Zawmancy

• 26 August 2024

Zawmancy, also called exploding witchcraft, was a dangerous arcane path exclusive to females of the human race. It fostered vigilante lifestyles and was wielded by members of the Coven of Fire.

Nature #

Zawmar archons only naturally appear around the uncommon magical apparitions referred to as Zawm which carry them into Legere's plane of existence. These Zawm are undetectable to normal senses, and spontaneously blip in and out of existence. Though not composed of archons itself, the Zawm holds a large amount of them inside its otherworldly body.

A Zawm will typically appear near a sapient being committing evil actions, whom they seek out and perform an action upon that looks as if they are binding themselves inside of them. During this time, the Zawm increases the quantity of Zawmar archons within its body, though this process doesn't seem to affect the evil-doer in any way. Scholars postulate that they feed off the negative emotions of minds somehow, but they are largely not understood. If the being it resides in is killed, the Zawm will also perish, leaving behind an inanimate body that naturally persists for only a couple of minutes before vanishing out of existence. This is the only known way to kill a Zawm.

Cultivation #

There is only one group of individuals who can practice using zawmar, so the story of its cultivation is heavily linked to them. If someone could cast magic with zawmar, they are an Exploding Witch.

Exploding Witches #

The Exploding Witches are a fabled faction of mages either found hiding in the underbelly of many cities or in obscure remote areas. These mages practice a special kind of magic that can only be harnessed by human females, who must have a special magical ritual performed on them before they fully mature. Exploding Witches often only linger in places individually or in very small groups, although there is a council that oversees the creation of new Exploding Witches and organizes them called Coven of Fire.

Exploding Witches keep themselves very covert and off-the-grid because of the nature of their activities. In order to increase their power, they must hunt Zawm. In order to kill the Zawm, they must kill the host. Then they can drag the Zawm's corpse back to assimilate it into their body to become more powerful. Because of this, Exploding Witches keep their head down and stick to anonymity as best as possible. They are often found as fugitives with bounties on their heads, and people widely fear them. Some see them as heroic vigilantes, others as crazy villains. Both are true, as since the clan is largely amoral, each witch decides how she wants to carry out her own activities.

Due to the usual circumstances of their recruitment and the nature of the actions they must commit in order to pursue power, it was not uncommon to find Exploding Witches with violent or psychopathic tendencies. Particularly ambitious exploding witches may have chosen to pursue the path of Venomancy.

![[Venomancy#^2f7d97]]

Powers #

Exploding Witches harness two kinds of magic. Their main source of power is actually a form of arcane body strengthening, where they are able to greatly enhance their strength and speed to the point where they can leap large distances in the air, dodge an arrow on reaction, and throw around large boulders. This also makes them hardy: able to take a significant beating and still keep standing on their feet. This power is permanently active in an exploding witch, and increases in strength the more powerful they get.

Their second source of power is the ability to create their namesake: explosions. An Exploding Witch has to use this power sparingly, but when she deems it necessary she can blast an explosion out from any part of her body. Most Exploding witches prefer to use this move when finishing off a Zawm-infested opponent at close range. Interestingly enough, each witch will awaken with different colours of explosion. The known colours that witches have awakened with are: scarlet red, orange, bumblebee yellow, emerald green, cyan, sapphire blue, violet, and a light pink. An Exploding Witch can only use this power a certain amount per day before they get too exhausted to create more. The power of their explosions and capacity for them increase the more powerful they get.

Any Exploding Witch worth her salt will know how to mix Zawm with other arcane and mundane ingredients in order to create the special potions: ^ef53ef

1. The primary potion used makes use of an entire Zawm carcass and grant them a small but permanent boost in power, affecting both their strength and their capacity for explosions.
2. Witches can utilize the lower torso of dead Zawm to create a potion that will restore their exploding powers should they become depleted over the course of a fight.

Culture #

The staggering amount of power have created many a tale and rumour passing through Legere's roads of mouths to spread their fear. Some may frighten their children into complying obediently through tales of how an Exploding Witch might snatch them away in the act of doing something bad, then cook them up and eat them. Kingdoms don't necessarily chase witches out on sight as most of the time it's not worth the hassle, but should they surface while hunting important figures, they will be quick to launch an attack. A witch who sticks to the shadows and hunts criminals can even be seen more as a boon than a threat, though trying to form relations with one is near impossible. As a result, this feeds into the covert nature of witches. Most of the time, no one notices they are even there.

The clothes of an Exploding Witch are steeped in culture. Each Exploding Witch customarily wears something that holds the colour of their explosions, though some may choose to dye their hair or wear body paint instead. However much of their colour they wear is up to the witch, but other than that the witch wears black to blend into the dark of cities. Every Exploding Witch wears a black mask around the lower half of their face with a decal painted over its surface, usually in the icon of some sort of mouth in order to preserve anonymity and instill fear.