Part II - The Founding

For untold millennia, wizards and witches were cherished throughout the world for their gifts, which were used primarily for beneficial purposes. Each nation, from the largest empire to the smallest city-state, had at least one magical family. The most powerful peoples had magic in their cultural heritage. The Amazons, the famed warrior women of legend, were no exceptions. The witches of the Amazons had an added advantage over most other magical peoples, they were trained as warriors while most other witches and even wizards did not know how to fight. The Amazon witches were also the sole possessors of the aspects of the Gift - the ability to control the ancient magic and to see beyond sight. To this day, only those of Amazon blood can be true seers.

The Amazons understood how precious their witches were, and generously offered them to the outside world. The lesser witches stayed with the tribe as healers, but the truly talented ones were sent elsewhere. Most often they would be used as oracles, such as that in Delphi.

That was the Golden Age of Magic, before the arrival of the first Dark Wizard. He came from Greece, a Parselmouth named Herpo the Foul. After much experimentation, he created a creature now known as the Basilisk, the King of the Serpents. Like all Dark Wizards, Herpo’s desire was nothing short of world domination. His monster, which could only be controlled by him, almost provided him the means to do so. Too many wizards and Muggles alike were killed when they looked into the serpent’s eyes. With this new dark force unleashed, many wizards and witches swore loyalty to the Foul One to gain a bit of his power. This new dark army was near unstoppable.

The priestesses formerly of the Amazon tribe each saw this from their temples and knew that something had to be done. For the first time in history the world’s most powerful witches met with each other to use the Gift collectively. They swore a vow and pledged their lives and the lives of all their descendents to the annihilation of the evil. But because there were only eight priestesses, they were obliged to call in their magical sisters from the Amazons to come and aid them. One hundred witches gathered together to track down Herpo’s minions. The Amazons were successful, but at a great cost. Only the original eight remained to fight the Basilisk and Herpo himself. These eight - Cassandra, Hera, Hecate, Athena, Artemis, Gaea, Hippolyta, and Circe - knew that they needed to destroy the beast which could plague humanity for over a thousand years. They hid themselves away in the Temple of Delphi until the Gift showed them the method for killing the Basilisk. Finally, they sought Herpo himself, and found him a cave. The priestesses brought a rooster, whose cry is lethal to the beast and destroyed it, killing Herpo in the process. But the age of the Dark Wizards had begun. The Foul One had created another Basilisk and his devoted followers wanted to make sure it lived so they hid it away. The eight, now known as the Sisterhood of the Raven, decided that the only way to fight the Dark Ones and hunt down the Basilisks was to split up to different countries. One of them, Athena, traveled far away - to a Glen in the land of the Scots. It was the most remote of places, but it was also the lone safe haven.

Though it took nine hundred years and dozens of generations, the Sisterhood finally tracked down Herpo’s other Basilisk and killed it. But that only angered the Dark Wizards and they retaliated, hunting down every priestess-born they could find. That is why there are very few left with the powerful Amazon bloodline. But in Scotland, the daughters of Athena were safe. They trained in the Amazon ways and kept their identity a secret, which is why today the Sisterhood is regarded only as a myth. For centuries, this heritage passed from mother to daughter, never branching out. The names of every one of these women have been recorded, as have their deeds. There is one exception. Morgan, the great-granddaughter of Athena left the safety of the Glen shortly after her daughter was born. It was rumored that she brought magic to Ireland, but no facts have ever been uncovered.

As for the rest of the Priestess Line, the women hid the truth of their heritage from all but each other as they wait for the day when they will once again rise up to fight the Darkness.