The Beast Fears Fire - Apple Tree Witches

Apple Tree Witch [Malevolence 4]
Impulse - To Keep Secrets

There was once a kingdom to the west of Savel, but not the west, a former province of the old empire, which rose briefly to prominence on the strength of its enduring souls before the weight of the dead bore the living down. The blood of those people runs in the veins of Cricks and Savels and their own descendents, but their power is long gone. In that nation, there was only one group skeptical of the advisability of storing up so much of the nation's strength in the next world. When it all came down, they were the ones to reap the blame for the collapse, and they fled, cursed by their ancestors to never die. So far, they haven't.

The witches of the Apple Tree resemble the sea folk who comprise most of modern Crickton's ancestry; dark brown skin, brown eyes, coarse hair. The eyes of the original witches, though are all of two different colors; usually one dark brown and the other lighter - golden, chestnut or hazel. Their hair has a strong red tone to it. Apple Tree witches range in apparent age from very young adulthood to extremely well kept old age. All of them are vigorous and athletic and dress quite well, given their environment.

The tradition of the Apple tree has no analog in Savelish traditions, and Savelish witches have a very uneasy relationship with Apple Tree witches. The Apple Tree is aligned with fire, which its practitioners list as one of three elements (gommy) alongside earth (toner) and water (sway). No practitioners aligned with those elements are known to have made their home in the Bogsong.

Harm - 3 or Moderator Hard Move. Apple Tree witches range in their personalities, desires and drives. Some are quite gregarious, open and friendly with outsiders. Some are outright villains who hate everything that reminds them of all they lost. Any Apple Tree practitioner will defend themselves if attacked, occasionally with weapons, but mostly with their powers. The magic these witches command is one poorly understood by the Savelish traditions, but it allows them to implant commands into the minds of any creature that speaks, which cause the target of these commands to erupt in blood-red gommy fire if they refuse to try to complete the command.

Make it Burn them
If an Apple Tree Witch has told you to do something, do it, or face Malevolence.
On a Hit, you can stall and ask the Moderator for a shady interpretation of the command that will let you off the hook, if you do it.
On a Hard Hit, their hooks don't hold, and you get +1 Hit forward to face witch for the rest of the Scene.
On a Miss, you can do what the Witch told you and suffer 1 Harm or not and Suffer 3 Harm.

I will Return the Phoenix from the Flame
If an Apple Tree Witch suffers lethal Harm, whatever the source, they will appear to vanish in gommy fire. They tend to reform unharmed elsewhere, and may or may not be interested in getting revenge.

Apple Tree witches who received their curse while still of reproductive age can and do have children. Kind of a lot of them, at this point, though they do not share their parent's immortality, or, necessarily, their affinity for magic. They do tend to be athletic, vigorous, healthy and long lived, even as Cricks go, and the red hair and missmatched eyes tend to persist for a couple of generations.

Apple Tree witches do initiate new witches, though they do this somewhat rarely, as their relationship with the Savelish traditions is, to say the least, fraught, and they do not provoke reactions from their rivals lightly. A student would have to be very promising and very strong willed (so as not to give up their secrets to Savelish witches if caught). However, if one were to secure initiation to the Apple Tree, it would look like this.

The Power - You are a supernatural force. In addition, you cannot carry more than 1 Peril at a time (if you Suffer a new one, the old one resolves itself). If you are sent to Death's Door, you may return with no loss of Insight and no change in Ratio. You will still die, someday, at the end of your allotted lifespan, but violence and accidents won't be the cause.

The Craft - You control the element of Gommy (fire) that dwells within every being that speaks. You can give a command to any creature that speaks (regardless of what language they speak) and face Malevolence.
On a Hit, your target must try to carry out your command or suffer Harm from gommy fire.
On a Hard Hit, they will suffer Great Harm if they do not carry out the spirit of your command.
On a Miss, the Moderator can tell you to take an action or suffer Harm as stated, if you refuse.