Venom Witches.

Most witches use poison. Poison is common in nature, in plants and insects and some larger animals. Poison is a good defense, a warning that there is nothing good here, a warning that pain and death will follow an attack.

Poison is defensive, used by prey.

Venom is offensive, used by predators.

Poison can be slow-acting, take its time. Venom must kill, and fast. Most creatures that have venom rely on it for their survival, combining high speed with lethal toxin at the expense of strength or defense.

Most witches are Poison Witches. They live on the outskirts of towns and villages, or in the least-rundown hovel in the city slum. People ask for their help with cures, and fear them. When the mob comes, they run, or use curses and potions and poisons to defend themselves.

Some witches are Venom Witches. They do not live in huts or hovels, they live in the wilds, and they hunt. They do not cure, but they sometimes help. The right herbs, or songs, or plees can move them to listen rather than strike, and children and women are most often spared. An offering, and a request for aid, and sometimes an abusive husband, or untouchable thug or noble vanishes, and an innocent sleeps soundly at night. It is said they only take the guilty or the greedy, but it is also said they will take anyone if they’re hungry.

The truth is, while the flesh of any animal, as well as fruits and other food, will sustain them, there is a taste, a feeling, that they crave. Every witch is female, and they represent fears of female empowerment. 

Every witch is born from a moment of pain and fear, from a woman who looked deep inside themselves and found a pit of black rage and infinite, cold hate. This power freed them, saved them, transformed them. That anger and hate sings within them always, but it is not directionless.

Animals, children, innocents, even those guilty of petty crimes, they do not taste right to a witch. Those that retain portions of humanity will only eat the innocent when nothing else is available, but they do not see humans and animals as being particularly different. When they kill for necessity, they are fast, and kind. But when a witch smells a sinner, a soul stained dark with cruelty and the suffering of others, she hunts. For to inflict on those who wallow in their own strength the fear of every hurt they caused is the sweetest nectar to a witch. They eat anything, but they hunt evil. 

What a witch considers evil may be unique to that witch.

They are often specific to certain biomes, taking attributes from the local venomous creatures.

Forests are the haunt of Trapdoor Witches, who make burrows just big enough for their slim bodies to fit through, comfortable enough for them. The multiple entrances are well-disguised, and just large enough to snugly fit a grown man in armour. They wait until someone passes by, before lashing out and dragging them in, retreating to the small parts of the burrow where the larger person cannot follow. Any attempt to leave is stymied by hands darting from the darkness, either pulling them back or with claws dripping venom. They are the witches most likely to trade, as they have permanent lairs, and enjoy rare books in particular.

The plains house Cobra Witches, who can lie motionless in grass unseen for days. They are fast, and can spit as well as bite and scratch, but are one of the most calm types of witch. They warn you just once before they kill you, their hair flaring around them as they rear up, giving you one chance to leave. They do not offer this courtesy to those they hunt. Some drier areas have Rattlesnake Witches, a known subspecies that rapidly click their teeth in warning.

In the desert, Scorpion Witches live in cracks in rocks or bury themselves under sand, waiting for someone to pass by. Their venom is weaker than most other witches’ but their claws can pierce even the strongest armour, and they can vanish beneath the sands in seconds, their tough skin protecting them from heat and sand and blade. They are completely hairless, and often stockier than other witches.

On the coast, Shell Witches hide, keeping to small underwater caves and pools. They are the weakest of the witches physically, but have sea-serpent tails. From a distance, they look like beautiful mermaids, and can cast minor illusions to trick the eye and lure victims closer. Though they rely on this to get close to their prey, their venom is the strongest of all witches.

Gila Witches lurk in mountains, and are the boldest Venom Witch. They sun themselves on high rocks, and unlike the others, hunt mainly through tracking and raw strength rather than venom. Their bites and claws cause massive bleeding, weakening and slowing prey for the witch to finish off. They prefer brute force attacks, and unlike the slim and flexible bodies of their sisters, are heavily built, though still extremely fast. In an emergency, they can scream, causing their own blood vessels to pop and jet hot sticky blood from the corners of their eyes, often blinding a foe.

The streets of cities and towns are the home the Assassin Witch, the only one of its kind to prefer urban environments. Their bite liquifies the organs and bones of their victims, allowing the witch to drain them dry, and preserve the skin. The smallest of the witches, the Assassin Witch then crawls inside the skin and uses magic to animate it, granting them the appearance of their victim. This illusion does not hold up to close scrutiny, and Assassin Witches cannot even speak more than single-world answers in hissing or gurgling voices, but this allows them to wander streets, luring friends and families of victims into alleyways and dark corners, before they burst from the skin like a hatching butterfly and strike. Some can still be found in their original environment, tundra and cold mountain forests, where they are often confused with skinwalkers. They commonly take animal shells to trick hunters, or to lead packs of otherwise mundane predators.