Page 205 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER THREE: HUNTER ORGANIZATIONS
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VALKYRIE has really only been around for the last couple of might pull in hunters from all manner of criminal back-
centuries, and the Cheiron Group is apparently pretty recent, grounds: thieves, chop-shop workers, dealers, fences, leg-
too (though certainly some whisper that their origins are far breakers and so forth. Certainly that means the Criminal
more ancient than they’re letting on). Hell, maybe your or- Profession is a common denominator, but within that, you
ganization is really new, having just formed in the last year or have a lot of flexibility.

two (which makes for great conflict because the group will Another question regarding the hunters isn’t just who
still be fi nding its feet). they are, but how they join. Hunter organizations don’t
Alternatively, the compact or conspiracy may go back a advertise. Maybe the org knows that a lot of supposedly
millennium or more. Could the ancient Nibiru or Aves Min- “damaged goods” are people who have had to deal with
erva (p. 18) still be around in a modified form? What kinds the hidden monsters, and so they concentrate recruiting

of hunter organizations might have grown up out of the fall efforts on rehab, self-help groups, even prisons. If it’s a
of Rome, the rise of any of the Manchu, the destruction of group devoted to ancient mysteries, then it stands to fig-
Pompeii, or the burning of the White House? ure that the recruitment pool is likely to include academ-
Identify the origins, and from there, examine just what ics, researchers, lecturers, occultists, museum curators and
the hunters have been doing. Have they been so on track that the like.
they’ve never diverged from their initial goals? Or, as is more Do they recruit with open arms, advertising a kind
likely, has time slowly blown the group off course, so much so of communal brotherhood? Or do they blackmail hunters
that some of their original motives and aims have been lost? into joining, or outright lie so that the poor fools don’t
know what they’re getting into until they’re already hip
The Enemy deep in it?

How do they deal with the inhuman fiends of the World
of Darkness? One hunter group might approach one monster Factions
differently than the next: a compact of African okomfo (shrine Does your compact have separate factions? It has to be
and temple guardians) might believe that witches represent a relatively large to support a large number of factions, but even
malicious threat because they are humans who have accepted small groups might be split into two philosophies or follow two
evil spirit magic into their hearts — but they might alternately separate leaders within the group. Some factions don’t com-
offer sympathy and aid to vampires because they are sad, dead municate with one another and have little central leadership,
creatures whose monstrous natures were not of their making. meaning they’re ultimately free to do as they choose, with

It’s also worth looking at “monsters” from a general per- little ramification. In other groups, factions are shepherded
spective. Is the group overall vengeful and violent, cutting by some focal fi gure or reigning hunter cell, and so they work
a fiery or gory swath through the armies of evil? Do they ap- in tandem to accomplish goals. On a simple level, one faction

proach the Vigil as something that necessitates prudence and might be devoted to research while another uses that research
patience, resorting instead to stealthy techniques and inves- to accomplish a more active goal (the destruction or rehabili-
tigation to answer their problems? Might they actually be ca- tation of the offending entities, for instance).
pable of some mercy? Monsters are awful, yes, but some can be
saved, and some might even be open to an alliance (however Stereotypes
tense and tenuous such an alliance might be). The default approach is that the hunter compacts and
conspiracies exist as a limitless series of unknown variables.
The Hunters It’s all gray. Maybe the topmost executives of the Cheiron
Where do the hunters of the organization come from, Group are aware of the existence of Task Force: VALKYRIE,
originally? What shared backgrounds do these hunters but their body of “knowledge” is probably 75% wrong or just
possess? It’s easy to see how the Malleus Maleficarum is plain made up. Lesser groups might not even know about the

an easy draw for penitent and blue-collar Catholics, while other groups. Sure, a cell of Union boys finds that another
the Long Night is likelier to open its arms to more funda- hunter cell has violated its turf to steal some kind of ancient
mentalist and evangelical Christians. Those of Ashwood Canopic jar from the museum. They don’t know jack about
Abbey are hedonists and deviants, drawn into the cult ei- the Aegis Kai Doru, or the Loyalists of Thule, or the Ascend-
ther by desire or even through blackmail. So what is it ing Ones — all of whom could’ve been the organization com-

that roughly unifies the hunters of your nascent compact manding that the sacred jar be stolen in the first place. The
or conspiracy? organizations exist behind a gauze of mystery, though you can

It could be something simple, such as all the members dial that up or down as you see fit. (In Philadelphia, the groups
of the group are mothers and fathers: this so-called Chil- are a bit more aware of each other, due to the occasional revis-
dren’s Crusade compact might devote its energies to saving iting of the Candle Compact, for instance.)
the innocent children of the world from the depredations It’s important to discern not only what your organization
of darkness, and so the common theme among hunters is knows regarding the other groups, but also what it thinks of
that they’re parents. Alternatively, if the organization is them. Could the hunters of the Long Night make instant al-
something altogether more criminal (maybe they want to lies, or might their religious outlook be in direct opposition to
break the monstrous monopoly over the black market), it your nascent group’s approach to the Vigil? Have the hunters
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