Sorcerery History & Culture in The Maghreb in the BDRP Universe
In which eight months of McKala’s worldbuilding, research, and bullshitting culminate in this
History
Magicks in the Maghreb (Northwest Africa) have always been stigmatized, dating back to even before French and English colonialism in the region. However, the stigma attached to them intensified under colonialism. Colonial oppressors tapped into the existing mystery and distrust surrounding magicks to further suppress them. A magick community under fire from both colonizers and the colonized was ideal in the age of European colonialism of Africa, Asia, and The Americas. Similar models of targeted, brutal oppression of magicks of invaded lands have been noted in historical documents from the Sasanian, Carthaginian, and Roman Empires.
Pre-colonial opinions of magicks ranged from distrusting tolerance to codified oppression. It should be noted that the first recorded targeted killing of magicks appeared in documents unearthed in Cape Bon (Watan el-kibli) from the Greco-Punic Wars, dated at around 300 B.C. It tells of the wives of Carthaginian soldiers killed in battle in Sicily killing a sorcerer couple who rivaled with their commanding officer, believing them to have cursed their husbands.
Magicks were subject to system of oppression under the Roman Empire, however, this was only really enforced in the cities. Outlying towns and villages, and the nomadic tribes at the time, operated on their own rules as long as they stayed out of the Romans’ way. Some were more lax, some were more draconian. The Romans themselves were friendly to sorcery. However, oppressing the sorcerers in conquered territory was vital to squashing dissent.
The next several hundred years, under the Vandals and the Byzantine Empire, magicks lived in a constant cycle of freedom, oppression, freedom, oppression. It varied from leader to leader.
By 705, the Islamic Conquests had taken over all of modern-day Tunisia. This period provided a degree consistency for magicks. Some Caliphates were harsher than others, however, much of this period is regarded as the Golden Age of Magicks in Tunisia and much of the Maghreb. Caliphates of this period thought it was to their advantage to negotiate with magicks rather than oppressing and slaughtering them. Alliances with magicks proved wise in several documented battles. Tensions were recorded throughout this time period, but generally, magicks could live in peace in often segregated communities.
The early Islamic era came to an end when the Shia Islamic Fatimid Caliphate departed to their newly conquered territories in Egypt leaving the Zirid dynasty to govern in their stead. Normans from Sicily raided the east coast of Ifriqiya for the first time in 1123. After some years of attacks, in 1148 Normans under George of Antioch conquered all the coastal cities of Tunisia: Bona (Annaba), Sfax, Gabès, and Tunis. By the thirteenth-century, the Golden Age of magicks in Tunisia was solidly over, as they were oppressed from all groups in the area blaming them for tensions with each other, plagues, anything that could justify hatred of magicks.
Under the Ottoman Empire, as the Eyalet of Tunis (1574–1705) and the Beylik of Tunis (1705–1881), Tunisia saw another period of mellowing in magick-mundus relations. However, this was hardly a repeat of the Golden Age. Restrictions on magicks were heavy, prison time and forced servitude were common, but it is interesting to note that the death sentence for magic use introduced in 1280 was lifted in 1610, after falling out of enforcement around the 1520s.
Tensions were pervasive in the lives of magicks, especially sorcerers who did not have the escape that fairies and were-folk often did. In the last hundred years of the Ottoman Empire’s reign over the region, laws became increasingly more restrictive, anti-magick violence saw a steady spike, and when Tunisia became a French Protectorate in 1881, it escalated.
As colonists usually did, the French tightened restrictions on magicks in their holdings in Africa. Though Tunisia gained independence in 1956, the effects of French colonialism linger - and for Tunisian magicks, it isn’t just the language they left behind.
The oppression continued through the 20th century, through all of Ben Ali’s regime until his ousting during the Arab Spring, and has continued under a democratic Tunisia.
The High Council
Across three countries - Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria, and some outstanding regions - a High Council of sorcerers has existed since before artificial colonial borders were drawn. The Council acts as a governing body, and clear rules for how a sorcerer is to conduct themselves to be granted herd protection are in place. One of these rules is that protecting the community must not come at the cost of rolling back peace progress. Education and peace-making efforts are their favored weapon against danger caused by ignorance-born hatred.
However, this is not always strongly enforced. The Council often neglects to denounce sorcerers unless it brings problems onto the community. Sorcerers that react with violence covertly to defend the community, are often not scolded.
Sorcerer Culture & Practices
Sorcerer culture in the Maghreb is distinct from sorcerer culture in other parts of the world due to the flip-flopping of the sub-group’s safety. While periods of oppression or enjoying basic rights didn’t just switch overnight, the memory of difficult periods of their history remained alive in good times through oral storytelling, and what historical records were kept.
There is generally less competition between sorcerers than in some other parts of the world, as there is a strong sense of community among Maghrebi sorcerers. During the era of European colonization of the region, Maghrebi sorcerers often viewed ethnic European sorcerers as more of the “out group” than, say, werewolves or fairies from the Maghreb. European sorcerers were seen as agents of the colonizers, and viewed as, ultimately, more loyal to them. Attitudes toward foreign sorcerers didn’t really begin to shift until the 1980s.
Since it has typically been unwise to wear one’s magic on their sleeve, any evidence of being a sorcerer must be easily disguisable.
Tunisian sorcerers of all genders favor daggers as wands. Daggers can be plain or ornate, hand crafted by the individual, or passed down the generations. They can be easily hidden in large pockets, under modern dresses and t-shirts, and within traditional clothing. Algerians and Libyans generally follow the same practice, with regional or personal alternatives. Moroccan sorceresses often wear bracelets that function as their wand.
Grimoires written in Tunisia are rare and highly valuable. Tunisian sorcerers are often forced to memorize everything from what reagents look and feel like, to complicated multi-page spells, without ever having the luxury of reading or writing them down. It is dangerous to be found with writing pertaining to sorcery. While it is not legally punishable by death, sorcerers do fall victim to mob sentencing; legally, there can be prison time.
Because it is impossible for any one person to memorize the whole world of magic inside their one brain, sorcerers are not educated by the standard Master-Apprentice system.
Rather, the community educates apprentices together and everybody brings their unique skills to the table. Master sorcerers still call those under their tutelage apprentices, but they are almost never an apprentice’s sole Master. It would not be uncommon for a relatively young Master sorcerer, say, in their late thirties, to mention having had a dozen or more apprentices. If a Master helps teach a young sorcerer that is one of five siblings, then they probably also helped teach the other four.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of Maghrebi sorcerer culture, is their use of sign language. Maghrebi Sorcerer Sign is a sign language unique to the sorcerer community, and is mutually unintelligible from Libyan Sign Language, Tunisian Sign Language Algerian Sign Language, and Moroccan Sign Language alike. It also predates the existence of any of these modern sign languages. Deaf and Hearing sorcerers use MSS on a daily basis.
There are sorcerers who only know how to cast certain spells nonverbally, solely using MSS for that spell. MSS is the collective term used to describe what is better described as a collective of localized signed conlangs. There is no official linguistic research done on MSS - naturally, as it is dangerous to reveal oneself as a sorcerer - but it is known that sorcerers from different regions, let alone countries, may have communication hurdles if they try to solely communicate using MSS.
Sorcerers across the region, however, have a second method of secret communication. There is a secret spoken language as well. Similar to the use of Polari in the United Kingdom, it is an argot meant to prevent outsiders from understanding the conversation. The language - best known as Ahk’hdi - is also used in other neighboring parts of Africa - as far as Ethiopia.
Ahk’hdi traces its origins back to the 11th century. It comes from a mixture of Mediterranean Lingua Franca, Amazigh languages (primarily Kabyle and Shilha), Arabic, Amharic, and Ottoman Turkish. Ahk’hdi is full of Arabic, Amharic, Turkish, and broadly Romance words that are given a similar treatment to English words in back slang, and French words in verlan. Like MSS, Ahk'hdi does differ from region to region, however, Ethiopian sorcerers, Tunisian sorcerers, and Algerian sorcerers can easily communicate together in Ahk'di with only occasional slips into a more widely known lingua franca.
