A wizarding village located in the mountains of Akita Prefecture. It has served as the border between the mundane world and the magical since ancient times. An onmyōji sealed the entrance away to contain a great spirit, which continues to be appeased by the townspeople's yearly offerings. It is so difficult to gain access to Sakaimachi that even experienced witches and wizards often need assistance from a local. Accordingly, it is home to the most talented ward-maker of the modern age.
Many wizarding families have lived in Sakaimachi for centuries, but a thriving inn exists for the multitude of scholars who travel here to study the intricate wards located around town. The wards are designed to keep the magical creatures and spirits of the mountains separate from human civilization, so the townspeople tend take their jobs as pseudo-guardians seriously.
Making fire out of the cold is a peculiar talent, but when the blizzard hit Black Pains, Sophie Nellsdottir was glad she had learned.
Even the best of heating and insulation charms, applied to walls and roofs with thorough regularity, can do little when it’s five below even before the winds start howling, when the snowdrifts pile up above your second story. Magic can only fight nature so far.
But ice burns, too, in its way. And a witch who was clever enough, who saw the world in the right ways, who had a bit of a penchant for turning things inside-out, might earn to make that work to her advantage.
She melted a trail from door to door, collecting every family in the town, one by one. The paths were covered up again nearly as soon as she had forged them, but it was enough. Enough to get everyone to the town hall, with blankets and boots, where their combined magics could keep a blue-flamed blaze stoked for the three days it took the sun to reappear.
Many small pockets of wizarding communities are scattered across the most remote regions of Japan.
In addition, in the last one or two hundred years some of the descendants of the exiled Taira clan emerged from hiding, revealing several towns and villages (wizarding and non-wizarding) that went undetected (or at least ignored) by even the wizarding authorities since the 12th century.
Iya Valley (祖谷渓)
(top left)
Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku
A secluded valley formed by steep mountain slopes and deep rocky gorges.
Ihara (庵原): A hamlet located in a remote area in the deepest part of the valley. Ihara, unlike most wizarding villages nowadays, has a few non-magical people inhabiting it. The lifestyle out here is slow and traditional, without much technology or modern conveniences. The local wizarding government has been urging the town to isolate itself from the non-magical for decades, but Ihara's residents are insistent that it is unnecessary given the town’s history. The protective wards and barriers around Ihara are almost exclusively meant to keep yōkai away rather than the non-magical.
Kiso Valley (木曽谷)
Nagano Prefecture, Honshū
The deep forests and steep slopes of the mountainous Hida region made travel along the Nakasendō highway (built to connect Tōkyō and Kyōto) difficult. The Hida mountains are also called the Japanese Alps.
It takes three days to travel across the valley by foot; several port towns developed throughout the valley as a result. Several wizarding villages were established in the area, but Ōkomori, located near Mount Ontake, is the only one that is still in use today aside from a tiny hamlet called Kido. Some people still commute to surrounding non-magical towns for work to this day; for instance, some of the lacquerware craftsmen of Kiso-Hirasawa are from the magical population of Kido.
Hida-Takayama (高山)
Gifu Prefecture, Honshū
A city with a traditional touch and a well-preserved district of old buildings from the Edo Period, Takayama was valued for its high quality timber and skilled carpenters.
It is located in the Hida mountains.
A handful of artisan families still live here, mingling with the non-magical people and carrying on the traditions of the area. Several small shops exist further up the mountain, undetectable by the non-magical. Takayama is located near the community in the Kiso District, so many of the families who live in these towns are related in some way.
Yamadera (山寺)
(second row, left)
Yamagata Prefecture, Tōhoku, Honshū
A Buddhist temple in the mountains overlooking a valley.
A temple founded by the Tendai (Risshakuji) sect over 1000 years ago. One of the buildings on the temple grounds contains a flame that is said to have never gone out since the complex was founded. Yamadera was never a specifically wizarding town, but the pureblood Kosaka family has lived here and maintained the temple for generations. Many magical and non-magical tourists venture to this temple. It is said that a great many yōkai live in the woods surrounding the mountain, and the flame that burns in the main hall keeps them away from the town.
Gokanosho (五家荘)
(bottom)
Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyūshū
Five villages hidden in a remote area of the mountains of Kyūshū.
Momigi & Hagi: wizarding villages descended from the magical members of the Heike Clan
Kureko, Shiibaru, & Nitao: villages descended from the non-magical members of the Heike
A series of villages hidden in the remote and treacherous mountains of Kyūshū, where members of the exiled Taira Clan fled after their defeat in the Genpei War. The roads leading up the mountain are narrow, winding, and difficult to traverse in the winter months, making it impossible for armies to traverse. Non-magical locals claim that the snowfall one year was so heavy that helicopters had to deliver the area with supplies. In reality, it was the magical folks living in Momigi and Hagi villages who assisted them with magic disguised as helicopters. To this day, some non-magical descendants of the Taira know about magic, much to the dismay of the Ministry of Magic.
The first St. Patrick’s Days celebrations in the United States belonged to the Muggles.
Oh, there were Irish witches and wizards in America by that point, but when the Charitable Irish Society of Boston met for a day of worship and a hearty sit-down dinner on March 17th 1737, there were only Muggles among their number. Rumor has it a wizard in the Continental Army may have put it in General Washington’s ear, in 1780, to give the army March 17th as a holiday, but alas, the historical record fails to confirm this legend.
We certainly have wizards to thank for much of the holiday as it has become, however.
After World War II, with magical transportation between North America and the European continent easier than ever, many of the Irish whose families had emigrated in the 19th century took the opportunity to visit the homeland. And some did not return empty-handed. The New World suddenly found itself hosting not just Irish magic, but Irish magical creatures, to say nothing of enchanted tapestries, singing rocks. And, feeling more at home, the knots of Irish witches and wizards across the AWC began to act a bit more at home as well.
Most of those hauling leprechauns and Gaelic pictsies into Boston, New Hallow, Savannah, and Stoppelwald were sensible enough to mind the strictures of the International Statute of Secrecy... most of the time.
Holidays have always, after all, been a time when wizarding folk tend to wink at the law.
At a total loss to stop the annual enthusiastic outbreak of green and orange showers of sparks, and bar tabs paid with fool’s gold, the American Magical Congress determined to camouflage it instead.
Who now would notice a Metamorphmagi changing her hair color in the midst of a sea of green and orange wigs? When all of New York City is enjoying Irish whiskey, what matter the strange noises and flashes of light bursting out of the Sixth Borough? And when every Muggle in the streets is stumbling anyway, what matter if the charms and cantrips of leprechauns tangle their feet?
If there is one thing that brings together Muggles and Mages from all societies, its that they are terrible meddlers. Whether politics, the contents of their neighbor’s washing lines, or the fundamental laws of the universe, every human seems to have his or her own particular vice when it comes to poking their nose into something quintessentially not their business. Curiosity is a human trait that transcends nationality or birth, and drives all people to ask certain questions, some of which are probably best left alone.
Those blessed with magical ability are, typically, the worst of the lot. As much evil has been done with a wand and the wrong questions than has ever been born by ambition, brashness, or blind loyalty. There is no better example of this than a small island off the south-western coast of the territory known amongst Muggles as California. There, amidst the pounding waves and ocean gales, is small town founded sometime after Spanish wizards began emigrating to the new world in great numbers. The Inquisition and the rule of a new Catholic dynasty in Spain had largely destroyed what had been centuries of free magical study and society, driving many free minded Wizards and Witches to flee fire and conversion.
Some them apparently came to that small island, and established a town there. Nothing is known about the town known as Antigua Finca, “The Ancient Port.” In the mid 1700s, rumors of the town’s existence circulated amongst Spanish explorers and merchants, but by the end of the century the rumors had been dismissed completely…that is until 1869, when a small ship pulled onto the shores an island in the middle of a heavy fog. The sailors who returned reported finding a small town filled with statues and ghostly images, haunted by phantom noises and an ominous ticking.
When AWC agents went to explore, they found Antigua Finca, and the echoes of whatever spell claimed the place. As best as agents of the MRD can speculate, the Mages of the town had attempted to protect their settlement from discovery by warping time itself…and in some ways, they succeed. Antigua Finca became a town outside of time. Those statues that remain are all that are left of the witches and wizards caught on the edges of the spell. The faint ticking and ghostly noises? Agents specialized in temporal magic can only guess it is the spell still operating on some different level of existence. Perhaps some of those original casters survived the spell, but remain unreachable. The best theorists have been unable to make any difference, and the old part of the town remains hidden from time itself.
New settlers have, of course, moved in. The town now hosts a diverse population of wizards and witches who have learned to live comfortably with the perpetual ticking. Indeed, it is said the residents of Antigua Finca have the best sense of time of anyone in AWC, and the MRD has a permanent outpost in the region to study temporal anomalies. At the heart of the old settlement is the strange sundial believed to be the focus of the original spell that froze the town. If nothing else, the ticking is perceptibly louder here and people often misplace time when touring it, only to find it again later most unexpectedly.
Hi, there! I love your blog! I've two questions but they're not really related: 1) What are the official 13 wizarding communities in the United States? and 2) Have you picked out what each of the wizarding school's mascots are?
The 13 Communities are as follows:
1. Ashwinds, Virginia
2. Stoppelwald, Pennsylvania
3. Dusk Hallow, Tennessee
4. Paradiso, Florida
5. Broad Skies, Wyoming
6. Storm Winds, Kansas
7. Antigua Finca, California
8. Goblin’s Stretch (a follower submission we very much liked and decided to adopt. We assume it is somewhere in the American South, given its history and location names.)
9. Black Plains, North Dakota
10. New Hallow, New York
11. Twine Meadow, Washington
12. Wyrm’s Pass, Utah
13. Liberation, Bahamas
There are also wizarding communities in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C., amongst others, but given that they are intermixed with muggle populations they are not considered “true” wizarding communities.
As to the school mascots:
1. The Salem Insitute’s mascot is the Osprey, after the native bird that nests in the cove located beside the school.
2. The Allegiance Academy is represented by the Wolf: the animagus form of school-founder Tybalt Le Loup, who actually raised the stones of the fort.
3. The Randolph-Poythress Institute is represented by the Pegasus. Specifically the Volucens breed.
4. The Laveau Academy is represented by the American Alligator, a symbol of the southern swamps.
5. The Blackgate School: Represented by the sinuous coils of the Sea Serpent native to both the seas near Durmstrang and, in a smaller variety, in the lakes around the school.
6. The Mesa Academy: Represented by the Cactus Cat, a native, magical species in the American Southwest.
7. La Academia Occidental is represented by the Rocky Mountain Gryffon, a species native to the region but recently declared endangered by the CMR.
When the Statute of Secrecy finally began to take hold in the Colonies, most witches and wizards removed themselves physically as they did socially, withdrawing either to private manors, well-guarded by every Muggle-repelling charm their owners could summon, or to the fledgling communities of Stoppelwald, New Hollow, and Ashwinds. Those who remained in large Muggle-populated cities, as in Circle's Corner or the Sixth Borough, drew themselves together, carefully calculating the ways to hide their numbers without fully segregating themselves from the outside world.
The wizardkind of Boston, however, saw no need to consolidate themselves into a contiguous community. Many wished to stay near the water, source of their livelihoods as sure as it was for the Muggle fishermen. Others had set up shop in fashionable districts and, even if they could no longer enjoy the custom of the Muggles, had no desire to separate themselves from the hustle and bustle. Others had large, comfortable homes, or small but cherished nooks, and thought it absurd that they should have to move when others could do so as easily.
So their private homes and small neighborhoods became, themselves, Unplottable and Undetectable. That alone might not have been noteworthy, but the Bostonian wizards took it a step further, taking it upon themselves to influence the design of the Muggle community: Certain areas bore Disorienting Hexes, such that the surveyors and builders of roads would find themselves compelled to careen off in unpredictable directions. Crossroads, always a potent point for magical activity, would splinter and whorl. The wizard homes and shops stayed just where they were, connected by fireplaces and Apparition points like beads on a tangled chain, accessible yet erratic.
The Muggle population of Boston, as stubborn as their counterparts, take a perverse pride in their haphazard geography, insisting on legends of cowpaths to explain away the oddities.
They err, those who dismiss Ashwinds as a backwards town, too mired in the past, too stalwart-proud of old bloodlines and tattered pedigrees, too fixed on fading glamour.
They forget that Ashwinds was founded on fire.
Calliope Bridgewater was a Seer, and though her Muggle family would not see her hang, they would not shelter her, either. Cast out into the world with no fortune and little education, she became a servant to the Poythress family, trading her talent for magical instruction. Cards and crystals were all well and good, but where Calliope's talent truly flourished was in flames. The flickering dance was not only an entrancement, but a gateway, and the salamanders and ashwinder serpents dwelling there treated her with unparalleled respect.
Some say she set the kitchens a-blaze on instruction from Mr. Poythress himself, to cover the family's disappearance as the constrictions of the Statute drew tighter. Some say it was an accident, the ashwinders gone out of control. Some say she simply wanted to see how high the flames could leap.
Whatever the reason, Calliope saw in those flames a future fierce enough to convince the Poythresses and a cohort of other families to resettle along the broad brackish water near the Chesapeake Bay. She brought a clutch of ashwinder eggs with her, and their birthing blaze formed the first hearth-fire in the new town.
A generation later, in the early days of Revolution, the citizens of Ashwinds gathered to pledge their support for liberty. Wizards from Ashwinds supported Lee's Resolution in the House of Burgesses, and when the call went out for volunteers to defend the Tappahannock against the forces of the English-Mermish alliance, not a soul remained behind. Irrepressible and indomitable, the families of Ashwinds could never abide outsiders telling them how to live -- not even those outsiders who shared their pedigrees.
Their legacy has lived on for centuries.
In Marella Wythe-Bolling, prosecuted four times for aiding and abetting the Underground Railroad through use of concealment charms, befuddlements, and more than a few well-placed and utterly shameless curses.
In duelists like Tobias and Tabitha Burke, who together took down the Dark Sorceress Brigitta during the Wizarding War of 1812, their story immortalized in poem.
In Frederick Bryant, the Ashwinds-born Headmaster who fought against his own Board of Directors to de-segregate the school he wanted to usher, guide, or, should it prove necessary, drop-kick into the future.
In artists like Evelyn Pribble, whose wedding gowns were coveted by young ladies across the nation, and whose own blushing bride met her at the altar draped in sunglow-pearls.
In the Al-Harazi family, who purchased the vacant manor of a dying family and revitalized it with new spirit, turning their herds of Pegasi loose to fill the fields and sky once more.
They have not always agreed with each other, nor with the rest of the country, but what the wizards and witches of Ashwinds believe, they believe with blazing certainty.
