The days have grown shorter, the nights longer; a chill has swept across the campus. It can only mean one thing: Samhain is approaching.
In the week leading up to the sacred holiday, preparations are in full effect for the traditional Samhain celebration: wood collected for the bonfire, tents going up in the lawn around the mansion. There is an electric energy through campus, a buzz of excitement this time of year, that is contagious.
Meanwhile, with the temporary ban of practical chaos magic still in effect on campus, the grounds have also been abuzz with conjurers looking for ways to fill their time outside of their theoretical studies. Rumors of an illicit underground battle magic club have once again made themselves quietly available to those in the know -- with the right password, you can get past the wards and access the armory on Wednesday and Sunday nights to join the ranks of those practicing forms and techniques of the long-banned discipline
And other chaos students have taken to causing trouble wherever they can: while last week the library and social hall fell victim to their vengeful hexes, this week, the forests themselves have been set with magical traps, and some of the staircases have been jinxed to disappear under the feet of unsuspecting students. Professors Chapman, Stokes, Vance, and Nam -- as well as Headmistress Crow -- have grown harsher on students practicing chaos magic in their free time, against the terms of the ban in effect.
In fact, rumor has it that one student -- second year chaos witch Leonora Varma, who was caught attempting to hex the lock on Headmistress Crow’s office door -- has been suspended for the remainder of the semester for her breaking of the ban.
current date for threads: October 23rd-October 30th
for those in the know, or those invited by current members, the battle magic club will be at 11pm on October 24 & 28. the password for the week is petrova, and can be obtained from any current member of the club
our next event will be the school-wide Samhain festival on the evening of October 31st
That’s not what’s unusual. What’s unusual, you think, as you sit down amidst your peers, your fellow students, along the wooden benches of the Grand Hall, is that yesterday, the High Council of the ACW -- Gisla Minervudottir herself -- was seen exiting Headmistress Crow’s office. And no one had seen Crow since.
Usually, she roamed the hallways in her long black coat, imposing, somehow, all five-foot-three of her. Between classes, around dinnertime, stopping to converse with students, ask after their studies, gently chastise those using magic in unapproved spaces. But she hadn’t been seen outside her office since the High Council left it. Not until weekly meeting.
She stands at the front of the room, as usual, her expression unreadable, and waits for the chatter in the room to settle down into silence, for the attention to organically turn her way, before she speaks:
“I have an unfortunate announcement to make.”
The room, already quiet, becomes shrouded in a tense hush. Headmistress Crow takes a breath before continuing, purses her lips carefully.
“By decree of the High Council of the American Council of Witches, beginning tomorrow, there will be a temporary hold put on all practical classes in chaos magic.”
Her voice falters, for a moment-- you aren’t sure if anyone else caught it but you, but you’re sure it does, you heard it just beneath the sudden rising din of angry whispers, despairing cries-- what? that’s not possible, that’s not fair!-- that floods the room around you.
“This is not a decision I have made lightly,” she goes on, trying to regain her control over the room, but it is lost. The people to either side of you are frantically speaking in low voices, trying to understand why this is happening, what it means. “But it is one by which we must abide here at Aradia for the present time. I will keep you all updated, if anything changes. For now, that is all.”
A shorter weekly meeting than usual, but the upheaval makes it feel like it’s been hours since you sat down on the bench beneath you. Things are changing, at Aradia, and no one is sure why... all you know is that the students you know will not take this lying down.
vvitcheshq is officially open for interactions! below you’ll find some critical details for the current state of things, but other than that, you’re free to start putting up starters and roleplaying -- feel free to do past threads for characters you have an interesting history with, if you’d like, or pick up after the weekly meeting while the school is abuzz!
the current date is October 16th, a little over a month after school has begun for the year. current threads can begin the evening of October 16th, after the weekly meeting, and continue on through around October 23rd.
chaos magic students and minors will have their practical classes cancelled, but will still have theoretical classes, for the time being. any student caught practicing chaos magic on campus will, in theory, be given a warning, but some professors will be more lax than others, depending on their feelings about the High Council’s decision. Head Professor of Chaos Magic Olinda Chapman seems to be among those taking the decree seriously, much to her own chagrin. Head Professor of Pattern Magic Theodora Stokes has also already been seen reprimanding a student using minor chaos magic in the halls.
all other classes will proceed as usual.
tag your starters with #vvitchstart, and be sure to reply to others’ starters to get interactions up and running!
