"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
- Clarke's Third Law
Come on. You knew I was going to go here.
Before I start I will say this, there is no "witch" class in the coreThirteen Parsecsbook. But that doesn't mean you can add one yourself. As I mentioned yesterday,Thirteen Parsecsis 100% compatible withNIGHT SHIFTandWasted Lands, and those games have witches and sorcerers, respectively. Rules-wise, there is nothing at all stopping you from adding either to your sci-fi game of Thirteen Parsecs.
The only thing that remains is "How?"
Well. I have you covered.
While there are not a lot of witches in science fiction, they are there and they have made quite an impact.
Bene Gesserit
The easiest one to talk about, and the one we should really talk about first, is theBene Gesserit Order from Frank Herbert's Dune Series. This order of Sisters practice extreme mental control, have psychic abilities, and have secret, occult even ways. They often even play the role as witches when being set up against the "Holy Order" that Paul is trying to create. I don't pretend to be an expert on Dune at all, but it is my wife's favorite series, and she can go on and on about much in the same way I can about Dracula or Lord of the Rings. So, I trust her assessment of this. Note that we both ignore the Brian Herbert books. Me out of no desire to read them and her for "dancing on the corpse of his dead father to make a buck with high school English class level writing."
The Nightsisters, the Witches of Dathomir
Ok. What is not to love about the force using, Dark Side, magic (or even magick) Nightsisters, aka the Witches of Dathomir? Nothing. That's what. There is even a great meme out there for them.
I learned about these witches, and really, that is what they are, via the Star Wars RPG. I don't recall if it was a later book in the d20 line or if it was from the Saga system. But my very first experience was getting a box of Star Wars minis from Wizards of the Coast and there was a "Dathomir Witch" in the pack. Well, you can imagine my surprise.
We finally saw some on screen in theAhsoka series. We even got Claudia Black to play one!
Bellerians
Ok...I am not really serious here, but hey, if I can have a Pumpkin Spice Witch, then certainly, space is large enough for the Bene Gesserit, the Dathomir Witches, and theBellerians. BUT if we take the equally not-so-serious idea that Space Mutiny exists in the same universe as the original Battlestar Galactica, well, they already had Space Angels and Devils.Witches don't seem to be that much of a stretch.
Plus Bellerian sounds enough likeRaëlian for me to have some fun with.
Occult Themes in Doctor Who
I talked at length about this in a full post. Based on a recent line dropped by the Head of U.N.I.T. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart in the recent "73 Yards," supernatural elements seem to begoing to become more common.
And these are only a few easily accessible ones. I have not even gotten into books, like the Morgaine Saga by C.J. Cherryh, that have witches or witch-like characters. While Trek is notoriously light on witches, there was mention of the Wiccan religion in Season 2 of Discovery. Even Babylon 5 had "techno-mages." So yes, there is room in a large universe for witches.
Witches in Darker Stars
While I have had witch-like characters in my play-tests of Darker Stars, there are no witches. The two starships I have been using in my games, The Protector and The Imbolc Mage, have their roots in my Witchcraft/Buffy games. But even the "witch" characters only have psychic abilities, and none to any great extent. I like to play-test with normal characters to start with, to get a feel for the game.
I do acknowledge that my own Sisters of the Aquarian Order would fit right into my Darker Stars setting and maybe even other "Solar Frontiers." While overtly designed for the White Star system, they do work withNIGHT SHIFTandThirteen Parsecs. But my habit is to make a new Tradition for different games. If I had the inclination to update the Aquarian Order, I might instead come up with something new forThirteen Parsecs.
My idea at this point? Something like the Aquarian Order, but maybe not so "light." An order of witches that began in the Dreaming Age of the Wasted Lands, part of the supernatural underground of NIGHT SHIFT, and then to the stars inThirteen Parsecs. An ancient, primordial witch cult that spans æons and light years.
I certainly have my work cut out for me.
