the influence of minds directly or within an area.
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- Light Magic : The path of light is a path of pure energy magic energy that has a tendency to manifest visually despite having or lacking quirks. Light spells can purify and sanitize, and even assist in healing through aiding in the closure of wounds and staving off infections. Light magic is a counter to shadow, able to dispel engulfing darkness, and illusions of physical form. Light can illuminate and condense light to be manipulated to super-heated bubbles, barriers and shields of blinding light and shift gravitational forces to walk on walls or pull things towards and around the like a gravitational field. Illusion based curses like inflicted nightmares can be cleansed by the light path. But just as light can be used for good, it holds radiation and heat.
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- Nature Magic : Communing with and influencing of Animals, reptiles, sea life, birds, insects, beasts; including intuitive understanding and speaking of all linguistics. This path is all about harmonizing with the life forces that roam the Earth. But it is not all about speaking to or controlling life, it has its dark side in harnessing life for one’s power, such as wearing skins, furs and feathers to polymorph; including that of a human. Witches of this path can aid in birth and health of livestock, for better or worse. They can create oddities like lambs giving birth to wolves, deformities or be a force to prevent such. Though they cannot create from nothing, such spells are higher level and require to take from somewhere else in order to craft.
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- Divination Magic : Divination is expansive, and is more than just seeing the future. It is about reaching into the past, present and future. Though not always visual, divination comes through all the senses, to find what is lost and what wishes to be found. It is about tapping into the stories left like memories in all things; Scrying, prophecy, reading auras, glimpsing futures and pasts, detecting lies. Includes tarot, astrology, runes, crystal ball, and other forms of divination.
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- Warding and Protection Magic : Warding and Protection magic, like the light path, is pure energy and in itd active uses is kinectic force. They are invisible but powerful forces. Of this path one may hang charms or perform rituals to create various types of wards that help them sense danger or presence. They can create protective spaces preventing harm to those inside, they can push threats outside their sanctified space (giving lore to Vampyres not being able to enter homes) and more. Not all warding and protection is static, spells can also be cast to create forcefields, barriers, and shields in which they can use the remaining energy to push threats away as it disperses. They can negate spells by dispelling in action, they can reflect spells back to casters and even dispel other people’s wards.
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- Hexcraft Magic : A dark magic path known for curses. When people speak of black magic or forbidden magic, it is typically this path that comes to mind. While its true that this path leans towards curses, bad luck inducing nightmares, illnesses, unfortunate events, upon individuals or entire families, it can also be a force for good. Those who follow Hexcrafts can also dispel such, they can bind magic, unattached bound entities or use their dark forces for good intentions. Curses can include all manner of things, but generally never anything to any benefit as they all lead to a slow burn path of despair, dread, fear, anger, and eventually death. But sometimes that is what is required to protect the ones you love.
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- Herbalism Magic : Herbalism is not as straight forward as making teas and ointments. While the lower level of the path leans to potions, poisons, salves, identifying flora, crafting with natural ingredients and cooking with magical properties, there is an entirely different side in the higher levels. Herbalism concoctions do not always taste good, and may require odd ingredients like black cat fur, eyeballs, claws, bone dust and more, but they can do powerful things breaching the barriers of reality from healing wounds rapidly, sending a soul through limbo like Daemons through spiritual and physical world, inducing long sleep, and stave off or cure affliction based hexes.
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- Wild Magic: unstable magic. A rare and solitary path of which when one casts magic any spell across any path may occur at random at any intensity. Those of Wild Magic may cast inherently, accidentally at random moments, creating bizarre events outside of their control. A catalyst of chaos.
- Null: Anti magic; rare and solitary path of which no casting is ever required. One simply is a null, and all magic within their proximity does not work, all magic casted at them will dispel, artifacts will go dormant, abilities will not work with them. This is true for Witches, Daemons and Vampyres. Of which, a Null can never be sired, and their blood tastes like nothing, offering no vitality Vampyres require - nor can their souls be extracted or names stolen.
Magic Affinity
The Magic Affinity is a perk that can be optionally chosen to add to your character build. Magic Affinity is essentially a strong and natural talent towards one particular path in which your character will excel. Often times, a Witch who possess Affinity carries the same affinity as those of their direct lineages. It is associated to the old one Patrons of which magic is granted to witches. If not granted by a Pantheon patron, then their affinity may be the same as a Daemon patron which can still traverse lineages depending on the original bargains made.
Magic Quirks
Magic Quirks are personalized traits that are stackable for character builds that are optional. They dictate how magic may manifest when casting. Some quirks are good, some neutral and some bad. How and why these quirks manifest in them is up to your narrative but add another layer to their story and give an opportunity to set them apart from other magic casting characters. Daemons are also allowed to have Quirks!
Master Magic
Master Magic is only accessible to advanced witches with 5+ paths of magic at the master level, excluding Herbalism, Null, and Wild Magic. Master Magic requires synergies between multiple paths to cast. Such magic is considered rare and of legend, as no known Witch has casted Master magic in centuries since the great Witch Trials. Master Magic can still be found in the old books locked away in secrete libraries and private collections but difficult to get access to. No one teaches this magic. But a Witch of such mastery of many paths may teach themselves if they can gain access to the tomes. .
Magic Artifacts
Magic artifacts are objects imbued purposefully or accidentally with magic. The majority hold one particular, isolated spell. However, a few rare and dangerous artifacts may possess synergy magic form two or more spells. These are not items that can be found just anywhere. They were made by Daemons and Master witches in historical eras. Most are in museums, private collections, buried under grown, hidden under floor boards, in walls, in bricked up basements, old tunnels, in tombs beneath churches and more. Magic artifacts can be used by anyone. Anyone. Though not all people may know HOW to use them, leaving them as interesting paperweights or house decor.
All magic artifacts are purchasable in the store. How your character comes across them can be weaved in your narrative of your story. But should be discovered at or after the time of purchase as item purchases are not retroactive. However, they can be an heirloom inherited and bequeathed in recent family death if you want to keep it in their linage. Though it may be far more exciting to discover it via adventure or on an NPC, or in an NPC house.
Souls & Names
Souls
The souls of mortals are unique, special and can be a form of currency. It is written in the ancient texts that a mortal soul is considered a fragment of magic source with consciousness. While one might not be able to bottle the source of magic, souls are more accessible especially through the spirit path. It is long known that the possession of souls can grant one additional power unable to be accessed any other way. Harnessing and absorption or “consuming” of souls can ascend a mortal to immortality, carrying knowledge with it if the soul was that of a Witch, which could advance them to higher levels of paths with less training. Souls can be gathered as sacrifices to the Old Ones to be granted favors or blessings, or even that of a Daemon. Souls added to spell craft, tinctures, potions, and rituals create higher potency and instant success, especially with the impossible like eternal youth even without immortality. Souls are also the only way that artifacts that hold permanent and powerful magic can be forged.
However, a harvested soul always leads to death with no ability to haunt or reincarnate. A consumed soul, or soul used in spell craft is forever destroyed. A soul used to create an artifact is forever trapped in the artifact and should it ever be broken or dispelled, the soul is more often than not destroyed, but under special care may be released.
True Names
A true name one is born with holds great power over a mortal. Most mortals will go about their entire lives never experiencing problem, but those of influence, or power may find themselves held captive. Should a mortal, human od Witch ascended or not, give their true name to a Daemon standing before them, a Daemon can steal it. Once a True name stolen, the individual and everyone who knows them forgets it, becoming nameless. Should their name ever be said, it will not spark any memory unless it is said by the Daemon who owns it; though it is always forgotten shortly after. What’s worse, is the mortal is bound to the control of a Daemon’s influence. If they are given orders they must follow even if they have every desire not to, and should they wish to kill the Daemon, they will find themselves unable to even hurt them. The magic behind this is bound by the law of which a mortal must always have a path to earn it back, of which the Daemon must set the intention upon the moment they steal it. They are not bound by law to speak on it, and can of course lead their mortal astray or even set intentions for impossible task to earn it. But should this be overcome, and the intention genuinely met, a Daemon’s grasp of their name is relinquished. Witches of contemporary time are well aware of this if they have grown in old lineages, or taught by those who were. Should they suspect themselves up against a Daemon, it is good practice to give them nicknames, or false names, to prevent this from happening. If a Witch does not possess ability to know what an entity is, then perhaps just stick with a nickname entirely... just in case.
Patrons
All Witches who posses access to the resonance of magic have a patron whether they are aware of it or not, and whether they were born with it or acquire later in life. Of which of those is true for the individual is context of how they might have to access magic. Those born with it are either of a great lineage of Witches paying homage to their patron and teaching their young to do the same, or an individual blessed by an Old One for a reason they may never understand by their own will, or on behalf of one of their followers. A Witch who acquires their magic ability later in life does so either because they have followed the path of a Pantheon, or perhaps made a deal with a Daemon. Whether it is through one of the old ones of the Pantheon or a Daemon, they are all potential Patrons to why a Witch has access to magic.
How does one keep favor with a patron? They complete tasks towards their goals, provide offerings or sacrifices, throw celebrations in their honor, conduct rituals of their alignment, uphold belief and mentality towards them, run covens churches or Temples under their teachings, seek their guidance and follow it, and pass their potential tests. Though these may apply to Daemon Patrons as well, they may be fickler given that they are not Old Ones and hold the same flaws as mortals, or seek to serve their own purposes under the Goals of their Old One.
What is a test of a Patron? With the Pantheon, they can be as simple as life hardships, gifting an affinity that goes against and individuals’ nature, or removing their magic all together (especially if they have grown up inside a lineage of magic). They could manifest an ability or even a magic quirk they will possess for life. In some cases, they might find themselves having an out of body experience in another world or a dream; in other cases, they might find themselves crossing paths with someone at odds with their patron and how they handle the situation could be a pass or fail. Sometimes how one handles failure is the goal of the test.
With Daemon patrons, tests are far more rooted in physical reality. They may test their limits to see what they can bear, send them on missions, or even provide impossible tasks to see how they handle it. Daemons are far more individualistic and can have many creative avenues they might choose to test their subjects.
The Pantheon: The Old Ones
Disclaimer: The Pantheon of Pride and Providence draws inspiration from real-world mythologies and religions, organized by shared archetypes for fictional and worldbuilding purposes within this alternate universe. It is not intended to represent or challenge any actual spiritual belief, faith, or religious truth, nor to ridicule or promote any doctrine. All depictions are entirely fictional and exist solely to serve the narrative setting.
It was said that the Old Ones fell from the stars, manifestations of magic tightly woven into the fabrics of the Earth. They heard the Song of the Universe, the frequencies that existed in all living and inanimate things. They could manipulate magic as easy as breathing, creating, transmuting and destroying as they roamed. It is from them that the Daemons were born, hybrids conceived with humans that created the immortal species. While the old ones came in all sizes, shapes, colors with wings, horns and additional limbs, their Daemon children lost such traits, and their descendants that live today resemble their human physiology.
It is Legend written in the old scrolls and stories passed down untill it was written in ancient text, that the Old Ones once ruled like Gods. They held many names in the lands they traversed, given by the people or adopted as their own. Though despite their worship, humanity learned that immortal as they were, they too could bleed and die. Jealousy, greed and hunger for power fed by Old Ones who sought chaos led to the end of their era. The Daemon children live on as proof of their once existence, and their blessings upon lineages and individuals’ proof that while they no long live in the physical plane, they still very much exist. The Old Ones that survived longer took advantage of the absence of others, creating movements of religion that have transformed over a millennium through mankind, separating them from their magic potential. Yet some covens of old prominent names who still remember where their power came from, pay homage to their true patronage through offerings, rituals and lifestyle have maintained their possession of magic for generations.
Today, in current times, The Old Ones may be seen either as Deities of a Pantheon, or as powerful spirits in the nonphysical world depending on how they were raised, experiences or personal perspective if they know of them at all. Individuals not part of any linages who put in a great deal of effort to honor the old ones through complete tasks towards their goals, provide offerings or sacrifices, throw celebrations in their honor, conduct rituals of their alignment, uphold belief and mentality towards them, run covens churches or Temples under their teachings, seek their guidance and follow it, and/or pass their potential tests (often in the spiritual or dream realm) may be granted access to magic with affinity associated to the Old One they seek Patronage from.
The following list are Old Ones of which one might align to be granted magic and their affinity. Note that the goals of which followers can abide for favor is not absolute. You may pick and choose one, a couple or all. If One does NOT follow the guidance from time to time, it does not mean they lose favor. One must consisitantly go against their Patron's nature or denoucne them to lose favor. However, soemwhere on that path One might be tested to see how true their allegiance is.
The Benevolent Old Ones
The Benevolent are protectors, healers, and builders of sanctuaries who shield mortals from malevolent forces and restore what has been ravaged by destruction. They are absolute upholders of justice and sacred oaths, believing that vows once sworn must be honored and that those who break them must face consequences to preserve order and trust. Under their influence, the wounded are mended and communities thrive within their sanctuaries. However, their protection is also control. They decide what knowledge is too dangerous for mortal hands, who is worthy of spiritual access, and what threats must be eliminated rather than understood. Their justice leaves no room for moral ambiguity, redemption, or growth, enforcing punishment before seeking understanding. They believe mortals are too vulnerable to protect themselves and must be shielded even from their own choices, that discipline and enforcement are necessary to preserve life and order, and that their moral vision is the only righteous path. To many this represents genuine salvation and safety, but to others it is a cage where freedom is sacrificed for protection and autonomy is traded for survival under watchful eyes.
Benevolent Goals & Purpose to Gain Favor
The following are goals of which Humans, Witches or Daemons might appease the Benevolent Old Ones, or provide purpose towards immortal life:
- Dedicating one's life to enforcing sacred oaths and binding agreements though oath, vow, blood and soul, ensuring those who break such contracts face consequences; preferably without compromise or mercy as fates were decided when the contract was made.
- Becoming a protector of the vulnerable, standing between the innocent and those who would exploit, corrupt, control or destroy them.
- Establishing and maintaining sanctuaries where the persecuted can find refuge and/or communities can rebuild after devastation
- Pursuing mastery of restoration, devoting oneself to healing the wounded, lifting curses, and reversing unjust deaths
- Serving as keeper of dangerous knowledge, deciding what truths must be hidden to preserve peace and prevent widespread fear; generally this is to uphold secrecy unless no other option is available.
- Building lasting order through law and structure, creating systems that allow civilization to flourish under protection
- Cleansing corruption wherever it takes root, purging malevolent influences from people, places, and practices before they spread
- Become a guardian of life; be it a specific region, community, family, individual or other forms of life. This includes raising orphans under ones protection, or ensuring they are placed in a safe family of their choosing and closely watched.
- Act in genuine compassion towards all living things, show mercy and understanding; provided choice to better align before destroying.
- Recruit new followers and spread the influence of protection and righteousness to triumph over Monovalent evils
| Archetype | Names | Description | Associated Magic Paths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earth Mother, Fertility, Sovereignty | Danu / Anu / Gaia / Demeter / Ninhursag / Ki / Isis / Nerthus / Mokosh | She is the fertile and nurturing body of the world, the sovereign earth whose generosity can revive a people or starve a kingdom into humility. Her presence governs the fertility of land and spirit alike, binding growth, birth, and decay into a single unbroken law that none may escape. Her purpose is to sustain harmony through the cycles she commands, a benevolence so immense that it becomes fearsome when her gifts are denied or misused, for the same soil that feeds can also reclaim, withhold, or bury until balance is restored. | Elemental (All) / Nature / Spirit / Herbalism / Wild Magic |
| Sun, Light, Skill, Justice | Lugh / Apollo / Helios / Ra / Shamash / Dazhbog / Horus | He is the sovereign radiance that drives darkness from every corner, a brilliance that perfects as much as it exposes. His presence sharpens craft, discipline, and truth until nothing flawed can hide within their glow, uplifting those who rise to meet his standards and burning away pretense without hesitation. His purpose is to maintain a world ruled by clarity, excellence, and rightful consequence, a benevolence so absolute that it becomes perilous to any who resist the truths he reveals. | Light / Shadow / Divination / Hexcraft / Null |
| Healing, Physicians, Restoration | Dian Cecht / Eir / Asclepius / Hygieia / Imhotep / Gula / Ninisina | He is the divine physician who mends, balances, and purifies, restoring harmony between body, soul, and the world with unwavering precision. His presence heals not as a reward but as a correction, for to him disease is imbalance rather than punishment. His purpose is to save what can be restored and excise what endangers the whole, a benevolence so exacting that his remedies can feel as ruthless as the afflictions they cure. | Elemental (Water, Earth) / Blood / Herbalism / Light / Spirit |
| Hearth, Forge, Sacred Fire | Brigid / Hephaestus / Hestia / Svarog / Nusku / Gibil | She is the sacred fire that protects and purifies with a devotion so absolute it can scorch as easily as it shelters. Her presence demands intention, discipline, and honesty, for anything forged in her flame must withstand truth without flaw. Her purpose is to build what is worthy and burn away what is weak or false, a benevolence so unwavering that those who fail her standards experience her warmth as judgment rather than grace. | Elemental (Fire, Earth) / Light / Shadow / Blood / Warding and Protection |
| Rivers, Springs, Healing Waters | Boann / Sulis / Sequana / Poseidon / Amphitrite / Enki / Ea / Njord / Ran | She is the lifegiving current that cleanses, restores, and renews, the sacred flow that moves with both gentleness and undeniable strength. Her presence heals wounds seen and unseen, guiding life back toward balance through the persistent wisdom of water. Her purpose is to purify and to mend, to nourish what can grow, and to wash away what clings to decay or refuses to change, ensuring that renewal always has room to take root. | Elemental (Water) / Divination / Light / Herbalism |
| Love, Beauty, Desire, Fertility | Áine / Freyja / Aphrodite / Venus / Hathor / Inanna / Ishtar / Lada | She is the great power of love and living beauty, the force that lifts people into their best selves and binds communities through affection, joy, and generative life. Her goals are creation, connection, and the flourishing of body, spirit, and society; she champions honesty in love, dignity in desire, and the courage to pursue what the heart truly needs. Yet her devotion to these ideals is unyielding. Those who betray love through cruelty, manipulation, or neglect face a wrath that cuts through pretense: relationships wither, vanity is exposed, and the hollow foundations of false affection collapse. | Blood / Spirit / Shadow / Hexcraft / Herbalism / Wild Magic |
| Sky Father, Order, Thunder | Taranis / Zeus / Jupiter / Perun / Thor / Enlil / God (YHWH) | He is the celestial lawgiver, the sovereign of the heavens whose order is final, a force of righteousness so immense it can overwhelm as easily as protect. His thunder is judgment, striking down chaos, pride, and defiance with the same certainty that he shields the loyal and the humble. His purpose is to impose harmony through uncompromising law, a benevolence so absolute that those who stray from his order experience it as wrath, not mercy. He upholds justice and renewal through divine trial | Elemental (Air) Light / Divination / Warding and Protection / Blood |
| Sacred Darkness, Sanctuary in Shadow | Nephthys / Maman / Brigitte / Hecate | She is the quiet shelter hidden in the folds of darkness, the guardian of sacred darkness who offers refuge where light cannot reach, such as the forgotten and grieving. Her presence soothes the frightened and protects the vulnerable, turning shadow into a sanctuary rather than a threat. Her purpose is to shield, to guide, and to keep safe those who walk the night’s edge, proving that darkness can be a place of compassion rather than fear. | Shadow / Spirit / Warding and Protection / Divination / Blood |
| Divine Retribution, Curse-Breaker, The Avenging Balance | Ma'at, Nemesis, The Erinyes | She is the relentless force of balance, the pure weight of cosmic rightness whose benevolence can strike as fearsomely as any curse. Her goal is to restore the equilibrium that wrongdoing disturbs, pursuing justice where mortal judgment fails and cleansing the burdens unjustly placed upon the innocent. She hunts the guilty without mercy when they escape mortal justice, yet breaks and lifts afflictions laid unjustly upon the innocent, restoring what imbalance has marred. She sees herself as a neutral force, but her methods are severe and unyielding, taking action where other Neutrals would stand aside so that harmony is reclaimed no matter the cost. | Hexcraft / Warding and Protection / Blood / Spirit / Null |
The Neutral Old Ones
The Neutral are watchers and archivists who preserve balance, free will, and the autonomy of every soul to choose its own fate. They understand that both light and shadow must exist, that suffering and joy are equally necessary for growth, and that not all pain can or should be prevented. They protect thresholds between realms, shelter abandoned souls, and archive knowledge so that history and magic are never truly lost. When mortals seek power or answers, the Neutral test them in liminal spaces between life and death, presenting trials that force individuals to look inward and discover their own truths rather than being told what to believe. They encourage reflection and self-discovery, trusting that the answers mortals need already exist within themselves and require only guidance to unravel. They intervene only when the balance between Benevolent and Malevolent forces threatens total collapse, and even then only in the final hour through choices rather than direct salvation. Under their influence, the world remains authentic and consequence-driven, where individuals navigate their paths without interference or moral dictation. They believe that choice only holds meaning when consequences are real and unshielded, and that early intervention strips mortals of the opportunity to grow through their own decisions. To many this seems cold or indifferent, but to the Neutral it is the highest form of respect, honoring the right to fail, suffer, triumph, and die by one's own hand.
Neutral Goals & Purpose to Gain Favor
The following are goals of which Humans, Witches or Daemons might appease the Neutral Old Ones, or provide purpose towards immortal life:
- Living as witness and record keeper, preserving truth without imposing judgment so that future generations understand what actually occurred
- Maintaining balance between opposing forces, intervening only when one side threatens to destroy the other completely.
- Dedicating oneself to protecting individual autonomy, ensuring every being retains the right to choose their path regardless of consequence
- Pursuing understanding of transformation and cycles, accepting that creation and destruction are equally necessary for existence to continue just as day cannot exist without the night.
- Guarding spaces, including the liminal, where change occurs naturally, guiding and protecting the process of metamorphosis without directing its outcome
- Mastering magic as neutral force, wielding power with full awareness that intent and consequence define morality, not the magic itself
- Allowing events to unfold according to choice and natural law, stepping back so mortals experience genuine consequence and authentic growth
| Archetype | Names | Description | Associated Magic Paths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moon, Liminal Sight, Dreams | Arianrhod / Selene / Artemis / Khonsu / Mani / Sin | She is the soft illumination that reveals what daylight cannot, the quiet guide through thresholds of dream, intuition, and shifting fate. Her presence opens the inner eye, blurring the line between the seen and the felt, the remembered and the imagined. Her purpose is to shepherd travelers through the liminal, granting sight into the hidden currents that shape both night and soul - and protects the boundaries of sanity. | Elemental (Water, Air) Spirit / Divination / Shadow |
| Underworld Sovereign, Ancestral Law | Donn / Hades / Osiris / Hel / Ereshkigal / Veles / Anubis | He is the ruler of the deep places where the dead reside and memory is kept with absolute clarity. His presence anchors the laws that bind lineage, oath, and consequence, ensuring that every life returns to its rightful place in the order of things. His purpose is to maintain the sovereignty of the underworld and uphold ancestral balance, guarding the borders between the living and the dead so that neither realm forgets its obligations. He does not punish; He weighs, judges, and recycles what must return to earth. | Hexcraft / Spirit / Blood / Shadow / Divination |
| Trickster, Boundaries, Cunning | Hermes / Loki / Mercury | He is the restless mind at the threshold, the one who upends patterns not out of kindness but because movement is the truest form of balance. His presence disrupts when things grow stagnant and exploits cracks in order and chaos alike, forcing truths to surface through tension rather than ease. His purpose is neutrality through disruption, guiding the world back into motion by testing boundaries, bending rules, and ensuring no power grows too fixed or too sure of itself.The messenger and saboteur. Breaks patterns and hierarchies to allow evolution. His deceit forces invention and humility. | Elemental (Air, Fire, Water) / Hexcraft / Shadow / Wild Magic / Null |
| High Magic, Speech, Writing, Sorcery | Ogma / Odin / Thoth / Heka | He is the keeper of eloquence and ordered thought, the one who reveals how language gives structure to mind and world alike. His presence inspires clarity, invention, and the weaving of ideas into stories, laws, and shared memory. His purpose is to safeguard the arts of speech, writing, and deliberate knowledge, guiding civilizations toward understanding through the power of the spoken and written word.. | Spirit / Nature / Divination / Warding and Protection |
| Wild, Forest, Beasts, Ecstasy | Cernunnos / Pan / Faunus / Freyr / Dumuzi / Min / Banebdjedet | He is the pulse of the untamed world, the living rhythm that moves through forest, flesh, and frenzy. His presence calls beasts and spirits to dance in unrestrained harmony, dissolving the boundaries between instinct and ecstasy. His purpose is to awaken vitality through wildness, urging all who follow him to remember the ancient freedom that thrives beyond walls and order. The g uardian of wild freedom and sensual vitality. His realm is instinct; he governs fertility, wilderness, and the cycle of predator and prey. | Elemental (Earth, air, water) / Nature / Blood / Spirit / Herbalism |
| The Hunt and the Otherworld Host | Arawn / Herne / Gwynn ap Nudd / Erlkönig / Perchta / Hollo | He is the master of the restless host, the one who rides between worlds with hounds, spirits, and wanderers in his wake. His presence signals the crossing of the living and the dead, a hunt that tests courage, fate, and the thin boundaries of night. His purpose is to lead the Otherworld’s procession, gathering lost souls, enforcing ancient pacts, and reminding mortals that the unseen world is never far from their door. The spectral host that pursues imbalance and claims the wandering soul. Enforces nature’s hidden justice between worlds. An invoker of the Wild Hunt for tru balance. | Spirit / Light / Warding and Protection Magic / Herbalism |
| Winter, Age, Withering, Trial | Cailleach / Morena / Skadi | She is the hard edge of winter and age, the cold wisdom that strips life to its essentials so truth can be seen without ornament. Her presence tests endurance and character, withering what is weak while tempering what is strong enough to withstand her frost. Her purpose is trial through austerity, guiding all things through seasons of scarcity so they emerge honed, mature, and unafraid of the dark. | Elemental (Water, Air, Earth) / Herbalism / Nature / Blood / Null |
| Silence, the In-Between, and the Unclaimed | The Nameless One / Dubthach / Erebus / Lethe / Monad / The Quiet God | They are the hush that settles where meaning has not yet formed, the presence that exists between names, claims, and identities. A Keeper of the Viel between life and death, of spirit world and physical world, the quiet space between life and death, faith and disbelief, dream and wake. . Neither benevolent nor hostile, they dwell in the unmapped spaces where memory thins and definition dissolves, offering refuge or erasure in equal measure. Their purpose is to hold the stillness that precedes choice, to guard the thresholds where souls, worlds, and ideas drift unbounded and untouched. Collector of souls not claimed by gods or death. Guardian of astral planes, comas, and liminal thought. He neither punishes nor saves; | Shadow / Spirit / Herbalism / Divination / Null |
The Malevolent Old Ones
The Malevolent believe that power, dominance, and transformation through destruction are the truest paths to evolution. They reshape lands into monuments of their will to prove that strength justifies all action and that only the ruthless deserve to survive. They demand fear-based worship and binding contracts, seeing control over mortals as both proof of supremacy and a means to extend their influence beyond death. Their followers are tested through suffering and impossible trials to forge the worthy into instruments of their will while culling the weak. They expose magic to create chaos and persecution, making mortals easier to manipulate when fear fragments communities. They spread dangerous magic to shatter the order imposed by the Benevolent, unravel protective wards, and reclaim the dominion they held before their physical deaths. Their greatest flaw is unsustainability. A world shaped entirely by Malevolent ideals would eventually consume itself as unchecked destruction devours its own foundation. Yet they are honest in their brutality, offering no false comfort or pretense of mercy, and the change they create is evolution the other alignments cannot provide.
Malevolent Goals & Purpose to Gain Favor
The following are goals of which Humans, Witches or Daemons might appease the Malevolent Old Ones, or provide purpose towards immortal life:
- Tearing down corrupt systems and stagnant orders that have outlived their purpose, using destruction as the necessary precursor to renewal
- Exposing comfortable lies and hidden hypocrisies through chaos, forcing societies to confront truths they've buried beneath false peace
- Pursuing power and dominance to reshape the world according to superior vision, proving that strength and will can forge better realities
- Testing mortals through suffering and impossible trials, culling weakness to forge the worthy into something greater than they were
- Spreading forbidden knowledge that shatters limiting beliefs, liberating minds even if the cost is madness or societal collapse
- Embracing and mastering taboo arts that others fear, wielding power they're too timid to touch in service of transformation
- Living without restraint of artificial morality, following desire and ambition to their natural conclusions regardless of who deems it acceptable
- Inciting conflict that reveals true nature, stripping away pretense so that genuine strength, loyalty, and conviction can be distinguished from performance
- Becoming an agent of necessary entropy, accelerating the decay of what refuses to evolve so that new growth becomes possible
| Archetype | Names | Description | Associated Magic Paths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storm and Primordial Chaos | Balor / Typhon / Set / Apep / Tiamat / Jörmungandr / Anzu | He represents the violent upheaval that precedes creation or renewal, the raw storm surge where sky, sea, and shadow collide. He shatters structure through tempests, floods, and chaotic force, breaking the world open so something new can emerge. His goals center on overturning stagnation by unleashing primordial disorder, reminding all beings that nothing built is ever beyond the reach of the storm. | Elemental (Air, Water, Fire) / Shadow / Divination / Wild Magic |
| Plague, Pest, Devouring Justice | Nemain / Namtar / Lamashtu / Lilitu / Sekhmet/ Nergal / Pestis | She embodies the force of ruin that restores balance through devastation, bringing disease, frenzy, and retribution to a world out of order. It delivers justice not through mercy but through purging, devouring what is corrupt or weakened so that the strong and the truthful remain. Its goals center on enforcing equilibrium by unleashing plague and wrath where excess, deceit, or stagnation have taken root. | Herbalism / Blood / Shadow / Spirit / Hexcraft |
| Dread and Blood Sacrifice | Crom Cruach / Moloch / Baal-Hammon / Beelzebul | He commands devotion through fear, demanding life essence as the price of protection, power, or continued order. His presence turns sacrifice into a binding pact where followers trade blood for survival. His goals center on sustaining influence by feeding on the vitality, obedience, and dread of those who serve it. | Elemental (Earth, Fire) / Blood / Shadow / Hexcraft / Null |
| Shadow and Madness | Erlik / Angra Mainyu / Khaos / Mara / Tezcatlipoca / Lucifer | The fallen intellect becomes the force that turns brilliance toward the hidden and the uncharted, a mind that unwinds certainty rather than illuminating it. What was once radiant now moves through shadow, revealing the cracks in divine order and human reason with equal clarity. Through temptation, insight, and the quiet erosion of stability, it awakens will and transformation, though never without the cost of unsettling what was once safe. | Light / Warding and Protection Magic / Null / Hexcraft |
| Uncreation, Oblivion, and Night | Nyx / Hine-nui-te-pō / Mot / Kali | She is the great undoing, the one who draws all things back into the deep where form and story fall quiet. Her presence is not cruel but absolute, a patient force that closes every cycle and softens every boundary until nothing remains but the original dark. Her purpose is release and return, guiding the world toward endings that cleanse, quiet, and make space for creation to begin again. | Spirit / Blood / Hexcraft / Light / null |
| Serpents of Deceit and Depth | Mehen / Python / Echidna / Leviathan / Ouroboros | She is the coiled mind beneath the surface, the serpent who guards secrets through misdirection, patience, and the slow tightening of truth. Her presence tests perception itself, blurring what is known with what is merely believed, drawing others into depths where clarity is earned rather than given. Her purpose is to reshape understanding through deception and revelation, guiding seekers through shadowed paths until they confront the hidden core of their own desire or fear. | Shadow / Spirit / Blood / Divination |
| War, Carnage, and Bloodlust | Camulos / Ares / Kartikeya / Anat | He is the sharpened will of battle made flesh, the driving force that exults in the clash of bodies, iron, and fury. His presence ignites valor and violence alike, stirring warriors beyond reason and pushing armies toward relentless escalation. His purpose is domination through conflict, to test strength through blood and to forge power in the crucible where only the ruthless endure. The personification of battle frenzy and blood glory. Their wars fuel divine appetite and human ambition. | Elemental (Fire, Earth) / Blood / Hexcraft / Nature / Wild Magic |
| Decay and Corruption | Neit / Miasma / Eris / Mephitis | She is the slow undoing that works from within, the whisper of rot that softens foundations long before they fall. Her presence spreads through doubt, neglect, and poisoned harmony, turning what was once whole into something brittle and compromised. Her purpose is to expose the fragility of all things, hastening decay so that hidden faults can no longer remain unseen or unchallenged. | Elemental (Earth / Water) / Warding & Protection Magic / Herbalism/ Nature / Null |