What the Imbued Know…

new

« Prev
1
Next »

Annabelle Devonshire
Administrator

Posts: 149

What the Imbued Know… May 18, 2020 1:21:43 GMT -5

Post by Annabelle Devonshire on May 18, 2020 1:21:43 GMT -5

------------------------------

What the Imbued Know…

------------------------------

The imbued have awakened into a world they know nothing about, and for all the human ingenuity they possess, they are still prey to the obscurity of myth and legend as well as the eons of deception the supernatural have weaved to conceal their existence from humanity.

So the real question is, just what do the Imbued know about their opposition (for want of a better term) and just how much could they ever hope to learn about them?

Below are the general guidelines of what on-line imbued might be able to gather from browsing the forms on hunter-net and what kind of interpretations they might make about the supernatural.

Annabelle Devonshire
Administrator

Posts: 149

What the Imbued Know… May 18, 2020 1:22:40 GMT -5

Post by Annabelle Devonshire on May 18, 2020 1:22:40 GMT -5

Vampires

Vampires (known commonly amongst the on-line community of the imbued as such names as “rots,” “fangs,” “dracula,” etc) are among the most common supernaturals hunters encounter in the urban jungle.

As the quintessential urban predators, one thing most imbued realise about these creatures is the blatantly obvious: their hunger for human blood.

Known Weaknesses

Despite their apparent immortality and great resilience, being already dead, vampires are not indestructible. They can be killed.

Sunlight and fire easily are recognised by hunters as the most exploitable weakness.

Some hunters may believe that a stake through the heart may kill a vampire, but those that put stock in hearsay may find out the truth a little too late. Or, alternatively, those Imbued who do manage to kill a vampire with a stake to the heart may, in fact, unknowingly be in possession of the Vengeance edge Cleave.

Although there may be only a few vampires with issues with the "classic" vampire banes - garlic, running water or the thorns of a hawthorn tree - they are in serious minority. Imbued who rely on these old wives' tales don't last long.

There is some validity to the theory that crosses and other religious items scare vampires away, but results have been mixed enough that most Imbued would be foolish to rely upon it. Many of the imbued who claim to have used crosses successfully actually possess the Defender edge Ward, and they trigger it through a religious symbol. Thus, the power work on all kinds of supernaturals, not just vampires.

Where do Vampires come from?

Here is an oddity. Those Imbued who are able to discover or interrogate a vampire enough to learn how a vampire is made might delve further and discover a startling secret... vampires themselves don't necessarily know much about their history.

Vampires have as many theories about their origins as the imbued... they are the descendants of the biblical Cain, they're a completely different form of predatory species, vampirism is a disease that just simply hasn't been documented, etc.

One thing that is consistent is that neither vampires nor hunters know for certain the real truth behind the vampiric condition.

Families

Those few lucky imbued who even manage to realise there are differences between one vampire to another might find out that there are several distinct "families" of vampires (which they typically refer to as "clans") and that each family has their own set of particular powers and weaknesses that differ from vampire to vampire.

Naturally, a hunter intent on cataloguing every one of these has an impossible task ahead of them. Whilst most vampires know of the more common families, there are several smaller, almost indistinct families of vampires that exist. And it's unlikely that secretive creatures such as these would ever be willing to give up centuries worth of secrets to someone who only just learned that the supernatural existed.

Ghouls

One of the common assets vampires can craft for themselves are human servitors, though sometimes they could also be called slaves, by feeding an ordinary human some of their blood.

Most of the on-line community of Imbued refer to as such names as "blood puppets", "licks", "bruises", "renfields" and other such derogatory names.

Quite often these ghouls prove to be just as formidable opponents to the imbued as the vampires themselves, on account of their undying fanaticism towards protecting their charges and the fact that most of them have a small extent of their vampire master's power.

Though few Imbued, save those who are able to coax the truth out of a vampire, realise is that the ghoul's loyalty and love for their master is down to their repeated consumption of vampire blood. These shackles of blood effectively over-ride any feelings of hate, loathing or disloyalty the ghoul may have towards their master, regardless of how well or how badly treated they are.

Vampire Society

Most imbued who begin to see a bigger picture realise that vampires are social creatures and, as a result, start to cultivate secret societies that allow them to keep the existence of their kind shrouded in superstition.

These societies usually encompass entire cities ruled over by an elder vampire who accepts or declines the requests of other vampires wanting to make others of their kind, enforces law and order in their domain and enacts punishment upon those that break their laws.

Very few imbued realise that there is actually more than on "caste" of vampire societies, each with their own agenda and ideologies to "unlife".

Cannot Become Monsters

Just for the record, Imbued cannot become vampires. Ever. Attempting to change one of the imbued kills the hapless hunter (better dead than spending the rest of their existence as an abomination anyway). There are no exceptions.

Likewise, Imbued can never become Ghouls either. The reverse is also true: Ghouls can never become imbued.

Of course, the imbuing doesn't come with a handbook, very few Imbued know that they cannot become vampires or ghouls. A hunter who is forced to imbibe vampire blood might be watched very closely by her compatriots for signs of betrayal. Worse, if a hunter is captured by a rot, the question might arise of whether she could be raised as an undead creature. Her fellows might have to put her down, too, or she might tell her captors everything about the imbued. The fear of becoming a vampire - indeed, of becoming any sort of monster - should be a strongly motivating force among Imbued.

A vampire who attempts to make a willing slave from one of the chosen certainly fails - but neither vampires nor hunters know that in advance.

Annabelle Devonshire
Administrator

Posts: 149

What the Imbued Know… May 18, 2020 1:23:34 GMT -5

Post by Annabelle Devonshire on May 18, 2020 1:23:34 GMT -5

Shapeshifters

Shapeshifters (known by such names as man-beasts, skinchangers, flickers, and other such names amongst the on-line community of the imbued) are among the most common supernaturals Imbued encounter in the urban jungle.

Neither human nor animal, but somewhere in between. Part human, part nature - and in some cases a violation of both, shapeshifters are amongst the most formidable opponents the imbued can ever hope to face.

Known Weaknesses

Out of all the legends of werewolves, the most famous legend of all has to be their inability to change into their fabled "man-beast" form on any night except that of a full moon. Unfortunately, however, is an inaccurate piece of superstition... as a werewolf can change at any time of the day or night, regardless of the moon's monthly cycle.

The myth that using silver against them is, however, one of the few legends that has some truth to it. And it's not just silver bullets, but anything made of silver that is inimical to these beings to the point they are hurt merely by it's touch (though few hunters are likely to notice that some of them are able to carry silver without the adverse effects when in certain forms, and that some of them even are in possession of weapons made of silver).

Weapons made of silver are particularly deadly and feared amongst shapeshifters, and werewolves go out of their way to conceal this fact from other creatures, and the only way a hunter may have of testing this fact is trying it firsthand in combat. And not only is that a foolhardy decision at the best of times - if a werewolf confronted with silver isn't killed outright, it certainly kills it's attacker.

Attempting to create such weapons means gathering enough silver to make an effective weapon. Not an easy task for any hunter on a budget.

Where do Shapeshifters come from?

Where do werewolves and other shapeshifters come from? Not even they know for sure. While werewolves know have existed alongside humanity as a separate species since prehistory, they have no way of knowing exactly how they came to be. Shapeshifters don't live much longer than humans, and most die young as nearly all warriors seem to.

They preserve legends of animals and humans being combined to make the Earth's chosen protectors, but they have no way of knowing whether these stories are true. Although an inquiring Visionary might seek to comprehend the origins of were-creatures, they would be hard pressed to find any accurate information - even from the beasts themselves.

What Do They Want?

A wily hunter might observe that werewolves seem to venerate the denizens of the spirit world, that they ultimately believe themselves to be the servants of a great mother spirit of the planet whom they call Gaia and that they base their entire lives on the assumption that this mother spirit commands them to protect her from harm and corruption.

They might also discover that they identify all forces of corruption and entropy with the name of "the Wyrm" and tend to blame everything from pollution to environmental damage to human sexual perversion on the Wyrm's insidious influence, and seek to fight Wyrm-inspired phenomena and Wyrm-tainted beings wherever they perceive them, whether the shifters' suspicions are correct or not.

The were-creature's goal is to return the planet to it's ideal natural state, unblemished by the scars that technology, pollution and humanity have left.

An admirable goal, one might think. Wrong. Saving the Earth is far from the same thing as saving humanity.

Shapeshifter Breeds

Popular culture and folklore dictates that the bite or scratch of a werewolf is enough to turn a human into one of them, through the few Imbued that do encounter werewolves and survive a bite or miraculously attain a single scratch instead of being cleaved in half may realise that this myth is false.

Or maybe they might devise, because of their imbuing, they are immune to being "turned" and becoming one of the shapeshifters.

The truth, should the Imbued ever discover it, is that what causes lycanthropy isn't a supernatural curse but hereditary. Werewolves and other were-beasts are born just the same as Imbued and other human beings. And not only that, there are three different "breeds" of shapeshifters.

The circumstances of a single were-creature's birth affects not just it's socialisation, but also it has a profound affect on thought processes, capabilities and role in were-creature society.

Human-born shapeshifters are the most common place, and as a whole are far more likely to behave in a human-like fashion - holding gatherings to discuss issues, preserving legends through oral and written traditions, and debating courses of action rather than immediate and unilaterally resorting to violence. That is, they tend to behave in human ways until they lose their temper.

Some Imbued who frequently encounter these breed of werewolves might realise that they cannot regenerate damage in their human form, and that one well-placed shotgun blast is enough to kill a human-born werewolf whilst they are still in human form.

Wolf-born shapeshifters are a dwindling minority in werewolf society. Unlike their human cousins, "feral-born" favour direct solutions over debate and involved plans. If they believe something is wrong and needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later, they act without thought for long-term consequences. They also tend to show less compassion and sentimentality than the human-born wolves. Existence as a wolf leaves no room for such perceived weaknesses.

Out of all the werewolves, Imbued are extremely unlikely to encounter wolf-born who are amenable to dialogue, as these shapshifters are the most likely to mercilessly kill humans, whom they believe to be the root of the world's problems. And, like their human cousins, they cannot regenerate damage in their birth form, that of a wolf.

The third and final breed is that of the werewolf-born, a breed which shapeshifter society largely views with disdain. Inter-werewolf mating is against their fundamental laws. Each and every "mule", as werewolf-born are often called, has some major deformity - a twisted arm, hunched back, complete lack of body hair or some sort of mental disability. They are derided and treated as second-class citizens as other werewolves regard their distortion as a sign of the corruption that shifters fight as a whole.

Given their outcast existence, werewolf-born are actually surprisingly amenable to approach by open-minded Imbued who seek to understand these beings. Estrangement from mainstream society and bitterness over their lot makes these beings willing to accept the friendship of others. Whether such a relationship can prove useful to a hunter is up for debate.

A werewolf-born, unlike a vampire, wizard or one of the walking dead, was never human in any way. It may look human (although its disfiguration carries over into human form as well). It may have even lived among people, but it was never a human child and has no idea what it means to be truly human. That gulf in understanding may be too much to bridge.

Concepts of attending school, struggling with teen angst or dating may elude the being. And if any member of the werewolf's community learns that it has spoken with "one of those strange humans," the outcast is likely to be pressured into driving off or killing the Imbued, under threat of suffering the same fate.

Out of all the shapeshifters, the werewolf-born are truly terrible in combat. They can shift into man-beast, the dreaded half-human, half-wolf form - most easiest of all the breeds and can regenerate damage in any form.

Though the chances Imbued would realise there were any differences between one were-creature breed and another is unlikely.

Shapeshifter Society

Some Imbued may be surprised to find out that, contrary to the ideas of werewolves being "lone wolves", werewolf society is actually very organised and structured, Although many shapeshifters don't have the problems of mortgages, alimony or a demanding boss to deal with as many Imbued do, some who cling to (or hide behind) their old lives do. They may have the debts and obligations of human society to deal with, as well as their mission to fight what they consider the degradation of the world. Shapeshifter's structure of obligation exists on a number of levels...

The Pack

Like hunters, werewolves tend to work and operate in groups. That doesn't always mean they travel in numbers, just that most work in small groups of three to seven.

The so-called lone wolf is a rarity, and usually are an outcast based on their breeding, a crime committed against the community or because they were overlooked upon their first change. Any hunter who take on a werewolf assuming it to be working alone are assuredly in for a deadly surprise.

Some more observant Imbued might realise that different werewolves have different roles to play in their pack. A Visionary who attributes certain parts of The Word to Imbued in regards to their attitudes and approach to the hunt might realise that werewolves define themselves by their capabilities.

The most blatantly obvious of these roles would be along the lines of warriors, magicians and communications. And also the response Imbued get when approaching a pack member can be determined by that particular werewolf's role in it's group.

Warriors are typically uninterested in anything beyond fighting, for example, although an aggressive hunter might be able to find a point of reference to allow for some dialogue.

Magicians might believe that Imbued have some tie to the spirit world, thanks to their Edges, and seek to learn what it is.

Communicators might be interested in talking to Imbued who seek aid or understand werewolves. The sheer fact that the imbued don't go catatonic may be enough to pique a communicator's curiosity.

Such encounters should never be straightforward, though. Despite pack roles, werewolves' very bestial nature means any discussion may simply be a prelude to an informed attack.

The Colony

Should Imbued ever gain trust enough to be allowed entry into these places (an exceptionally rare and unlikely event) the may realise that the central community for werewolves is their colony, which is composed of many packs. This overriding group is usually based in a place that members consider holy because of its purity and ease of access to the spirit world.

Whilst the majority of these colonies exist in isolated wilderness, some large cities contain at least one or two colonies of werewolves, based in parks or hidden gardens and surrounding buildings.

As much as Imbued try to convince themselves that werewolves are strictly a rural phenomenon, they're wrong.

Shapeshifter Heritage

As already discussed, werewolves reproduce by breeding with humans and wolves that carry some werewolf genetic material. Could Imbued with a scientific background track down such genes? Probably not. First of all, isolating any gene - even a mundane one - and its relationship with the body is a fantastically difficult process that requires years of work and expensive equipment. Only a fraction of the genes in the human genome have been explored. Added to that is the fact that this "gene" might not exist in the traditional human genome at all. It could be a function of werewolves' supernatural nature and may not be detectable by human science.

On the whole, werewolves tend to breed with the same groups of families. The result is that, over time, distinct lineages of werewolves emerge. Each with their own niche in the modern world, and very few experienced Imbued might just begin to recognise the distinctions between them.

City Wolves

Just as many animals from rats to foxes, pigeons to ducks, have adapted to city living, so has this bloodline of werewolves. These wolves rarely mix with the high society of urban culture, preferring to prowl among the dregs where they can stay better hidden and pursue their agendas freely. There, the wearisome problems of killing investigating policemen and intruders are diminished.

These urban creatures bred with street people and the poor. More information about what's really happening in the world is passed around by folks on the streets than in the boardrooms of big firms, and the city werewolf knows it. The homeless sneak under most people's radar and can see and learn things that ordinary people overlook.

Techno Wolves

Werewolves on the whole reject mankind's science as a sign of humanity's fall from the purity of the natural world. These werewolves are different, using technology with an almost gleeful abandon. Whereas most changers are hostile to the concept, these creatures believe that technology itself is not the culprit, but rather humanity's misuse of it.

They think science can be used to help correct the human problem. Everything from handheld computers to sub-machine guns is this bloodline's stock in trade. They're as capable of fighting tooth and claws as any other werewolf. They just choose not to.

These werewolves are almost exclusively city dwellers, but unlike their city-wolf cousins, they choose to breed and mix with the upper echelons of society - people with the power, influence and authority to further the werewolves' cause, not to mention their access to the really good toys.

They're a clash of appearance, a raging beast, and reality, a cunning corporate predator, that might catch most hunters flatfooted, in that they're as likely to strike back at the imbued with a pistol or a slashed credit rating as they are to shift into man-wolf form and leap to the attack.

Family Wolves

Werewolves need non-werewolf family members with whom to breed, or the race would die out. This particular group of wolves makes looking after breeding stock, human or wolf, their primary duty. These creatures live much close to their kin than do others of their kind, and tend to act in conventional human ways. They drink, dance and fight with a passion that some of the other more pragmatic bloodlines lack.

The family werewolf can encounter Imbued with a fair degree of frequency, as far as such meetings go. The creature mixes with relatives, who in turn mix with human society. Any interaction between a predator clothed in human flesh and humanity is bound to be fraught with problems and lead to potentially serious flash-points that draw Imbued' attention.

Indeed, family wolves' obsession with breeding and conceiving more werewolves leads to a casual attitude towards sex. In theory, and human could be kin, so is worth breeding with. These beings can go so far as commit rape, especially when alcohol is involved. They can also pressure known family members to breed out of obligation. Many kin, accustomed to modern society's attitudes, may resist such advances and seek out friends or acquaintances - but almost never the authorities - to help them. Those friends or acquaintances may just turn out to be Imbued.

And yet, family wolves' desire to protect relatives may motivate them to ally with Imbued when mutual threats, mundane or supernatural, arise. A hunter and an inhuman member of the "close" family down the street may need to work together when malicious spirits haunt the neighbourhood. There's certainly room to inspire empathy between the two sides, which both seek to protect their own.

Warriors Wolves

In many ways, warriors wolves best represent the traditional idea of werewolves: fast, fierce and with little regard for their own or others' safety. The idea of honour is nearly as important as actual victory in battle for this bloodline. Fighting is their reason for being, and they devote their lives to becoming great warriors. Thus, they tend to be tougher, more experienced and more skilled fighters than their already formidable brethren. They have a respect system based on numbers of kills and the quality of them.

And yet, Imbued might not be so much at risk from the attention of this bloodline as you might expect. All save a few of the manic imbued could possibly present a challenge to a warrior wolf.

Why would one of these prestige-driven champions waste his time fighting a seeming tubby, middle-aged bank manager or a winsome teenage student? Even if he did, the existence of Imbued is not yet so widely accepted - or know - among werewolves for these combatants to boast of a triumph over such a "mighty" human.

At best, the warrior is laughed at for wasting time and energy on a pathetic person. At worst, she's regarded with shame and is diminished in the eyes of her peers.

If Imbued can make their presence significant enough that a warrior wolf is forced to deal with them, the creature's code might still prevent him from taking lethal action, leaving room for negotiation, communication and perhaps understanding. Indeed, some violently inclined hunters might actually find more in common with these wolves than they could guess.

This is not to say, however, that if a hunter makes enough of a nuisance of himself, he can't be killed out of hand. Not for the glory, but simply to eliminate him, maybe never to be mentioned "back at the sept." If one of the chosen proves himself a considerable opponent, he might be viewed as an honourable enemy and receive the attention of several warrior wolves.

Leader Wolves

This niche of werewolves is composed of those that consider themselves the elite of their kind. Ironically, they are also the most human. They are prone to using politics and other manipulative, "human" ways to get what they want.

Leader wolves breed with the blood-kin of human society's elite: the hereditary rulers, and smart, savvy politicians that grease the wheels of the human power structure.

Because of this "cultured" upbringing, they are slightly less inclined towards violence than other wolves are. In fact, they tend to use other werewolves to do their dirty work for them.

Although some Imbued might be aware of an "Alpha" or "leader" in a werewolf pack, few of them may realise that Leader Wolves actually exist though may become aware after multiple encounters with their minions. And, if the chosen become enough of an impediment to their plans, the Leader Wolf might decide to deal with them herself.

Conversely, leaders might be willing to ally with Imbued who seek understanding or cooperation. while these werewolves are unlike to see Imbued as equals, they may see the imbued as useful tools for the cause.

Adept at dealing with people, leaders could convince Imbued that their agendas are similar - and that may actually be true. Much of the corruption that werewolves fight is equally as inimical to many people.

The question is: When do such coinciding purposes cross, say when a hunter's own company or town is targeted for attention?

Mutant Wolves

Amazingly, not all werewolves are dedicated to serving and protecting Mother Earth. Some have become twisted or perverted by the very struggle to save her. others have been touched directly by the Wyrm. And some have been tempted over to the other side thanks to overwhelming pride, greed or selfishness. The result is shapeshifters actually seek to destroy the world through corruption. They strive to poison the land, water and air, kill all humanity and wipe out other werewolves in the name of the Wyrm.

Such allegiance can have a terrible warping effect on these traitors' bodies and minds, making them far more ugly than even the werewolf-born. Although they function much like others of their kind, these creatures' bodies are twisted by exposure to foul chemicals and possibly as a sign of the depravity they have embraced. These twisted wolves revel in emotional abuse, pointless and gratuitous violence, and worshipping twisted spirits of pain, hate and fear.

Family of Shapeshifters

Werewolves may be powerful and deadly, but they'd be nothing without their support structure: the people and wolves that carry the blood but who are not werewolves themselves. These people live as bridges between the normal, mundane world and the supernatural world of shapechangers. These "kin" are largely aware of werewolves and of the forces they fight, but are not truly part of the realms werewolves inhabit.

For the vast majority of humankin, the only trait they exhibit that marks them as different from the rest of humanity is the fact that they can see werewolves for what they are without becoming hysterical or catatonic.

While they are no more immune than Imbued are to the rational fear of seeing a mass of muscle, fur and claws, they don't suffer the mental collapse that most people do when confronted with such a sight. Similarly, kin are immune to the effects of seeing Imbued Edges in overt use. They don't lose their minds in the presence of such displays, but knowledge of such miraculous powers in use is still likely to frighten them.

For their part, most family members are aware of only the broadest aspects of werewolf society. Although many work to support full-blooded relatives, a lot of the most important secrets are reserved for werewolves alone. So, while kin might seem like a soft target for Imbued seeking information, they can't usually offer any relevant insights. They might know that a colony is located somewhere in the region, but not where or how to find it. Kin could know the name of a local shapechanger leader, but not know what he looks like or where to find him.

Other Shapeshifters

Although by far the most common, werewolves are not the only shapeshifting monsters in the world. Whilst the rest combined - with one notable exception - may not be as numerous as werewolves, they are still a very real threat, and some Imbued have already faced them.

Shapeshifter Relationships

Although Imbued who somehow manage to discover there are, in fact, different species of were-creatures in the world it would be a miracle in itself if they were to realise that the various were-species are far from a universal, happy brotherhood. In fact, due to actions taken by werewolves in pre-historic times, when they waged war on rival shapeshifters, other changing breeds actively hate werewolves.

Due to werewolves' vastly greater numbers, however, this hatred rarely erupts into full-scale warfare.

Imbued Kinfolk?

Just so we're clear... no one who carries the werewolf bloodline is imbued. Imbued cannot have a blood parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt or child that is a werewolf or that is werewolf kin. The Messengers simply never choose anyone with such close ties to the supernatural.

This proscription also applies to sexual interaction with a werewolf. Given that werewolves are living beings that can assume human shape, it's possible for other people to have sex with them. Imbued cannot become pregnant by a werewolf, nor can he impregnate one. Perhaps the fact of being imbued precludes the supernatural from perpetuating in this way, or the Messengers do not allow the imbued to achieve a lineage with monsters.

The point is, no one with such physical ties to shapeshifters can be imbued. They cannot even become Bystanders.

But, of course, neither Imbued nor shapeshifters know about this fact...

Annabelle Devonshire
Administrator

Posts: 149

What the Imbued Know… May 18, 2020 1:26:12 GMT -5

Post by Annabelle Devonshire on May 18, 2020 1:26:12 GMT -5

Wizards

Wizards (known by such names as "witches/warlocks", "manipulators", "merlins", and other such names amongst the on-line community of the imbued) are among the most common supernaturals hunters encounter in the urban jungle.

Wizards are baffling, dangerous and unpredictable to the imbued. Their magic is a formidable and dynamic power, chaotic and ever-puzzling, used to make a person disappear before your eyes, or subtly used to “find” a key in a pocket that just happens to open a resistant padlock.

Where do Wizards come from?

Imbued attempting to isolate the source of what causes people to become manipulators will find that, generally speaking, no one type of person becomes a witch. There are no likely targets, such as a culture or demographic group. Nobody who might suddenly flare up and wield magical powers. They may discover, through significant effort, that whatever magic that causes wizards to be made is a fickle force. It could choose (or be chosen by) only those prepared to wield it. And when that happens, it can change everything.

Hunters who explore this may find that in manipulator circles the process is known as awakening. In that the hold the belief is that those without magic are, metaphorically speaking, asleep. The real world, the world of magic, passes them by as they stumble around with their eyes closed. These “sleepers” (another witch term) is your average John Q. Public who is oblivious to the supernatural workings of the world.

Occasionally, however, one of the sleepers “wakes up” with the power to change reality. He becomes a burgeoning mage. This magic may hit him one morning on the way to school, with little or no warning, or it may build over a period of days or weeks, even months. The change can be prefaced by haunting dreams, odd coincidences, or a strange air to the person that is unsettling. Then the individual’s mind’s eye opens and he suddenly has access to amazing capabilities.

Granted, awakening doesn’t automatically grant the power to sink continents or open gateways to Pluto, but it does open the door a crack. Small powers. Low-key capabilities. The capacity to tweak and nudge reality in ways that benefit the manipulator.

Much as with people who are imbued, those who are mentally prepared for the transformation can potentially awaken. People with minds open just a little more than their fellow humans. People who “sleep” restlessly in their day-to-day lives, barely conscious that there’s more to the world. Individuals who just get a glimpse that there’s more potential to life and existence than the daily grind. To some of these folks, magic becomes a wonderful tool - or magic chooses them to be its tools.

As far as hunters are concerned, the Second Sight suggests the presence of a fully awakened mage. The person is “off” or tainted somehow. But a mage who still undergoes the process of awakening - who has yet to develop - isn’t so obviously wrong. Imbued may get a few odd impressions - a flash of colour, a blink of light, a shimmering of imagery - but nothing so definitive as a sensation of “abomination.”

Observation edges such as Discern, Witness and Illuminate give only meagre signals about emerging wizards - an artificially heightened pulse, a sensation of fear or anxiety from the subject, or brighter than usual colours surrounding the individual. Interpreted different ways, these signs might suggest someone who teeters on the brink of the supernatural and who might still be saved, or someone who simply has yet to fall.

What Do They Want?

Manipulators are intensely devoted to cosmic designs, ideals that provide metaphysical models to which they adhere in practicing their magic. They uphold strangely transcendental views of the universe, dynamic paradigms that explain everything. They have constantly shifting notions of magic, of the spheres of Creation, and of how it all works together to be moulded in their hands like putty. To manipulators, magic has a world of definitions. Some harness it through machinery, Some believe it’s granted to them through their worship of God (or many gods). Others create magic out of violence or find it in nature or believe they can siphon it from an Ethernet port. They all believe something different and have various hopes for what they can achieve with the universe.

That’s all well and good, but here’s a little secret: Hunters probably never learn all that. The imbued don’t get more than brief glimmers into wizards’ philosophies. Perhaps they learn that there’s more to the world than ordinary people see, that space and time are mutable, or that “fate is what we make it,” but few warlocks are really willing to share even that much with such strange or intrusive people. A glimpse is all that’s available to the chosen, and it’s frightening all by itself. You need to have some inkling of manipulators’ motives, though. They tend to uphold a few primary ideals that help you define their actions, behaviour and personality.

The Three A’s: Three concepts are crucial to mage comprehension: awakening, avatar and ascension. Awakening is discussed previously. It’s all about an individual mortal opening her eyes to the possibilities of the universe and accessing magical powers as a result.

An avatar is the spirit of a mage, though no mage can agree on what it really is. It’s seen differently by different witches - a tiny mouse-like voice inside their heads, a powerful reflection of their inner self, or a dead goddess who commands them from beyond the earthly plane. In short, the avatar is a sort of “inner spirit” that sometimes gently guides a mage or demands certain action. It’s something like what the Messengers are for the imbued - an unseen force that’s perhaps less cryptic (though only slightly so), and more engaging. A mage can feel his avatar as a part of his identity whereas hunters often perceive the Heralds and their influence as other.

“Ascension” also means something different for every witch, but it ultimately leads to one thing for all - the whole of humanity and reality rising to a new plane of consciousness in which magic is not only allowed, but infinitely possible. Some mages see it as a sort of heaven. Others believe it to be a simple shift in humanity’s collective belief system. It’s like awakening but on a global level instead of an individual one. Some mages pursue general human ascension so doggedly that sleepers get hurt in their efforts. How better to wake people than to shake them, right? You can’t make a paradigm without breaking a few eggs, these sorcerers proclaim.

If Tradition mages have one general goal, ascension is it. Sleepers’ mass awakening, allowing wizards to work their magic with impunity and to stamp their impression of Creation on everything.

Technocracy agents, it should be noted, recognise the Three A’s, too. They’re familiar with them. They just don’t follow them. In fact, the Three A’s stand in complete contrast to agents’ philosophy. They don’t want individual people awakening (unless they’re on the techno-team, of course). They don’t acknowledge avatars (science leaves no room for such claptrap). And agents vehemently discourage any form of ascension. They’re proponents of the human status quo. A general improvement in the quality of life for all mankind - on the technocracy’s terms. The Three A’s support individual achievement rather than the betterment of all.

Another note: While hunters probably don’t ever really learn of these three concepts explicitly, they may catch wind of them enough to make guesses at their meaning. The chosen might, for example, confuse the concept of an “avatar” with the Messengers, or see “awakening” as something akin to the imbuing or as some sort of demonic initiation. They might even interpret “ascension” as all of humanity waking up to monsters’ existence, or as a cult-like pseudo-religious goal such as Heaven’s Gate suicide-induced “ascension” in the group’s spaceship. Whether such concepts are welcoming or terrifying to a hunter is up to her and her skewed comprehension of the ideals.

Reality Is Flexible: To a mage, reality isn’t clearly defined. (Although it is to technocrats.) Science may seek to box reality up in rules and laws and theories, but it isn’t that straightforward to manipulators. After all, didn’t we once believe that God snapped his fingers and created Adam and Eve out of nothing but more than divine providence? That the sun revolved around the Earth? That the spontaneous generation of life was not only possible, but the norm?

Ideas change. In fact, ideas change so much that the old rules are just as likely to be possible as new ones. To will workers, life can generate spontaneously. The sun can revolve around the Earth. There are no hard and fast rules to reality. It’s flexible. Ever-changing based on what people can believe. And if mages get their way, reality will become even more malleable. Tradition mages don’t like static thought. They’re the personification of dynamics - forces of change, movement and magic. Reality is a blank canvas to them. They - or enough people - just need to believe an idea or possibility and it might just become true.

However, this concept of reality manipulation can lead to some very dangerous and selfish ends. It’s easy for a mage to alter reality to his own benefit rather than to the general good. And who decides what “developments” are better than others? Twenty dollars found conveniently on the street may be twenty dollars out of a hunter’s pocket, whether he knows it or not.

It’s on this fine point - the ethics of playing with fate - that hunters may clash most severely with wizards. Sure, a sorcerer might seem human and even offer to help imbued search for some walking dead, but how do hunters respond to the wizard’s casual erasing of witnesses’ memories along the way? When do his tricks turn into playing God and violate rights, laws and morals?

People Are Asleep: As previously stated, mages diminish ordinary people who are unaware of reality as a plaything; they call everyday folk “sleepers.” Such a perspective can influence how a warlock perceives the masses. In some senses, sleepers are considered the enemy. They represent static, unchanging thought. Their very presence can cause a witch’s magic to fail or go awry and harm the spellbinder herself. Mages can therefore find sleepers infuriating, if not the subject of their wrath.

Other sorcerers feel sympathy for sleepers. These mages may feel for the poor, ignorant masses that can’t touch magic, that can’t see the truth. Mages arose from the masses, after all. These warlocks may even try to help sleepers wake up as part of their ascension efforts. The wake-up call may come sooner or later, but whenever it’s heard, it will be essential to wizards who seek to put their mark on Creation, once and for all.

Hunters fall into an awkward gulf between wizards and sleepers in terms of awareness. The imbued are conscious of the supernatural, of mages and of magic. They are even capable of miraculous feats of their own that would make hunters seem similar to wizards. Yet, are the chosen so quick to seek to impose their own will on reality? Have they turned their backs on their previous lives so defiantly that they no longer feel akin to friends and family? Most hunters are still immersed in old lives (or at least, try to cling to life from before), so they are perhaps quicker to count themselves among “sleepers” than “will workers.”

The idea of people as dull, listless or unconscious can challenge or anger the imbued and be a point of contention between hunters and witches. For many chosen, the idea of other folks remaining blind to the truth is all the more reason to protect and save them, rather than to abuse and achieve personal gain from the rest of mankind.

Factions

If hunters are able to research and observe witches for long enough, they may realise they gather in groups called Traditions, which function as secret societies bound together by a loose common philosophy and a survival instinct. Some of these groups have extensive networks of laws and morality (in both magical and mundane matters), while others are merely various manipulators lumped haphazardly under a single banner.

Each of these factions tends to view magic in its own band in a metaphysical spectrum, which results in the primary differences between these groups. How they view magic - or more importantly, how they do magic - is crucial to recognising the variances among the Traditions.

Below are the general types of witches that Imbued are most likely to encounter. This is not a listing of all the factions proper; hunters are very unlikely to ever learn the names or even any salient details about all such societies, even the ones discussed here are barely recognised.

All the imbued know is what they see with their own eyes and hear from other sources such as hunter-net. (And if any hunter did know any accurate information about warlocks, it would be lost amid the misinformation espoused on the web and by word of mouth.)

Occultists

This type of mage can be anything from a weirdo kid who reads pseudo-Satanic books in his spare time to a hardcore occultist like Aleister Crowley who devotes his life to the study of esoteric practices. Their tools are numerous; they tend to rely on magical symbols, numerology and divination. Occultists often have libraries of ancient lore, whether small or large, and they base much of their magic upon these resources. Ritual is common. “Sacrifices” may take place (rarely of the human kind, but anything is possible). Overall, this type of manipulator acts in accordance with many of the stereotypical “secret societies” of the world such as the Masons, the Knights Templar and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Their magic may be accompanied by chanting in strange languages, rubbing of amulets or other mystical items, or even readings from strange books like the Necronomicon.

Modern/Neoteric

“Sorcerers” of this sort seek power in the progress of today. Their lifestyles - and their magic styles - are found upon technology. They are hackers, architects, mad scientists and the lunatic fringe. They are comfortable with computers, the Internet and gadgetry (both low- and high-end). These mages tend to reject small-town life in favour of city living. They dress according to the latest trends or create their own progressive ideas of style. Their magic is often a mind-boggling hybrid of science, pseudo-science and esoteric practices. It isn’t impossible for hunters to encounter a hacker-mage with a flat-screen LCD monitor decorated in ancient Sumerian sigils. These people might even build strange devices that act out of accord with current technology - computers that receive all instructions verbally, automobiles that move exceptionally fast, weapons that rely on sensory disruption. The mages are odd people indeed - like Matrix characters who have stepped off the screen and into the World of Darkness.

Religious

Believe it or not, manipulators exist among most of the world’s major religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism). It’s possible for a hunter to come across a Catholic priest or even a Buddhist monk who appears “wrong” to the sight. Sometimes these people are just “plants” who pretend to be part of a religion to influence the masses into thinking outside the proverbial box. Most of the time, however, these warlocks truly believe in the religion to which they belong. Their magic is incorporated into the trappings and dogma of that faith.

A rabbi manipulator may harness magic and notions of “universal paradigm” through the secret coding of the Hebrew alphabet. A snake-handling Baptist “mage” may perform magic (probably called “miracles”) that assert and reveal the glory of God, even going so far as to perform spectacles in front of parishioners. To these sorcerers, magic and religion go hand in hand. Hunters may find these mages to be sympathetic - people who make honest faith a reality - or as dangerous heretics who lead humanity astray.

Pagan/Primeval

“New Age” or “pagan” traditions are the basis for these manipulators’ (or more appropriately, witches’) magic. They typically adhere to a mixture of Wiccan or shamanic belief. Some seem stereotypical and use items such as crystal balls and incense as tools of their craft, while others may be less obvious in their approach. In the latter case, imagine an eco-terrorist woodsman who supports a belief that magic exists in nature, so nature should be preserved. The magic of such pagans can be based on “spells” and may be accomplished through burning sage, banging drums or holding crystals.

In general, these witches’ belief systems are a conglomeration of forgotten ideals and may reflect elements of Native American, African and Celtic culture. Hints of such faith can lead hunters to believe in a “New Age conspiracy” if they’re appropriately closed-minded, as all those crystal-wavers and tree-huggers are clearly part of some secret coven or plan.

Ecstatics

Throughout history, there have been groups such as Sufis, Voudoun or the Dionysian cults of Greece. Members of these organisations believe that enlightenment is attainable through the ecstatic experience - dancing, drugs, starvation and other assaults on the body and senses. Some modern manipulators follow similar paths, achieving magic through abuse or indulgence. Some adhere to ancient, primal trappings such as sweat lodges or to ascetic practises that seek purification through abstinence from food, water or sleep. Other manipulators root these ideals in the modern world and may attain “enlightenment” through trances achieved by electronic music, chemically manufactured drugs or sex.

Any of these kinds of practioners may form small cabals or whole cults based on the “losing of the self.” To the uninitiated observer, such behaviour can seem sinful, torturous, dangerous, decadent or self-indulgent.

Orphans

These manipulators are unfettered by any sort of socio-magical group. No one claims dominance over them, and they don’t claim membership with anyone else. Why? There are various reasons. The first is that they just aren’t “joiners.” One isn’t born into the various magical factions, they’re chosen (meaning it’s possible to move among them). An “orphan” may simply choose to remain unaffiliated. It’s also possible that a loner has awakened into ignorance and is totally unaware of the factions - or perhaps they are unaware of him.

Regardless, these people tend to be the “Everymage” - they tend to espouse no agenda and usually don’t have deep religious associations. They do their own thing without immediate superiors, guidelines or support. That lack of support is their greatest weakness, though. They can follow their own will regarding magic, but no fellow society members back them up when things go wrong.

The Technocrats

Imbued who are lucky (or unlucky) enough to delve deeper into the rabbit hole will find there is another group of manipulators in the world that would appear to use no “magic” at all. And yet, they seem to be of a similar breed. They accomplish amazing feats, alter events around them and seem to change reality at their will. Instead of relying on occult or metaphysical paths, these people adhere to a strictly scientific blueprint. Their science, however, is well beyond the technological watermark that we know. Their “magic” operates in the realm of science fiction, at least to hunters; understanding. These technocrats (also called “agents” or “company men”) might be seen using items such as cybernetic implants, computer LCD screens that are worn like sunglasses, or electron microscopes that can see phenomena smaller than quarks.

An important point to understand about this brand of manipulator is that while other mages are about change, this group is staunchly opposed to change of any kind. They are creatures of the status quo. They seek a unified world, a grand landscape in which we all watch the same TV shows, eat the same healthy foods and aren’t bothered by any pesky supernatural influences. To maintain the firmament of order, technocrats quickly try to squash any sort of deviance or aberrant behaviour that disrupts citizens’ quiet and peaceful lives - and that includes the activities of most monsters.

Agents aren’t keen on the actions of other manipulators, either. Such offensive warlocks are labelled “reality deviants” and are dealt with if they make waves. (“Dealt with” can mean anything from a warning to an assassination.) Bloodsuckers, shapeshifters, ghosts and other creatures are similarly dealt with when they make trouble. If an action or event goes against the grain and spooks the sleeper masses, the company men have something to say about it. Sometimes even hunters’ activities raise their ire.

Becoming a technocrat isn’t like being initiated into one of the sorcerer orders. An agent is awakened like any other mage - he may have strange dreams or experience flashes of power - but once other technocrats get a hold of him, that’s it.

Newcomers don’t learn how to stage-manage the theatre of reality. There’s no initiation into occult mysteries or intense mystical traditions. An initiate’s potential is explored through reason and science. He may suddenly get a full-blown scholarship to MIT, with “special” classes designed just for him. Or he may be “encouraged” to train with the FBI, only to be pulled out of the program six months later to participate in a more intense, highly classified (and nameless) program. From there, a manipulator is exposed to the dangers that reality deviants pose. He learns to deaden the dynamic nature of his own magic, allowing him to focus on enforcing rather than upsetting reality’s consensus.

Anyone who awakens can be targeted for indoctrination into the technocratic world. Even manipulators who have operated as reality deviants for years can be targeted, kidnapped and brainwashed into supporting the very ideals they struggled so long to resist. The technocrats are perhaps one of the most invasive organisations the world has ever known - a secret underground “government” hell-bent on protecting the masses, no matter the cost.

Technocrat Factions

Even within this seemingly unified order of agents there exist inner divisions that support and pursue different agendas, party lines and methodologies. Here are these separate factions in loose detail as the imbued might encounter them.

Suits

These agents are something like the “Men in Black” of UFO-lore (not the movie comedies). In urban legend, after a UFO sighting or other Fortean phenomenon, men show up in dark suits and glasses to interview or threaten witnesses. Sometimes they claim to be government agents, NASA employees or even journalists. They “encourage” witnesses to keep their mouths shut through either simple suggestion or outright intimidation.

Some technocrats actually behave this way, and they are perhaps the most likely agents that hunters meet. They generally appear in black cars and black suits, usually after a supernatural occurrence, and they perform various tasks. Sometimes they collect information or evidence. Other times they “sanitise” the area - sometimes capturing witnesses (who may or may not be seen again), burning the whole area with a controlled blaze or removing offending elements (i.e, the supernatural) with swift action. These manipulators often bear small technological items such as powerful hand-held computers, earpieces and advanced cell phones.

The similarity of their appearance to popular ideals of secret service and other government agents is uncanny, and it’s quite possible that hunters may interpret them as authority figures in the know about the supernatural.

Terminators

If a significant supernatural phenomenon occurs (the kind involving explosions, public spectacles or the inexplicable running rampant), one or more of these agents might appear. The film reference above is intended. These individuals look like normal men and women, but they’re powerhouses. Unstoppable. They have unimaginable strength coupled with nightmarish stamina, and they don’t back down.

The hunter who “examines” a member of these shock troops (perhaps with clever use of Discern or a good Cleave attack) may discover something disturbing - underlying machinery. These individuals aren’t whole-sale robots, and even the term “cyborg” is pushing it, but these company men and women have technology imbedded in their bodies. Whether it’s a skull of metal plating or a small computer implanted in a forearm, they are a mixture of man and machine. These manipulators are bent on action, not subtlety or subterfuge.

Scientists

These Technocrats stay largely behind the scenes and don’t often cross paths with the Imbued. They are, as the name implies, scientific investigators. Think lab-coats, microscopes and scalpels. One may join a carload of suits to examine evidence on a scene. Or, if a hunter is captured he could encounter at least one of these guys as they hover over him with strange sensors and detectors, and perhaps as they cut away skin samples with an unusually thin, laser scalpel.

These individuals are intellectuals and academics, working to further the knowledge of their technocratic faction. They don’t usually get involved in direct encounters. They may also be covertly placed in laboratories, government centres or in independent research stations across the world. A hunter may even take a urine test for work and there on the other side of a window, taking away the sample, might be one of these technocrat scientists.

The Crafts

Hunters are unlikely to recognise the difference between your average mage and what might be called a “hedge” or “craft” magician. All in all, they look similar. They both may constantly wear occult symbols. They both may have their noses buried in a book or laptop. And to the average chosen with active second sight , they look just as wrong or inappropriate or baffling as any other supernatural being.

So why does the difference between a Tradition witch and a hedge magician matter?

Craft magicians are essentially low-powered mages. Their capabilities don’t rely on harnessing the ever-shifting whorls and eddies of reality’s flow. In fact, they rarely have more than a bag of tricks at their disposal. Instead of making a Mercedes conveniently explode, these magicians tend to pull out Tarot cards or “spirit bags” and perform what might be considered parlour tricks. They can read futures (with accuracy), conjure small items or make other items disappear. They might even be able to “convince” someone to do something such as steal an object, as long as the request doesn’t defy the subject’s nature.

But that’s about it. Their repertoire of capabilities isn’t extensive, although an advantage to that “weakness” is that they don’t have to worry about offending reality with their magic like most mages. Their magic ducks just under the cosmic radar.

It’s important to know that these low-level magicians don’t really adhere to much of a social structure or organisation. There may be small clusters or even secret groups of them (imagine groups like the Knights Templar or the Bavarian Illuminati and you get the idea of collections of these small-time manipulators), but they don’t have nearly the network that real manipulators do. These guys aren’t high rollers. They’re stage magicians, shaman, medicine men, advisors, and little more. It’s just that their magic is real rather than sleight of hand.

Hedge magicians are even less in the know about hunters than are their more magically aligned brethren. They know nothing about the imbued as a group, and only a few have a clue about individual hunters’ existences.

They make good introductions for hunters into the realm of magic and wizardry. They imply that magic is real, but not very potent or dangerous. Contrast that impression with the capabilities of Tradition mages or technocrat agents and the imbued are devastated by their own ignorance and arrogance. Magic is devastating when wielded by the right practitioner, and the chosen learn a valuable lesson on making assumptions about the capacity and power of the world’s monsters.

Mages and the Imbued

When a mage and a hunter meet, what happens? Mages look wrong, and yet ostensibly seem human. They have dangerous powers and still check their email and buy groceries and do other “people things.” Hunters typically react to these strangers according to their own personalities (and as reflected by their creeds).

But what do mages think of hunters? As stated before, mages are very individualistic and there’s no single opinion or response to unite them regarding the Imbued. But warlocks can have some general reactions worth considering.

First and foremost, mages may think hunters to be some kind of threat. After all, people who demonstrate inexplicable capabilities, who recognises mages as something other than ordinary and who can respond to wizards’ supernatural activities aren’t exactly normal. And they could get in the way of manipulators’ plans. Warlocks don’t like things impeding their progress or standing in the way of enlightenment. If a witch’s efforts or health is endangered (or she simply predicts such danger), she may react to the perceived threat with violence or more insidious tactics (mind-wipes, torture or magical intimidation).

Also consider that hunters can look like they’re on the technocratic team. Here they are, a bunch of intruders who show up at inopportune moments to throw a monkey wrench in witches’ plans. They can seem hell-bend on interfering with or stopping sorcerers’ efforts, and they may look like blue-collar versions of those agents who seek to enforce the status quo. Or they could even seem like religious freaks because some hunters use loaded terms such as “monster,” “witch-hunt” and “Satanic spawn,” depending on hunters’ religious upbringing.

In any case, a mage can believe himself and his efforts to be jeopardised by these people, and sometimes the best way to deal with a persistent threat is to eradicate it. Technocrats can turn weapons on hunters. These newcomers may be unclassified as company men understand deviants, but a bullet may still dispose of the problem quickly and neatly.

Another possible reaction to imbued appearance or interference is simple interest. Who are these people? What do they want? What are they capable of? Such questions aren’t answered and such possibilities aren’t explored if a mage resorts to assault as a first response. A manipulator may hope to learn everything he can about and from hunters, whether in a friendly, jovial manner or with a more clinical approach.

It isn’t implausible for a hunter and a witch to sit across from each other at a diner tentatively comparing notes without letting too many cats out of the bag. The humanity quality of both can make them intriguing to each other, if both have open minds. Where it goes from there (violence, friendship) is anyone’s guess, depending on how the two treat and deal with each other.

Warlocks may also respond to the imbued in purely practical terms, maybe in connection with an interested approach. They’re not called “manipulators” for nothing. They control. They direct. They apply forces at their will and needs. And here are hunters, capable of some strange effects yet apparently ignorant of or oblivious to the depths of magic and the breadth of the supernatural at work in the world.

A Machiavellian mage is likely to use a hunter like a loaded gun - hold it, point it at an enemy and fire. If a witch is oppressed by a convert team of technocrats, why not spin the attackers as corrupted government pawns or controllers and set the imbued loose? Or maybe a warlock does indeed dabble in magic, but for the betterment of mankind, while he knows of another wizard who casts spells to harm people and take what he wants from them.

Technocrats can look upon hunters as potential tools as well. As seeming authority figures in the know about monsters, and with plans to freeing humanity from monster influence, company men can seem like ideal allies to hunters. Finally, someone in charge whom hunters can confide in (assuming hunters don’t turn their second sight on these people)!

While agents might see hunters as a form of reality deviant, these outsiders can have similar goals to the organisation and be used in the short term to deal with other deviants. (“We have reliable intelligence that says a being preys upon people in C quadrant of 37 District - on Maple Street as you know it.”)

If these tools can be kept on a short leash, they can be used for a while before they too are disposed of as aberrations and threats to the general good.

Imbued and Techno-Mages

The problem with technocrats is that they’re not real big on “anomalies.” Reality isn’t flexible or mutable to them. It needs to be clearly defined, with signposts and fences to keep everyone inside the boundaries and safe from the dangers that lie beyond. Hunters, when they’re encountered or recognised at all, represent a definite anomaly, but they’re not so easily categorised. The few hunters who do appear on the technocrat radar project an incomplete and confusing picture.

Imbued aren’t normal, but they appear to be on the right side. They’re not necessarily mages. Reality is not their plaything. But they’re certainly not ordinary, either. They can perceive magic at work and can do some pretty amazing, if limited, things. So what’s the deal? Technocratic agents aren’t ones to sit on their asses, content to let undefined phenomena pass them by. If they come across and recognise the abnormality of hunters, they act, specifically to better understand or contain such anomalies.

If a group of hunters confronts a mage in a mall food court, sending shoppers screaming, technocrats might arrive to clean up. Same goes for any encounter with any supernatural being, whether walking dead, ghost, bloodsucker, shape changer or warlock. If there’s a big enough scene, there’s a chance that these agents make their presence (and agenda) known.

They might pull up in a black SUV, usher onlookers (hunters included) from any “crime scene,” quickly collect a few samples and then drive away. Such an understated intrusion is creepy enough by itself. It’s worse if hunters (who may have manifested glowing lights, black smoke or a whirlwind) are stamped as “reality deviants,” right along with the beings the imbued faced. Maybe the company men note the hunters and maintain a vigilant watch. Maybe they attempt to capture the chosen and interrogate (experiment and torture) them. Or maybe they just try to put bullets in the hunters’ heads, collect the bodies and incinerate them.

But what do hunters think of agents? If Imbued run into these mysterious beings often enough, the chosen undoubtedly form their own theories and opinions, especially if agents are evasive or downright authoritarian about their activities, organisation and purpose. (“Our business is disclosed on a need-to-know basis, and you do not need to know.”) But agents can be hard to decipher. They look like scientists and government operatives, but they also look wrong or show signs of being creatures, which leads to alarming conclusions.

If scientists know about the supernatural, does that mean monsters might have been created through science, like the Ebola virus or the nuclear bomb? If agents are wrong to the sight, does that mean they’re the mythical string-pullers at work behind the government?

And yet, if operatives seem to work against monsters does that make the “Men in Black” the least of all evils and perhaps even worthy of an alliance - until the hunters can deal with them, too? Are technocrats good guys, bad guys or something altogether different?

Misunderstanding

Generally, mages know next to nothing about the Imbued. The two rarely meet. When they do, however, they first thing a mage thinks isn’t likely to be: “Hey, look at that new breed of witch-hunter!”

Regarding the sleeper masses, mages are oblivious or prideful. Ordinary folks are considered lost in their blindness, so little attention needs to be dedicated to them. If a mage with this mentality passes a hunter on the street, the wizard probably overlooks her completely. His primary need is to open normal people’s minds to magic and help them ascend. Prideful mages look down on regular folks, believing sleepers incapable of ascending and thus beneath notice. These mages pass hunters in the street because they simply don’t care about the “sheep.”

It’s possible that witches do take notice of these strange people, though. Most likely, hunters make their presence known with a display of power or by confronting a warlock or his pawns directly. Those who encounter the imbued tend to form misconceptions about them.

Hunters Are New Mages: Makes sense, doesn’t it? One day, a normal person’s perceptions shift wildly to the left. She gets messages from beyond. She exhibits powers outside the scope of rational possibility. On the surface, she looks, talks and acts like a mage, and a manipulator is likely to think that a new imbued is really a newly awakened, uninitiated witch. The problem is, mages like to indoctrinate and train newcomers, so if this misunderstanding is made, it can have disastrous repercussions.

Consider a mage who brings a newly chosen hunter back to his chantry to introduce her to his allies. They may actually try to teach the hunter magic abilities! (Which can’t work.) In time, it becomes apparent that the Imbued doesn’t have an Avatar and can’t manipulate reality as mages do.

What happens next is anyone’s guess. Perhaps the mages try to keep the hunter in their confidence to study, understand and use her as a tool in the world. Or perhaps they seek to kill her for knowing too much.

Now imagine the concept of a hunter being mistaken for a mage taken a step further, with technocrat agents discovering the imbued. The agency frowns on wildcards like that, and probably tries to capture and mind-wipe the hunter to destroy her abilities, or seeks to convert her to the organisation’s agenda, or just tries to kill her outright.

In the first two instances, the “initiate” quickly proves unusual as a mage when second sight’s protection keeps her mind, individuality and capability’s fully intact. She can’t be reprogrammed or assimilated by her very nature.

The technocracy thus has something else on its hands and must decide what to do with this mystery. The agency might try to maintain friendly relations as a father figure for the hunter and keep her at its disposal to deal with other aberrations. It might subject her to a barrage of tests and experiments to learn what she is and to categorise her. Or the organisation might just try to dispose of her and be done with it.

Imbued Are Pawns: Mages and agents tend to be paranoid. They’re assailed by opposing forces from every direction, whether it’s by other mages, from shadowy supernatural enemies or from reality itself. Hunters, ignorant of what they’ve become and why they can do things, may be interpreted as the puppets of these threatening forces. If a mage encounters sleepers who suddenly roll over and become dangerous, she doesn’t automatically accept that they’re empowered, self-determined beings. No other sleepers are, so why should these ones be? More likely, she suspects that someone is behind these humans, that something is bestowing them powers and putting them in the way of the witch’s designs.

Some opposing mage from another radically different belief system, perhaps? The techno-agents using a new kind of weapon? Or maybe reality itself has decided to punish the witch by throwing these humans in her way.

Ultimately, hunters end up looking like puppets, and mages are likely to try to find out who pulls their strings.

Imbued Are the Future: Mages love the idea that they foster some sort of mass awakening across the world. Quite a few manipulators believe that throwing open everyone’s mental doors is a good thing. That would make for a new golden age for warlocks, in which they could warp reality at a whim, without the weight of humanity’s disbelief crushing their efforts.

Imagine such a warlock meeting one of the Imbued. The mage might be the object of the hunter’s imbuing. In the mage’s eyes, he demonstrates magical awareness and capabilities, but perhaps not the capacity to control reality or deal with it in terms that other mages do. This new development might come as a wonderful surprise: The hunter may be perceived as the “next step in human evolution.”

That is, the hunter’s change may suit the mage’s vision (however skewed) of mass enlightenment.

So what happens then? The hunter becomes a subject of fascination for the warlock. Perhaps the mage approaches the hunter to discuss what has happened, upholding the chosen as a pseudo-messiah. Maybe the warlock seeks to take the hunter back to his allies with similar results as those discussed for mistaking a hunter for a burgeoning mage. The sorcerer could trail the hunter and protect him against any supernatural threats that loom over the subject. Or maybe the will worker seeks to study and experiment upon the hunter to learn what makes him different, and how the same can be achieved in other sleepers.

If a technocrat encounters a hunter and believes him to be the first in a wave of waking sleepers, the agent’s first recourse is probably to cleanse the situation. To amputate the infected limb. To stem the contagion. And if more of these infected sleepers emerge, well, they need to be studied under more clinical circumstances to find a remedy to the problem.

Word of Mouth

If mages can encounter, recognise, investigate, confront and deal with hunters, why isn’t knowledge of the imbued widespread among witches? Why haven’t will workers all taken the imbued as acolytes, subjects them to autopsies, or systematically eradicated the chosen wholesale? Some wizards run into and run afoul of hunters, but word of these people isn’t shared or isn’t believed for various reasons.

First, mages and hunters are so sufficiently rare that encounters between them are minimal in the grand scheme of worldly interaction. Two ants from different colonies might meet on a beach, but it takes a long time for them to take stock of opposing numbers and to locate each other’s hill. Lots of little skirmishes happen before all-out community confrontation breaks out. Throw in distractions for each side such as mages’ other pursuits and hunters’ interactions with monsters of all other kinds, and you get forces fighting wars on various fronts. The desire or capacity to focus on each other diminishes or is lost completely. Mages simply don’t have the numbers, resources or bandwidth to immerse themselves in the hunter phenomenon.

Those mages who do notice hunters often do so in the environments in which both reside. The streets, businesses and the facilities of the everyday world. These are hunters’ haunts, because these are the locales in which they still live. The mages who also frequent these places are often newly changed and try to hold onto their previous existence as well. That means these people are often inexperienced or young as wizards go. They don’t comprehend all the creatures that exist out there. Nor can they always tell a vampire from a werewolf from a Defender.

Interactions with hunters are confusing and frightening, just the kinds of things that mages don’t like to discuss until they’re better informed. They don’t want to lose face among their kind for being rash or foolish. They don’t want to cry wolf until they have a real wolf at which to point. And even if these initiate sorcerers made noise about hunters’ existence, more experienced or trained wizards would probably chalk up any claims to ignorance, confusion or panic.

And never forget that mages are paranoid. They struggle with themselves and with enemies to survive and gain power. Why make a lot of noise about a strange kind of sleeper when knowledge of it can be used as a weapon against others? A conniving witch can turn hunters on rival wizards or against the technocracy. Why leak word of her secret weapon? His paranoia keeps them from believing stories about “dangerous people.” Such claims might be perceived as a trap, a ruse or a distraction staged by Tradition or agency adversaries. Indeed, why would sleepers start waking now when the world is in such disarray and the technocracy has such a firm hold? Besides, there’s nothing new under the sun. If something is going on among the masses, it must have happened before and the Traditions, or the company, already knows about it.

The fact is, knowledge of the Imbued doesn’t spread like wildfire among mages because they don’t want to believe it, despite all their claims to seek knowledge and understanding. The imbued don’t appear on wizards’ collective radar.

Objects of Focus

Insight hunters may realise that inexperienced mages require “crutches” to perform magic. Anything from a laptop computer to a small silver charm bracelet is an object that allows wizards to “focus” their minds on a task at hand. These tools are often mundane in origin and do not contain any inherent magic, but they do channel magic. A warlock may have one or more to choose from to perform various feats.

They key thing to remember is that these items are intensely personal to sorcerers and are in tune with a witch’s personality. Some eco-terrorist manipulator is unlikely to rely on a set of virtual-reality goggles as a focus, for example. Nor is a computer hacker likely to use an iron cauldron or satanic grimier as the focus of his concentration. Rather, the eco-terrorist might use a well-worn walking stick and the hacker could focus on a bundle of 10/100 cable around his wrist.

Such objects may stand out as unusual to a hunter using the Discern edge to look at a mage. Even without observation edges, a mage’s focus shows up as corrupt or tainted to the Second Sight. The object itself is not magical, but it lends itself to magical phenomena. A clever hunter using an edge such as Pinpoint may be able to identify the item as a source of power, destroying it and interfering with a wizard’s capacity to perform magic.

Mages and Hunter-Net

The Internet. A vast connection of ones and zeros. A network of sounds, graphics and text that forms the greatest reservoir of information (and misinformation) that humanity has ever known. It’s a progressive piece of technology, an ever-tightening web hell-bent on linking humanity in some kind of online global village.

Hunters use it, clearly. The advent of hunter-net gives the Imbued their own private Internet, a place to share fears and trade misunderstanding, lies and even truths about their origins, goals and adversaries. To some hunters, the Internet is crucial to the calling. Without it, many would be floundering and lost (assuming they aren’t already and simply don’t know it).

It’s fair to say that manipulators turn to the Internet as well, though for different reasons. Despite their reliance on some archaic notions, mages seek to create a “progressive” world and there arguably isn’t anything more progressive than the Internet. Mages also prize information. They love to find it, spread it all out and pick through it to find new “fact” that they can exploit in their constant renovation of reality. But as with many things, mages aren’t content to do things like normal people. Maybe they see better ways and can’t resist attempting them. Or maybe trodding new roads is simply a challenge. Regarldess, mages don’t just log onto the Internet, check their email, look at a few sites on occult information and log off. They like to explore, get into the trenches, see new sights. Manipulators even try to mould the Internet into something new and different that suits their purposes.

As a result, some wizards have a frightening talent for traversing the web. These mages travel an electronic world of backdoors and hidden sites where passwords are nothing more than digital speed bumps. Some literally input their senses via goggles, gloves (or other virtual reality gear) to see the Internet in all its glory. It’s no longer text on a screen but a pseudo-physical place. These mages can go anywhere and see anything using the Internet. They know every technological sewer drain and bolthole online, and they can exploit them.

Hunter-net, however, isn’t your basic website. The Powers That Be protect it, and rumour has it from moderators such as Witness1 and Dole7 that this protection grows increasingly stronger. In practice, that means mages tend to overlook hunter-net and its affiliated sites. The pages escape web-wizards’ notice. Few sorcerers know about hunters, so why would they know about hunter-net?

Should the time come in a plot, however, when mages start to notice the imbued, learn about hunters’ habits, or discover hunter-net, remember that invading the site’s digitally fortified walls is still a big, big deal. Breaking in and sifting through information is nigh-impossible, and even if it can be accomplished, a mage can’t stay long due to the forces at work that purge and cleanse the site. A mage might be able to crack a hunter’s home computer and garner information from lingering hunter-net emails, but beyond that, getting into the site wholesale is a Herculean task.

Imbued Are People, Too

Speaking out of character, anybody who is familiar with Mage knows that Paradox is essentially when reality bites a Mage on the ass hard when ordinary people witness obvious magic. Sleepers are the unwitting authorities on reality’s rules. They enforced the division between what’s possible and what’s not possible. But what’s up with the Imbued?

Imbued are considered to be normal people. That’s right. They’re essentially sleepers. They may be aware of monsters’ existence and know that there’s a second world out there, but they’re not a part of magic.

They don’t have Avatars. They aren’t Awakened as Mages define the term. They’re still Joe Reality, and their minds are a part of the grand tapestry of the consensus. As such, if a manipulator works obvious magic such as teleportation or attempts to turn water into wine before a hunter, the imbued is considered a sleeper. Even a single chosen in the area is excuse for reality to kick a mage in the teeth with Paradox.

And while we’re discussing matters, let’s be clear: Imbued can’t become mages. Ever. They can’t perform magic - not even hedge magic. They can’t go to the Umbra. They don’t even know what the Umbra is. Nor can they be apprentices. Whatever the Heralds do to the chosen upon the imbuing, it makes the hunters antithetical to the capacity to perform magic. Should you really desire, they can be acolytes in the sense that they can perform mundane tasks for any manipulator, but they gain no magical capabilities for doing so.

Similarly, Mages, Technocracy agents, Hedge magicians, Acolytes and Apprentices cannot become Imbued or Bystanders. The Messengers simply do not choose them based on their direct association, unwittingly or not, with magic and the supernatural.

But, of course, the Messengers didn’t present the imbuing with a handbook…

Annabelle Devonshire
Administrator

Posts: 149

What the Imbued Know… May 18, 2020 1:27:20 GMT -5

Post by Annabelle Devonshire on May 18, 2020 1:27:20 GMT -5

Goblins

Nightmares are exiles from humanity. In truth, they are only part human. Their other “half” is something that not even they fully understand. Their souls are divided between the mortal soul and the soul of a creature from a different time and age, and it often seems impossible to reconcile the two. To the untrained eye, these creatures look human, but they have an eerie manner or vibe that unnerves others.

To the gifted eye — that granted to the Imbued, other nightmares and other monsters — these entities are capable of manifesting alien forms ripped straight from the pages of mythology and grisly fairy tales. Some look like the goat-men called satyrs. Others have bruised and tumour-laden flesh and look like goblins or trolls straight out of bedtime stories.

These creatures are born this way, though many don’t realise it. Even as infants, these poor individuals are forced to forever share a half-consciousness from another place. Over time, they either awaken to their “second self” or go helplessly insane and are locked away. Those who find and accept their shared soul are in for no less of a struggle (some might say that simply going insane is easier). They find that they need humans to survive, but most people don’t like being around them. They hunger for more than just ordinary food. Their second soul urges them to consume the abstract matter of dreams, inspiration, and worst of all, fear.

This intangible “sustenance” can be cultivated through great effort and difficulty, or it can be raped from others using ghastly supernatural gifts. The first way is very difficult, yielding few results for the amount of time it takes, but the other way destroys the source and often reduces a victim to an empty, senseless husk.

This race of creatures is only half-aware of its identity, and is thus dying, soon to vanish from the mortal world. This impending extinction makes nightmares sad, desperate and sometimes very dangerous. The scent of their expiration is in the air, and there’s no telling what actions they might take to forestall their inevitable demise.

All in all, nightmares and goblins seem exceptionally rare to hunters. Whilst the imbued have encountered these things before (or believe they have), running afoul of these creatures happens much less often that it does with ghosts and bloodsuckers. Nightmares’ various bizarre forms also make them difficult to understand and identify. They can appear as almost anything from human imagination, and often as things beyond. That makes them highly misunderstood and rarely recognized. These truths make nightmares rarities among the beings that hunters might face.

In addition, goblins are probably the most bizarre creatures that the Imbued can face. Spirits were once human, as were vampires and wizards. Werewolves must often spend at least part of their lives within human society or at the very least learn how to hide within it by assuming human form. Nightmares do not seem to be bound by such mundane trappings. As creatures that appear to reside within a person and that manifest periodically in the material world, goblins can seem alien and bizarre. Most hunters are completely confused by the creatures and often mistake them for some sort of possessing spirit.

Nightmares’ nature and interactions with society are very different than other monsters. Nightmares that victimize humans usually do so out of malicious or sadistic impulses, not necessarily need. While vampires must prey upon people and are a clear danger, nightmares can have their own inscrutable agendas and their own reasons for harming, avoiding or even helping people.

Whilst the most zealous of Imbued view monsters as patently evil and unrepentant villains, goblins are the antithesis of such unsalvageable opponents because their confusing nature and unclear intentions can make them difficult to identify as enemy or ally. They can seem to possess people, but do no harm to their hosts’ lives. They can inspire creativity in humans or ravage people for their inspiration and leave victims emotionally drained. The imbued therefore rarely have clear-cut choices when it comes to dealing with these entities.

Known Weaknesses

Few people, even amongst the Imbued, might realise this but nightmares are susceptible to injury by both mundane means and their Edges. What few of them realise, however, is that use of bullets and tire irons only attack the goblin’s host body. In fact, the goblin’s host is just as susceptible to disease, poison, fire, suffocation, drowning and other natural banes as humans are.

Very few imbued even realise that the bane of nightmares’ existence is, in fact, cold iron. It’s mere presence makes them ill at ease, and wounds from these weapons cause horrible smoking wounds that rob them of their essence and threaten their very existence. It is so distasteful to them that they can even sense cold iron in their immediate presence.

Cold iron, however, is a bit of a paradox to these creatures. Steel actually contains more of the element iron than does cold iron. In fact, most of the things we associate with iron nowadays are actually steel or cast iron (cold iron which has been melted and poured into a mould). Cold iron is what we know as wrought iron. The best way to think about cold iron is not as a thing, but a process, a very low-tech process. It must be produced from iron ore over a charcoal fire. The resulting lump of black-grey material can then be forged (hammered) into useful shapes.

Cold iron weapons are heavier, softer, more brittle than steel weapons and lose their edge more quickly. Any cold iron weapon larger than a dagger is very unwieldy and almost certainly likely to break upon use.

Goblin Society

Goblin society, even more so than that of werewolves, is hierarchy-based. While shapechangers’ standing is derived from respect and accomplishments, nobles empowered with the inborn right to lead rule goblins. Most nobles have near absolute authority in their domains, requiring nightmares to obey their laws or suffer the consequences. Nobles and their courts operate under a feudal system, with the most powerful bearing bonds of fealty from the lower ranking. Noble titles are often inherited along bloodlines, with a single family claiming control over a particular worldly region. Commoner nightmares are given little voice in government and the gap between rulers and subjects is wide and sometimes unbridgeable. This rift is often a source of friction within nightmare society. Goblins are acutely aware of their place; social rank is a prominent and important part of all nightmare interactions.

Goblins who respect tradition embrace an honourable life that preserves the ways of the past. These creatures tend to behave and dress in an anachronistic manner, affecting mannerisms and styles more in keeping with a Middle Ages court than the modern world. Rebellious nightmares are quite the opposite. They see little need for pretence, codes of honour or any other rules when a minority ruling body represses their people. These anarchists live in the present, scorning the weight of history and acting on their own urges and desires.

Not to say that either group is “good” or “evil.” Both have their strengths and weaknesses, morals and taboos. A traditional goblin might commit murder if ordered to by his liege while a rebel could respect individual lives and seek his own way. A traditionalist could espouse fairness to all creatures while a rebel lies and betrays.

The rift between traditionalist rebel extents to how the camps act toward mortals. Traditionalists tend to be passive toward humanity. While they harvest the creative energies around them, they don't usually seek to harm their targets. Many traditionalists stay in close contact with naturally creative people such as artists, musicians or writers. They try to live in harmony with the human world and soak up the ambient creative energies that dynamic individuals generate. Rebels take a more aggressive and destructive attitude. Rather than go to the effort of cultivating bonds with highly imaginative people, many rebels simply force the creative energies out of people, inducing a sort of emotional rape that leaves victims drained of imagination and any love of life. Rebels see humans as a renewable resource that is meant to be used and abused as needed.

Both traditionalists and outcasts tend to be much more involved in dealings with other nightmares than with humans. Still a nightmare’s human host must interact with the mundane world and a vessel’s actions and attitudes at least partially reflect a nightmare’s tendencies. A violent, pugnacious goblin can have a thrill-seeking gangbanger host who initiates brawls with other gangs and victimizes the weak and powerless. A calm and just troll, on the other hand, may dwell within the body of a police officer. This matching of vessel and nightmare does not always have to be so clear cut, however. A seemingly aggressive and heartless business executive may be a goblin, perhaps a lowly member of a gang of commoners, while a college professor may be a physically frail but extremely wise troll. Whatever their guises, nightmares assume a variety of roles within human society. Their monstrous nature may influence their hosts’ activity, but their true otherworldly identity only comes to the fore when the nightmares manifest.

What Do They Want?

A nightmare’s first goal in life is to ensure that it has steady access to glamour, the human creative energies on which it survives. A goblin that lacks these energies quickly fades away and eventually abandons its host altogether. Goblins seek a reliable source of this power, whether it’s a highly creative individual who radiates passion, or a normal person from whom the nightmare ruthlessly extracts the essence of its existence.

Nightmare society also presents many goals for which goblins strive. A member of the nobility might try to prove herself worthy of a throne or some other important station. While the highest stations of society are determined by blood, a lord’s trusted and most capable allies fill the lesser ones. A noble who proves her worth through acts of daring or loyalty can rise quickly through the ranks quickly. A traditionalist nightmare may track down and bring a defiant rebel to justice, for example, and come into favour.

Even commoners have quite a bit to strive for in courtly nightmare society. While many positions are denied them by birth, commoners who prove themselves useful to rulers can curry favours, rewards or somewhat greater standing in the hierarchy.

Outcasts tend to view the world as a chaotic place where only the strong survive. They delight in humiliating pretentious and arrogant traditionalists, and their pranks often have a dangerous or deadly bent. Indeed, a rebel may pull off a grand prank on a stiff traditionalist to gain the respect of his peers.

To some rebels, humanity is a vast reservoir of glamour waiting to be reaped, with or without consideration for a subject’s concern or well being. In some ways, rebels are like werewolves in that they revel in displays of power, skill and martial prowess, and can gain status among each other out of respect for their capabilities.

Goblin Vs Imbued Interactions

The Imbued represent a dangerous and unsettling development to those few goblins who acknowledge their existence. Imbued, as regular people, can’t understand what nightmares are… beyond alien, intrusive and potentially dangerous. Hunters, like many humans, have a tendency to destroy what they don’t understand. The imbued therefore tend to react harshly to goblins, putting the creatures on the defensive.

Hunters pose a potential danger to the few traditional goblins who recognize them because the chose are far from traditional themselves. They’re a new phenomenon. There’s little or no context in goblin history that suggests how to respond to the Imbued, except as unimaginative closed-minded people. The fact that traditional goblin society is also fossilized and slow to respond to new threats makes reacting to the imbued ponderous at best.

Rebels are quicker to adapt to the emergence of the imbued — if they ever notice them. While some outcasts may be annoyed to discover a new force that curbs their excessive tendencies, hunters represent an important opportunity to gain glory and prestige in the eyes of peers, without risking a head-on confrontation with the nightmare establishment.

Given rebels’ chaotic nature, their response to hunters varies widely. Some may turn tail and run at the sight of the Imbued and their edges. Many rebels may approach hunters on very personal terms, striking up loose alliances if compassion or consideration is demonstrated or nursing hatred toward those that spoil the goblins’ fun. Particularly violent nightmares have a tendency to be bullies. They may intensify their efforts against hunters who present determined opposition or fold completely when their bluffs are called.

Traditionalist nightmares that suspect hunters’ existence at all can watch the Imbued warily. These few nobles recognize hunters as a danger: people who offer little to gain. As counterpoints to the supernatural, Imbued generally have no place in nightmare society and are considered barbarous invaders no matter their true intentions. Elders among the traditionalists tend to avoid hunters at all costs, unwilling to risk their status and power on enemies who fail to recognize the lords’ authority. Young traditionalists are a much different story. An unproved nightmare who takes down a threatening hunter can win much acclaim and admiration from her fellows, helping pave the way for advancement among her own kind.

Idealistic goblins may have a completely different take on Imbued and may approach them on diplomatic terms. Since Imbued perceive supernatural creatures, open-minded nightmares might believe the imbued capable of opening other people’s eyes to the creatures that exist in the world, introducing the fantastic to humanity and spurring the hearts and minds of men. Idealistic hunters could even agree to try while jaded ones could react negatively or violently.

Rebels can resent hunters. Most outcasts are accustomed to working without outside interference, taking the creative energy they need from people. Imbued who oppose such efforts, which would be almost any chose who witness such a ravaging, are a real pain in the ass. Many rebels prefer to form packs to take on the imbued. Brave and bold rebels can seek out dangerous hunters to prove their mettle alone.

Traditional beings tend to deal with threats in a highly organized manner, in keeping with their rigid hierarchies and strictly defined power relationships. When initially confronted with an external danger, nightmares are quick to respond. A noble who cannot defend her vassals often loses the confidence of her underlings. Thus, any threat is taken seriously, no matter how minor it may initially seem. While the upper levels of nightmare leadership may view any threat with caution, lower ranking members of the nobility often greet them as challenges and opportunities to prove their talents. Most reigning goblins prefer to let the lower ranks do the fighting for them rather than risk the prestige they’ve worked so hard to attain. Thus, nightmares who respond to a threat are not necessarily the most skilled or powerful ones in the region, but they are often highly motivated and relentless in pursuing a goal.

Rebellious nightmares put significant emphasis on personal strength and skill in combat They typically constitute the internal threats to which nobles respond thanks to their sheer audacity. The more mayhem they can sow among humans and other nightmares—inciting riots, causing accidents, committing crimes—the more respect and power they command among fellow outcasts. Most rebels have a strong sense of self-preservation, however. They may concoct elaborate and brutally destructive plans, but these can quickly disintegrate in the face of determined opposition.

Rebels might motivate a peaceful human demonstration to turn violent, for example, but when traditional goblin use the same chaos as a cover to put the rebels down, the resistance’s plans may collapse. A clever nightmare always has a foolproof escape plan at the slightest sign of real danger. Many rebels believe that defence and running away are one and the same. To some anarchists, as long as a plan includes enough opportunities for chest-beating, grandstanding and ego massaging, it doesn’t’ really matter if any concrete results are achieved.

Limited Only By Imagination

Goblins are of meagre means compared to other monster types. Many, particularly traditionalists, shun the use of modern equipment. The items that they form with the collected essence of creativity — swords, steeds, armour — are far more important and useful to them. The most dangerous thing about these items is that many nightmares can cause them to appear as if from thin air. An apparently unarmed and helpless “possession victim” can suddenly transform into a heavily armed, armoured and alien warrior.

Overall, nightmares do not have access to many of the resources that other monster types do. Since nightmares do not exert direct control over their mundane hosts, they do not normally plunder bank accounts or amass arsenals to prepare for Imbued or other threats. Nightmares tend to care about items and gear that they can use when dealing with other nightmares, rather than about equipment to use against threats in the mundane world.

Goblin Kin

What might surprise a lot of Imbued is that nightmares are made similarly to how werewolves and other shapeshifters, though with a lot looser set of expectations for a goblin to “breed true” and typically don’t watch over their mortal families, whom they often refer to as “Kinian,” as closely.

These goblin kin tend not to realise their partial otherworldly nature unless they have some kind of contact with nightmares, and typically struggle through life as that weirdo kid in class rooms or that eccentric uncle you used to have. What is even more disturbing is that both goblins and kin might have to trace their families back several generations to determine where their faerie lineage stemmed from.

Also, unlike shapeshifters, if two nightmares conceive a child the infant is born normal or at least as normal as these creatures can get.

For The Record…

Just so we're clear... no one who carries the goblin bloodline is imbued. Imbued cannot have a blood parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt or child that is a goblin or that is goblin kin. The Messengers simply never choose anyone with such close ties to the supernatural.

This proscription also applies to sexual interaction with goblins. Given that goblins are creatures that possess humans, it's possible for other people to have sex with them. Imbued cannot become pregnant by a goblin, nor can he impregnate one. Perhaps the fact of being imbued precludes the supernatural from perpetuating in this way, or the Messengers do not allow the imbued to achieve a lineage with monsters.

The point is, no one with such physical ties to nightmares can be imbued. They cannot even become Bystanders.

But, of course, neither Imbued nor nightmares know about this...

Annabelle Devonshire
Administrator

Posts: 149

What the Imbued Know… May 18, 2020 1:28:48 GMT -5

Post by Annabelle Devonshire on May 18, 2020 1:28:48 GMT -5

Ghosts & Zombies

Passionate, driven and relentless, ghosts and the walking dead are by far the most common enemy that hunters face in their struggle against the supernatural.

Sometimes, a battle-weary hunter wonders if every building hides a few ghosts, every company has a rot or two worming its way up the corporate ladder, and every family is haunted by a poltergeist.

The apparent profusion of spirits means that the small community of hunters worldwide has probably dealt with more possessors, zombies, shamblers and ghosts than all the other types of monsters combined. The reason hunters are still far from complacent about dealing with the dead is simple: the sheer variety of powers these monsters display.

Although the chosen have faced spirits over and over, the true nature of these beings still eludes them.

Where do Ghosts and Zombies come from?

Everyone dies sooner or later. It’s the one thing we can all count on. We lives our lives. We die. After that, who knows?

The restless dead know, at least to a degree. Some people fail to pass on to whatever reward awaits when they die. These souls are trapped in a land of the dead, instead. The ghosts in this bleak, decay-tainted realm can see the living world but struggle to contact it in any way. Trapped with the spirits of those who have died before, these ghosts linger in the next world, feuding amongst themselves, seeking salvation or simply trying to escape oblivion and despair.

Souls might not go on to their final reward - be it Heaven, reincarnation or whatever suited a person’s beliefs in life - for various reasons. Some have ties to their old lives that are too strong to allow them to move on. Others believe they must complete tasks before they can consider the tales of their lives told.

At least, that’s how things were. Now, things are worse than ever in the lands of the dead. A storm swept the underworld, tearing ghosts apart and reducing them to nothingness. The storm was triggered by a huge explosion that rocked the very foundations of the dead lands. The explosion had another cataclysmic effect, too: Hordes of ghosts all over the world were thrust violently back into the lands of the living.

These ghosts found themselves bound to the objects - corpses, buildings, objects and people - with which they collided upon re-entering our reality. Spirits trapped in corpses quickly learned to animate the bodies and became the majority of the walking dead that hunters face. Other ghosts found themselves consigned to haunt the objects, places or people to whom they were suddenly bound. Some spirits even learned to possess the living people or animals with whom they were linked.

Disturbingly, the explosion seems to have done even greater damage: It has weakened the barrier that separates the living from the dead. Events like the dramatic ones in New Dijon suggest that ghosts may continue to re-enter the world in inestimable numbers.

Even more alarming, this sudden influx of the dead seemed to coincide closely with the imbuing of the first hunters. More and more of the chosen come to believe that there is a connection between themselves and their most common adversaries. Of the few imbued who have made overtures to ghosts, some have learned that “life” for the dead hasn’t always been this way. Apparently, God, nature or some other power from beyond once drew a hard line between the living and dead. That line has now been broken, or at least bent, and the spirits of the dead return.

Such terrible events began at the turn of the millennium as measured in the living world. Startlingly, this is about the same time that the earliest imbued recognise as their awakening. Certainly, no credible hunter has claimed an earlier pedigree and proved his assertion. There also seems to be no end to the people who have been imbued since, much as the ongoing escape of the dead into the living world might continue.

So if there is a connection between the walking dead and hunters, what is it, the imbued ask? Perhaps hunters are chosen to put the dead back where they belong. Maybe Hell is full and hunters are the embodiment of demons sent to recover lost spirits. Perhaps the chosen are a karmic counterbalance to the profusion of souls in the material world. Then again, the relationship between hunter and spirit could be incomprehensibly complex.

Whatever the answer, confronting the reality of life after death comforts precious few imbued. Yet, what choice do they have when loved ones are endangered every day and every night? The one respite or even hope that hunters may find is learning to understand that restless dead. If there really is a tie between the two, the chosen might better understand themselves by understanding their “enemy.”

It is possible that lingering spirits might not even be the enemy at all?

Split Personalities

One of the most puzzling and threatening aspects of ghosts and the walking dead is their tendency to undergo significant personality shifts without apparent reason. These changes are rarely for the better. One moment, a ghost talks reasonably to hunters, the next it’s a raging mass of homicidal impulses and self-destructive influences.

The moment of death seems to change a person’s identity in subtle ways. The dark, self-loathing part gains a life of its own. Some of the perceptive among the imbued notice that ghosts and walking dead occasionally seem to pause, as if undergoing a transition, as if listening to a voice no one else can hear, after which behaviour changes completely and the dark side takes over. Some imbued also worry about the parallels suggesting to hunters’ own “voices,” the Heralds.

The dark part of a spirit’s personality overwhelms the ghost, compelling it to acts of destruction, whether against the living, the dead or even itself. An enemy that changes its objectives, personality and methods without warning is a dangerous one, because it doesn’t behave in a predictable manner. A trap that depends on a zombie’s evident affection for an ex-lover can be doomed to failure when the corpse suddenly decides she wants to kill him, not protect him.

Why It Happens

The key factor is exposure to negative emotions. Ghosts subsist on the emotional energy of the living. Feeding on positive emotions makes them more likely to behave in rational, constructive ways - or to at least work towards achieving their goals, even if they’re ones hunters wouldn’t consider benevolent. The more a ghost is exposed to negative emotions such as hate, anger or fear, the more likely it is to turn maniacal in an instant. It becomes a creature of pure malice set on destruction, sometimes its own, as if self-abuse fulfils an agenda of the dark side’s own.

The greater and more prolonged a ghost’s exposure to negative emotions, from the hostility of a group of gang members defending their turf to repeated attacks from an Avenger or Defender with an attitude, the greater the chance of a personality shift.

Extensive use of tricks and subsequent exhaustion also makes ghosts vulnerable to base impulses. More than one hunter group has successfully fended off attack after attack from a ghost, only to have it turn really nasty just as it seemed to be weakening.

Self-Inflicted Wounds

Sometimes, rather than bring about a complete and obvious personality switch, a walker’s “other half” can also act on its counterpart “from the shadows,” using its powers covertly to throw obstacles in its foremost identity’s way. Sometimes, such self-destruction manifests as an uncontrolled and self-defeating use of a trick - not even the presiding identity of the spirit seems able to control the effect. Or a ghost might display abilities that seem to have no purpose other than to create problems for itself. Meanwhile, the being’s dark side laughs at its counterpart’s follies.

Posters to hunter-net and other lists have clogged the bandwidth trying to explain or rationalise spirits’ strange behaviour, to little or no effect. Most are happy to take ghost’s unpredictability and apparent self-loathing as proof of their nature as monsters and leave it at that, ignoring the fact that living people can display the same behaviour.

Acts of self-sabotage occur rarely, but slightly more often than do complete personality switches.

The Ties That Bind: Anchors To The Living World

More than pure passion keeps the dead so close to the living world. All ghosts at work in this realm are bound to some item or object. These things, people or places are known as anchors and are crucial to ghosts’ existence.

The explosion that threw the lands of the dead into utter turmoil had two specific effects: It triggered a vast storm that lashes the underworld even now. And it literally hurled innumerable spirits from beyond back into the living world. The vast majority of these “evicted” ghosts were caught by surprise and were completely unprepared for what happened to them.

They found themselves bound to the first things they came in contact with back on this side, be it a place or object. It soon became apparent that these anchors, as such items as known, allowed spirits to stay in the living world, but restricted their ability to move more than a short distance away.

The exceptions to this phenomenon were ghosts who found themselves bound to people, living creatures or corpses. Using tricks they already knew or learned quickly, these spirits were able not only to loiter around their anchors, but even to take control of or animate the bodies. Ghosts that occupied or controlled a living creature resulted in possessing spirits, whereas ones that animate corpses became the walking dead.

Spirits have a complicated relationship with their anchors. Anchors gained upon initial impact with the material world are called anchors. These things root spirits in the material world so they can stay here. They also prevent many ghosts from travelling around with the freedom they had in life or in the underworld, however, causing many spirits to resent their anchors. Ghosts attached to objects, people or places they find aesthetically displeasing or repulsive have a particularly rough time of it.

So why don’t some spirits just abandon their primary anchors? Because these things are all that keep ghosts from being sucked back into the storm-torn lands of the dead. Most ghosts fight with desperate ferocity to avoid that fate. Few ghosts are willing to brave the fury of the storm that awaits on the other side. Others want to cling to life or the living for its own sake, no matter how distasteful the circumstances.

Every single ghost and walking dead that hunters encounter has a primary anchor. In the case of ghosts, it’s an object, location or person from which they never travel more than 100 yards or so. If a ghost doesn’t exceed that range, the anchor is “lost” (see below), and the spirit is wracked by the dead lands’ storm winds.

Blundering or unconcerned hunters may never notice that a spirit remains in the proximity of a certain object. Astute hunters may catch on right away. Ghosts are varied in how subtle or overt they are at giving clues about their travel limits.

The anchors of possessing spirits and zombies are more obvious: They’re the bodies they linger around or inhabit. In the case of an anchor that’s a living person or animal, the 100-yard rule applies as it does with objects. Some spirits simply stay close to a living anchor. Others that know the right tricks can enter the body and ride in it without influencing its behaviour. Or they can suppress the body’s true identity and take over.

A spirit that collided with a corpse upon being deposited back into the living world probably animates that body and is essentially a part of it. The spirit can’t usually linger outside the form. When the body is destroyed, the spirit’s anchor is destroyed.

Losing An Anchor

The separation from, destruction or loss of a ghost’s anchor triggers a ghost’s end in this world. Suddenly exposed to the destructive forces howling through the dead lands, the spirit is literally torn apart.

The effect applies just as much to a zombie as it does to a ghost. The zombie’s body is an anchor for a riding spirit. When the body is destroyed, the spirit is exposed to the storm.

A ghost without an anchor is doomed. Only spirits lucky enough to have multiple anchors might stave off destruction, if they can get to them in time. Those that do still must go through a period of adjustment to their new “homes” and become inactive for weeks or months.

Should a spirit have no alternative anchor or fail to reach another anchor in time, a veritable crack in reality appears below the ghost. The spirit plummets in, screaming. For all intents and purposes, it is destroyed. Witnessing such destruction is horrifying for hunters. It’s a haunting glimpse into another reality; revelation enough to suggest that something awaits beyond, but no evidence of what it really is. Imbued who dedicate themselves to destroying ghosts and shamblers, and who see victims sucked down into “Hell” repeatedly might even develop derangements at your discretion.

In truth, spirits separated from their anchors are pulled back into the underworld. Though they’re likely to meet oblivion there, they don’t have to. A potent or resourceful spirit might have what it takes to climb back to the living world and haunt hunters again. The process takes months if not years.

The Underworld

The ghosts that hunters encounter are almost entirely those thrown into the living world by the explosion that occurred beyond. Almost as if by the Messengers’ decree, the imbued are incapable of seeing past the physical world, not even with Second Sight or Edges that offer enhanced perception. Hunters therefore cannot see into the underworld or see any spirits that might linger there. Hunters’ vision and sensitivity to the supernatural is limited to the material world alone.

Ghosts in the underworld aren’t bound by such limitations, however. Those beings are quite capable of seeing the living world and affecting it with powers and tricks.

Such “otherworldly” ghosts cannot be perceived and affected by the Second Sight or Edges, with the only exception being the very moment when a ghost in the underworld uses a trick to affect the living world. Imbued with active Second Sight could glimpse the ghost briefly in that moment. As soon as the spirit stops using the trick, it disappears. So far, only use of Redemption edge Suspend prevents this “extra-dimensional” intervention. (When that Edge is active, ghosts in another realm are barred from affecting the living world in the hunter’s presence.)

Spirits in the underworld don’t’ suffer the same restrictions on travel that their counterparts in the living world do, either. They are able to travel and operate outside the material realm as they please, beyond any proximity to their own kinds of anchors. (Otherworldly spirits’ liberties are certainly curtailed by the storm that rages across the lands of the dead, however. For reference, their safety and comfort there is comparable to ours in a devastating hurricane.)

Hunters who do witness that spirits appear for a moment, cause something to happen in the real world and then disappear again may speculate that yet another kind of ghost exists and generally eludes their perceptions. In a sense, they’re right, and it might take cooperation with “traditional” ghosts or walking dead for the group to uncover the truth about the next world’s mysterious inhabitants.

Detecting Anchors

Ghosts’ and walkers’ reliance on anchors for existence in the living world makes anchors powerful tools for hunters to use against spirits.

Once a group of hunters becomes aware of the idea of anchors, it changes their relationship with “the enemy” forever. Whereas the walking dead are a physical problem that the imbued can deal with by physical means, spirits are intangible. They make edges or negotiations the only weapons in hunters’ arsenal. Awareness of a ghost’s anchor gives hunters a physical means of harming the spirit and an irresistible negotiating tool.

For hunters to make sue of anchors, they have to discover the concept and then be able to track down the objects or people in question - no mean feat. There are numerous ways that hunters can learn about spirit and anchors;

Observation

Most confrontations between Imbued and spirits take place in the vicinity of anchors. Perhaps a spirit is connected to a chair, which a hunter breaks to create a weapon fro use with Cleave. Many confrontations between hunters and monsters result in collateral damage and a ghost’s anchor could be part of it. Or the destruction of a shambler opens the veritable mouth of Hell. A spirit is pulled from the body and dragged down, wailing. When the chasm slams shut again, an inert body is left behind.

Talking

It’s possible - though unlikely - that hunters following a Mercy-based creed might talk a ghost into revealing the concept of anchors. The spirit is likely to share such sensitive information only when its anchor is in imminent danger. Perhaps the hunter can help preserve the spirit’s object, at least for the short term. Maybe the ghost can blackmail the Imbued, so revealing the truths of the other side isn’t such a concern. And even if a spirit does tell a hunter about its anchor, it doesn’t offer any more details than it needs to. (“That book helps keep me near my loved ones,” as opposed to “That book keeps me from being suck down into the void.”)

Other sources of information on ghosts' anchors, though untrustworthy ones, are other monsters. Vampires, warlocks and perhaps even ghosts' own dark sides might have some information that could help characters.

The services that another monster demands might be more than hunters are willing to pay, however. Are they really willing to part with their own blood, their own secrets or their own loved ones to better relate to ghosts? Warlocks are an elusive breed and can often be difficult to comprehend. Will hunters even be able to understand what such a being tells them? And bloodsuckers are absolutely untrustworthy. can hunters put credence in what nightcrawlers tell them? Allying with the enemy, even for information, can therefore be a risky venture.

Communication with other imbued in an area, should there be any, might help characters understand the role of anchors. Other hunters' encounters with the dead may fill in the characters' blanks. Alternatively, other hunters' experiences or interpretations may be completely erroneous or misleading, sending the characters down the wrong path altogether. Such are the dangers of hunters' collective ignorance and taking information on faith.

There’s also hunter-net and any other widespread means of hunter communication. While the Imbued online community has yet to catch on to the concept of anchors, many individuals worldwide glimpse the truth. The Internet is an ideal way to share such information. The question of its validity arises again, though, as it does in all Imbued communication about the enemy.

Final Reward

One of the most powerful possibilities offered by the walking dead is the chance to move the Hunt beyond just a seek-and-destroy mission. While understanding anchors opens new avenues of negotiations with the dead, the boundaries can be pushed further.

Virtually every religion offers some form of reward after death: Heaven, reincarnation, spiritual oneness. If you can accept the concept of ghosts as dead people trapped by their attachment to the living world, it’s not too big a leap to accept that if they let go of that attachment they might achieve their final reward. Hunters are (relatively) normal people, too, and they can come to the same conclusions.

Yet, just as we don’t know what lies on the other side, nor do the Imbued - even though, when they put spirits down, they sometimes get glimpses of what’s unseen. Characters therefore shouldn’t be completely in the know about how to help spirits reconcile their past and move on to a better place. Indeed, a hunter who perceives all ghosts as dead people who need help puts her life in the hands of the first malicious, manipulative, calculating spirits that comes along (not to say that teaching such a harsh lesson shouldn’t be a part of your game…).

Characters knowing too much about ghosts and how to help them can also take the thrill out of it. It’s very difficult to conjure up horror or mystery if characters are so chummy with the dead that all aspects of postmortem existence, even the promised land, are revealed to them.

Still, allowing characters to learn that these “monsters” may have complex personal motivations is not a bad thing. An Avenger confronted with a revelation that the “demon” she’s intent on destroying was once a good father, respected member of the church and frequent charity donator - and that he wants to go to Heaven - probably questions the moral high ground on which she stands.

In many ways, ghosts can seem closer to hunters than other monsters. Just like the imbued, they were once normal people whose existence was turned upside-down by something they couldn’t control. For hunters, it was the Heralds’ intervention in their lives. For ghosts, it was the simple arrival of death.

Also, like hunters, ghosts are motivated creatures and many are as confused about their state as most imbued are. So maybe it’s hunters’ duty to help such kindred spirits find some resting place.

Of course, cynical hunters are quick to point out that these arguments for aiding ghosts ignore fundamental points: Ghosts are parasites that survive off human emotions. They also can undergo dangerous personality shifts, during which they can do tremendous harm.

Moving On

Abandoning this reality to attain a final reward involves letting go of all ties to a previous life, and thus a ghost’s sense of identity as she understands it. There are as many ways of helping a spirit meet this challenge as there are restless dead. All approaches fall into one of two categories, however. The being must either let go of the needs and wants that persist from before or seek to complete tasks left unfulfilled in life.

Weighing Anchors

A ghost’s persistent obsession are typically other people or possessions, and these items are often a spirit’s anchors. Ghosts must let go of emotional attachments to anchors in order to move on. This isn’t simply a matter of abandoning items. The ghost has to realise that while an anchor was once important, things have changed and it must allow life to continue without its otherworldly influence.

Casting Off

Another means to moving on is letting go of life’s driving ambitions and emotions. This transition is more profound than letting go of anchors. The Imbued must convince the “monster” to literally change its frame of mind. Agreeing not to interfere while remaining in the presence of something or someone that inspires an emotion isn’t enough. The spirit must actually choose to abandon its former goals and passions - the meaning of its life - forever.

These feats can be accomplished in two ways. The simpler one is to achieve an ambition or fulfil a passion with hunters’ assistance. Such tasks can be relatively basic: The hunters might help a ghost reach a former lover three states away, to whom the ghost wishes to say a final farewell (whether benevolent or malevolent). Or fulfilling an ambition can be demanding: A ghost wants his daughter to take up the guitar again, believing she has thrown away a promising career. How on Earth can the hunters persuade her to resume her art?

The complex and challenging way to reconcile a ghost’s emotions involves showing the spirit that its feelings are no longer relevant. This means roleplaying - intensely. In the examples above, the characters might have to demonstrate to the ghost that her ex-lover is now happy with someone else and that delving into the past would only cause harm. The dead father might need to be persuaded that his daughter has her own life and ambitions, and that his intentions would only interfere. Obviously, there can be no rules for changing a spirit’s mind. The characters simply have to be compelling, convincing the entity that its time is past.

The Reward

Deciding when a ghost or zombie attains the required perspective to move on lies entirely with the handlers. A spirit’s realisation shouldn’t come easily. Both the Imbued and their ghostly counterparts should go through some profound changes in the course of the story.

Before a ghost transcends, you should be satisfied that the characters have been sufficiently persuasive and helpful, and that it’s plausible for the spirit to know that her time with the living is done. The hunters’ involvement is crucial. If they haven’t done enough, a ghost doesn’t find its final reward any time soon.

It’s quite likely that hunters disagree on the best way to aid a spirit. If these discussions become heated, the negative emotions generated could trigger a personality shift in the ghost. That makes the hunters’ lives a lot more difficult, especially if the ghost’s dark side feeds them misleading information.

Helping a ghost find its reward can change hunters in that they have a resounding new understanding of the restless dead. It’s one thing to try and help a ghost exist peaceably with the world, but another entirely to see it put to rest once and for all. A hunter who accomplishes this goal is probably loath to do a spirit or zombie harm again, unless the being is clearly uncompromising and dangerous.

Of course, making other Imbued recognise the good of aiding spirits can be nigh impossible, especially with those as determined to destroy as are their worst undead counterparts. The compulsion to aid rather than harm “the enemy” can even create a permanent rift between the chosen, if not make them outright opponents.

Angry Ghosts

The most experienced hunters, as far as that descriptor applies, have begun to notice variations in ghostly nature. In particular, at least one type seems to consciously resist or dismiss the helpful overtures of even persistent hunters. These ghosts appear to be consumed by their own fury and determined to vent it on the living.

Angry ghosts are the result of a normal ghost’s dark side taking control once and for all. Too much exposure to negative emotions twists a ghost’s perspective, and it becomes obsessed with spreading misery, pain and fear.

While angry ghosts differ only slightly from “standard” spirits and zombies, their behaviour is quite different. Traditional ghosts and zombies have as many motivations as there are spirits. Angry ghosts and their walking dead equivalents have but one: destruction. They have no qualms about who or what they hurt in their pursuit. In fact, hurting more and more people is their pursuit. They take genuine pleasure in inflicting suffering on those who oppose them - or who just happen to be within reach.

Any hunter, regardless of creed, is eventually compelled to destroy these brutes. There is no redemption for such corrupt spirits. They are monsters, pure and simple. Unfortunately, some would-be helpful imbued have to learn that the hard way.

Warning of angry-ghost presence offered by the Heralds - if any occurs at all - is often unequivocal: “DESTRUCTION WALKS AMONG YOU,” “HATRED BEARS FORM” OR “DEATH DESCENDS.”

Cannot Become Monsters

As mentioned numerous times before, the Imbued cannot become monsters. No matter how much they potentially could become them, hunters will never return from the dead as Wraiths or rise from the grave as Risen. Ever. The Messengers simply do not allow it.

When the Imbued die, the Heralds grant them instant Transcendence. If, somehow, their soul is stolen or bound to an object, the Messengers use the same method to send the deceased hunter to their final reward.

Annabelle Devonshire
Administrator

Posts: 149

What the Imbued Know… May 18, 2020 1:29:43 GMT -5

Post by Annabelle Devonshire on May 18, 2020 1:29:43 GMT -5

Demons

Devils. Evil spirits. Beings fallen from their exalted place as celestial servants of the Most High. Stories of demons are told all over the world. They are secret corrupters who play on the weaknesses and failings of our souls. Perhaps they exist to bring us down to their level. Maybe they’re a universal reaction to the existence of good; without evil there can be no good. Or maybe they stand to illustrate that evil is not a unified force but something inherent to all things. In the modern world, many people believe that demons exist within us, not as spirits but as the creations of our own negative thoughts and emotions, the dark impulses with which we wrestle. In the World of Darkness, demons and the forces of Hell are real, and hunters only begin to discover how real. Although they have faced bloodsuckers, skin-changers, shamblers and other monsters, the imbued now face creatures that may be the literal embodiment of evil. Demons possess powers older than humanity itself, a deep and enduring hatred for all things, and a desire to drag everyone and everything with them into damnation. In the legions of Hell, the chosen may well have met their match.

But perhaps more troubling than the pervasive threats that demons pose are the questions they raise. Are they truly fallen angels? Do some of them seek repentance? Do demons prove that God and the Devil truly exist? Are they the reason that hunters came into being, and are they related to the Messengers in some way?

Known Weaknesses

Although demons need human Faith, they are also vulnerable to it. The power of devotion can affect the damned in various ways, and the mortals able to wield it are rare indeed.

Prayers

Those of astounding faith can call upon a higher power to intercede for them when dealing with a demon. This request for intervention can force a demon to flee from an area or be unable to approach the faithful character as if the Ward edge were used successfully, or it can hold a demon in place like use of the Burden edge.

Prayers can also be used to try and force a demon spirit from its host through an exorcism of sorts. The effort is long and gruelling and requires that the demon be held in place for hours or days. A prayer of binding is the ideal choice for holding a demon. More mundane means such as heavy cahins, drugs or cripple physical injury are also possible, but demons’ physical prowess and stamina make these methods highly risky. Extended and focused prayers are required for the rite, while the demon undoubtedly seeks to tempt or distract its exorcist. If the hunter knows the demon’s True Name, the difficulty of the rite is reduced. If the rite is successful, and if the being is unable to find another host, it is pulled back into Hell.

Is it possible to save the human soul of a demon’s host? Is the human soul even there anymore, or is it just the memory of the mortal’s mind clinging to the skin like an old smell? If you run a story in which a mortal soul still exists in a host, submerged deep below the demon’s dominant persona, or if you believe that it’s possible to call the soul back into the vessel and evict the demon, you might allow hunters to attempt or arrange an exorcism.

This is no easy task. It’s a battle for a soul - both demonic and human. While systems are involved, the rite should be enacted out with intense and serious roleplaying.

Holy Items

Some items bear a measure of power from being handled by holy people or from years of veneration (or both). Such blessed relics have their own Faith ratings from 1 to 5. An item such as a rosary that’s rated 1 might have been blessed by a particular holy individual, while one rated 5 could be a genuine relic such as a piece of the True Cross. A holy item grants a bonus to the faithful’s prayer attempts, provided that the faiths of the item and wielder are compatible. (A pagan gets no benefit from a Christian relic, for example.)

A holy items may even benefit a person who believes in what the object represents but who normally has no faith, at your discretion. The item catalyzes and strengths the wielder’s belief.

Holy items are also weapons (such as an ancient sword containing a holy relic) that inflict aggravated damage against demons.

Holy Ground

Certain places are invested with holiness and faith. These locales are anathema to the damned. Like holy items, holy ground is rated from 1 to 5, with a setting rating 1 being a particularly holy church, graveyard or monument. A rating of 5 is reserved for the most holy of places, such as prominent religious sites in Rome, Jerusalem or Mecca. Note that not every church, mosque or temple is holy ground. In fact, few of them truly are.

A demon that stands on holy ground suffers a number of levels of lethal damage equal to the site’s rating each turn. This damage takes the form of burns and stigmata-like wounds that open on the demon’s body. On particularly holy sites (rated 3 or higher), demons may actually burst into flames (even if they’re immune to normal fire). The damage they suffer is aggravated instead of lethal.

Some fallen angels who regret their sins of the past and who genuinely seek forgiveness now that they’re back on Earth might be able to tread holy ground without injury. The few who have successfully accomplished this miracle are at a loss to explain why they weren’t burned, but point to it as proof that redemption is still possible.

True Names

Demons have many names. They have infernal names (the names they’re commonly known by), titles (such as “Lord of the Flies”), and aliases (including the names of their mortal hosts). But each demon has only one True Name. A demon’s True Name encompasses its essence, its very being. Knowing a True Name gives the speaker power over that demon (and also makes him a dire threat with which the hellspawn must deal). Demons’ True Names may have been given to them by their Creator or may have arisen from the vibrations of the cosmos. Occultists speculate as to the origin of demonic True Names, but the entities themselves remain silent on the matter (and may not even know, either.).

Learning a True Name

Needless to say, demons guard knowledge of their True Names carefully. It’s possible to discover a demon’s True Name through careful research and observation, because the name epitomises the very being of the creature. The more one understands a demon’s essence, the closer she is to grasping its True Name. Studying demons this closely can be an unhealthy practice, of course, and it can draw their attention.

Discovering a demon’s True Name demands months of solid research. This may involve reading obscure books, interviewing victims of the demon, visiting places where it has been and studying reports of its activities.

A hunter never knows how complete or accurate the information he gathers is, and while he may collect several letters or syllables in a demon’s name, he can never know for sure when he has formed a complete or correct name. The only way to find out for sure is to use it. Incomplete True Names have absolutely no power over demons. Therefore, a smart hunter takes the time to make sure the research is as thorough and accurate as possible. Full discovery may be the work of months or even years, and some may never have the courage to find out if they truly have a demon’s full True Name. (A True Name has power only if it’s spoken. Writing it down or thinking it has no impact.)

Uses of True Names

A demon’s True Name can be used for several things, most importantly to summon and bind the demon through an occult ritual. A character that knows a demon’s True Name can use it for the following.
Communication: Demons are extremely sensitive to their True Names. Speaking a demon‘s True Name aloud allows the being to hear you from anywhere in the world and communicate with you over any distance, if it chooses. Such communication is two-way. This connection allows a demon‘s intimates to contact it at any time, although demons share knowledge of their True Names with only a very trusted few. Speaking a demon‘s True Name out loud also draws its attention, allowing it to know the identity and location of the speaker, which is why a demon‘s True Name is never spoken lightly.
Intimidation: Knowing a demon‘s True Name grants a measure of power over the beat. Hunters who know a demon‘s True Name gain a bonus equal to the demon‘s Faith rating in Mental rolls regarding the demon, such as using Investigation or Research to learn more about its plans, or when Social rolls are made to influence the demon or its thralls. If this bonus is applied to an effort performed in the demon‘s presence, such as trying to goad or intimidate it, the devil recognises that the mortal knows its True Name. And, of course, if the entity‘s name is spoken aloud, it hears as detailed under “Communication.”
Resistance: A hunter who knows a demon‘s True Name gains a bonus equal to the demon‘s permanent Faith rating on rolls to resist some of the creature‘s supernatural powers. Note that this resistance doesn‘t protect a hunter from a demon‘s physical capabilities and attacks (claws, poison, hellfire, etc), only from mental influence and mystical powers.

A hunter doesn‘t need to speak a demon‘s True Name to be immune to its powers. He simply needs to know the name. And yet, any devil worth its salt suspects that something is afoul when its powers inexplicably fail to affect the target.

If Conviction is active for a hunter when a body-, mind- or emotion-influencing effect is used on her, Conviction‘s protection applies first, before the protection offered by knowing a True Name. Knowing a True Name has little bearing at that point. Knowledge of a True Name is therefore most effective when a hunter‘s Conviction is “down” and he‘s subjected to the demon‘s capabilities.

Ironically, to a demon‘s perspective, the protection that hunters receive from Conviction can make them seem to possess the beast‘s True Name. If one of the imbued uses second sight, and the devil discovers that its mind-control power has no effect on the mortal, the beast might suspect that the person has somehow gained knowledge of its True Name. What else could explain such miraculous protection? Would a demon suffering from such a misunderstanding seek to kill the hunter who has “mastery” over it, or would it throw itself at the human’s mercy and do her bidding?
Binding: Someone who knows a demon‘s True Name has a considerable advantage in attempting to bind the creature using an occult ritual.
Summoning And Binding Demons

Using certain mystic rituals, it’s possible for a mortal to summon a demon (even one inhabiting a human host) and bend it to obedience. Throughout human history, this lore has been used to make pacts with demons trapped on Earth, or to summon others from the Abyss, commit them to service and (hopefully) return them to their prison. The same principles apply in the modern world, except now many more demons roam the planet. The summoning ordeal is exceptionally dangerous, even with the best of intentions, but it’s a useful weapon in the hunters’ arsenal, provided they can resist the temptation to abuse it.

Researching the Ritual

The right ritual is required to summon a demon. The slightest mistake results in nothing or an angry that can’t be controlled. The would-be summoner must therefore take great care in researching the proper rite. Each ritual is unique and tailored to a particular demon; a practice for one won’t work for another, even if they seem like similar beings.

Researching a ritual takes time, and characters might spend weeks searching for the right ritual. If the researcher knows the demon’s True Name, the summoning ritual becomes easier. An incomplete ritual is useless, although it may attract the demon’s attention anyway (allowing it to take action against the intended summoner). In order to prepare a ritual at all, on occultist must know something about the particular demon he intends to bring forth - any of its other names or its role in Creation before the Fall.

Summoning

Once the ritual is complete, the character can attempt to summon the demon. The summoning rite requires elaborate ingredients, including complex diagrams that are painted or engraved on the floor, candles, incense and lots of chanting. The ritual may need to be performed at a specific place or time (usually at night, often at midnight, perhaps even at a particular time of the year). A sacrifice (animal or human) may be required, particularly for more powerful demons. Performing the ritual takes hours at a time. If the ritual is interrupted for any reason, it fails, but the demon is still aware of the attempt.

Once the ritual is complete anything can happen… if it fails, nothing happens. If the ritual botches, there may be a mystical backfire, the wrong demon appears (making it immune to the binding ritual), or the intended subject is not only made aware of the effort but learns the identity of the occultist.

If the ritual is successful, the demon appears in its true infernal form at the site of the ritual. A demon that inhabits a mortal host leaves that body behind wherever it was last. The body lapses into a death-like coma (which can be quite inconvenient for the demon). Demons in Hell are summoned to the physical plane.

The demon must be summoned into a specially prepared space; usually a magical diagram intended to contain it. This diagram (circle, triangle, pentacle or hexagram) doesn’t actually prevent the demon from escaping, it merely keeps it from being drawn immediately back down into Hell. If the demon leaves the bounds of the diagram, it is affected like any other demon without a host. If the summoner has tasks for the spirit to carry out in the material world, it can be returned to its host to fulfil them, or a specially prepared body of a recently dead person or animal may be require to give the demon an anchor outside the summoning diagram.

It’s assumed that a summoner who brings a demon forth is already so sufficiently immersed in the otherworldly that he is immune to supernatural fear. He can bear the demon’s presence without losing control or blocking out the incident.

Binding

Once the demon appears, the occultist can attempt to force it into obedience. If the summoner knows the demon’s True Name, they gain the bonuses detailed above. The infernalist also benefits from “acolytes” or assistants.

If the binding fails, the spirit is free to do as it wishes. That can mean returning to its mortal host if it has one or finding a suitable host if it doesn’t already have one. Very few demons are willing to return to the Abyss once they have a chance to escape.

If the binding successes, the demon must obey for a time. The tasks must be specific, such as retrieving a particular item or freeing an intended host. Tasks such as “protect me from my enemies” or “guard this place forever” are too broad and the demon can refuse them. Summoners usually have a particular task or tasks in mind, otherwise why would they take the risk of dealing with a demon in the first place?

The demon is bound to fulfil assigned duties to the best of its ability as soon as possible, and cannot take any action against the infernalist until all its charges are complete. The demon is then free to act as it wishes, although a clever summoner always makes a demon’s last task “return to the Hell that spawned you,” since that leaves the demon trapped and helpless until someone else brings it forth. A demon can, however, try to coerce others to attack its mistress or seek to subvert her commands as much as possible.

An occultist can attempt to bind the same demon again once its first tasks are complete. Demons are fiercely proud and have their own agendas, so they tend to resent being bound. Any occultist who binds a demon can count on earning that demon’s wrath. Demonic memories are eternal, so the beings can wait as long as necessary to get revenge. A demon that escape its bounds, or that complete its duties and is allowed to remain on Earth, might not exact justice immediately. It could need a host body - fast. But the creature certainly begins plotting against the mortal who interfered with it.

Let’s Make A Deal

Of course, there’s nothing that says an occultist has to attempt to bind a demon after summoning it. Perhaps he hopes that a spirit freed from the Abyss will be indebted to him. An infernalist can just talk to a summoned demon and try to reason or bargain with it. Some occultists worship demons and consider themselves servants, so they summon demonic masters in order to do their bidding. Others summon demons in order to forge pacts with them, giving a demon some Faith in exchange for something that the human wants. Generally, demons are willing to consider such deals, especially if they stand to gain more than they give. Summoners who are respectful have a chance of avoiding a demon’s wrath, assuming what they have to offer is satisfactory.

Mortal Occultists

Note that ordinary mortals are capable of learning the necessary rituals to summon and bind demons, although few have the dedication, drive and sheer recklessness to do so. This means the demon that hunters track could actually be under the control of a person who summoned and bound it. Indeed, the demon may be willing to cooperate with the chosen to deal with its “boss” and set it free. Do the hunters work with such a creature or do they risk letting the summoner get away, allowing him to call up the demon or others like it again?

More importantly, only mortal occultists (including hunters) are able to summon demons from Hell. Demons and other supernatural creatures can use rituals to summon and bind demons that already inhabit the mortal world, but they cannot breach the gates of Hell to call imprisoned demons to Earth. Only mortals can do that. The reason remains unknown, but it is definitely a case where humanity may be its own worst enemy and where the greatest threats posed to the imbued come from the very people they seek to protect.

Imbued and Summoning

Hunters can learn the rituals to summon and bind demons just like any other mortals can. Their imbued status doesn’t prevent them from using the rites. Nor does it necessarily protect them from a summoning gone wrong. The primary difference is that a hunter performing a summoning ritual cannot use any edges until the demon is no longer in the hunter’s service. (Conviction and second sight can still be used, however. Any hunter participating in the ritual who does not have Conviction active during the scene is subject to supernatural fear and flees the scene or cowers uncontrollably and blanks out the whole spectacle.) Afterward, the hunter’s capabilities return in full measure, which means that a hunter who tries to summon a demon and fails cannot use any of his edges against the being. This prohibition arises as the hunter creates something of a rift between himself and the Heralds.

The main reason for a hunter attempting to bind a demon is probably to banish it. One success at binding is enough to command a demon to return to Hell where it is trapped again, unable to retunr without the aid of a mortal summoner. Of course, to achieve this goal, a hunter has to painstakingly research the demon’s nature and the necessary rituals for months, gather the components and successfully perform the ritual.

But bound demons can also be useful to the imbued. A trapped devil can be forced to give hunters information about itself, its thralls, and other demons or creatures that it knows of. It might also be used as a weapon against other creatures. Most hunters are smart enough to know that trying to “fight hellfire with hellfire” is an extremely dangerous proposition, but there are those willing to take any risk to gain the upper hand against specific nemeses.

Any demon that discovers an attempt to bind and banish it is certain to interfere with the hunter’s efforts. A demon may notice research into its True Name (if the chosen ask questions to the wrong people), and it automatically knows when someone speaks its True Name aloud. Thralls might be sent to dispose of the imbued, or earthly demons and their followers may accuse hunters of being “devil-worshipers” or “Satanists,” pointing to the characters’ unhealthy interest in the occult and demonology as proof. (Just try explaining to the cops that you’re doing a black-magic ritual and sacrificing pigeons to save humanity from evil.)

Demons are also incredibly cunning and willing to beg, plead or bargain for their freedom. Even if a hunter is successful in summoning a demon, it may offer to serve him willingly, even turning against its followers or fellow infernal to avoid being sent back to the Pit. Such offers are genuine, but the demon is always alert for opportunities to twist its orders, or to corrupt the hunter, making its “master” more and more dependent on it until the roles are reversed…

What Demons Know…

Although demons are impossibly old, most of them have been on Earth for only a limited time. They know what their mortal hosts knew in life, and what their followers have told them, but little else. Demons often know as little (or less) about the imbued as hunters know about demons. This is fortunate for the imbued, although it remains to be seen how long demons remain ignorant of the threats posed to them.

Devils do know that some mortals are aware of their existence and hunt the hellspawn. That’s been the case for as long as demons have been able to return to the mortal world. They also know there are rituals capable of binding them, and that humans are particularly strong faith can keep them at bay or even exorcise them. The powers of the imbued are somewhat new, however, at least in their modern incarnation. Demons aren’t immediately aware of what hunters can do, although they learn quickly.

Demons have the capacity to sense the supernatural, but they don’t immediately recognise the chosen for what they are. A demon may notice something unusual about a hunter, something similar to any mortal of great faith, and may take an interest in the imbued as a result. But a devil can’t pick out one of the chosen easily, so long as the hunter doesn’t use her edges in the creature’s vicinity. Hunters may easily escape a demon’s notice if they aren’t caught interfering in its affairs.

Demons can know some things about other monsters, information they may be willing to share for the right price. Many monster types have been around for millennia and demons that have escaped the Abyss throughout the ages might have encountered the creatures. The infernal don’t necessarily know how or where shapechangers originated, or what social circles werewolves maintain among their own kind, but the might know that the creatures are quick to anger and that silver is their bane. Demons in the past, as much as today, may have run afoul of other creatures and dealt with them, but that doesn’t mean the infernal and, say, vampires were ever allies or cohorts and exchanged personal secrets. Such confidence would be too dangerous for everyone involved. Of course, that doesn’t mean a demon confesses limited knowledge of other monsters.

How Much Do You Really Want To Know?

The knowledge demons posses about cosmic truth and Creation has the potential to seriously impact your chronicle. They could blow the lid open on life, the universe and everything. Fortunately, there are a number of reasons why demons can’t or won’t reveal this information to the imbued, giving characters the answers to all the questions and spoiling the mystery of the game.

The first and foremost reason why demons don’t share is that they never give anything away for free. Information that hunters (or anyone else) may want comes at a cost, and a big one at that. Demons may tempt the imbue with claims that they know any numbers of truths, from the existence of God to the creation of the imbued, to lure hunters into a bargain. But under normal circumstances, demons are tight-lipped when it comes to giving away secrets - any secrets.

Secondly, demons don’t reveal all because they’re uncontrollable liars and deceivers. Why should they trade the actual truth for Faith or a service when telling a lie reserves the truth for a future deal? Even if hunters do get some genuine information from a demon, they have no way of knowing that it’s accurate. Another demon may come along and contradict what the first demon said. How do hunters know that they’re not both lying? You can make up all sorts of cunning stories about the “true nature of reality” for demons to share. “God exists and He released us from Hell to consume the world because all you people have fucked it up.” Or, “We created your kind. How else did you get the powers you have? Hasn’t your life become a lot worse since you got them? That’s the price you’re paying.” Devils lies might also offer an opportunity to establish some erroneous “insights” into the various supernatural factions of the World of Darkness to perpetuate hunters’ confusion about monsters. Say, “Bloodsuckers and shapechangers were a single creature once, but a feud divided them. Now they fight over who controls everything.” Demons are sure to exploit any and all of these lies for their own ends.

There’s also the question of how much demons really know and how much of it they can explain to mere mortals. The truth is that their long exile in the Abyss has made many demons’ recollections of the distant past foggy and unreliable at best. Ages of anger and bitterness have warped the details. The demonic point of view can be biased, to say the least. Many demons recall things with their own unique slants, which don’t always agree. Another possibility is that entering a human host clouds a demon’s perceptions and understanding of its own past. The sudden wave of emotions that comes with being human puts a new spin on old beliefs, making them circumspect after all this time. Or the immediate experiences of grief, friendship, hunger or love obliterate millennia-old anger - and memories.

And some of the Great Cosmic Truths to which demons can be privy are beyond mortal comprehension, or at least beyond the limits of human language. How does a demon explain the true nature of God or Hell to a hunter? How does it relate that Creation was many times, places, possibilities and realities to a feeble human mind? Demons’ mystical experiences can be totally nonsensical or contradictory to the limited mortal point of view, and there’s no way to explain them more clearly. Some truths man was never meant to know, because he can’t know them.

So, while introducing demons to your game may seem like opening a vast can of cosmological worms, you can show hunters and players as much or as little of the truth as your game can handle. If you want grand revelations of the true scheme of things, go ahead, but if you’d prefer to keep the hunters in the dark, there are plenty of ways to do it.

Revelations of The Beast

Creation and The Fall

In the beginning, demons were celestial beings of tremendous power. They were the appointed agents of a divine Creator, each set to oversee certain facets of Creation. One of those elements was humanity, which existed in a state of divine grace but that was ignorant of the great truths of the universe. Filled with compassion and love for humanity, the celestials wanted to improve man’s lot, but were forbidden to interfere. Frustrated by their conflicting duties, some of the divine finally chose to rebel against the Creator out of a desire to help, and a great and terrible war ensued between Heaven and Earth. Although the rebels fought long and hard, they were eventually overcome. According to the rebels, humanity turned its back of the champions in the end and abandoned them to their fate.

The Creator exiled the rebels to a place outside Creation, removed from all existence. Demons describe it as a place of eternal torment, not because it was (and is) filled with fire and brimstone. It was simply a place of endless and eternal nothingness and non-being. There was nothing for the exiles there except to sink deeper and deeper into their own guilt, anger, bitterness and hatred, until that was what remained of most of them. In the hell of the Abyss, the fallen remained for untold ages until their divine nature was forgotten and they had nothing left except their bitterness toward the Creator that exiled them and the people who betrayed them.

Opening The Gates

In the untold time since the fall, demons have occasionally been summoned back to Earth. Sorcerers and witches in possession of demons’ True Names have called the spirits up from Hell using magical rites, and perhaps even bound the beings to do their bidding. More than a few people seeking power have made pacts with devils, although most arrangements have not ended well for the mortals who’ve made them.

On occasion, cults have sprung up that worshipped demons and fed them power with faith and devotion. These cults have sometimes managed to summon their patrons to Earth, and some of these demons are still around, expanding their influence and working behind the scenes. They’re among the most powerful and cunning infernal in the world, simply because they’ve had millennia of earthly existence to extend their influence. Fortunately for humanity, such demons are extremely rare, no more than a handful… until recently.

Now, unknown forces have torn open the gates of Hell and a flood of demons has been loosed into the world. This apocalyptic tragedy may have been connected to the plague of ghosts, shamblers and other monsters that hunters have faced, or might even have been the impetus behind hunters’ creation. There are some suspicious, insightful or paranoid imbued who warn that the Messengers chose certain people in preparation for the coming of the legions of Hell, and that demons are the true threat the imbued are meant to face. Whatever the reason, a great number of demons have poured into the world. They were not summoned like their brethren, but have simply been released as disembodied spirits in need of places to go.

Possession

The liberated demons have found havens in the bodies of certain mortals, people whose souls are weak, worn out or too feeble to resist the invasion of new, more powerful beings. (These hosts include abuse victims, those who bitterly mourn the loss of loved ones, excessive drug users, broken-down alcoholics, the suicidal, and even the very recently dead.) The demons have possessed these people, assuming human forms and identities that allow them to move undetected through the world, except by those with the eyes to see them.

So Does This Mean…?

The story of the creation, fall and exile of demons strongly implies that Judeo-Christian lore about the world and the fall of the angels led by Lucifer is the literal truth. Is it? Well, yes… and no.

Yes, the history of demons did happen. They were celestial servants of the Most High damned to exile in Hell for their rebellion. Their Creator did create the world and everything in it. However, the war that the demons talk about was fought in an age before recorded history, perhaps even before the world as modern humanity knows it came into being.

Demons occasionally mention that Creation was “different” back then in ways that they can scarcely explain to modern people. It wasn’t limited to beings just one thing or having only one truth. Some things were actually multiple things, and seemingly contradictory truths were all applicable. Demons certainly acknowledge that the world has changed much since then, perhaps changed many times, and it’s impossible to say how long the fallen have been imprisoned. Time as we understand it has little or no meaning in the depths of the Abyss. So perhaps the history that demons know is only one of the “true” histories of the world, if any of them are really true.

It’s possible that Judeo-Christian belief is based on visions and dim recollections of the time demons speak of. Perhaps it’s based on interactions with forces both divine and infernal across the centuries. But while demons are pretty strong evidence of the existence of God and angels, they’re not absolute proof. All they prove is that evil exists and that we’re on our own against it, which is a truth the imbued already know.

The Power of Faith

Demons have various supernatural powers that are fuelled by the energy of faith. Devils can’t regain Faith on their own. They must receive it as gifts from mortals, or they may take it by force.

When a demon needs a “quick fix” of Faith, it can get it by causing a hapless mortal to believe - really believe - in what the demon represents, for good or ill. That moment of pure belief is enough for the demon to leech off some of the mortal’s Faith. Unfortunately, the acts that a demon must commit to truly prove that it is a creature from Hell tend to make the process unpleasant for the victim. After being kidnapped and systemically tortured, a target is more than ready to believe when the demon reveals its true form. Demons also reap Faith from mortals using gory cult rituals, stalking them like prey, or by encouraging for forcing mortals to give in to their own temptations.

It is possible for demons to inspire faith through good and benevolent deeds as well. An entity that saves mortals from harm or danger or that provides aid and convinces people that it is a divine or spiritual being also gains a measure of Faith. Some demons do this to gain the trust of potential followers and to conceal their true horrific nature, but those that need a quick Faith fix prefer cruelty over kindness.

And yet, taking a bit of Faith here and there isn’t usually enough to keep a demon supplied with the power it craves. That’s why demons recruit thralls, followers who give it Faith in exchange for favours and power. Mortals can and do enter into pacts with demons, effectively selling their souls (or at least small pieces of them). In essence, a demon agrees to grant something that a mortal wants in exchange for the power of the mortal’s Faith. The demon takes a “cut” of that power, and uses the rest of it to fulfil the mortal’s desire. Ironically, it’s the mortal who provides all the energy to fulfil her desire, but that wish couldn’t come true without the demon’s contribution (at least not easily, which is the allure of a demon’s offer).

Demons can grant a number of benefits to mortals, including supernatural potential, wealth, influence and beauty.

The demon can thereafter “skim off” a portion of the thrall’s Faith. A beast can recover a point of Faith per thrall that it has. Beyond that, a demon can draw more heavily on a thrall, but at a cost. Each additional Faith point acquired per day costs the thrall a point of Willpower. The thrall suffers terrible visions, wracking pain and unreasoning terror. Thralls whose Willpower falls to zero by this means acquire a permanent derangement. If the demon continues to drain Faith, the thrall takes a health level of lethal damage per Faith point, suffering stigmata, burns, sickness and internal injuries. A thrall reduced belong Incapacitated in this manner is killed. Demons can draw Faith from their thralls over any distance.

Since thralls are valuable as continuing sources of power, demons are reluctant to strip-mine their souls indiscriminately. Still, a demon backed into a corner is capable of calling upon tremendous reserves at a terrible cost to its minions, something that hunters confronting demon-led cults may discover to their horror.

Can a demon-thrall relationship ever be broken? Probably not, even if a servant eventually sees the error of her ways and repents. The agreement is supernaturally binding while the entity still exists on Earth. Sending the demon-spirit back to the Abyss severs its ties with all of its minions. It’s also possible that a demon could relinquish its hold over a particular thrall if offered something even more lucrative, such as the trapped essence of a rival devil. A hunter could theoretically broker such a deal, but the demon almost certainly looks for loopholes in the agreement to lose nothing and win on all counts.

Hunters might also offer an alternative thrall for the freedom of an existing one. An imbued could, say, offer his own services in return for the liberty of someone else, perhaps a loved one. Hunters can’t become thralls, though, so the demon is certainly enraged when its influence doesn’t properly take hold over the chosen. The fact that hunter knows he is immune is unlikely, unless he’s faced demons before and been made offers on previous occasions. Then again, what self-respecting demon would relinquish control over an existing thrall before establishing a firm bond with his new one? When that new bond doesn’t take, the being certainly doesn’t respond well to the hunter’s duplicity.

It’s also possible that a hunter who seeks to negotiate with a demon could try to redeem the devil and free one or more of its minions. The effort would probably be useless if the demon were unrepentant of its past sins and revelled in its newfound mastery over humanity. If the being saw the error of its past ways and regretted abusing people, it might be convinced to free a slave. The process is by no means easy and requires the conscious and willing participation of the demon. A liberated thrall or one who’s lost her master is stripped of all the benefits of her pact.

While hunters cannot become conventional thralls, they can be the targets of infernal efforts to reap Faith. As with any mortal, the demon commit’s a heinous or benevolent act before the subject and inspires the belief that such hellish, heavenly or simply unearthly beings exist. The exception is when a hunter’s second sight is in use. Active Conviction denies a demon from gaining reaped Faith from a hunter, even if the chosen wants to empower the creature. The hunter still knows that the entity is miraculous, but keeps his wits about him and knows that the being “does not belong.” The hunter does suffer any pain or torture that the devil inflicts, though.

Imbued and Demonic Powers

The presence of a hunter with active Conviction interferes with a demon’s use of Faith, almost like magnetic charges that oppose each other If a hunter with Conviction active is in a demon’s presence and can see the demon as it uses its powers, the Faith cost of those capabilities are doubled as long as the hunter focuses his attention on the devil. This dampening effect requires no active effort on the chosen’s part, merely attention on the subject. The demon is not automatically aware of the hunter’s influence or interference, although it does notice that using its powers is taxing.

Note that this cost increase applies to only powers that actually cost Faith points to use. Innate powers are unaffected by a hunter’s presence, and work normally.

This extra Faith cost does not apply to thralls when they try to activate powers bestowed through infernal pacts. Pawns use Willpower to fuel such gifts. Only demons’ capabilities and Faith are influenced by hunters’ presence.

This phenomenon is one of the greatest advantages hunters have against the infernal. It forces most demons to be cunning and subtle in dealing with the imbued, rather than confronting them outright. Still, a demon with enough thralls to provide Faith can confront a group of hunters and still wield its powers quite effectively, and only hunters actively using Conviction limit the damned in this way. Under normal circumstances, demons can use their powers against ordinary humans and hunters to full effect.

It’s important to understand that hunters don’t know they have this suffocating effect on demons, and the fallen have yet to figure out how or why their powers are more difficult to use around the chosen (indeed, or that anyone who could be called a “hunter” is even responsible). Demons who are aware of this weakness conceal it carefully, and they can still be quite intimidating to any imbued who don’t know their own strength.

Demonic Thralls

Although demons are potent beings, they’re limited by one thing. They draw their power from Faith, but have none of their own. They must therefore acquire Faith by taking it from mortals, whether from followers who offer it willingly or from the unwitting from whom it’s taken by force. In fact, it is the infernal need for Faith that tends to draw the attention of hunters - when a demon starts a cult in an area that hunters protect, or when someone associated with a hunter becomes a demon’s latest victim or thrall.

There is something subtly disturbing about a thrall to a hunter’s second sight. It may be a shadow that seems to fall across the subject, just a gut feeling or a hint of brimstone, but something tells the hunter that this person is tainted. Since thralls are still human, the traces of their corruption are subtle and don’t reveal exactly what’s wrong with them. Observation edges may suggest more. Witness can show flashes of a thrall’s relationship with a demon, in which the subject does the demon’s bidding, debases herself before the beast, or turns the gifts she’s been given on defenceless people. Discern may indicate odd appearance or behaviour from a thrall. The minion might seem awkward in its own body, still learning to adapt to its enhancements. Muscle tone or beauty might seem mannequin-like or artificial. And Illuminate might show pale versions of the auras perceived around demons themselves.

Thanks to their relationships with the infernal, and depending on the gifts they are given, thralls can in turn witness hunters’ edges in action and remain composed, just as other supernatural creatures do. Such calm may also be an indication to hunters that such people are more than they appear to be.

Thrall Powers

What do minions get from selling their souls? Virtually anything they want, within limits. The demon takes part of the mortal’s Faith and innate power, shapes it and uses it to fulfil the mortal’s wishes, upholding its part of the pact. The exact nature of the demon’s “gift” varies from pawn to pawn, but some guidelines follow. One, two or even three of these enhancements may be acquired, based on how useful a demon finds a thrall, or on how dependent on her the creature wants the agent to become. A demon might take a little from each gift described below, such as granting a thrall beauty and wealth, or great physical prowess and preternatural powers.
Attributes: The demon can enhance one or more of the thrall’s Attributes. Appearance is a popular choice, followed closely by Charisma, although some thralls prefer Strength, Stamina, Intelligence or Wits. This is usually only a small increase, but it may be more in the case of some thralls. A demon cannot increase a mortal’s Attributes to superhuman levels; though they may reach the pinnacle of human limitation with the demon‘s assistance.
Abilities: Demons can grant mortals significant prowess in a particular field. This is usually a Talent, Skill or Knowledge that the mortal already pursues or wishes to perfect. Athletics, Craft, Occult, Leadership, Performance and Politics are all common choices. As with Attributes, a demon cannot increase a mortal’s Ability beyond their innate limitations, but it can make a mediocre practioner into a world-renowned master.
Backgrounds: Many mortals don’t care much for their own capabilities. They simply want the trappings of success. These are actually easy for demons to grant, and can bestow gifts in various Backgrounds, including Allies, Contacts, Fame, Influence and Resources. Thralls often go from being nobodies to lottery winners. They make sudden killings in the stock market, or find themselves heirs to forgotten fortunes. They can become overnight superstars or pop sensations with the guidance of otherworldly patrons.
Powers: Demons can also grant superhuman capabilities to their thralls. A devil can give a slave any one of the common demon powers, any one of the innate demon powers, or any one quality of the demon‘s infernal form. Thralls use their Willpower rather than faith to fuel these powers, and the effects work just like they do for demons.
For The Record

Just so you know, the imbued cannot become the mortal hosts of demons. The mind and soul of a hunter automatically rejects the demonic presence, no matter how defeated a hunter is, denying the demon any sort of hold. Hunters don’t have to spend Conviction for this protection; it’s simply part of the nature of being imbued. Not even the very recently deceased body of a hunter can be possessed. It’s a dormant vessel that offers an invading devil no anchor or footing in the material world. Thus, the infernal gain no insight into the beliefs, knowledge or memories of the imbued - at least not through possession, anyway.

Likewise, the chosen cannot normally become the thralls of a demon. A hunter’s inherent nature rejects a demon’s powers, enhancements and “gifts.” Still, there are some means by which even a hunter can fall to demonic manipulation.

Any mortal who is or has ever been a thrall to a demon can never become a hunter. The Messengers seem to disdain those mortals who have been so strongly tainted by the infernal. Such mortals cannot even become bystanders.

Of course, hunters have no way of knowing any of this. The smart ones avoid making any sort of deals with demons to begin with, and hold out hope that a beast’s mortal followers can be redeemed. More than a few hunters fear for their souls when it comes to dealing with the infernal, and in many cases they’re right to worry. The imbued may be protected from some of a demon’s powers, but devils possess other capabilities, and there are fates far worse than becoming mere pawns.

Imbued Thralls

While most hunters cannot normally become thralls, there are circumstances under which they can turn a deaf ear to the call and the infernal can reach them. Such a hunter has to be truly unbalanced or desperate to fall victim to such corruption. And yet it happens and is a serious setback to the cause. A person’s family might be destroyed in the course of the hunt and the chosen is so obsessed with revenge that she’ll accept help from any source - even another one of the enemy. Or a hunter might receive help from a mysterious source and eventually become dependent on the assistance, only to learn that his benefactor is infernal in nature and the help is indispensable.

There are limitations to such a hunter-demon relationship, however. The chosen cannot make “conventional” pacts. The imbuing still rejects any of the various gifts and enhancements that a demon has to offer through the power of Faith. In essence, the demon cannot sufficiently tap into a hunter’s belief to make miraculous gifts a reality.

A hunter can make other kinds of bargains with demons, though, for cooperation, information or assistance. One of the hellspawn might offer assistance against a fellow demon, information on dealing with another creature, or an enchanted weapon. Provided that the hunter knows what the demon is, one of these bargains allows the demon to gain Faith from the hunter each day like it does from a normal thrall. The demon cannot draw upon the hunter’s Willpower or health, however. The hunter’s very imbued nature protects it from such abuse.

While a hunter might enter into such an association with the best of intentions or to do the greater good (no matter how he perceives it), he may be tainted by the association. If the hunter survives long enough and is steadfast enough, he may become an infernal hunter - an imbued whose allegiance is closer to devils than to the Heralds. The options of divine and independent power are closed to this hunter, permanently.

At your discretion, the Messengers may warn the hunter of the risks of becoming indebted to a demon, with statements such as “DARKNESS LIES AHEAD.” Or the hunter could see the “demon” and “extremist” code signs everywhere he looks, or he could smell smoke wherever he goes.

In system terms, a hunter who becomes a full-fledged thrall must go beyond the edge of sanity with a primary Virtue of 10. At that point, the hunter’s soul is open to certain… influences. In essence, demons get a chance to test the hunter’s dedication and will, and they bring all their wiles to bear. A demon can offer a hunter power or any other sort of deal. If the hunter accepts, she becomes a thrall of that demon, a veritable infernal hunter.

The fallen hunter gains a level-five “corrupt” edge, among any other thrall benefits that the demon sees fit to impart. Thereafter, the binding demon draws Faith from the thrall like it would from any minion, now including the freedom to draw upon the hunter’s Willpower and health levels to gain Faith.

An infernal hunter who activates Conviction at any point is temporarily protected from his master’s power. The demon is not privy to the hunter’s thoughts and experiences, and cannot draw upon the hunter for Faith during the duration of that scene. Indeed, the hunter is not bound to obey the demon’s wishes during that period. Any derangements that the hunter has incurred persist, however, and the demon still has long-term hold over the imbued. When the effects of the hunter’s Conviction fade, the terms of the bargain reassert themselves. Also, if an infernal edge is in sue when second sight is activated, the edge’s effects terminate immediately. Likewise, if the second sight is in use when an infernal edge is activated, the sight is terminated and cannot be used again until the edge’s duration expires.

The ultimate goal of acquiring a hunter thrall is the possession of the victim’s body. It’s quite possible that only a fallen hunter’s body is capable of containing a truly powerful demon. Where such an entity burns out any other hosts in a matter of weeks, days or hours, a hunter’s body might hold up much longer, if not indefinitely.

A demon undergoes the possession process by using the fallen imbued as a potent pawn to pursue its agenda on Earth and to dispose of enemies. Throughout that period, the demon systematically breaks the hunter’s will. Sure, the imbued gets power with which to fulfil his own goals on the hunt, but he must also perform acts for his master as part of the bargain, and sometimes those acts are utterly reprehensible - theft, abuse and ultimately crimes such as rape and the butchering of children. Given enough such “chores,” a hunter’s spirit eventually wears down.

When the hunter’s permanent Willpower rating reaches zero, he is possessed by the demon permanently. His soul is destroyed. The tormenting demon may abandon its current host and assume the hunter’s corrupt form. Possession of a hunter is possible at this point because the imbued has fallen so far from the Messengers favour. The benefits of the imbuing are withheld from the demon, though, probably much to its fury. A possessing demon inherits none of the hunter’s capabilities. No second sight, no Conviction protection, no edges, no Virtues. The one thing that the demon does retain is the very level-five edge and any other gifts that it bestowed upon the hunter. That was the one contribution that the entity made, and it gets to keep that power. Otherwise, the demon acquires all the basic physical qualities, characteristics and ratings of its new host upon which to apply its own enhancements, benefits and bonuses.

A demon that fully controls a corrupt hunter’s body may continue on with its irredeemable ways. Certainly, there may have been little left that was recognisably humane in the hunter’s soul. Or the infernal spirit occupying the character’s body could find some tiny spark of what it meant to be human - or more importantly, what it meant to have receive the favour of the Powers That Be. It’s possible that the host’s once-imbued state reminds the possessor of the Creator’s love, and the fallen angel seeks to amend the sins of ages past. In the latter case, the demon could strive to help humanity and turn against other unrepentant fallen.

Indeed, possession of a hunter might suggest to a demon that the Creator’s influence is still at work in the universe in some capacity, even though it can’t be perceived by other means. Such a revelation would terrify or inspire many fallen who have returned to reality and believe it abandoned by the Creator and his loyal angels. Would other demons listen? Would they return to the higher path to seek forgiveness? Or would they scoff at the possibility and proceed with their own bids for power and personal gain?

Shared Knowledge

Perhaps the greatest danger of hunters who bend their knee to demons is posed to other imbued. As soon as an extremist enters a pact with a demon, gains a level-five edge and becomes a genuine thrall, the demon knows his agent. The being is aware of every thought, memory and feeling that the hunter has ever had, does have and ever will have before the thrall’s body is finally captured. That means the entity knows about the imbued - everyone the pawn has ever heard from, read about or met. Hunter-net, the existence of other monsters (as the hunter understood them), and possible theories on who and what the Messengers are.

Obviously, this knowledge could be catastrophic to the imbued at large. Individual demons know who and what the chosen are, and possibly where to find them. The hunt seems doomed.

It’s not, though. A demon-master’s understanding of all things imbued-related is peripheral and analytical at best. There’s no intuitive comprehension of what all the baggage of hunter existence means. Okay, some force seems to have affected select people and made them alert to the existence of the supernatural, but hunters’ own ignorance about that source could make it anyone. For all a demon-master knows, another potent member of the Host of Hell is responsible, using these humans as weapons to deal with enemies and threats.

And sure, a demon lord could use its pawn’s knowledge to wipe out the rest of the imbued, but why? They’re ultimately just lost, lonely, frightened mortals. No match for a Force of Creation. Anyway, awareness of hunters, their activities and even capabilities empowers a demon. Now he has a weapon of his own that other demons lack. It would be foolish to destroy all hunters or even draw other devils’ attention to the imbued, at least until the chosen could be orchestrated to bring down infernal rivals without the master raising a talon.

The imbued are therefore “safe” from being exposed by the handful of demons that discover their existence. These hellspawn still hold sway over some dangerous hunters who are at large - Rigger111 (John Coaler) and Oracle171 (Beatrice Tremblay) are good examples - but demons don’t automatically “out” the chosen as a whole. That would be playing their hand, and demons always hold their cards close to their chest. Woe to hunters who target one of these “informed” demons, however. Not only does the master have a potent imbued agent at its disposal, it might recognise the hunters’ efforts long in advance and easily dispose of them… or turn them against its own enemies.

Divine Messengers?

So are the Messengers angels trying to protect humanity from the forces of evil? Some hunters certainly think so. There is no proof, of course, but there’s also no proof of any other explanation for the imbued. In truth, demons are not entirely sure what’s become of their angelic brethren - those who never fell and who remained faithful to their Creator. As far as the infernal know, any “Messengers” could be angels or something else entirely. Even if the Messengers are really angels, it’s unknown whether they act on the orders of a Higher Power or on their own, and what that means for humanity.

Ultimately, it’s up to your character to decide if the Messengers are angels or divine beings trying to help the imbued battle the forces of Hell. Or if they’re something else altogether. Chronicles probably benefit more from a level of mystery surrounding the Heralds, their powers and motivations. If hunters are definitively pawns of God, then their struggle against monsters may seem less important. Surely if they lose, God could still make the world, right? The question of demons’ specific place in the universe and in hunters’ creation is therefore left a mystery and may be best left as one. Sometimes knowing the answers to the big questions makes everything else seem less important, and Hunter is a game that focuses on the “small stuff” of characters’ lives and struggles.

Interestingly enough, demons don’t know about hunters’ “Messengers” at all. The fallen only just learned about the imbued, and they don’t know where hunters’ powers originate. Needless to say, many demons would be very interested to learn of the existence of any “Heralds” and what the chosen believe them to be. After all, that’s belief that could be dedicated to the infernal instead. These beings may provide some proof that there are still angels active in Creation. Belief in the Messengers as a concept could therefore prove to be a useful bargaining chip for hunters, giving them something with which to make deals with the Devil.
© Copyright White Wolf Publishing, Inc.