Seidwife

There are no qualifications whatsoever as this is not an official or organized position.
Reputation is the way forward in this business.
This also leads to many situations where con artists pretend to master Seid.

There is no ladder, but renown is everything

Payment is often an agreed upon sum of money before the task, but some prefer favors or spell components that are hard to come by.

Recognition in their local community often comes with respect and reverence.
A revered Seidwife will often be treated kindly and cared for by their community.

A Seidwife is a student of the arcane. To them it is a lifestyle more than a profession, but they are approached as an expert when their specific skillset is required.
To most humans that means when you become a parent and want to make certain that the child is yours and not a Changeling.
To some humans they even serve as oracles and fortune tellers.

Seidwives hold a special status in society. To many they are a return to old witches and a link to the supernatural that can no longer be miscredited.
Their popularity ranges from scary hags best avoided to revered experts to turn to in a world that has gone crazy.
While actual interference in the lives of others – such as tampering with a potential Changeling Glamour – is officially shunned and in most places illegal, these are exactly the services a human would visit them for, even if they’d otherwise keep their distance.
In Vettir and Alf communities, they hold a high social status however.

While very few are registered Seidwives, enough are drawn to it, that there is never a student of Seid further away than can be reached within a day or two.
Traditionally and still, in most cases, it will be a woman.

Seidwives are known through old sources of Germanic culture and have since been forgotten. Their skills associate them with shamans of all kinds of cultures around the globe however.
With The Unravelling they have reemerged to a modern society that again is in demand of their services, and as magic has resurfaced ready to be studied.

The tools used by a Seidwife are very varied, based on the individual’s training and specialities.
It could include everything from sacrificial daggers or staffs to bags of bones.

Their remedies are often concocted by herbs, mushrooms and other such natural resources.
Other less savory ingredients include animal intestines, blood and the like.

Optimally it is a separate shed from their main dwellings, due to the potential smells and sanitary concerns, but to many, their kitchen will suffice.
Much of their work is travelling to customers bringing their tools and materials prepared beforehand.
Larger rituals may even require an open sky and a large space to account for a larger gathering and a larger sacrifice.

As previously mentioned, to humans their main service is ‘testing’ whether their children have been switched with a Changeling.
In other cases, they can be summoned to ward off or attract certain Fey – often in relation to agriculture or ‘exorcisms’.
They might be able to give an educated guess of your Fate.
In Vettir society, they often act as master of ceremonies during their blót events.

Dealing with private people, there is always a risk of confronting potentially dangerous people with truths they are unwilling to hear, making them aggressive.
On top of that there always lies a threat of being accused of performing intrusive spells, overstepping others’ boundaries and performing illegal or outright heinous acts.
Magic is an uncertain dance partner, and while a Seidwife may feel confident in their skills of bending it to serve a certain purpose, mistakes or Fate’s flights of fancy can lead to very unforeseen consequences.