Coven

Storybook
History 

 The Coven, known as the Cult of the Ancient, were created 13 years ago, when the ruler and 3 of the generals found and deciphered some ancient ruins. From then on, they started recruiting people from the different fractions, mostly those who were criminals, poor and had different ideologies, promising them power, telling them that they also could become as powerful as the Ruler if they joined them as followers. They quickly grew and appointed a strong warrior, once from the anti-magic, faction as the 4th general. 

 7 years ago, while learning about ancient magic inside some ruins, they found an artifact. After contacting the Ruler, the followers who found it were rewarded with knowledge of ancient magic, usually reserved for higher ranking members. For 5 years, the ruler would spend most of his time there, studying the artifact. Until he finally figured out what he needed. 

 The Cult has a strict power structure. At the top is the Ruler, creator of the Coven and revered by many followers as a god, for his immense knowledge and prowess. Directly under him are the 4 Generals, each of them specializing in a certain field. The generals each have a personal assistant, often excelling in the capabilities they lack and assist them in organizing their assigned followers. The followers assigned to each general, are tasked with different missions. Bringing in sacrifices for rituals, conducting rituals and protecting said rituals. Those rituals are used by the generals or assistants to further strengthen themselves and the followers, but need many sacrifices and if interrupted, it will kill the casters. 

 Now they are trying to become more powerful, to one day be able to take over the forest and its inhabitants, proving that they are the strongest, chosen by magic. To do that, they have to link the artifacts with each other, to recreate its original state and then override its function, massively empowering the Members of the Cult of the Ancient, making it easy for them to take over the forest. 

 Artefact 

 After extensive research and experimentation, the Coven found out, that the artifact act as an almost unlimited storage of chakra. Due to the high concentration of chacra inside of it, bramble start to grow out of the artifact, like an overflowing glass. The Coven used the artifact to conduct rituals, to somewhat reduce the risks of using ancient magic and to better use and develop their curses, as they need a lot of chakra. After researching the artifact for 5 years, the Ruler managed to create a much weaker version of the artifact. While it can barely hold enough chakra to cast a spell, using many of these artificial artifacts allows weaker followers to hold rituals and makes them faster. As the artifacts grow bramble around them, the followers must get rid of them, to make it more difficult to find their location when conducting rituals and experiments. 

 Quests 

 

 Main Quest: Stop the coven from completing their artifact links 

  Side Quests:

 

  Coven lairs serve as key locations. 

  Quests include: 

 interrupting rituals. 

 Raiding their hideouts. 

 Defending Villages from Raids 

 

 

 Encounters: 

 

 Stop rituals during specific quests. 

 Random encounters after completing objectives. 

 Mini-boss fights with coven generals tied to individual artifacts. 

 

 

 

 Culture 

 The Cult of the Ancient has a very strict culture. Upon joining, the new followers must swear upmost secrecy and loyalty to the Cult. The new members have a curse placed upon them, that kills them, by draining all their life, if they spill information about the Cult. 

 Afterwards they get assigned to a general who they must follow. Each general has various groups of followers, tasked with different roles. Some retrieve people, who are to be used as sacrifices for rituals, some hold the rituals, which strengthen the Coven and/or develop/research ancient magic and curses. And other protect them, while they hold these rituals.  

 The followers usually wear a large brown robe, somewhat hiding their faces which are often deformed from using and experimenting with ancient magic. Some higher-ranking members have red glyphs/runes, used in ancient magic and red highlights on their robes as a sign of them, being able to use ancient magic. They are made up from species of the other factions, mainly from the Magic Faction, as they are already proficient in magic. Although the groups, tasked with protecting the others, often also have people from the anti-magic fraction. This way, those with magic proficiency can perform rituals, while those who can’t perform them, can still be useful protecting them in the meantime.  (example of a ritual) 

 The followers are mainly made up from: 

 

 Foxes [Rare] 

 Lynx [Common] 

 Owls [Uncommon] 

 Peafowls [Uncommon] 

 Eastern red-backed salamander [Common] 

 Northern cardinal (Bird) [Uncommon] 

 

 While no one from the merchant faction joined the Coven, there are some who have a close connection with mainly the generals and their assistants, as they need to buy a lot of supplies.