Witches

Most humans have the ability to do some kind of magic (though non-humans do not possess this ability and neither do psychics), however most humans cannot get past level 1. For most humans, following a spell is like cooking from a recipe book - you can produce a pretty okay end result if you follow the instructions to the letter - being able to do that doesn't make you a master chef!

Only those people who have an innate ability for magic can progress past the basics to reach further levels. For those without that ability studying magic will ever allow them to practice it past level 1 (though some people find the theory interesting and there are always the ones that just won’t give up hope and keep trying – they’re deluding themselves though).

Non-humans and psychics never have any innate magical abilities and if a witch is turned into a lycanthrope or a vampire, they lose what magical ability they did have. Something about lycanthropes and vampires appears to be incompatible with magical ability.

‘Witch’ is the general term for both male and female magic users. There are no wizards, warlocks or sorcerers – they are all witches.

Levels
Level 1) Small spells are doable for you, you're getting the hang of following the rules, getting things down. Everything still has to be read and followed exactly down to the last detail, but you can definitely do it.

Level 2) Small spells are getting to be old hat to you, you can perform them with ease and you no longer have to look up the basic spell ingredients for certain effects, you know them fairly well. Medium level spells are starting to become available, though it's like starting from the bottom with small spells--everything has to be done to the letter and looked up done exactly right.

Level 3) You can start writing your own spells now, because your knowledge of appropriate ingredients and incantations is fairly adept. You can also now start the third tier and look at larger spells, though again, it's like starting from the bottom and working your way up. Anything large or major requires research down to the letter.

Level 4) Now you're really starting to get it. Writing your own spells is getting easy for you, and so are performing them. You have learned what's truly necessary for your magic and what adds that extra kick you might need to get something accomplished. You no longer have to follow books for most of what you might want to do, unless it's the seriously taboo stuff.

Level 5) Magic is second nature to you, and you can perform it with ease. Even high level forbidden types of magic you can perform just so long as you have the right spells. Your fail rate of spells is low and people are starting to follow your spells now.

Types of Magic
Magic can be broken down into several ‘schools’ - White; Enchantment (colloquially known as ‘Grey Magic’); Voodoo; Black; Talisman and Blood. Most witches specialise in one area of magic - at most, they can learn two areas, but they are always far better in one area than the other, leading to primary and secondary ability.

White magic
White magic is magic which is done for the benefit of people or the world. White magic spells are never malicious, or cause more harm in their results than they absolutely have to. e.g., a white magic warding spell will knock back an intruder to stop them trying again, but it won't kill them. Casting a white magic spell does not involve harm - no ingredients of a white magic spell can involve harm at all. So no eye of newt, no wing of bat - nothing more alive than plants. This, obviously means that white magic users occasionally have to get creative.

There are two subdivisions within white magic – Healing and Warding, though practitioners can master both areas or specialise in one, depending upon their interests.

Healing magic does very much what it says on the tin – it focuses on healing spells. These range from relieving aches and pains, cuts and bruises to healing major wounds and serious illness. Healing magic cannot cheat death – resurrection spells are impossible.

Warding spells are very much of the defensive style. The first thing to note about warding spells is that they must be prepared in advance. This is not magic that can be performed on the fly, when needed. Warding spells take time, generally a lot of ingredients, and an eye for detail. They are, however, generally long lasting – either they can be set to lie dormant over an area until ‘triggered’ (such as a spell to act as an alarm, or barrier to intruders) or they can be prepared and carried in portable form until activated by the witch. Warding spells always have to have a focus – they have to be cast on something.

Enchantments
Generally also known as ‘grey magic’ it can span from black to white in intention (for example, a love spell is considered very definitely to be more towards the ‘black’ end of the spectrum). A witch does not, however, need to be schooled in black magic to use enchantments.

Enchantments includes such magics as illusions and charms. The effects of enchantments are short lived and they are never either unbreakable nor permanent. Some enchantments have longer lasting effects, but these require more skill and a much greater amount of energy/ magic put into them.

Thought of by some as ‘the fun, useless stuff’, in the right hands, enchantment can be a highly skilled and effective type of magic.

Voodoo Magic
Voodoo magic is a type of witch magic, but no self respecting voodoo practitioner will ever call themself a witch! It's similar and different to witch magic at the same time.

Voodoo magic is the most ritual-based of the schools of magic. The other schools allow for a certain amount of personalisation and flair within spells once a practitioner has mastered the basics – voodoo magic does not. If a voodoo spell is not done completely by the book? It will not work – if a spell calls for the blood of a rooster killed on the night of the full moon, if you kill a rooster on the night after the full moon? Not gonna work. Every voodoo spell has ingredients and a recipe to follow and this must be followed exactly and in the right order. One misstep, or one thing done at the wrong time and the entire spell will fail.

Voodoo magic is, however, a powerful magic type and is often the choice for those who wish to study what is seen as ‘serious magic’, but don’t wish to delve into the dark depths of blood or black magic. That said, voodoo magic has managed to get itself a very bad name in pop culture and some people dismiss it entirely for being the realm of superstition, fakery, sacrifices and blood. There are some who also seem to get it mixed up with blood magic, when in fact it is entirely and completely different.

You cannot be self-taught. Most witch-type magic, you can learn from books. Voodoo magic, because it is so heavily ritual based has to be taught by an established practitioner. This is not the kind of thing you can ever pick up from a random book. Because of this, voodoo practitioners are rare and tend to come from long family lines. Voodoo magic is heavily steeped in religion - so steeped in religion, in fact, that if you do not believe, the magic will never work for you. You cannot perform any voodoo magic unless you are involved in the religion. It is an all or nothing type.

Blood Magic
Blood magic is bad mojo. It's not necessarily evil, but it's power magic. It's most often destructive by it's very nature, needing 'sacrifice' of some description--even if it's just pain--to even work. This isn't fluffy bunny magic that would ever be considered part of the natural world. Most witches would abhor this kind of magic. Blood magic isn’t common either – your average practitioner of blood magic isn’t the kind of person to sit down and write loads of books on the subject, meaning that if you want to learn blood magic, you can’t just find a book on it lying around.

Blood magic requires blood – either of the caster, or of a sacrifice. It doesn’t much matter whose blood it is, but there has to be blood. Once you have blood, this magic school can achieve spectacular results very quickly – but it is unstable, risky and has a tendency to backlash.

Most practitioners of blood magic tend to end up very scarred (it should be noted that white magic does not heal wounds caused by a blood magic backlash). Even if the witch does not have to actually open up his/her own vein for a spell, the spell will often cause spontaneous gashes in the skin as a price. These always scar.

Blood magic is not natural – it involves pain, pain, possibly death and, of course, blood. This goes against the normal order of things and nature itself. Blood magic can never be used for healing – you cannot use something which is stemmed in suffering in order to heal.

Black Magic
Black magic tends to attract those witches of a more power-hungry bent. Those who seek more destructive magic but don't want to go head over tincups into the serious backlashing stuff use black magic, as it's not nearly so bad as blood magic. The first thing to realise is that black magic does not necessarily mean evil magic - it is simply a magic which is, by it's very nature, more designed to cause harm.

Black magic uses negative energy as it's root. All a black magic practitioner needs to work a spell is a source of negative energy - whether that is a bad mood, a graveyard, a haunted house - as long as there is some kind of source of negative energy, this can be harnessed and used for the purposes of black magic. That means that black magic is incredibly hard to work on hallowed ground, or around angels of the House of Virtue, but conversely is much more powerful where there's a large source of negative energy. Black magic spells also often revolve around the manipulation of negative energy to specific ends, whether that be creation or destruction.

One of the biggest problems with black magic is because it is addictive. It is the school of magic which has the widest effects with the least effort and so it sucks in a lot of practitioners. All magic had a price and if the price isn't blood or effort, it's addiction. Not all black witches become addicted, but a lot do and it takes a strength of mind and personality not to be drawn in.

Talisman Magic
Talisman magic is based in many ancient religions, though doesn't hail specifically to any one. It's a sort of mishmash area of magic that while ancient in it's own right, has only recently started coming to the surface again. There aren't that many Talisman magic practitioners, though wherever they are they're in high demand these days.

Talisman practitioners prefer not to be called 'witches' though that's how most of the world sees them. They would rather be called just about anything, and it really is specific to what they do. Some would rather be referred to as priests, some witchdoctors, others like spiritualists, or exorcists. To be politically correct currently, it's accepted to just call them 'Talisman Practitioners' and call it good--though most people still call them witches.

Talisman magic is a different sort of animal than it's counterparts. While some ingredients are essential for some things, it doesn't behave like other spellwork. Incantations and incense may be part of some of it, but not all of it and some of it it's not required at all. It really depends what part of the world specific things are drawn from.

Now, not just any yahoo off the street can do Talisman magic. It requires a knowledge base that often takes years to work at, and most of them out there have been at it for a very long time. Picking up a library book on the ancient rites of cultures isn't going to swing it. Just knowing how to properly write down the spells used on a slip of paper isn't going to imbue it with any power. Much like Voodoo, one has to know the basis for things, the sort of 'spirit' of the magic itself, otherwise it's not going to work. This is part of why it's rare for these types to be around, it really requires a whole lot of homework and understanding to fully get it functioning.

Talisman magic, generally speaking, takes ancient rituals, objects, ideas and superstition and uses it today. For instance, there's a whole host of warding that's done with specific characters and spells written out, and placed on buildings, in walls, on doors, etc. A talisman practitioner would be able to put together bags of items that might seem mundane and wouldn't make sense to anyone else, but if put in the four corners of a house's foundation that protects it from whatever it's been made to do. And talisman magic can take a house warding much further than white magic can - for example, a white magic warding could only protect a house. A talisman warding could protect a house and then bitchslap the invader who breaches the spell.

Talisman practitioners come in different forms. Some have studied many different types of cultures and have a very widespread knowledge base. Others are the foremost experts in a single type, for instance, priests of specific religions, if they're out there trying to help out in specific ways (like a catholic priest exorcist is generally a talisman practitioner). Most Talisman practitioners are specific, because to have a more widespread knowledge base one would probably have to be a scholar, a historian, and all sorts of things rolled together and it's much easier for people to focus in on one thing.