Witcher School may have to close due to controversy

In the future, all real witchers will probably have to do without proper training, because the Polish witcher school, which has been training all enthusiastic monster slayers since 2015, now has to close its doors. CD Projekt Red, who own the trademark rights to the Witcher name, have canceled their contract with the school.

Cooperation with conservative organization probably caused the closure of the Witcher School

It is not known exactly why CD Projekt Red no longer wants to work with the school. However, it is highly likely that one associate’s ties to the very conservative Polish Catholic organization Ordo Iuris have something to do with it. The group speaks out against abortion and LGBTQ+, among other things, and is also a strong opponent against gender equality.

The employee is Ania Wawrzyniak, the wife of Dastin Wawrzyniak. He founded the company 5 Żywiołów (5 elements), which is behind the events of the Witcher school. According to a Facebook post of the two brothers Dastin and Dominic Wawrzyniak, Ania worked as a lawyer for the firm from 2017 to 2019.

Recently, Ania was hired by the Ordo Iuris to work on the “legal mechanisms for introducing and enforcing compulsory vaccination and the possible consequences of non-compliance” and the “draft law to punish illegal abortion,” according to the Facebook post.

In the Polish media, Anika Wawrzyniak’s work for Ordo Iuris in some articles in the February of this year repaired, which led to 5 Żywiołów contacting CD Projekt Red to explain the situation to them. After that, CD Projekt abruptly terminated the license for 5 Żywiołów.

“When the situation happened, we informed CD Projekt RED, which then, which then, without asking for explanation, terminated the license agreement.”

In a Statement to Eurogamer CD Projekt Red provided some more information about the situation, but didn’t want to be pinned down.

“In February we decided to end our collaboration with the organizers of The Witcher School, and now the contractual three-month notice period has expired. For more context, this collaboration was about the LARP itself and potential merchandise tied to it. We are not releasing any further details on this matter.”

5 Żywiołów might have some problems to continue to operate as one company in the future. “Losses caused by the pandemic and the termination of contracts are a burden that will most likely result in the bankruptcy of the company. We will shoulder this blow, but we will definitely not give up.”