TEXT: Midwitches 
   
  "As if!" 
   
  "I heard that she was throwing up in the bathroom 
  during third period.  Must be the Plague." 
   
  "The best way to get in tight with the right people is to 
  step on the wrong ones." 
   
   
  They tell you that you are one of the fortunate ones.  
  Your parents weren't in the highest echelons of the 
  megacorp they worked for, but they were in the upper 
  half of the business, and their position afforded them a 
  good income and some privileges.  You never lacked 
  for anything as a child, and never experienced the 
  uncertainty of not knowing where your next meal was 
  coming from.  Then, before Junior High, they sent you 
  away for a year to finishing school.  Under the loving 
  tutelage of the nannies, tutors, life-coaches and stylists 
  there, you grew to be confident, self-possessed and 
  charming.  While you might not be as wealthy as a 
  Goldenkid or as beautiful as a Looker, you grew up 
  with ambition and the desire for power and status. 
   
  The rules of the world you live in are simple:  
  popularity is all that matters.  With your popularity, 
  you can control the social environment around you; 
  shaping it to fit your desires.  To become popular, 
  however, you have to climb the ladder and depose 
  those who are climbing above you while avoiding the 
  sabotage of those who covet your place.  People often 
  accuse you and your contemporaries of being petty, 
  insipid and shallow, but they don't realize all that goes 
  into the Machiavellian world of teenage politics and 
  esteem. 
   
  People hate you.  They love you, but they really hate 
  you.  And, deep down, they wish they were you.  This is 
  what it is to be a Midwitch.  Midwitch is a term mashed 
  together from the novel, The Midwich Cuckoos (about 
  mind-controlling children who all looked alike) and 
  the term "witch."  It's not the most appealing of terms, 
  but Midwitches take a perverse sort of pride in it.  You 
  are a Witch.  You stir the cauldron, work your magic, 
  and the unwashed, pitchfork-wielding villagers would 
  probably love to burn you at the stake. 
   
  Most people will tell you that what you're doing won't 
  amount to a lot in a few years, when you leave high 
  school to go to college, but what's the point of going to 
  school at all if you just go through it as part of the 
  nameless, faceless horde?  Worse, what if you have to 
  go through it as a lonely, self-loathing outcast, 
  lamenting your entire existence to the point where 
  you're tempted to dye your hair black and mutilate 
  your body to feel better about yourself?  Popularity 
  may not get you everything you desire, and it doesn't 
  make all of your problems go away, but being 
  unpopular never got anyone anything worth having.   
   
  What You Look Like 
   
  Part of being a Midwitch is knowing how to cast your 
  spell. You don't dress like a model all the time, because 
  doing so is completely impractical, but you know how 
  to look good all the time.  It's definitely a skill; not a 
  quirk of good genetics and luck.  You're beautiful, and 
  not in the way where only Daddy says so, while 
  secretly wishing that they still had paper bags so he 
  could slip one over your face before hugging you 
  goodnight.   
   
  You know all the many myriad secrets of makeup, hair 
  care, body-shaping exercises, diet and good hygeine.  
  You have been initiated into the mysteries of practical 
  fashion, and you know what colors go best with your 
  skin, hair and eye tones, as well as what styles and cuts 
  of clothing will look best on your frame.  Your hair is 
  always soft, with a silken sheen and a lively bounce to 
  it when you walk.  Your face is flawless, even if you 
  woke up from sleeping face-down on the pillow after a 
  visit from the acne fairy.  You are desirable and you 
  had to work damn hard to be so. 
   
  Midwitches turn heads, without all the theatricality of 
  other yogangs out there.  Whereas a Looker is paid to 
  make expensive clothes, make-up and accessories look 
  good, a Midwitch uses those things to make herself 
  look good.  You don't have to be rich to be a Midwitch.  
  Plenty of Midwitches make their way through life just 
  learning to dress up and accessorize with chance finds 
  
  they make at thrift stores and a little sewing know-
  how.  You don't even need designer make-up and 
  perfumes when the bargain stores sell designer 
  imposters so cheap.  Nobody has to know you got your 
  mascara from the same place that whores, trailer trash 
  and televangelists' wives buy theirs. 
   
  You tend to sidestep genres of fashion.  You do not 
  follow the fads or styles that will identify you with any 
  sort of subculture except your own.  If you're in tight 
  with a coven of other Midwitches, you will always call 
  and confer with them what they are wearing so you 
  don't choose to wear clothes that match too closely.  
  You're all about maintenance, too.  If you or a fellow 
  Midwitch chips a nail, smudges your makeup or gets a 
  run in your stocking, you are fully equipped to deal 
  with it.  The Midwitch carries at least enough makeup 
  to rival the Facedancer's stash. 
   
  Sub-Culture 
   
  Most people think you and your friends are shallow, 
  snobby bitches.  Guess what?  They're right, to some 
  extent, 
  because 
  you 
  don't 
  waste 
  time 
  with 
  introspection and comtemplation.  Those are for the 
  people who earnestly believe that inner beauty is 
  more important than outer beauty.  Try telling that to 
  people you're not meeting in an anonymous flap room.  
  The ones who aren't anonymous 40 year old 
  dredgerunners looking for a jailbait thrill. 
   
  Deep down inside, you have very low self-esteem, are 
  extremely unsure of yourself, and are deathly afraid of 
  rejection.  Who knows where it came from?  Maybe 
  your parents didn't seem to love you enough, maybe 
  they left you in the care of a creepy uncle, or maybe 
  they just seemed to be disappointed in you a lot.  
  Nobody gets to see that side of you, however.  
  Honestly, you don't know how the heck you've 
  managed to have them all fooled for so long.  When 
  you look at yourself in the mirror, you don't see the 
  perfect, pretty princess (or prince) that everyone else 
  claims to see.  You see a fat, ugly loser who dies a little 
  more inside each day.  Looking into a mirror is, for 
  you, like looking down deep into the very heart of 
  darkness.  That darkness rises up whenever you feel 
  good about yourself and tells you that you're not good 
  enough, that you fail to measure up in every single 
  catagory by which you will be judged in this life.  So, 
  yes, you are shallow and avoid introspection at all 
  costs, because the ones who try too hard for approval 
  are everyone's doormat, suckup and plugtoy. 
   
  Makeup and fashion are your armor, and popularity is 
  the sword you wield to keep people from stabbing you 
  in this most vulnerable of places.  Other Midwitches 
  are much the same.  Even when they're tearing you a 
  new one, they will only attack your veneer -- not stab 
  you gleefully through the heart like so many other 
  yogangers might. 
   
  Alliances and friendships among Midwitches have a 
  certain degree of mercuriality to them.  You can quite 
  literally be best friends one day and worst enemies the 
  next.  However, no matter how bad the relationship 
  sours, there are certain depths to which you will not 
  sink when attacking a sister Midwitch.  You aren't 
  likely to expose their most fatal flaw to the world for 
  fear that they will do the same to you.  It's like Bushido 
  to those who live and die by the lipstick.  No other 
  juves will get this sort of preferential treatment, and 
  that's because you don't anticipate to ever want to talk 
  with one of them after you've torn them a new one.  
  Your fellow Midwitches, however?  Well, they're just 
  like the fashion business.  You never know when 
  something that's unpopular and unsightly now will 
  come back into vogue. 
   
  Midwitches use a lot of arcane and occult terminology 
  in their everyday activities.  They're not just applying 
  eyeshadow, they're "invoking the darkness to lend its 
  allure to their eyes."  They don't plait their hair, they 
  "interweave the strands of their destiny."  It may seem 
  to be a rather insipid affectation, but it is, in fact, a ploy 
  that plays upon the superstitions of others.  Likewise, 
  Midwitches have a tendency to choose tags based on 
  ancient mythological goddesses and heroines to add to 
  their air of mystery. 
   
  Belonging 
   
  Midwitches form covens of 3 - 8 members in their 
  schools, and there can be many rival covens in a 
  school.  Being initiated into a coven of Midwitches is 
  
  never easy, because they are, by their nature, very 
  discerning and critical.  There are usually two ways to 
  approach.  The first way is to dress down when you're 
  just coming out of finishing school, and gravitate 
  towards an established coven.  The Midwitches expect 
  this, and will welcome it.  For the next few months, you 
  get to be their whipping girl.  You will bear their 
  insults like they're good-natured jibes, run off to fetch 
  them sodas only to be told that you got the wrong 
  brand, and be used as an example of how not to dress.  
  Eventually, you'll start phasing in your own sense of 
  style, and the hazing will begin to lighten up as the 
  coven warms up to you.  The younger members will 
  take you into their confidence as the older members 
  graduate, and next year, you'll be one of them!  It's the 
  Jane Goodall approach to popularity, but it's the safe 
  approach to popularity. 
   
  The faster, riskier way to join a coven is to be noticed 
  with a favorable eye.  This is usually done by drawing 
  in one of the more attractive and desirable people in 
  school.  Usually a Golden or a Looker.  You cast your 
  spell over them, make them want you and evade them 
  like the winsome witch that you are, until they are 
  almost mad with desire, and then you tear them to 
  pieces in a public forum.  Humiliate them in the 
  Cafeteria and make them cry into their lunch.  If you 
  succeed, the Midwitches will seek you out, and if you 
  play your cards right, you'll be one of them the next 
  day.  It's a high risk approach, but it's the sure path to 
  fast advancement. 
   
  Once you're in the coven, you can never relax, though.  
  There is popularity to be bartered and won, there are 
  hearts to be won and broken and there are spells to be 
  cast. 
   
  Allies and Enemies 
   
  Midwitches have a long list of enemies and few allies.  
  You have no great love of Goldens, Glitters and 
  Lookers for all that they have had handed to them on a 
  silver platter, but you occasionally need to put them to 
  use to raise your popularity.  You have little use for the 
  sweaty, combat-geared Yogangs, although you might 
  end up with Guardian or Streetfighter hangers-on 
  looking to become your bodyguard.  Mallbrats, 
  Tinkertots and FaceDancers can be your allies, and 
  you can occasionally befriend fringe Goths, but only if 
  they don't damage your reputation too severely.   
   
  You are actively targeted by Beaverbrats, who come 
  from the same social strata as you do.  Maybe you 
  were once childhood friends with them, but that was a 
  long time ago, and all you have for each other now is 
  disdain.  Arcos and Vidiots are always trying to catch a 
  glimpse in your window, but you know that you could 
  destroy them with a few cutting words.  You have a 
  surprising amount of sympathy for Squats, maybe 
  because they look and smell how you feel inside, and 
  will occasionally pay them for information.   
   
  Slang 
   
  Casting your Spell - Working your charms and beauty 
  to your advantage. 
  Initiation - Being taken into the confidence of others 
  or learning something new. 
  Besom - Your motorcycle. 
  Glamour - Your overall appearance. 
  Coven - Groupings of Midwitches. 
  Seeming – Making yourself up to blend with another 
  subculture. 
   
  Yogang Skill:  Witchcraft (ATT/COOL) 
   
  You're a witch.  But unlike the green, long-nosed, 
  warty, cackling hags of old, you're attractive, and 
  people fall under your spell quite easily.  You are 
  subtle and winsome and to most people watching you, 
  you move in an entrancing, slow-motion sort of blur.  
  But this isn't about physical beauty, it's about knowing 
  how to dress, how to accentuate and how to move.  
  Each swish of your skirt as you walk, each soft 
  percussion of your high heels, and each bounce of your 
  ebullient hair is calculated to bewitch the ones around 
  you.  Every word you whisper can make a crowded 
  room fall silent.    
   
  Specializations 
   
  Toil and Trouble  = +2 to Enchanting 
  Cauldron Bubble  = +2 to Cauldron Stirring 
  
  Mirror, Mirror = +2 to Glamour Casting 
   
  Enchanting:  This is the ability to make people like you 
  to the point that they're apt to agree with everything 
  you say if it will gain them your approval.  It's not 
  really hard to do; their eyes have already fallen in love 
  with you, you just have to get their mind to follow.  
  Depending on whether you're just using body 
  language (ATT) or some impassioned words (COOL), 
  you roll your stat + Enchanting vs. their INT + Human 
  Perception or Get A Clue to leave them so stunned by 
  your looks or words that they will be at a disadvantage 
  against you (-4 to ALL rolls against you) for however 
  long they remain in your presence.  This disadvantage 
  goes away once they've had some time to recover their 
  composure and analyze the situation critically, but 
  that doesn't mean you can't enchant them again if they 
  come back. 
   
  Cauldron Stirring:  This is your ability to receive, start 
  and interpret rumors.  You're always in on the best 
  gossip (Easy).  Likewise, when you start a rumor, even 
  if it isn't true, people have a tendency to believe you 
  (Medium).  If you care to go digging, there's a lot that 
  you can uncover about people (Difficult).  Want to 
  investigate further?  You can track a rumor down to its 
  source. (V. Difficult).  You can even, based solely on 
  intuition and the nature of the rumor, discern whether 
  it is true or not.  (N. Impossible). 
   
  Glamour Casting:  You know how to look good at all 
  times.  You can cover up acne, hexite and other 
  blemishes with the right makeup (Easy), sew your 
  own clothes (Medium), adapt your look so that you 
  can make people from other subcultures (like Goths or 
  Tribals) drool over you (Difficult), make a prom-ready 
  look on the fly (V. Difficult) and manage to make 
  yourself look good after having been thrown from a 
  speeding truck into a muddy ditch (N. Impossible). 
   
  If you're a Midwitch: 
   
  1) Tell me your name, age and sex. 
  2) Describe what you look like. 
  3) Besides your V-trodes, pick four different things 
  from the list below that you have or are currently 
  carrying: 
   
  • 
  Portable Make-up Kit 
  • 
  Apple 520 V-term and a deck of V-cards for 
  trying on makeup and clothing in virtuality. 
  • 
  DataTap 
  • 
  Snoopbox 
  • 
  Fabric8 - Home garment design mini-fac. 
  • 
  Nunchaku Cyberbike 
  • 
  Black-handled dagger 
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Cyberpunk/Unofficial/Cybergeneration - Midwitches.pdf