Ottery St. Catchpole - The Wizarding Village
A peaceful wizarding community hidden along the Otter River, home to Weasleys, Diggorys, Lovegoods, and you
What Is Ottery St. Catchpole?
Ottery St. Catchpole is a village in Devon, England that serves as home to a vibrant wizarding community living peacefully alongside unsuspecting Muggles. In the Harry Potter books, this is where the Weasleys lived at the Burrow, along with the Diggorys, Lovegoods, and Fawcetts. In HogwartsLive, it's the default home city for Humans and serves as the welcoming village for several other magical races who've chosen to integrate into wizarding society.
The village is described as having "both a magical and Muggle community" with many familiar wizarding families living in houses "hidden by hills and trees, far from the eyes of muggles." It's the sort of place where you can buy groceries at a Muggle shop in the morning and attend a magical gathering in the evening, assuming you remember which personality you're supposed to be using for which errand.
The Village Description
When you arrive at Ottery St. Catchpole, you're greeted with:
"You are standing in the heart of Ottery St. Catchpole. This town has both a magical and Muggle community, and many families live here whose names you are familiar with- the Weasleys, the Diggorys, and the Lovegoods, just to name a few."
- The Sundial: "The great sundial at the heart of the city" tells the current game time
- Village Atmosphere: Peaceful, integrated magical-Muggle community
- Famous Residents: Home to some of the most beloved families in Harry Potter lore
- River Setting: Located along the Otter River in Devon
Races of Ottery St. Catchpole
Multiple races call Ottery St. Catchpole home, each bringing their own unique abilities and quirks to the community:
👤 Humans
The Default Choice
Humans are the baseline race in HogwartsLive - ordinary witches and wizards without special racial traits beyond natural versatility.
Requirements & Traits:
- VE Requirement: None - available from character creation
- Forest Fights: +2 extra forest fights per day (default setting)
- Mine Death: 90% chance (humans aren't particularly hardy)
- Special Bonus: Balanced, no extreme strengths or weaknesses
The module describes human selection: "As a human in the town of Ottery St. Catchpole, along the Otter River, in a house hidden by hills and trees, far from the eyes of muggles." Your size and strength let you "effortlessly wield weapons, tiring much less quickly than other races" - hence the extra daily forest fights.
🏔️ Giants
Size Matters
Giants are massive, powerful beings who've chosen to live among the wizarding community despite their size making subtlety somewhat challenging.
Requirements & Traits:
- VE Requirement: 50 Voldemort Encounters (experienced players only)
- Forest Fights: +1 extra forest fight per day
- Attack Bonus: +2 + (2 + floor(level/5)) attack
- Defense Penalty: Slightly reduced defense (giants are clumsy)
- Mine Death: 25% chance (giant strength helps survival)
- Mine Escape: "Fortunately your gigantic strength lets you escape unscathed"
The race selection text captures giant life perfectly: "As a young child you never remember looking up to anyone. You stood with your head as high as the trees for hours watching the clouds go by. Never feeling totally accepted you often spent most of your time alone wading in the river bed. You are one of the few remaining Giants in Ottery St. Catchpole."
Giants gain a racial buff called "Giant Abilities" that provides attack bonuses and 0.5x defense modifier. They're powerful but clumsy - excellent for offense-focused players who can handle being a bit easier to hit.
🧦 House-Elves
Loyal and Lethal
House-Elves are magical beings whose existence combines powerful magic with unwavering loyalty and a disturbing enthusiasm for domestic servitude.
Requirements & Traits:
- VE Requirement: 10 Voldemort Encounters
- Defense Bonus: +1 + floor(level/5) + 2 defense (loyalty buff)
- Charm Penalty: -3 charm (they're quite odd-looking)
- Mine Death: 60% chance
- Mine Escape: "Your House-Elf ability to apparate within Hogwarts grounds (a loophole the wizards never bothered to close) let you escape unscathed"
- Apparition: Can apparate where wizards cannot (books canon!)
The race description is wonderfully self-aware: "You consider the life of a House-Elf, a being whose existence is defined by an improbable combination of magical prowess and contractual servitude that would make any labor lawyer spontaneously combust." Their loyalty is "as boundless as their collection of mismatched socks is extensive."
House-Elves gain defensive capabilities "not because you're particularly good at fighting, but because you've spent centuries dodging hexes, flying pots, and the occasional self-inflicted punishment with household objects." They're defensive specialists who "never win any beauty contests" but are "the most efficient magical being in existence."
On newday, House-Elves receive flavor text about "unconsciously tidying your inventory, polishing your weapon to a shine that would make even the most fastidious butler weep with joy, and referring to yourself in the third person at least twice before breakfast."
Module Note: The module captures the contradictions of House-Elf existence with appropriate humor.
💃 Veela
Supernatural Beauty
Part-Veela individuals possess supernatural beauty and charm that manifests as actual combat benefits - because in the wizarding world, being really attractive can literally save your life.
Requirements & Traits:
- VE Requirement: 50 Voldemort Encounters
- Charm Bonus: +15% charm when choosing race (default)
- Forest Fights: -15% forest fights (beauty doesn't help stamina)
- Defense Bonus: Based on charm stat - higher charm = more defense
- Mine Death: 25% chance
- Calculation: Charm divided by 100 (default), capped at +5 defense
The selection text is simple: "You learn a distant relative was a Veela. making you part Veela!" Your "natural beauty increases your charm" immediately upon transformation.
Veela receive a racial buff called "Intense Beauty" that scales with their charm stat. The formula is (1+((1+floor(charm/100+1))/defense)), meaning the more charm you build, the better your defensive bonuses become. However, you also lose 15% of your forest fights, representing the trade-off between beauty and stamina.
This creates an interesting build path: invest heavily in charm to maximize your racial benefits, but accept that you'll have fewer daily turns to work with. Quality over quantity.
🐺 Werewolves (Temporary)
The Lunar Curse
Werewolves aren't a permanent race choice - they're a temporary transformation that can happen to Human players when the moon is full. It's essentially a temporary buff/debuff cycle that dramatically changes your gameplay for several days.
Transformation Mechanics:
- Requirements: Must be Human race, 2+ full moons in sky simultaneously
- Chance: Eligible players can transform (system-controlled)
- Duration: 5 game days (default) or until you complete a VE
- Bounty: 1,500 gold bounty placed on your head (default, if DAG module active)
- Public News: Transformation announced to all players
Werewolf Abilities:
- Attack Bonus: +2 + floor(level/3) attack
- Damage Bonus: +15% damage to all attacks
- Mine Death: 45% chance (better than human)
- Buff Name: "Werewolf Bloodlust"
- PvP Active: Bonuses work in PvP combat
Transformation message: "You go about your business for a while, until you suddenly fall to the ground, twitching and clutching your left arm! Excruciating pain covers your entire body as hair sprouts out of every pore, and large fangs grow from your mouth! You have transformed into a Werewolf! You can feel the bloodlust calling for you."
While transformed, you gain significant combat bonuses but also a bounty that makes you a target for other players. After 5 days (or completing a VE), you revert: "Waking up today, you notice that the hair covering your body has vanished, as well as your bloodlust! The Werewolf curse has ended!"
Werewolves remain based in Ottery St. Catchpole during their transformation, returning to normal human life after the curse passes. It's a temporary power spike with significant drawbacks.
Requirements: Werewolf transformation requires the Moons module and Rabid Werewolf module.
Living in Ottery St. Catchpole
Village Life:
- Mixed Community: Humans, Giants, House-Elves, and Veela all coexist
- Peaceful Setting: Quieter and safer than Ministry or Death Eater locations
- Familiar Names: Weasleys, Diggorys, and Lovegoods are your neighbors
- Integration: Both magical and Muggle communities share the area
- Newest Player: The newest resident is highlighted in village text
- Standard Sayline: Players "say" things (normal speech, unlike Death Eaters whispering darkly)
Strategy & Race Selection
Choosing Your Ottery Race
You want extra forest fights (+2) with no penalties. Balanced, straightforward, good starting choice.
You want maximum attack bonuses and don't mind lower defense. Offensive powerhouse, requires 50 VEs.
You want strong defense and can handle -3 charm. Defensive specialist, only requires 10 VEs. Hilarious flavor text.
You want charm-based defense scaling and have a high-charm build. Loses 15% forest fights. Requires 50 VEs.
Not a choice - happens automatically to eligible Humans. Temporary power spike with bounty drawback. Embrace the chaos.
The Lore
In the Harry Potter books, Ottery St. Catchpole was most famous as the location of the Burrow, the ramshackle but beloved home of the Weasley family. Amos and Cedric Diggory lived nearby, as did Xenophilius and Luna Lovegood. The village represented the heart of the wizarding community in Britain - magical families living in modified Muggle houses, carefully hidden from non-magical neighbors, going about their lives in peaceful obscurity.
The Burrow itself was described as looking like it was held together by magic (because it was), with a chaotic but warm atmosphere that perfectly captured the Weasley family's character. The surrounding area was rural Devon countryside - rolling hills, rivers, and the sort of peaceful English landscape where you could hide an entire magical community if you were clever about it.
In HogwartsLive, Ottery St. Catchpole serves as the default "normal" wizarding village - a peaceful, integrated community where multiple races coexist. It's not as politically charged as the Ministry, not as grim as Spinner's End, and not as exclusive as vampire or goblin cities. It's home, with all the comfort and mundanity that implies.
Module Info: The Human race module establishes Ottery St. Catchpole and serves as the base for Giant, House-Elf, and Veela race modules. Each additional race requires the Human race module to be installed, as they share the city infrastructure. The Werewolf module creates temporary transformations rather than a permanent race choice.