Page 136 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains

COmPACT: UTOPIA NOw

old system and building on those structures to create something
new, something disruptive that takes the world by storm — and
changes it forever.
Utopia Now recruits people with a can-do attitude. Not
necessarily the engineers and entrepreneurs of Horn’s social
circle, but the kind of people one wouldn’t mind rubbing el-
bows with in the city of the future. Self-starters, they might
put it.
The Enemy

Utopia Now doesn’t like the phrase “the enemy.” They
prefer “targets” or “subjects.” Bloodless words. Words
that allow them to ignore they’re stripping apart living
bodies to build the future.
That doesn’t obscure who the targets are, though.
There are institutional demons embedded into the very
foundations of a sick society, creatures who dwell within the
bureaucracies of the welfare state and the installations of the
military-industrial complex. These demons use humans, use their
sense of entitlement and tendency to over-regulate to gorge them-
selves on their sorrows. They create needs for themselves to fulfill. A
real society wouldn’t need that. Won’t need that.
On the other hand, greater demons are a blind spot to these hunters.
They’re enough like the institutional demons that their goals aren’t always
easy to distinguish, but Utopia Now’s detection protocols tend to analyze trends at
too high a level to pick them out.
Horn and his organization know about the other kinds of demons. They’re
aware lesser demons exist, like the “imps” or “imperatives” that repeat tasks like bro-
ken records. Since lesser demons are almost never useful for parts, they are ignored
unless members of Utopia Now are performing overtime cleanup.
While hunting down institutional demons, Utopia Now crosses paths with
parasites that creep into the diseased system. The vampires who troll bars where
the destitute forget their problems. The werewolves who stake out boardrooms in
their very own territory. The fairies whose glamour disguises the world of dirt and
corruption mortals are born into without consent. Though these creatures aren’t
the real problem, that doesn’t matter to the self-starters in Utopia Now. They often
take the initiative against the lesser creatures of darkness, just like they would insti-
tutional demons, to explore an innovative use for them, too.
Hunters

You were what they call a “Unicorn,” a unique beast of technical ability, busi-
ness acumen, and straight-up charm that made you a star at every startup you landed
at. It wasn’t until Utopia Now, though, that you renewed your faith in the Truth.
Now you’re indispensable to the operation…but like a lot of your coworkers, you’re
results-driven, and nothing ever seems to get done fast or well enough….
At your last company, you were dismissed as “the marketing chick.” But your
talents go far beyond that. You’re a master at spinning stories unique enough to
sound true but mundane enough to avoid scrutiny. In your 18 months with Utopia
Now, you’ve revolutionized the way the compact covers its operations, but you’re
gradually becoming convinced some of them want to be noticed, to start disrupting
society sooner than later. One day, they’ll have to be taken care of, and you may be
the hunter who’ll fabricate the evidence to cover up their disappearance.
Like so many of your coworkers, you’re a true believer — but it’s not Utopia
Now you believe in. It’s the demiurge, the glorious Machine whose angels sing you
to sleep with industrial hymns. You’re helping Utopia Now clean up its broken and
rogue infrastructure, as you prepare for the day when you can flip the company and

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