blindinglight (blindinglight) wrote in invulgoare, @ 2013-03-01 07:44:00 |
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t h e a s c h e r c o v e n ; |
THE ASCHERS were once a proud family of witches that considered themselves the most powerful weavers of the supernatural ever born of human blood. Intensely loyal to the demonic Merhite family, the Aschers were best known for their powers over flesh and death. Thousands of years ago, Matriarch Thana Ascher, the most powerful necromancer in the world was slain. With the defeat of the Merhite demons by Demos vampires, the name Ascher became a death sentence. Any and all who bore the tell-tale mark, the skull birthmark at the base of the neck, were killed. With the core of the family destroyed, the Aschers have been considered wiped from the face of the world. Those who speak of this are almost right as there are only a few true-blooded Aschers left in existence. The Aschers are humans, witches or warlocks, who currently have no territory but their loyalty to the Merhites overrides any problems they have about that. THE LINE OF DESCENT The line of descent for the Aschers is matriarchal from first born daughter to first born daughter back more generations than there is true written record. THE RIGHT TO CHALLENGE Aschers are well known for being a violent coven, generally held in check by one of two things: loyalty to the Matriarch and loyalty to the Mehrites. Beyond that, all things are fair game. When a crime is committed against one of these two loyalties, it automatically a sentence of death. However, the one who stands accused has the right to challenge the accusation in combat. The rules are quite simple, they fight. The accused must survive by whatever means necessary, the champion must kill the accused. FLESH Considered the healers of the family, a Ascher of the Flesh can cause living flesh to knit or decay as they see fit. On a more personal level, they heal, physically, much faster than their brethren. The pinnacle of flesh art is the remolding of flesh on the body to do things such as seal the lips of a person, though it can be done at lower levels at great cost. The best flesh users can pull off that feat with little more than a touch and expend almost no energy. BONE The weapon makers of the family, bone workers can make a skeleton into a killing machine. It is said at the highest level that they can actually make the skeleton walk on its own, much like a necromancer can, though it must have a given set of commands. They become mindless beings, submitting to every command of an Ascher. Charms are also among the bone-worker's best skill set. BLOOD The potion sisters. Bloodwitches use blood from almost any source to create both very good things and very bad things. Their instruments range from flesh eating acids and truth potions to super-healing droughts. At their best, it is said that Bloodwitches can even control the blood in a living body to make that body move as they wish. However, there are few documented cases of this ability ever being used. DEATH Easily considered the strongest of the Ascher lines, those who can control the dead have immense power. Necromancers are capable of pulling extra strength, health, stamina from the spirits around them as well as making corpses walk. They can imbue them with an alien intelligence that almost makes them real allies and even go so far as to be able to remove the souls from the living. Only those of the lineage of the great Matriarch are capable of being true masters of death. Raising a single corpse is no great feat for them, but at their strongest an Ascher of Death can raise an army to their call. As this ability can kill the user, it is very rarely used. Most Aschers are capable of crossing the line from one type to another, though they are predisposed toward a specific lineage. Example: Jorja could raise a corpse, but it would be much harder and require more preparation than if a Deathwitch were to do it. |