H is for The Hedge

Hedge Witches, Wise, and Masters, or collectively the Cunning Folk, live at the outskirts of the Empire's many remote and rural villages. These communities of wise men and women offer salves, tinctures, draughts, and herbs for cooking and often serve as midwives and healers thus making them well liked by the communities near them.

They live at the edges of these communities for many reasons, the greatest of which is for the protection it provides from visiting Magisters and Witch Hunters of the Cult of Sigmar. But to the “hedge folk" their seclusion puts them closer to the source of their “powers" and center of their beliefs: The Hedge.

As a hedge may separate fiefs and parcels of land granted to the peasants with working rights, so The Hedge separates the seen and unseen worlds of nature itself. The hedgefolk seek to commune with this veil and through this communion of herbs, gardens, and game, they unlock the secrets and power of nature.

To the Cult of Taal, the hedgefolk are seen as quaint and backwards, but the cult sees the hedgefolk's relationship to nature and to the veil as direct communion with Taal, the god of Nature and his wife Rhya. Hedgefolk are known to join in the Wild Hunts of the cult, if unofficially, for such direct participation would imply heresy and pique the interest of the Witch Hunters and Warrior Priests of Sigmar that former distain and the latter fears.

Editor's Note

Hedge Wizards are often mistaken to be hedgefolk, but are not. Hedge Wizards are untrained, and more importantly, unlicensed magic users. Being both untrained and unlicensed makes a Hedge Wizard dangerous and influenced by aspects of the Winds of Magic's dark and corrupting power. Trained and licensed Wizards have been taught how to control and recognize the darker aspects of the Winds of Magic. A Hedge Wizard wielding these powers incorrectly could summon a daemon with a simple flame spell to light a campfire or candle or attract foul beastman from the deep forest. For this Witch Hunters summarily burn Hedge Wizards.



Comments

  1. KristinMay 3, 2025 at 1:27 PM

    I don't know why I didn't come back and read more of your challenge. It is quite interesting in a game kind of way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Timothy StoneMay 4, 2025 at 8:24 AM

      Kristin, you’re always welcome after the challenge! I’ll tag posts as fiction or gaming or related so you don’t have to read my more technical posts sure to come. 🤓

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A to Z 2025 Reflections

As always I enjoy the A to Z Challenge.  My first was in 2011. I won “an award” that year from another blog recognizing fan content to the Warhammer community. I participated annually for almost a decade. Each year building more content on that theme. One year I partnered with Ben Scerri in a cross posting effort. My first international effort. Ben is now a contributing writer for Cubicle 7, the licensee of the Warhammer property and publisher of the current edition of Warhammer FRP.  The A to Z Challenge “forces me” to blog. 😉 I’m a creative and I believe blogging and gaming contributes to my career in unique ways. It contributes to solving and evaluating problems in Software Architecture. Gaming contributes to my social skills and management of people. Try wrangling four to five players at a table and, as referee, watch a story arc meet the player’s goals for their characters. Challenges all around. After a two or three year break I’m glad to be back blogging and I’m gratef...
Read more ☕️ »

E is for Evil Eye

Image
One's bad luck can often be tied directly to the curse of the Evil Eye. Any unfortunate occurrence can be directly tied to the sinister glare, whether the accursed is aware of the individual that bestowed the Evil Eye or not. A bad card game in the tavern. Tripping on the curb and spoiling a mark as you pick his belt pocket. Spilling your ale. Each may be the Evil Eye at work. Evil Eyes are thought to be commonly the act of the bitter old crone slighted in the street as she lifts her arthritic finger in your direction. But the curse can be scratched into door thresholds or the dirt of the path to the privy. The act of observing the curse transfers its effects. Once cursed, only the most fraught undertakings can lift an Evil Eye. Old Worlders will undertake the most outrageous efforts to remove an Evil Eye. The Naked Mud-Wallowing Goat Dance or The Bare-Bottomed Chicken Smack are two cited methods in the works of the heretic cunning woman Ingrun Frolich. Both so popular as to b...
Read more ☕️ »

Q is for Quickening

Image
The Old World is full of tradition and ritual. Whether in a cosmopolitan city or a frigid village in the northern reaches of the Empire The Quickening remains practiced and is observed by all the sanctioned cults (and some not sanctioned, but tolerated). The Quickening is the tradition that occurs on the 11th birthday of a boy or girl. On the day of The Quickening it is common law that the child is officially an adult. Many of the rights granted on this day include: inheritance, apprenticeship, liability, and marriage.  Common ceremonies include “The Dooming." This practice is more superstition than certainty and  involves a wise woman of the family, a grandmother or older matriarch, observing some tick or behavior of the child and declaring the thing to be the child's fateful end. Doomings have been recorded for centuries and include: Thy last meal shall be at an inn or tavern Terrible things will happen to thy fingers if thou dippest them into too many pies Thou shalt know a...
Read more ☕️ »