Lore:Witchmothers

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A Witchmother stirring a cauldron in her brewery

The Witchmother coven is the name for a loose coven of powerful witches known as Witchmothers.[1] They venerate Nocturnal and carry out her bidding. The number of coven members is unknowable and ever-changing,[2] and they have been known to take on new members from all over Tamriel.[1]

The Witchmothers provide a protective role to the people of Tamriel. They act as seers, scrying for disturbances in the Evergloam that could threaten Nirn. They play a particularly important role during the Witches Festival by serving as caretakers in the time of Harvest—their name for the ritualized killing of the most vile creatures on Tamriel that takes place during the Witches Festival. They also monitor dangers that emerge following Nocturnal's Summoning Day on the 3rd of Hearth Fire each year.[2]

The coven specializes in brewing foul concoctions in large cauldrons. They use these to scry[2] or to enhance the power of their reapers, supplicants who come to them during the Harvest and are transformed into living skeletons to carry out the coven's will.[3] Witchmothers are also associated with crows and can materialize from a murder of crows when summoned with a crow caller during the Witches Festival.[4] Servants of the Witchmothers are known to utilize arms and armor bearing stylized pumpkin imagery.[5]

They welcomed supplicants, offering them the opportunity to study and potentially join the coven's ranks. They also permitted individuals from outside the coven to serve them, performing various mundane tasks. These outsiders aspired to earn the coven's favor.[1][6]

History[edit]

During the Witches Festival celebrations, an enigmatic and elusive merchant known as the Impresario partnered with the Witchmothers. She held Witchmother Olvye in high regard, praising her as a generous and remarkable individual.[7] Additionally, Witchmother Taerma made brief appearances at the merchant's camp, seeking assistance from adventurers. Circa 2E 582, Witchmother Taerma scryed the approach of the Crowborne Horror, a powerful Wraith-of-Crows that planned to attack Nirn. With the help of the Vestige, Taerma repeatedly lured the Horror to a pocket realm deep in the Evergloam known as the Garden of Shadows, drawing it further away from Nirn and draining some of its power for the coven's own purposes.[2][8]

Gallery[edit]

  • A summoned Witchmother appearing from a murder of crows

  • A Reaper

  • An Alfiq supplicant studying to join the coven

  • Witchmother Taerma

  • Servant of the coven

  • A Witchmother transforming a Reaper

See Also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Vanima's dialogue in ESO
  2. ^ a b c d Witchmother Taerma's dialogue in ESO
  3. ^ Witchmother Olyve's dialogue in ESO
  4. ^ The Witchmother's Bargain quest in ESO
  5. ^ Witchmother's Servant Style in ESO
  6. ^ Alamorto's dialogue in ESO
  7. ^ The Impresario's dialogue in ESO
  8. ^ Plucking the Crow quest in ESO
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