She is one of the newest voices in the Order's records on the Maltiverse — the wider web of realms first mapped in earnest by the Western Warlock. Where the Warlock rode out alone, the Coven rides in numbers. The Fifth Sister rides in her earned place among them.

The Coven

After the Western Warlock came back through the Gate with stories of the Maltiverse — and then left again to keep exploring — the Brewmage realized the Order had a gap. Fermenta had one confirmed traveler and no team. Nobody had followed up. The realms beyond the Gate were being read about, not walked.

He picked a coven.

He assembled a small group of witch sisters known across Fermenta for their proficiency in the arts and their tolerance for the unknown. Some had spent years working with unstable ingredients, some had studied phenomena the Order refused to archive, and all of them had a track record with things most practitioners avoid on principle. The Brewmage brought them to Brewfall, gave them the resources of the Order, and pointed them at the Gate.

Their mission is simple. Go where no other witch or wizard has gone, bring back what can be brought back, and record what can only be described.

The Fifth Sister

The Coven ranks by trials survived in the field, not by birth or age or anything else Fermenta measures. The First Sister has the most trials. The Fifth Sister has less, though not none. She has earned her number.

She's called the Galaxyforager because of what she's specifically good at: finding ingredients in realms where "ingredient" is a loose category. She has returned from realms where hops behave like light, from realms where fermentation happens without yeast, and from realms she declines to describe. Each return has moved her up the Coven's ledger by one entry.

She hasn't reached the fourth position yet. She's not in a hurry. The First through Fourth Sisters, when asked, will tell you most practitioners in her spot are.

What She Brought Back

This release is a hazy IPA brewed from what the Galaxyforager brought back on her most recent return — hop material she identified as compatible with Fermenta's fermentation ranges and stable enough to work with. She would not name the realm.

The result is a hazy IPA with a familiar shape and unfamiliar loudness. Passionfruit, ripe peach, grapefruit, and white grape stack over a soft, lush base, led by the Galaxy hops she brought back. The flavor sits familiar for a moment, then goes somewhere else.

The Hoptographer has taken interest.

This beer is her contribution.