Page 17 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains

CHAPTER ONE: PIECES OF FLESH

What makes them dangerous, though,
PERSPECTIVES is that for all their pretenses and human
aspirations, the Created are supernatural
beings. They are possessed of powers that
Players familiar with Promethean: The Created will enable them to hurt people, both physically
recognize those pieced-together pilgrims in this chapter. and psychologically, and their very presence
The perspective here, though, isn’t of the Created, is enough to drive human beings mad over
attempting to find the New Dawn, but of the hunters time. A Promethean that sets up shop in a
who have the misfortune to cross their paths. As such, busy city might just want to learn about its
citizens, but that innocent goal is not possi-
when examining topics such as the Wasteland and ble — the monster will, over time, have a mob
Disquiet, we present the information from the hunters’ of people who are coming after it.
point of view — and the hunters often don’t have any Of course, for many hunters, the horror
idea that these effects exist. They know only that the of the Created is much more visceral and lit-
land is rapidly becoming despoiled (the Wasteland) eral than that.
and that, for whatever reason, they hate or fear the Misconceptions
strange outsider with an intensity that terrified them A cell of hunters, particularly a tier-one
in retrospect (Disquiet). cell, might make a number of logical, but ul-
Hunters do not have the luxury, in dealing with the timately faulty assumptions when encounter-
Created, of turning to a myriad of cultural and fictional ing a Promethean.
sources like they do when dealing with vampires, ghosts, Here are the most common:
or werewolves. Instead, the Created slink through fiction First, although the Hunter: The Vigil
the way they do through the World of Darkness — hunters book refers to these beings as “Reanimated,”
read about things that might be Prometheans, but could the title isn’t really accurate. The Created are
just as easily be some other monster with similar traits. living beings made from dead flesh, but they
are not undead creatures. This means that the
They have very little information to work with, and that usual methods of repelling the dead or un-
means much of the information presented in this chapter is dead — abjurations, magic or Thaumatechnol-
hypothetical rather than practical. Dealing with the Created ogy based on death, vampires, etc. — do not
should be a new, grotesque, and terrifying experience for work on them. Likewise, reminders of the life
all involved. that the Created’s donor body had means al-
most nothing to the Promethean in question.
The material in this chapter enhances and places into Second, Prometheans are extremely
greater context the section on “Reanimated” in Hunter: rare. Vampires, werewolves, and mages aren’t
The Vigil (pp. 310-312). On any points of conflict, this book especially common, but they are numerous
takes precedence. enough to form their own organizations,
secret societies, and cliques. The Created
number less than 100 on the planet at any
given time. Their “society” consists of word
Some Prometheans blunder through the World of Dark- of mouth, a loose form of marks left for other pilgrims (which
ness, learning their lessons and interacting with the people hunters are free to find and misinterpret), and epistles sent to
therein. For the most part, these Created don’t show up on a other Prometheans. As such, while Prometheans do fall into
hunter’s radar; unless the hunter encounters Disquiet or the categories (see Lineages), outside observers aren’t likely to rec-
ognize them. In fact, sometimes a Promethean is created and
Wasteland. A Promethean that follows its quest respectfully then put out into the world with no knowledge of what it really
and carefully need never disturb the Vigil. Of course, the Cre- is, and such a being is unlikely to know terms like “Lineage,”
ated are rarely so circumspect. even if the cell of hunters that finds it does.
By its very nature, the Pilgrimage is intrusive. The Created Finally, the Created can resemble a variety of other supernatu-
are not human. They are human-like, articulate beings, attempt- ral creatures. In fact, some of the Lineages’ nicknames refer to other
ing to push their way into a society that does not recognize monsters for this reason. An Ulgan calling up a spirit could just as
or, necessarily, want them. They enter human society with the easily be a mage. A golem smashing through a wall might be a vam-
barest notion of how people function, and do not understand pire or a werewolf. Any Promethean might be recognized as a demon.
many of the basic requirements to act appropriately in human The Created are rare, and that rarity defies easy and accurate
society. That by itself isn’t a huge problem — the Created might categorization. Hunters would, as always, do well to avoid jump-
stand out as strange, but not threatening. ing to conclusions…but doing so might be better for the story.

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