BACKSTORY:

Many centuries ago, a young woman named Morwenna of East Town was born. Able to perform magic, she used her abilities to help the people in her village, creating simple healing spells and remedies. Her children also inherited this power, and witches as a species were born.

For many years, witches lived peacefully with humans, marrying them and continuing to grow. Three Circles formed, as a way to differentiate between the different ideologies that the witches possessed and create a fellowship between them, and an Inner Circle was created to govern them.

Circle Daybreak, along with Twilight, Midnight, and the Inner Circle, had been one of the original witch circles, and the only one who sought alliances with humans, partially because male witches were rare and due to the centuries-long blood feud between witches and vampires. The members wanted to live with humans in harmony, and even attempted to teach humans spells.

However, during the 15th and 16th centuries, humans began persecuting those suspected of witchcraft, associating them with Satanic worship and horrible atrocities. They tortured, hung, and burned suspected witches, prompting the witch clans to shroud themselves in secrecy for their own safety, and to disband Circle Daybreak forever.

PLOT:

Now, in recent times, after centuries of living in secrecy, the witches are ready to reinstate themselves as the superior species on Earth. The witches of Circle Midnight have begun pressuring the Inner Circle and Circle Twilight to declare war on humankind. Some witches, opposing this idea, have secretly begun to join and reestablish Circle Daybreak as a way to help prepare and protect humans.

You will play one of these witches. Which Circle will you join, and what side will you take in this upcoming war against humanity?

CIRCLES:

Circle Twilight: One of the formal witch Circles. In contrast to Circle Midnight, the members hold respect for all life, including human life despite the view of them as inferior. As a general habit, they will tolerate humans, but will not hesitate to use spells against them if rightfully provoked. The symbol of Circle Twilight is a four pointed star, one point for each cardinal direction.

Circle Midnight: One of the formal witch Circles. Unlike Circle Twilight, who holds some regard for human life, Circle Midnight witches embrace the laws of black magic more fully, utilizing magic for far darker purposes, and will not quibble over harming and killing innocent humans. The symbol of Circle Midnight is a crescent moon.

Circle Daybreak: An informal witch Circle. The Circle, unlike others, welcomes not only witches, but also humans, with the aim to help allow the opposing races to live in harmony. It is illegal to be a member of Circle Daybreak, and joining is punishable by death. Members are often on the run and must keep their allegiance to this Circle a secret. The symbol of Circle Daybreak is a sixteen-rayed sun.

Inner Circle: The witches are governed by the Inner Circle. The Inner Circle consists of respected members of the witch community. The highest ranking positions of the Inner Circle are Crone, Mother and Maiden. The Inner Circle is responsible for ensuring witches uphold the law. This authoritative body also makes decisions and imposes punishments. [closed to joining]

MAGIC BREAKDOWN:

All witches are born with magic within them. This can be accessed freely from the time they are very young, but it can be very wild and unpredictable. As such, witches have developed several methods of channeling and focusing magic.

The first is through the use of herbs and crystals. This is a very consistent form of magic, and if you have the right ingredients, it makes spellcasting rather simple. Crystals can also be used to store magical energy, saving it for use at a later date, which can be necessary for very complicated spells. Herbs and crystals can also be used to make amulets of various sorts, most frequently for luck or protection. Herb and crystal magic is considered very steady, though it is less powerful than magic cast with the aid of a familiar.

The second method is through a familiar. A familiar is a special animal that a witch has formed a bond with. Not every animal can become a familiar -- it must be predisposed to being able to channel magic, similar to how a witch must be born with magic inside. Forming a bond with a familiar is not to be taken lightly: you can only have one familiar at a time, and they tend to live longer than ordinary animals. Witches are able to communicate and speak to their familiar, if they have one, though they cannot speak with other witch's familiars. Magic cast with the help of a familiar is generally more powerful than magic cast with crystals and herbs (though it varies with the power of the individual familiar), though it tends to be wilder and harder to control. Spellcasting with familiars is not recommended for beginner witches, and you cannot take a familiar until you turn eighteen and join a Circle.

Witches are not limited to one type of magic. They can cast both, so long as they have the materials for it.

LOST WITCHES:

Lost witches are humans with the blood of witches running through their veins. Since witch blood is dominant to human blood, they do have magic and are able to cast spells, though what makes them a lost witch is the fact that they do not know their heritage and thus have no formal training in witchcraft.

In rare cases, they may discover their heritage and may submit a request to the Inner Circle to be able to receive formal witch training and join a Circle. Whether or not they will be allowed to is often dependent on how recent their witch blood is in their family tree, and their age. Lost witches over the age of eighteen are almost never granted the chance to receive formal witch training.

Many human psychics, fortune tellers, tarot card readers, and aura readers are actually lost witches. They are able to do these things by using the magic running in their veins, though they are unaware of this.

A LITTLE MORE BACKGROUND INFO:

Witches live in a matriarchal society. As such, husbands take the surname of the wife, not the other way around.

There are two laws that the Inner Circle requires all witches to follow. The first is to never tell a human about the existence of witches. The second is to never fall in love with a human. Breaking either law is punishable by death.

Morwenna's direct descendants of the female line are still around, as the Aston family. They are considered to be almost like nobility amongst witches, because they have the "purest" bloodline. You may not create a Aston character without permission!

After turning thirteen, a witch may choose to join a coven. These are groups of witches that gather to learn and practice magic together. A complex ceremony must be performed to bind the witches together, and an equally complex one to break the bond apart, so joining a coven is not something to be taken lightly. Some witches form covens with very close friends, and others are invited to family covens. You can only be a member of one coven at a time.

On their eighteenth birthday, witches formally join either Circle Twilight or Circle Midnight. Many witches often lean one way or the other before this night, but this is the night that they make it official. A secret ceremony is performed to welcome them into their new Circle, and they receive all the rights and privileges of a full witch.

The symbol of a witch is the laurel flower. Many witches wear jewelry or clothes with laurel flowers on it to announce their heritage to other witches, and their places of business are often adorned with the symbol as well.

RULES:
1. Follow all Lioden rules and terms of service.

2. Absolutely no powerplaying!

3. You must post in third person. "Jane jumped over the log" is acceptable, "I jumped over the log" isn't.

4. No graphic descriptions, too much violence, etc. Keep it PG13.

5. Please post at least 75 words each time. Preferably 100+, but 75 is the bare minimum. If I think your post is too short, I will count, so try to follow this one. Also, every post must move the plot forward. Try to have some action and emotions in every post, describe scenery, etc, not just dialogue or answering a question.

6. Three strikes and you're out policy. First warning, a three day ban; second warning, a week long ban; third warning, banned permanently and your character will be either powerplayed, killed, driven off, or given to someone else that I deem able to handle that character. If you message me trying to repeal your ban, it will go up a level. Messaging me for business purposes (sales, breedings, etc.) during that time is okay.

8. You may only have three characters at this point in time.

9. If you read the rules, put the missing rule number in "other".

10. Keep OOC chatter off of the sign ups thread. We have a chat thread for a reason. I would like to keep this thread uncluttered.

11. Please keep in mind that if your character is under the age of thirteen they will be unable to join a coven. If they are under the age of eighteen, they cannot participate in Circle meetings.

12. I am tentatively opening applications for human and lost witch characters. You must PM me an RP sample with the character you plan to use before you can create the character. These will be very limited spots. All human and lost witch characters must be members of Circle Daybreak, for the sake of allowing them to interact with currently existing characters.

Rules may be updated/changed from time to time, so check back frequently!

UPDATES:
CHAT THREAD HERE
ROLEPLAY THREAD HERE

CHARACTER FORM:
Please remove all () and everything in them.

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Orientation:
Appearance: (You may include an image if you would like, but you must also include a written description. Images must be sourced.)
Personality:
Circle: (If not old enough to have officially joined a Circle, then which one they are leaning towards joining.)
Other: