Boszorkány
Also Known As: Boszorkányok (plural), Witch (Hungarian), Tündér (when the fae-adjacent variant is meant)
Culture/Region: Hungary, Transylvania, Carpathian Basin
Progenitor Lineage: Witch/Sorcerer
Belief Framework: Hungarian folk tradition, blending pre-Christian Pannonian and Magyar beliefs with Catholic theology, producing a witch-concept in which power comes from a pact with either the Devil or with older, darker entities the tradition calls by various names
Physical Appearance
Hungarian witches in folk tradition are depicted across a wide physical range. The Boszorkány is not primarily defined by appearance but by behaviour: the capacity to project illness, affect the weather and livestock, enter a trance state, and transform into animals. In human form, they are often unremarkable or even respected community members, and a significant proportion of documented historical Hungarian witch trials involved women of genuine social standing whose fall from grace was precipitated by accusations that their success must have a supernatural explanation.
Origin in This World
The Boszorkány tradition is particularly interesting because the Hungarian belief system at the time of the Progenitor event contained both a deeply Christian layer (the pact-with-the-Devil framework) and an older shamanic layer (the táltos tradition, see below) that regarded supernatural power as available to certain human beings through non-transgressive means. The witch/sorcerer lineage found, in Hungary, a community that already understood the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate supernatural power. The Boszorkány specifically represents the transgressive branch: those who chose the shorter, darker path to power through pact rather than the longer disciplined path of the táltos tradition.
Abilities
Pact-bound power in the Hungarian tradition encompasses the manipulation of weather and agricultural fertility (the power to curse crops and livestock, or to protect them), the ability to enter a trance state and project as a spirit, transformation into animal form (with the cat and hare being particularly associated with Boszorkány in Hungarian accounts), and the ability to cause illness directly through focused malefic intent. The pact dimension means the Boszorkány has access to their patron entity's influence as a direct resource, but at the cost of ongoing service obligations.
Belief-Based Weaknesses
Verbena (vervain), iron, and the standard Catholic warding materials. The specific Hungarian tradition uses a variety of herbs including St. John's wort in its protective rites. The Boszorkány's pact-bound nature creates a specific vulnerability: genuine disruption of the pact relationship (either through the patron withdrawing support or through a counter-ritual that challenges the pact's validity) can catastrophically weaken a practitioner mid-operation. Additionally, running water disrupts the trance-projection ability significantly.