Starkad wrote:
I've always taken the view that Sorcerers (and other magicians) are rare, often distrusted (because the unknown is scary), but rarely the subject of outright witch hunts. While overt, aggressive use of magic is unwise (someone may decide the Sorcerer is a threat), careful and helpful magic would not be so frowned on. Essentially, a Sorcerer has to be careful of his reputation - so that he remains viewed as one of the "good ones" and not one of those who consorts with devils and the like.
That's pretty much how it works in my games, in fact. At least in Albion. But while there aren't any major witch hunts happening right now, people are aware that that could change, and could change very quickly if the attitude of Church officials moves away from their current tolerance, to one of repression. People have heard what has happened in Algandy (although nobody really expects the Algandarve Inquisition to come to Albion...)
So many Sorcerers do try to, if not actually keep their powers secret, at least try to ensure there's enough ambiguity about them, that if it ever comes to it, they have a chance of being able to deny it.
Or if they are open about it, they make sure they are very, very clear that they are not heretics.
*****
'You shall not suffer a witch to live.' was the Priest's text of the day, and he was explaining that this did not mean that all who practiced magic had to die. Leo had actually wondered about that. Everybody knew that the King had a Sorcerer in his court just up the river, and there were a few others around as well. Nobody seemed to be trying to execute them though. According to the priest, if a wizard was an honest adherent of the True Faith who didn't go around pretending to be something he or she wasn't, it was all right. Working for the King so everybody knew you were a witch seemed to be all right. Leo wondered how much of this really just had to do with the fact that King probably would not like somebody trying to hang or burn a member of his Court, and the witch was probably easily able to stop anybody who tried anyway.
*****
“It's simple enough. There are laws on the books that allow a person to be burned at the stake for witchcraft, and on that desk, there's proof enough for me to have you charged with it, and a careful word to the Bishop – well, at least hanging is clean and over fast, if it's done right. But... I can also offer you the chance of learning how to master the talents you've obviously got. I can get you apprenticed to somebody who can teach you sorcery – and I will if you help me.”
*****
She lead him into the room and said “Sit down for a moment. I have to find a particular book.” Leo sat down as Blinda went over to a cupboard and opened it with a key she had on a chain around her neck. He could not see into the cupboard but when Blinda walked towards him with the largest book he had ever seen, he wondered what else might be in the cupboard that made that hard to find.
She put it on a table, and gestured to him to come over. He looked at it. It wasn't really a book – more like a book shaped chest made of some sort of metal – lead, he thought. The cover, or lid, had a large crucifix etched into it. There was no writing. Blinda looked at him.
“If Mistress Marta finds out I've shown this book to you, I will be birched. You might be as well.”
“Why are you going to show it to me, then? And where is she?”
“She's out obviously. That's why I couldn't send you to see her yet. I'm showing you because with the questions you are asking, if I don't show you, she will. And when she has to show anybody this book, it will be accompanied by a birching, because it happens when you've asked too many questions and you won't shut up about them and in your case, I guess it would happen by next Wotansdae at the latest. And she'd probably show you more of the book than I am going to, and believe me, you don't want to see it.”
“What is it?”
“Inside there are drawings. They are copies done by some Monks. Some really awful Monks.
There's a priest in Algandy called Father Alexandro. He's a mad man. These pictures are drawings of what happens to people who come up against him, or the others like him.”
Blinda took a deep breath and opened the cover. And Leo found himself looking at a picture. It was a woodcut engraving, he'd seen such before but this one had been coloured by hand. And most of the colour was red. Blood and fire. There were people being burned in a bonfire and they were still alive. And there were children – children with their left hands hacked off. One, a girl was having her hand stretched across a block as a man held an axe above it. There was writing underneath that Leo could not read. The letters were right, but the words made no sense which he found surprising because many of them weren't long words.
“I can't read it.” he said.
“It's in Algandarve, not Elleslandic. Same alphabet but the words are different,” said Blinda.
“Can you read it?”
“I can puzzle it out. It's a lot like Bacchile... what it says – well, the people in the fire were burned for witchcraft. But the children lost their hands just because they were left handed.” She slammed the book shut. “You can't afford to be left handed, Leo. Do you understand?”
“Mistress Marta is.”
Blinda grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “Say that again, and I'll...” she took a breath and released him. “Say that to anybody except somebody you know – KNOW – you can trust, and I don't know what I'll do to you, Leo. You can trust me. But if Mistress Marta let you see that, she let you see it for a reason.”
“Lots of people are left handed.”
“About one in every nine or ten. Yes, but you can't be left handed and... well, if you're left handed, you have to be completely normal. You have to be completely talentless. And it's best if you're also not very clever. Do you want to go through life pretending you don't have any talent, Leo? Do you want to go through life pretending that you're stupid? Isn't it better to just pretend you're right handed?”
“Like you.”
“Yes, like me. Exactly like me.”
“Like us.” Mistress Marta was standing in the doorway.
******
To some extent, what I am sharing gives a bit of an exaggerated idea of how sorcerers behave - with the exception of Mistress Marta, these are all children and her apprentices and she is very very careful to protect them. In her own case - everybody of consequence in Ongus knows she's a powerful sorceress. And none of them would say so unless absolutely necessary. It's an open secret - but she also knows that if it came down to it, she has powerful people who would protect her. But it probably won't come to it.