Saturday, April 19, 2014

A to Z of Witches. Q

Q is for Queen of Witches

I have talked about and around the Queen of Witches many times here.  It is one concept that you will see in almost all my games.  I have talked about it for Basic D&D, Ghosts of Albion/Buffy and even 3rd Ed/Pathfinder.  I even began this challenge with Aradia, the first Queen of Witches.

But what is a Witch Queen or a Queen of Witches?

In my games the Witch Queen is the most powerful witch of any given tradition. She would control many covens and their leaders, the high priestesses, report to the Queen and her Court.

The last season of American Horror Story: Coven gave us an idea of what Queen of the Witches would be like.  We had a Witch Queen, called a Supreme, and a Voodoo Queen.  It certainly gave me some ideas of what could happen when rival queens interact.

One point I have made in my books, but never really elaborated on was the fact that there is only one Queen of Witches per Tradition.  With magics like longevity and Timeless Body a powerful Witch Queen can reign forever...or at least a really long time.

I would say in traditions that are closer to nature, Craft of the Wise and Classical, the Witch Queen steps down after a number of years in favor of younger sharper minds.  In evil traditions, like the Demonic, Mara or Malefic I would say the Witch Queen is usually killed.  Other traditions might vary. I can see a Family or Gypsy Tradition doing either, depends on what they need.

I came up with the idea of a Queen of Witches from a lot of different places.  Most obvious was the well trod ground (for me) of the Sisterhood of Karn.  They were Gallifreyians! They were witches! Perfect really.

A member of the witch court and her Queen
I also thought Witch Queen had a nice sound to it.  Clerics had already laid claim to High Priest/ess so I felt something different was needed.  Plus there were already Faerie Queens and courts and Vampire Queens, it made sense.
Plus I was doing most of this writing in the 80s so this had some influence as well:




This was the hot stuff back in 81!

I have a few Witch Queens detailed out.  Interestingly enough my Witch Queen for the Voodoo witches is a Witch King, a character I have been using for years, Bone Man.  He is not a particularly nice guy, but as a character I really like him.
Another character familiar to Greyhawk fans is Iggwilv she is the Queen of the Demonic Witches and maybe one of the more powerful Queens in my game.  I think as a nod of respect to Vince Garcia and his Quest of the Ancients I might name my Queen of the Faerie Witches, Elvyra.




Supernatural AtoZ

9 comments:

CA Clark said...

interesting characters. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Wow, Brandan, you sure do know your witches. Enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for paying me a visit.

Sophie Duncan said...

I've always loved The Brain of Morbius and The Sisterhood of Karn, so good to see them re-appear for the 50th celebrations :)
Sophie
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Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

The Sisterhood of Karn are great; they don't even take any shit from Time Lords :).
Tasha
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Unknown said...

Such an interesting post. Nice to meet and connect through the atozchallenge.
http://aimingforapublishingdeal.blogspot.co.uk/

Michelle Stanley said...

This was an enjoyable post to read. I learned more about witches and thought the photo was nice and creepy. AtoZer http://www.writer-way.blogspot.com

J Lenni Dorner said...

Great post. Witch queen... the one who ends up usually being the villain because the unchecked power goes to her head.

Stopping by from the #atozchallenge !
@JLenniDorner

Sara C. Snider said...

A witch queen sounds interesting, as does Bone Man. I'd like to know more about him.

Mina Burrows said...

I like Witch Queen, but I love Bone Man. Very cool.