Wandering Sorceress

Music as I made this: Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FrOQC-zEog

In Malmaria (a mountainous matriarchal realm of pink- clayed sacred canyons and cypresses, where demanding priestess matrons feud against each other on top of their elephant howdahs and ranks of bronze clad hoplites grinds against rival armies to death below) there lived a special class of wandering sorceress healers. They were a cross between mystics, medicine (potion) women, and also eyes and ears for their temple- cults.

They were ritualists for hire, often booked for coming of age ceremonies, sealing business contracts, storytelling (often instructional religious storytelling,) and healing, all of them sometimes over the course of fine vintage wine which they help to select. Many orders of such sorceresses were renowned for their learned expertise in anesthesia, and are known to provide critical aid to pregnant women and wounded soldiers. A darker reputation that is well substantiated is their ability to provide relief through administering of a painless poison to the patient if they ask for it, be they long- ailing patients or even condemned felons tortured with pain. This- plus when added with their elegance and grace often has many calling them an inseparable fabric of society.

Considered the picture of culture and refinement, they look like regal ladies at a glance. However they are often only dressed like this during occasions where being seen is a crucial factor or during important ceremonies. Because many of them have taken mendicant vows, many of them are compelled by a religious compulsion to travel and perform rituals and impart culture rather than stay in a singular spot like a monastery or a sacred cave. Because of this, during their travels they look like wandering adventuresses. Common fashion accoutrements for them sometimes includes a long semi translucent veiled hat that resembles a Chinese Weimao or Japanese Uchikatsugi, many of them carries a Thyrsus staff tied with ribbons to mark their station. Their vows- which dictates their lives, often forces them to only take payment upon the completion of a ritual, a story, or a healing.

Despite their revered, societally mending roles, such sorceresses are at times kept at a weary distance as well. Great rivalries some times existed between competing prestigious temples, and these sorceresses- who were raised and sanctioned from such temples during such times often were called back to perform turf competitions against rival factions as well. Malmarian epics also at times spoke of vengeful sorceresses, many of whom were orphans of destroyed powerful clans, raised by temples, which hid them among its ranks. Often in the climax of such a story, after being invited as a honored guest, the sorceress would- at the climax also of her own mini story within this story, or during a spell in which she was asked to perform, exact her vengeance upon a great enemy (often cast as vanquisher of her clan or temple,) and either then slips away in the darkness of the night and never seen again, or take the opportunity to destroy both her foe and herself.