[Thaumatology/Horror] Cunning folk Codes of Honor

[Prince Charon]

The various types of European folk magicians, historically sometimes called 'cunning folk' in English, would almost certainly have had their own codes of behavior. Most likely, they would have varied by culture and by individual, but some broad strokes might have existed. My current thinking it that more would be variants of CoH (Professional); 'protect the village from evil spirits' is probably part of most of them, along with 'do not use evil magics' and/or 'do not make deals with demons/evil spirits, save to get them to leave' (and of course, some will not deal with them at all).

I'm having some difficulty with the specifics, like how CoH (Benandanti) differs from CoH (British cunning folk), for example.

What do you think?

[Dalillama]

In many cases I think I would describe it as Disciplines of Faith or Duty rather than CoH. The Benandanti probably have Duty (Fight Malandanti on mystically significant dates) -5. Many will also have Sense of Duty (Community), and will use their healing powers to help at other times, but it's not obligatory, and nothing says they can't charge or demand favors in return. A Strega would have Disciplines of Faith, although it's not certain what they were. In England, a witch-doctor would have basically the same CoH as a regular doctor: Help patients as best you can, do no harm, etc.) -5, and specialize in cursebreaking. A non-specialist cunning man's archetypal Mental Disadvantage is Loner, often accompanied by one or more Odious Personal Habits.

[oneofmanynameless]

I generally agree with the sentiment that the CoH would likely be basically similar to the medical one, although I would also note that it is in no way a requirement for such individuals any more than a Doctor actually needs to have CoH (Hippocratic Oath).

[ajardoor]

Horror already notes that some magicians have Vow/CoH (Oathbound), they keep the letter of any promise given.