WITCH

WITCH
Character Information
Common Names	WITCH
Other Names	Harwell Dekatron Computer
Human Name(s)	Winston Harwell
Faction	Omega
Lineage	independent
Rival(s)	N/A
Appearance
Height	164 cm
Hair Color	White/Black
Eye Color	Grey
Weapon(s)	Deep-level code manipulation, sensory illusions and mind control, Necromancy
Design
First Appearance	Nov 2010
Technical Information
System Personified	WITCH (Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing from Harwell)
Developer(s)	Atomic Energy Research Establishment (UK)
Debut	April 1951
Latest release	unknown

Technical details

WITCH is an acronym for the Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing from Harwell, formerly known as the Harwell Dekatron Computer. Built between 1949 and 1951, it was used in research by AERE from 1952 to 1957. While quite slow in its operations, it was extremely stable, particularly when compared to other machines of the time period. At one instance it was left alone over one christmas holiday, and kept processing input data on punched tape for over ten days, still going when its operators returned.

Between 1957 and 1973 it was used to teach computing at the Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Technical College. The WITCH was donated to the Museum of Science and Industry, Birmingham in 1973. After the museum closed in 1997, the computer was disassembled and stored at the Birmingham City Council Museums Collection Centre until 2009, when the The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park acquired it and raised money for its restoration. The restoration was completed in 2012, making the WITCH the oldest functional original electronic stored program computer in existence.

Character details

WITCH is a short, buxom woman with a bobcut, her hair split unevenly into black and white. She usually dresses in an old-fashioned ensemble of a long, red skirt and a golden, frilly blouse, but she regularly dons the stark white of a lab coat when she's working instead. She wears a gold-and-black witch's hat with a tilted iron cross at the top, stitched with strange symbols in crimson and black. She commonly wears sunglasses, and has colorless grey eyes. She can often be seen carrying a mysterious red book.

WITCH is a scientist at heart, and after her many years as a teacher, a quite pedagogic person as well. She is a hard worker, and very driven to accomplish her goals. While curious, however, she tends to be very cautious, which can sometimes keep her from making progress - or friends, for that matter.

While her hyper-stable nature kept her from deteriorating without an active node during her downtime years, parts of her personality have been corrupted from the effects of the Necromancy used to restore her node. She occasionally loses control of herself, exchanging most of her caution and shyness for perverse inquisitiveness and morbid curiosity. Because of this highly unnerving behavior - which she has learned to unleash at will - as well as her ability to read and control minds, she is in charge of interrogations at OMEGA.

History and background

Her first years was spent mostly isolated, with her only known OS-tan relation at AERE being the now deceased CADET. It is unknown what contacts, if any, she established at Wolverhampton - she is not a very gregarious character - and aside from contact with students and teachers, she spent most of her time there secluded. Similarly her time as a museum object marked a time of social decline, which is normally the onset for the eventual Code degradation of an OS-tan, eventually leading to their death. For WITCH, however, this was not the case. Due to her hyper-stable nature, she was able to stay conscious despite the absence of an operational node, after it was dissembled and put into storage.

Wandering the universities of England, she eventually came into contact with Mister Bee, the head of OMEGA. She struck a deal with him to restore her operational node, if she helped him revive Colossus using her powers of Necromancy. With the Colossus project successful, she was accepted into OMEGA's ranks as a project scientist, and they funded the acquisition of her node by Bletchley Park. After some three years of work on the physical parts of the node, she brought it back to life again using her Necromancy. As with most cases of Necromancy, this forced her to exchange part of her sanity to reconnect herself to her code pool, but as she is a Necromancer herself she is constantly making adjustments to the spells used to do so - thus they are modular, rather than permanent, as is the common case.

Magic, Powers and Abilities

Power Sheet

Sorcery Type:	Deep-code Necromancy (Closed, Unique)
Complexity Level:	10/10 (Needlessly complex)
Spell Power:	Burst power is 3/10 normally, up to 7/10 when unleashed, but can be well above that when using ritual magic
Known Spells:	Cortex Reficior - Connects a node to a deceased OS-tan, bringing it back to life. May affect personality, though it is possible this is not an effect of the spell itself but rather the nature of "undead" OS-tans. Cortex Amplificator - Accelerates code flow along the neural pathways of an OS-tan, increasing sensory input exponentially which commonly leads to an overload. Cortex Imperator - Takes control of an OS-tan's inner code flow, effectively taking over their mind. This spell needs a complex ritual to take full effect, however, and only basic actions can be performed at any reasonable speed. Cortex Obfuscator - Negates code flow along the neural pathways of an OS-tan. Depending on strength and application of the spell this can do anything from knock them unconscious to deprive them of their powers. Cortex Confundator - Changes sensory input code of an OS-tan, displaying illusions and corrupting their senses.
Physical Abilities:	Flink fingers, good with ropes. She is also ambidextrous.