Scourers

[smear:#ae2851]"As time went on, the Scourers became increasingly corrupt. Far away from the jurisdiction of their native magical governments, many indulged a love of authority and cruelty unjustified by their mission. Such Scourers enjoyed bloodshed and torture, and even went so far as trafficking their fellow wizards."
— Description of the Scourers[/smear:#ac19e6:0]

The Scourers were a band of rogue wizarding mercenaries who operated in what would become the United States during the 17th century.

Formed due to the lack of any form of wizarding governance and law enforcement in the New World, the Scourers began as a combination vigilante group and bounty-hunting service, tracking down both wanted criminals and anyone for whom a reward was offered. With time, they became increasingly corrupt and brutal, resorting to torture and murder. Eventually, they engaged in outright wizard-trafficking, and even turned innocent No-Majs over to witch-hunting Puritans in exchange for gold.

Some Scourers managed to evade being brought to justice by marrying No-Majs and integrating into No-Maj society. Their descendants had a profound impact on No-Maj-wizard relations in the centuries that followed. Some of their descendants, such as the Barebone family, acquired an intense hatred of all things magical.

History
Formation
During the 17th century, when North America was just starting to be settled by both non-magic and magic emigrants from Europe, the continent's wizarding community was small and fragmented. The absence of a centralised wizarding government meant that the North American wizarding community had no effective law enforcement mechanism.

To fill this void, wizards and witches of many different nationalities banded together to form the Scourers, a mercenary group which acted as both vigilantes and bounty hunters, tracking down not only wanted criminals, but any person for whom a sufficient reward was offered.

Rise to power
Over time, the Scourers became more and more corrupt, the lack of any form of governmental oversight allowing them to abuse their power and indulge in acts of cruelty, including torture and murder. By the late 17th century, the Scourers' ranks had grown substantially, and they were spread across America. They engaged in trafficking their fellow wizards, and even resorted to capturing innocent No-Majs and passing them off as wizards, so as to collect bounties from credulous No-Maj witch hunters.

Wizarding historians concur that at least two of the judges who presided over the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-1693 were in fact Scourers seeking to settle personal vendettas. News of the Scourers' activities, and of persecution by Puritans, largely dissuaded pure-blood families on other continents from emigrating to North America.

Dissolution

[smear:#a96f81]"America remained one of the most hostile environments for magical people, mainly because of Scourer descendants who had vanished permanently into the No-Maj community and who kept suspicion of magic alive."
— The Scourers had a great impact on wizarding America[/smear:#ac19e6:0]

In 1693, the prototypical incarnation of the Magical Congress of the United States of America was founded, establishing North America's first wizarding government. The first task the newly-minted MACUSA set itself to was rounding up the Scourers and bringing them to justice. Many Scourers were put on trial and convicted of crimes such as murder, torture, and wizard-trafficking for which they were ultimately executed.

However, a number of the most notorious Scourers managed to evade capture despite the international warrants out for their arrest, renouncing the wizarding world and integrating into No-Maj society. Some of them married No-Majs, "winnowing out" any magical children born of these unions, so as to maintain their cover. Now outcast from the wizarding world, these surviving Scourers sought vengeance. They instilled an abiding conviction in their descendants that magic actually exists and that wizards and witches ought to be wiped out.

Legacy
Theophilus Abbot, an American wizarding historian, identified several Scourer-founded families, each of them marked by a profound belief in the existence of magic and an equally deep hatred of it. The anti-magic beliefs and activism of the Scourer descendants have been credited as the reason North American No-Majs are often apparently "harder to fool and hoodwink on the subject of magic" than other non-magic populations.

In the 18th century, Bartholomew Barebone, an American No-Maj of Scourer descent, managed to ply details about the wizarding world from the witch Dorcus Twelvetrees when he met her at a picnic. Stealing her wand, he showed it to as many newspaper reporters as he could, some of whom published stories describing it. He also printed and distributed leaflets listing wizarding addresses that Dorcus had revealed to him. This was the largest and most damaging breach of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in history and lead to the passage of Rappaport's Law in 1790.

The 6 December 1926 morning edition of The New York Ghost featured a story about Scourer descendants in Salem, Massachusetts facing a "magical identity crisis," including one who considered their family's Scourer heritage to be a "blight," and was striving to achieve freedom from "magical shackles."

This was taken from Harry Potter Wiki

Our Plot

[smear:#ac19e6]The Scourers were a band of rogue wizarding mercenaries who operated in what would become the United States during the 17th century. They were formed by witches and wizards of different nationalities for some sort of law enforcement in the absence of a government and law. They were a mercenary group that acted as vigilantes and bounty hunters. They didn’t just track down criminals, they tracked down anyone a reward was offered for. They became corrupt and brutal over time, resorting to torture and murder. Even No-Majes weren’t safe from them.

In 1693, a prototypical incarnation of the Magical Congress of the United States of America was founded, establishing North America’s first wizarding government. Their first task was to round up the Scourers and bring them to justice. Many of them were brought to trial and executed for their crimes. A small group of Scourers escaped into the mountains near Mount Greylock making their home there hidden from the rest of the world.

Present day, 2023. The descendants of the Scourers who escaped are wanting to make themselves known. Some have already penetrated the networks of wizardry in the United States, including Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Manitou are being awakened with the return of the Scourers. The younger generation of Manitou are coming into their full powers with their awakening. Unfortunately, no one knows just who the Scourers are or who the Skinwalkers are. After all, Manitou are just folklore right?[/smear:#19dae6:0]

How we perceive them is like the following TV Show The Outsiders

At Ilvermorny and the outside world they are treated as Outcasts. Never being allowed to join in on anything including the beloved game of Quodpot. In the outside world no one knows who the Scourers are, but at school they stand out by the way they are dressed and act. A lot of them join the Dueling Club and become excellent Duelists.

The adults don't have jobs outside of their village. Don't use money at all. Everything they want or need they steal either from the Village of Agawam or from the town of Greylock Grove.

Any other questions don't be afraid to ask Cindie or Angie!