Witch is a common slur on The Frontier and there’s all kinds of stories and folklore surrounding women who use magic. The witch clans find these tales to be amusing, insulting and interesting.
More often than not fail, the stories fail to capture the depth of their cultures and perhaps one of the most easily written off clans are the anium.
Often considered to be more animal than sentient being, anium are even looked down upon by other witch clans and here we’ll explore more about what they are.
Defining anium
Anium are a type of witch that have animal characteristics e.g. the head of a bird, the head of a cat etc. They live in wild areas such as forests and caves and are noted for being far more instinctual than other classes of witch.
Although they are drawn to magic, anium tend to rely on their natural strength and hunting instinct when engaging prey and foes that wander into their territory. This primitive way of living has led to anium being thought of as little more than animals by regular people, Questers and other witches alike.
Yet there is more to anium than outward appearances and they have shown the ability to reason and develop strong attachments. For example, anium have a pack mentality, hunting together in small units and living together.
When they do use magic, anium usually turn themselves into the kind of creature they best identify with. As an example, an anium who identifies with cats may regularly turn herself into a large feline and roam with other wild cats.
Anium are also highly territorial, defending their range and those within their pack ferociously. Territories are usually marked with specific symbols, a way of communicating with other packs and each type of sigil is unique to that anium unit.
Relationships with other witches
In the eyes of powerful witches such as elementi and amoriti, anium are pitied and reviled. This view is all down to individual preferences, though there is an unspoken opinion that anium are an evolutionary defect, harkening back to a more primitive time such as the Monstrium Era.
Other clans take a different view and there exists a symbiotic relationship between swamp shaman and anium. Swamp shamans are close to nature and see anium as sisters to be guided and looked after, while anium find comfort in this connection, protecting and living alongside the shaman.