I’m haven’t seen any reference to Druid or other Wicken or other types of witches, as some know the where often midwives and herbalist of that time.
I’m not talking about the modern portrayal of a Hollywood witch of course.
Not really talking about a player class, just npc.
Cheers
Well there are no class so far, but maybe you mean herbalism? I dont know how would you imagine class like that in realistic game .) maybe making of poisons -kindda thief/assasin like-
I can see thief’s having this as a skill I’m sure that poison’s will play their part in the game so maybe a herbalist is an option for a NPC shop or farmer. Someone that collect flowers from the forest or grows specialist plants and knows how to mix them to affect for you. With the thief specialising in drugging and poisoning.
I’d be interested in having that kind of npc in the game, too. Not directly in the town, maybe somewhere in a lonely hut in a forest or swamp, and wandering around. No magic, just knowledge of herbs and healing. A wise one.
You mean someone who’ll likely end in flames… 
Well, if you let that happen, you have one less healer in your town. Help yourself then.
Wel,l depending whether you are the one who has to make that decision or not… Maybe you reveal them by accident? I hope for some clever and unpredictable writing… 
I guess how well this concept would work would depend on the timeline. If it’s before the Inquisition, then I see Wicken midwifery and herbalist working quit well. During Inquisition, not so much. I just unsure of the timeline historically.
I just know that there was a time when being a witch, (white witch) was useful.
Cheers
most commoners did keep the old religion with festivals like mayday (Beltane) it was the notability that had to show piety to Rome. they didn’t call themselves wiccans or witches but did practice paganism. the church was more interested in stopping heresy like The Hussites or the cathers they going after pagans till the mid to late15Th century.
Witches and their ilk…i.e wise women/herbalists etc. is a possible I guess…but druids?
Druids pre-date this game by 1250 years or so and are from North Western Europe…specifically Anglesey in North Wales…
The druids were effectively destroyed around 60AD…
It’s an historic game. There will be no magic, but of course you can see people pretending to have magic powers.
Well… BURN IT !
A Witch/herbalist (Kräuterhex) NPC could definitely be a great addition to the game. The problem is medicine was terrible historically but healing that actually works is more interesting game play wise. There might not have been as much of a differentiation between feeling better due to drugs and being medically healthier. But I would love to see a Drug/Herb related storyline, they where always fun in the Gothic series.
Some quick thoughts …
Druids does not have any historical connection to Bohemia, although old Slavs had similar institution of “wise man” called “Žrec” the christianization of Bohemia was a completed process for some time.
Same goes for strictly pure-pagan people. I would say that with highly rare exceptions EVERYBODY was a christian. But that obviously does not mean there is not a room for heresy or sects, but I would say that most of them would have roots in some christian dogma. Also it seems that there was a great deal of mixing the old with the new thus performing traditional rituals with christian artifacts (such as waffer, holy icons etc).
Inquisiton is a big topic, but the that famous spanish inquisition didnt exist in 1403. There was papal and bishopic inqusition but that wasnt an institution or organization it was more a way to perform investigation. And it was quite revolutionary at that time, removing trials by ordeal and instituting interrogations of wittneses and suspects, collecting evidence and a form of tribunal to carry out a verdict. Yes the system was not perfect having the investigator, prosecuter and judge in one person was not exactly a good system solution.
Herbalists or apothecary are very plausible game characters due to the fact there will be some kind of alchemy. But dont expect small hut in a swamp with human bones scattered around and old, crooked witches dotted with warts
I don’t mean witches in the mythological sense but as a predominantly female herbalist profession. Sure they believed in Christian Pantheon too why else hallucinate the devil. Don’t know if it’s as strictly or at all female in Slavic tradition.
About small huts: all the best herbs grow in the wilderness and according to Gothic especially in the swap : )
Monks had knowledge about herbs and stuff back then. So they should know this if there are any monks in the game (I guess there should be since there seem to be churches and cloisters were quite common back then).
But this was not limited to only monks/clerics, other people knew of herbs too so “witches” and whatnot could possibly fit in pretty well.
Technical and Historical speaks nothing against herbal knowledge persons, which we would describe, as a witch. Naturally without any real magical power, but their power came from the beliefs of the people and their knowledge of nature and herbs.
Despite a early christanisation of the slavs (for the bohemian and moravian people this was Method and Kyrill in the 9th AD), the ‘pagan believe’ still dwelled deep in their society even till 16th Ad. We all know the ‘jeza’ woman, or better in her more folklore name of ‘Baba Yaga’.
Also most of the woman burn by the authorities and church, to which we refer to as witches, were burned in the HRE and Poland. And even today the slavic societies have the most of this kind of people and superstitions in central europa.
So i would even say that it is a necessity to have witches in this Game, for the sake of the slavic society and folklore.
In the live stream they did a while back im sure i heard Dan Vavra mention about alchemy saying it would be a possible mini-game. But that was still in discussion due to how to go about it. Read from a book and add what ingredients you have together and poof you have a potion or maybe a mini game like how you sharpen swords at the block. so there could very well be a alchemist or some one at the castle, maybe in the village itself you can learn from.
Do you realize that the land has its name from the Celtic tribe of Boii?
On a general note - once the Czechs lost their part of 30 years war and the Jesuits started their mission (i.e. convert, expell or kill - leading to loss of population of 2/3), they were totally baffled by the fact that not only did they have to deal with basically 98% protestant population, but also with a very widely practiced paggan customs. If that was the fact in post 1620s, it would be even more so in 1403.
That’s very long ago if every region settled by Celts back than still had Druids centuries later, that would mean Druids in half of Europe. Also just because the Romans called all these people Celts doesn’t mean they had everything in common.
What they called pagan in the 1620s doesn’t necessarily have anything with the religion practiced by Celts and Slavs centuries earlier. But i’m not doubting they practiced customs of pagan origin at all I just mean they where also under very heavy christian influence.
I would still very much like to see witches who aren’t being burned or using magic.
Was norse mythology still around during that time? It would be cool to have some Kind of viking/norse priest/witch
