Caitlin

Created by Gordon Rennie and Greg Staples, Caitlin appears in the 2000AD series Witch World.

Pellin, a world that has been ruled for more than a millennia by the evil cabal called the Star Chamber. These five fiends have frozen the planet's development at late medieval for a thousand years, brutally suppressing all attempts to advance the society's technology and culture.

The result of this suppression is entropy - Pellin is crumbling away while those in charge use any and all means to cling to power, no matter what the cost.

But from the ruins of a once-lively civilization a new force is emerging to challenge the older order, threatening to sweep away the Star Chamber and its acolytes. Across Pellin, children are being born with seemingly magical powers. They are the next stage of natural development on this world, yet the Star Chamber still seeks to suppress the inevitable.

Instead of being hailed as potential saviours, the children are feared because of their special abilities. In a world where technology and invention are suppressed, it is easy to foster suspicion and superstition. Parents try to hide their gifted offspring, to protect them from their friends and neighbours. But once the gift is known, the shaming begins. Branded witch children, they are stalked and slain by witch hunters.

Deadly servants of the Star Chamber, the witch hunters wield staffs powered by the dark energy of Pellin's evil overlords. Anyone who gets in their way, dies. None can stand before the power of the Star Chamber and its loyal servant, the Grand Inquisitor. There was a renegade witch hunter once, but he has long since disappeared into legend.

Now the threat of the witch children grows ever strong with more being born every day. In particular, the omens and signs have warned of a particular child who has the power to destroy the Star Chamber forever - or become its most potent weapon in the war against entropy. Caitlin is this girl, and now she runs for her life...

2000AD story index

• 1: The Dark Man (progs 1050-1052) (Gordon Rennie - Siku)
• 2: Wolfshead (progs 1053-1054) (Gordon Rennie - Paul Johnson)
• 3: The Anatomist (progs 1055-1058) (Gordon Rennie - Will Simpson)
• 4: Closing Shadows (progs 1059-1061) (Gordon Rennie - John Burns)