DIVINITY & DRUGS

Timelines in Witchbreed have always been a bit fluid (and I expect they’ll stay that way for some time) however, I imagine both Bouros and Arkane have been around for about 200 years by the time the main stories take place. That’s not to say they aren’t continually refined, altered, and experimented on to produce new strains, but their original forms are quite old.

I’ve written a more detailed breakdown of each drug Here but below is a quick refresher:

BOUROS

A drug created by the Church that “closes” a witchbreed’s gate, severing their access to supernatural abilities.

It temporarily suppresses powers with minimal side effects (useful for covert integration or mild control) however, long-term use can result in power building up behind the closed gate like water behind a dam, risking dangerous outbursts if withdrawal occurs.

ARKANE

A drug of unknown origin that briefly opens or activates gates, even in non-witchbreed individuals.

If taken by someone with a gate that hasn't been unlocked, the gate may remain open permanently after the effects wear off. Since everyone has a gate (whether it's active or not), Arkane can affect anyone, granting temporary supernatural abilities.

This raises some very interesting questions about how the discovery and use of these drugs might have shifted religious teachings around the concept of the gate. The Church of the Father never truly had an accurate understanding of how it all worked, often tying mortality to the idea of an open gate which is rooted more in superstition than truth.

I’m fascinated by how religious and spiritual belief systems evolve when confronted with new technology or medical advancements. Just look at our concept of where ‘the self’ is and how it changed in 1968 when a committee from Harvard Medical School published a paper titled “A Definition of Irreversible Coma,” which concluded that “patients who meet criteria for a certain type of severe brain injury may be pronounced dead before cardiopulmonary cessation occurs.”

Essentially, no matter if your heart keeps beating, a person dies once their brain does. All of a sudden, both culture and religion shifted, and the brain was no longer just the control center of a person—it was the person. The concept of taking something like a heart from a brain-dead patient to transplant into someone else didn’t seem so archaic.

(For a deeper dive into this topic, I highly recommend Jacob Geller’s Head Transplants and the Non-Existence of the Soul but please do approach it with a clear mind, as it can be quite heavy at times.)

Long story short, these two drugs—Bouros and Arkane—interact so directly with the gate, a cornerstone of the Church’s doctrine, that they would almost certainly trigger similar ideological shifts. Here’s what I have so far:

BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE DRUGS

There was no concept of a “gate "within the gospels and certainly not a universal one across all living things. Instead, majority of people were believed to be born with pure, untainted bodies, created by the Father and granted the free will to worship him. However, some bodies were said to be interrupted. Somewhere in the cosmic passage toward life, the soul meant to inhabit the body was intercepted, and the vessel was instead overtaken by a demon—an inhuman spirit disguised in human flesh.

These demons, masquerading as people, aimed to corrupt true believers and poison the Father’s word. Although possessing a human body limited their full power, the body was “corrupted” enough to allow fragments of their supernatural abilities to manifest. Being a witchbreed wasn’t seen as a moral failing—it was considered total demonic possession. There was no human to pity, and no reason to let them live to spread their influence.

AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF BOUROS

Nothing makes the rules bend faster than money—or when those rules start to hurt the people you love. Though the Father’s teachings were clear, Church and state officials with witchbreed children, siblings, lovers, or friends found it harder to cling to those beliefs. The concept of gates themselves predates the Church, so when old ideas resurfaced with new relevance, the Church’s greatest alchemical minds created solutions, and its best scholars crafted narratives to support them. The old beliefs weren’t wrong, they were just… naive.

Of course, no mortal man could exorcise a demon from a witchbreed—but the Church doesn’t rely on mortal power. Using a recipe whispered by tongueless high priests, recited as though the Father himself were speaking through them, the holy elixir Bouros was forged. The new narrative claimed that while demons could hijack a body before the rightful soul had fully taken hold, the soul wasn’t lost forever. Administering Bouros acted as a medicinal exorcism, dethroning the demon, reinstating the soul, and stripping supernatural powers.

While many still believed witchbreeds were beyond saving—and that even if they could be cured, they shouldn’t be allowed to live—this marked the beginning of a new idea: rehabilitation, though only extended to the privileged few.

AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF ARKANE

Then came Arkane, and suddenly the idea that some people were born with demonic parasites wouldn’t hold up anymore. If Arkane could affect anyone, then everyone must already possess some form of latent connection to these “unholy powers.” To avoid this uncomfortable truth, doctrine shifted again. The Church finally accepted the idea of gates. Now, the story goes that when we are made by the Father, we are not only granted free will—we are also given an entrance, a gate, which we must guard with honor and discipline.

Some scripture blames the gates on ancient gods who rebelled against the Father in the time before mankind. But all agree: the gate is a universal feature, present in humans and beasts alike. This shift reframed witchbreeds not as victims of possession but as sinners who chose to open their gates and make deals with demons. They weren’t just corrupted—they were collaborators.

Where Bouros is now seen as divine medicine—a ritual sanctified by the Father—Arkane is viewed as its opposite. Its origins are attributed to blood magic and human sacrifice. It’s seen not as a tool, but as a trap, baiting demons into bodies regardless of moral intent. These leads many Witchbreeds who are born into the church to constantly battle to fight an unwinnable battle to stay morally pure to quell a demon that doesn't exist and control a power which is theirs to wield.

"Shut the gate, the demon hides. By Father's grace, my soul survives,"

Keep in mind, this is all from the Church’s perspective. It doesn’t reflect the actual truth about gates or witchbreeds. Demons, as the Church defines them, don’t really exist in Witchbreed. And the “rehabilitation” offered by the Church more closely resembles conversion therapy, just as ineffective and damaging.

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