CAWW

From Absit Omen Lexicon

CAWW stands for the Congress of American Witches and Wizards, which is the magical governing body of the United States.

Its current governor is Cassius Inglethorpe.

Congress of American Witches and Wizards (CAWW)

  • The US federal magical government is divided into three branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.
  • Congress handles legislative duties and develops laws, although the term CAWW is generally used to refer to the government in general.
  • The Governor of Magical America heads the executive branch, which enforces laws and develops policies. Governors serve terms of 5 years, and can be re-elected an unlimited number of times.
  • The Governor is assisted by two major groups: aides, and the Council. The Council is made up of the heads of each governmental department.
  • Much of actual governing is local, smaller municipal districts which run the magical affairs in the area. Borders for these districts do not conform to their no-maj counterparts. Magical culture varies from district to district.
  • There is also a Judicial branch that mirrors the court system of the United States.
  • Unlike its nomaj counterpart, starting in 1972 after decades of activism by Indigenous wixes, CAWW moved to honour treaties that the nomaj federal government had signed with no-maj Indigenous nations. The legislative branch has seated elected representatives for the magical communities within several Tribal Nations, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, and the Lenape Tribal Nations.

Departments and Offices

Among the various departments, roles and offices of CAWW….

  • Federal Bureau of Covert Vigilance and No-Maj Obliviation - known simply as ‘the Bureau’ and charged with upholding the Statute of Secrecy.
  • S.W.E.E.P is a specialized auror department within the Congress of American Witches and Wizards.
  • National Magical Wildlife Offices - oversees the protection management of magical creatures within the United States. According to Casper Gamble, they are slow to get involved unless muggles are directly affected.
  • Department of International Magical Cooperation
  • Weapons Czar - a relatively recent position that answers directly to the Governor, who has given them remit to request resources from other departments and the EPA.

Eldritch & Profane Agency

The Eldritch & Profane Agency (known as "EPA", “Eldritch & Profane” or “the Agency”) is an administrative entity formed by CAWW. It regulates various research groups studying forces similar to those studied by the British Department of Mysteries - time, death, love and so on.

Eldritch & Profane also regulates groups in Canadian and Mexican jurisdiction.

Although many research groups are independent and do not consider themselves beholden to CAWW, others are federal employees. The more independent groups harbour resentment towards CAWW’s increasing encroachment on their research material.

Below are some of the groups regulated by Eldritch & Profane…

  • Institute of the Alleghenies (Federal) - Known colloquially as “skulls”. The institute is located in the Appalachian mountain range, where an immense cavern holds a seemingly bottomless pit that serves as their border between life and death.
  • Clockmaker’s Guild (Independent) - Also in the Appalachians, they have a contentious relationship with their neighbours. Unspeakables here (sometimes called “tinkerers”) study time and build objects such as Time-turners. They guard their craft jealously and resent CAWW interference. This has prevented smooth cooperation with Federal research groups, sometimes at the cost of progress.
  • Tonopah Observatory (Federal) - Located more or less where no-maj Area 51 might be found, the observatory is home to Unspeakables who study space. They work closely with undercover counterparts in NASA.
  • Cerebrum (Independent) - a mind magic consortium with its own building in New York City, which can only be entered by Legilimens. It maintains good relations with international associations of the same nature, and is sometimes accused of meddling in the affairs of other research groups.
  • R.E.S.O.N.A.N.C.E. Institute of Magical Inquiry (Independent) - Housed in an enchanted complex in the coastal hills to the west of Malibu, the secretive RESONANCE group was founded in the 1960s to study the connection between magic and souls. It is rumoured to dabble in other eldritch studies, such as apparitions, mirror universes, and lee lines.
  • Coven Cascadia (Independent) - A wix-vampire blood magic research group in the Pacific Northwest that is run in tandem by a wix and the head of a vampire coven. Its vampiric members have an especially contentious relationship with EPA and CAWW, and do not like to share their knowledge with any governing body. It's difficult to become a researcher here if you don't know someone or aren't a member of the coven.

CAWW Personnel

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