Lore

The History and Lore of the Scythe Witch - by T.A. Saunders ©2011 v1.0

The Path of the Scythe Witch

The scythe witch is a type of warrior and martial artist, who through sheer focus and willpower achieves near supernatural feats in combat with their primary weapon, which of course is a scythe. They are not an organized monastic order, like knights; the scythe witch, or Kanji-Su is an entirely personal journey that involves no faith in a deity, or sorcerous power. It is a discovery of one's self and one's abilities a woman must choose to follow, live and expound upon all their life. Only women are ever trained to become scythe witches and no Mistress of the Scythe will ever teach a male and will very rarely teach women of another race, aside of human, though there are a few known to exist. Primarily, most scythe witches are either Taijuni or possibly Albadosian. A teacher must be sought and one's whole self must be given into the teachings of their Mistress. The knowledge, wisdom and techniques of the Way of the Scythe are passed down; the student writes down the words of the Mistress and the scrolls stay with the student all her life. Variations in style and technique are included in this scrolls, but the history never changes. It is the duty of each scythe witch to preserve the lore of their beginning.

The path of the scythe witch does not promote a particular religion, philosophy or creed, other than to fight tyranny wherever it may be found. What one witch considers tyranny could well be considered freedom to another, setting a stage where two scythe witches may combat one another. Such fights are often long and brutal, pitting strength, speed and fighting style of each woman against the other. In fact, in situations where a battlefield may have scythe witches on either side, it is often they will seek each other out in favor of other opponents. Sometimes this done to parlay with the opposing scythe witch, or to simply eliminate one thought to be corrupt and lost from their path. More often than not, however more than one scythe witch will be found working together to free or defend a community from a conquering force.

To become a scythe witch takes an immense amount of personal willpower, mental acumen and physical prowess. Many women are turned away from a Mistress, even if they succeed in finding one. The initial meeting between potential student and Mistress is often the guiding one; poise, demeanor and intellect are judged by the Mistress and if the woman is found lacking, she is sent off and will not be seen again. This does not mean the potential student cannot find another Mistress from which to train, though failing once is a good indicator that said candidate is not material to become a scythe witch.

Once accepted, training consists of physical endurance, mental focus, studies of the body, the mind and of course armed and unarmed combat. Scythe witches are capable of matching even knights in armed combat and commonly duplicate feats, such as deflecting bullets that normally take knights aMiracle of Body to achieve. In this way, they have managed to endure in a world that has seen the expansive use of firearms and have even developed techniques in which to rapidly advance on a gun-wielding opponent and disarm them. This of course is never fool-proof and more than one scythe witch has been defeated by a clever marksman with a bow or a rifle. Despite the threat of firearms, or even spell-casters, the deep understanding of mind and body allow the scythe witch to engage on largely even footing against all manner of adversaries.

Because of their need to move quickly and fluidly, armor of any kind is frowned upon by a scythe witch, though some who have chosen a more militaristic life, have been known to don chainmail tunics and skirts to offer greater protection. No scythe witch will ever wear banded or plate armor however, as the restriction of movement is simply too much to overcome. However, no such restrictions exist for what weapons they may carry and it has not been unheard of for a scythe witch to carry a dagger within the snathe of her scythe, or in more recent times, even fashioned a one-shot, short-range pistol into their weapon. A scythe witch's scythe is a personal expression of themselves and will often bear a ribbon of their favorite color, or have something that makes that weapon unique to that scythe witch. These weapons are very much the calling card of the witch in question, making it and the reputation of the one carrying said scythe known, the more that scythe witch is seen in combat.

The final part of scythe witch training is to craft one's own scythe. This entails the student to learn wood craft and an acceptable level of smithing, in order to accomplish this. Everything from the wood of the snathe, to the blade that sits upon it is the creation of the scythe-witch. Enchantments can also be applied, if the scythe witch learns, or knows somebody who is knowledgeable in rune-forging. Scythes enchanted with magic are exceedingly rare, since the Taijuni people live on Tamayr Shuryu, where the large amount of Starmetal in the ground makes working magic nearly impossible. Once the scythe is forged, it is consecrated in the witch's own blood, taken typically from the forearm, before it is tested in a spar with the student's Mistress. Regardless of the outcome, the student is now a scythe witch and may set forth on her own journey.