MÖRKTOBER 2 - CURSE
IN WAY OF EXPLANATION - In this series of MÖRKTOBER posts I’m indulging in world building revolving around my home-brewed CY_BORG setting, MALTA 213X. It’s like doing regular MÖRKTOBER, only in hard mode. European Extreme MÖRKTOBER, even.
In the year 213X, people have learned that some of the old ways not only work, they actually work best. Say you have a target that deserves an attack that’s worse than death. That’s reason enough to go for a curse, and that's reason to look for a witch. Typically a woman (but not necessarily) a witch is deemed versed in these secret arts, and will gladly curse your target - for a price, obviously.
Getting in touch with a witch is just the first part of actually cursing someone. As it did in the day, a curse requires ingredients. Blood works best, although a lock of hair, fingernail clippings, cyberware scrapings, and various bodily fluids can work in a pinch, as do items of clothing, jewellery, and mementoes. Software and hardware details, such as implant serial numbers and cyberbrain copies, might be necessary in the case of cyborgs.
Once a curse is prepared it needs to be installed. This varies depending on the type of curse, but this can involve nailing an homunculus on the victim’s walls, sewing a note in a jacket, making them ingest a specially brewed fluid, or injecting a software update.
Some witches claim to offer anti-curse measures. These include amulets carved with the evil eye, ritual horns to place on doorframes, and snakes and tortoises genetically engineered to detect curse activity. How curses actually do their work is a question for the ages; A Dr Victor Spiridione of the University of Malta once tried to infiltrate a coven of witches operating in the Three Cities area to learn their secrets, and was found hanged in his office in what’s widely believed to be a warning for the overly curious.