|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:07 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:14 pm
DEFENSE
People say the world's going to Hell. They're wrong. Hell's
come to the world and we're the thin red line. You probably remember a time, not so long ago, when night meant rest. When not all your dreams were nightmares. A time before you joined the hunt, before you stood to defend all that you have and everything that you are. A time before you knew the violence you are capable of to save the life of another. If you can recall such peace, consider yourself lucky and learn from my misfortune. In my country, for my whole life, night has always been when fools with guns and clubs wander under over of darkness to murder their neighbors. they used to clan that polities motivated their killings. My mother, a fool of another sort, believed those claims and thought herself one of the "Right People." She died at the hands of her own tribe. When she never realized it that war does not care, which is why we must care. For you and I protect the ones we love, we must recognize that we are at war. Perhaps demon - people walk the night now because normal people gave their hearts too hatred, then they changed to match their hearts. Whatever the reason, you know such creatures are among us. It could be that nations everywhere are like mine now, except their nights are full of wandering killers that need no weapons. Instead, you and I and our kind must take up the gun, the spear, the chain - whatever works - to keep the demon - people at bay. Whatever you were before the world changes, you are now a soldier. Perhaps you always were, or perhaps a firefighter, or a member of the constabulary. On the schoolyard, you were the one who dragged bullies off the children too small to fight for themselves. If you kept your eyes open as you aged, you realized that the world was much like the schoolyard, except the aggressors multiplied even as people like you seemed to vanish. Maybe watching others lose themselves and become part of that mob is what lets you see through the demon - people's disguises. Caution and caring are all that separate hunters from mobs. Sometimes you must embody those qualities when your associates grow too ... enthusiastic. They say we must carry the war to the ones that started it. Remind your fellows that those who take up the burden of war find it difficult to set aside. Thinking of carrying your war home to the people you fight for. Think of what your dying does for them: It leaves their protection is the hands of persons with agendas different from your own. In this conflict, there can be no truer form of defeat. When battle is the only war, remember that even the bravest of your fellows need someone to guard the flanks. And remember that hunters sometimes need protection from their own foolhardiness. Any attack carried out with ease us probably a trap. And anyone who finds shame in a successful retreat probably wasn't part of it. Answer all who accuse you of cowardice, for losing the trust of your associates makes you less effective at protecting them and others. There are no eager warriors among us. That kind dedicate themselves to revenge, it seems. Our kind are reluctant to fight, yet resolute. Let others chase the adversary back to its lair. Watch over them as you are able, but preserve health and move most fiercely. Lose your loved ones and you are almost sure to lose yourself to danger soon again. Do that and you risk becoming a threat yourself. Weaknesses: Withdrawal into isolation is the most common problem that affects Defenders. Only a handful start out as so called survivalists, but many gravitate to such lives in short order. Defenders with families go this route as their fear grows. It's a natural response: The more you see out there, the more inadequate simple bars and alarm systems seem. House fortification itself is routine among hunters and hardly a problem. If you live in a fortress and won't leave it for fear of what you might come home too find, seek help. More troublesome are loners, Defenders who typically lack family and transfer that protective urge to fellow hunters. Restraint at the wrong time can cost an advantage or even lives. Regret for such causalities eats at the hearts of these imbued. A scarier form of transference occurs to a Defender who identifies or sympathizes so strongly with the enemy that he come between hunters and prey. It's a rare turn or events, but a Defender who has some tie to a target ( Surprise, your Uncle Jimmy's a creature of the night ) might give his life trying to save it. Scariest are Defenders who claim it's not their place to judge. They see hunters and monsters as predators who all need to be kept apart and leashed. Apocrypha: Traditionalists interpret the world's dire circumstances as part of a test that must be undergone to guide the rest of humanity through as well. Some of you establish urban "Missions" to simultaneously satisfy the urgings of faith and to install protectorates in cities. everything from tutelary gods to angels turn up in your favorite explanations of the Messengers. Noteworthy among nontraditionalists are the Conscience of Earth followers, who hold tent revivals and preach about the "Awakening of the joint conscience of the world's people." Everything the group says sounds pretty innocuous, but cities that have hosted this bunch have also seen masked hunters interfere with local act ivies. You "Antitraditionalist" Defenders reject religion as divisive or oppressive. You see abuse and corruption everywhere, and also did so before being imbued. Your ideas about Messengers are creative to say the least" Man, its ESP caused by psychotropic drugs the CIA put in LSD" or "The Earth Mother chose us to save her from mutant toxophagic polluters, these guys who, like, live off poisons...." No matter how you interpret your hunter role, your greatest prize is the world itself. If you cannot claim a place for humanity to live safely, what point is there in living? The Imbuing: Budding Defenders seem to confront the most single-mindred of creatures, ones that appear to have a specific target and that ignore all others. some of you speak of a first foe seemed as unwilling to harm you as it was determined to kill its intended victim. Others describe sieges mounted against your own homes or workplaces, situations that required the terror around you even as you fought off your attackers. Character Creation: Defenders start with high Perception scores, lots of Empathy and ample Willpower. They can be extremely judgmental toward people they see as indifferent or careless. Many possess the Allies Background in the form of family, a congregation or a neighborhood watch association. Soldiers or police may have the Contacts Background to indicate such affiliations. Starting Conviction: 3 A. K. A.: Protectors, Fences, Dead-eyes, the Cavalry; Verteidiger; DefenseursStereotypes Avengers - Every war needs warriors, and these guys'll take the fight to the enemy's doorstep. Bystanders - Just because they choked when it mattered doesn't mean they can't help now...but not by watching my back, thank you. Innocents - They don't belong in a fight like this. They're the ones we're trying to save. Judges - They consider every option, even though the course is obvious to us. Martyrs - Probably the group that's closest to us, but they don't even know it. Redeemers - If they catch you straying form the straight and narrow, look out! Visionaries - They're full of ideas, but not always good ones...that fellow showing off his powers on television was imprudent. The Enemy - They're everywhere. Safety first. Defender
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:20 pm
INNOCENCE
What's wrong with you? That's not how zombies act in the
movies at all! Here, let me show you.... Do other hunters treat you like you were dropped on your head as a kid? Things might be different where you are, but around here, "Innocent" might as well mean "idiot" It's not like we don't do our share. It could just be that everybody else takes this stuff so seriously that they forget monsters aren't always bad. Just like hunters aren't always good. Sometimes the others don't care if a crime is a creature's fault or not, even when they've seen that "creature" acting normal and talking to his neighbors and mowing the grass. If you don't speak up, nobody will. And when it's too late, everybody gets all quiet, and they get mad if you ask why it had to happen that way. They tell you, "Cause we kill things." You tell them some folks like to say that about the people they want too hurt. They ask you to help them steal something, like a car or a big gun, so they can hunt with it. You ask them what they would do if somebody stole their stuff. They ask you to carry a gun. When they say they won’t carry a gun if you will, you tell them "okay!" That way you can cut down on the chance of somebody else doing something everybody may regret. "Doing right by everybody caught up in the hunt is just impossible." You've heard some hunter say those words, or ones close to them. A year ago, though, the same person would have said all the things us hunters can do and see are impossible! Seems to me a little faith is in order. We may never be as good as we want to be, but we can never be any better than we try to be. That may also be true of the folks some of you call the wicked or the accursed of just monsters. They might be in pain! If an animal is hurt, it may last out at anybody. Some of these poor folks, these "Monsters," seem like trapped beasts. 'Course, some of you are saying to yourselves, "How are we supposed to know that?" Well, that's why you're blessed! That's why there are healers among us to put us back together when we get hurt helping out the less fortunate. And you can't help people by shooting them. The only reason you'll ever see a gun in my hands is to keep it out of somebody else's. Plenty of hunters are ready to wipe out anything that looks less than normal. You have to make them think twice before they do awful things. You're with them to show that hunters don't have to act wicked to stop wicked acts. Start small. Get everybody to pray together after somebody gets killed, no matter who it was. If you can start them thinking like human beings, they'll start seeing themselves that way. Maybe they'll see others that way one day, but they have to believe in their own goodness first. Weaknesses: It's sort of funny that the Innocents have so much trouble with feeling guilty, but that's life. After you try everything you can to keep the misguided from hurting somebody, sometimes you have to hurt them, too. Sometimes you have to do worse than hurt them, or help one of your friends do it. But you can't let guilt slow you down or the hurting just never stops. Some of you get to upset over the hunt you just curl up and want too die. It'll sneak up on you. You'll catch yourself praying your aim is steady or giving thanks because whatever that thing was, it finally stopped moving. Next thing you know, you're figuring out ways to not go hunting, to not go outside so you won't even see one of "Them." Lying in bed crying all day is a dead giveaway that you got the hunter's blues. The worst part is, there's usually nobody you can tell except other hunters, and seeing them can start you feeling bad all over again. A few just can't handle it. There was a fellow who ran with us, left us a note that said, "I'm done." Haven't seen a lick of him since. Hope he managed to give the blues a slip. What you rally have to watch out for shamming.... You know, " Keeping up with the Joneses." Trying to be like everybody else on a hunt will make you crazy. Be yourself and keep ahold of your soul. Start acting all hard and harsh, next thing you know you'll be that way. And nothing's harder to find again than lost innocence. Might be that once it's gone, it's gone for good. Some use the word "Innocent" to mean impressionable. If that's true of you, maybe you should be trying to leave an impression on them instead. Apocrypha: Why does anything happen? Why do people worry about it so much? We have invisible friends who look out for us all. They want us to look out for us all. They want us to look out for everybody else and to keep people from hurting each other. That way we can all be around when something better comes along; we can all reap the reward. What's so hard to understand. The Imbuing: Run-ins with things that look a lot worse than they act are typical when Innocents get the Power. A lot of you are really good at calming people's fears, sometimes with nothing other than words. Those of you who mix it up with a critter dead-set on mayhem usually try talking him or her -or it- out of whatever badass is under way. Doesn't always work, and a few of you have the scars to prove it , but that doesn't stop you from trying the same trick again later. Character Creation: Many Innocents have Charisma as their foremost Attribute, and high Empathy is a must. Otherwise, because Innocence wears so many different faces, there are few generalities that can be stated about this creed. Innocents can be children, but roleplaying them in a "realistic" setting can be difficult. Better candidates are the shielded, the uncomplicated and the endlessly hopeful. Starting Conviction: 3 A. K. A.: The Blessed, Bait, Optimists, Fools Stereotypes Avengers - They're very angry, sometimes for no obvious reason. Bystanders - I try to show them some respect since most of the others don't. Defenders - I feel safe when they're around. Judges - Even when they do stuff that doesn't seem to make sense (like that guy on TV), they've got a plan in mind. Martyrs - There already was a Jesus. Redeemers - They seem like nice people, but they talk a lot. Visionaries - We understand each other. The Enemy - If we could just understand them, all this trouble would be over. Innocent
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:25 pm
JUDGEMENT
I accuse you. Not simply of being corrupt, but of being a
corrupter, of making every person around you - even your
accuser - more like you. How do you plead? What you do is not about justice, because what you fight isn’t crime. It's abomination... corruption of humanity, body and soul, by things that look like people to the people around them. But the freaks can't hide from you and me, which is why we have to be judge, jury and yes, even executioner at once. It's hard sometimes, because killing a beast of prey is still killing. It's even harder when that beast hides its nature behind a perfect mask. Then, there are times when you get asked to do the impossible, when you know one of these is hiding inside somebody, not some trick of flesh, not something dead that just doesn't know it yet. And the others, they look to you, they wait for you to decide, to choose whether some unlucky soul lives or dies, and all you can think is, No, not me, not again - that and, how the hell did I wind up here, doing this? The answer is that you're doing what you do because you question it and you question your part in it. If you're dedicated, you make a thousand decisions, large and small, in the course of every hunt: Will silver work this time? Do we involve those civilians or not? Can this one be "Exorcised," or do we just kill the poor b*****d it's controlling before it kills someone else? The problem with being too dedicated is it can make you dead. At which point, all your careful weighing of the facts is over. It's a question of balance, and of knowing how much balance is too much, if that makes any sense to you. Probably it does. You probably spend a lot of your time before making these same sorts of decisions as a doctor, social worker, military person, or even as.... a judge. No matter what you did day by day, there were always questions at the back of your mind: Does what I do matter? Does it make things better? Can the world possibly be improved by removing some people who are in it? Then, one day, you found yourself asking those same questions in situations you'd never have imagined otherwise. That was after. After is like being in another world, except the real world hasn't gone anyplace - not have the hard choices that you've got to make. You just know there are aspects of the world that go unseen by most of the populace. You know the right thing might be to tell them, Look, see what we share the planet with? But you know better because they can't see what's plain to you. There'll come a time soon when we'll know what we face and where it hides. Once that's true, going public may be more than the safe course; it might be the only one. It's difficult to tell, but some people seem to serve the forces we fight but not realize that they're pawns in a war! Not possessed ones or anything like that, just dupes. And who knows whose ear the opposition might be bending right now? Until we have a clue, discreet valor is the only way. In the meantime, keep you mouths shut and your eyes open. It seems unfair, like the sighted making decisions for the blind without consulting them. Rely on this: You are frequently going to hate the things you have to do. You hate the lying - to family and friends, to associates - but the truth is deadly. Telling it to someone who can't see the truth is tantamount to signing their death sentence, not to mention your own. You hate having to judge another hunter, to decide whether someone on your side is more of a menace than the enemy. That's when you hate killing the most. When it seems that what you do, what all hunters do, is doomed to fail. But stronger than your hatred of the dark, hard place you no know the world to be is your fear of what it might become if nobody makes the hard choices. Your Choices. Weaknesses: Indecision is the bane of your existence. Every Judge faces it at some point. Except it, but don't let it become a constant. That's just an invitation for other hunters to sideline you or follow anybody's counsel. Free-for-alls endanger the very people you try to protect and also draw attention from the law. As tough as you have to be on yourself and your fellows, real judges are sure to be a lot less understand than you are. The other extreme is no better: Megalomania is believing that you - and only you - know what's right on the hunt. You're there to keep it orderly, to remind hunters of who they are what they do - and what then don't do. You're not there to think for them. Remember your place, but make sure others know theirs, too. Legalistic judges are a pain in our collective a**. There's a fine line between establishing and maintaining a code of behavior and becoming hidebound. If you're always certain, you haven't thought of all the questions. Apocrypha: You know the signs of Judgment Day's approach when you see them, many of you father information before the end. After all, tactics without intelligence is suicide. Many of you regularly cite Revelation or Nostradamus or The Book of the Dead. Others insistent in your believe that hunters like us are not new at all, point to Joan of Arc or Bernadette of Lourdes as our predecessors. They said and did what was right to save their worlds, and so should you. A good number of you claim to have found faith for the first time thanks to the evils you face and your questions for answers. Others say your notions of a benevolent or guiding force in the universe have been undone or obliterated by the changes in the world. Have of you think events have brought you closer to your loved ones, half feel you've never been more distant. The most proactive Judges take part in their communities through outreach programs and the like, as much to monitor their localities and run efficient hunts as to steady their conflicted feelings about their activities. And about themselves. Consider this advice from the voice of experience. The Imbuing: A common denominator among Judges - a rarity among other hunters - is having to face multiple freaks your first time out. These are usually things fighting each other, rather than threatening people directly - which is not to say people can't get hurt in the process. Some Judges talk about their Becoming in terms of a test where you have to identify the most imminent threat and deal with it first. The test you face only gets harder from there. Character Creation: Judges have outstanding Wits or Perception ratings but can waver in terms of Willpower. Whether they use force or finesse, they are always mediators in any situation. Their determination to obtain all the data relevant to reaching an important decision makes Investigation a fitting Ability. Many Judges come from professions that require ethical oversight of and by their peers; some of these fields (law, medicine) are quite lucrative, so consider the Resources Background for such characters. Starting Conviction: 3 A. K. A.: Justices, Lawgivers, the Law; JuecesStereotypes Avengers - Useful, but dangerous if they go unguided. Look what happened to the one who went on that news show. Bystanders - Their usefulness should be decided on a case-by-case basis. Defenders - Honorable people who understand temperance and fairness. They're often the hunters who alert us when "things" get out of order. Innocents - The epitome of the defenseless human. These people are the best of us. Their steadfast belief in doing the right thing focuses our mission. Martyrs - Walking exercises in futility, but necessary ones. Offenses against humanity are already pervasive. How much does our cause benefit from participants who seek victimization? Redeemers - Essential to our success. They're the only ones able to save any abomination that can become human again. Unfortunately, they are sometimes too quick to pardon the guilty. Visionaries - Valuable to the war we wage, but they may be too fond of doing it "their way." The Enemy - As diverse as the people who hunt them. To tell the truth, a few can make better allies than some hunters. Judge
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:29 pm
MARTYRDOM
We're the damned who hunt the damned. Think of all the things you'd give up to push back doomsday. All set? Okay, if the list starts with your life and includes your soul, you might be a Martyr. Other hunters may sacrifice their lives to destroy the unforgiven. Martyrs have been known to sacrifice their futures - to pawn every belonging, break every tie and even blot out their own good names for the cause. My advice is, "Lighten up," if there's a prayer that it'd make any difference. As it stands, we're the most screwed up, dram-addicted, self-tormenting hunters you can find... and a damn fine bunch despite all that. Granted, some of us are stoic to a sickening extent, but that's just high drama in a muzzle. What we all ultimately want is to star in our own passion plays. Whether that's because we feel there's something that we have to atone for or become we see salvation in sacrificing ourselves for others varies for every Martyr. Is it that you cheat on your companion? On your taxes? Lie on your Resume? and you queer/ Kinked? do you masturbate to excess? Steal cable TV? Shoplift? get over it, honey. This is not about you. As for the rest of you saints, you can use your bodies to shield all the little old ladies and orphans you want, but if getting clawed up and beat on makes you hot, it's a sin. End of editorial. Actually, what troubles me most about being a Martyr is how many of you seem to blossom under the stress of the job (don't fool yourselves, we got hired). And lots of you ( all right, me too) are more satisfied with your lives than ever before. Not happy, mind you, but satisfied. You push yourselves till you drip, volunteer for every duty, take point on the hunt, then spend the next week bitching about what a hard lot you have and how badly the world chafes your poor shoulders. Why do other hunters put up with us? Because they know we'll take the bullet for them. We'll give blood, breath and body to keep the others alive, and the same goes for civilians. A few of you have even confessed to "Murders" committed by other hunters and have gone to prison to preserve their families. Probably it's my Catholic roots that make me notice this, but there sure are lots of clergy doing the Martyr thing, though not just nuns and priests. All persuasions turn up, and they run the gamut. Working with these people in circumstances that are not very religious has made me understand for the first time that donning the cloth doesn't make you into some denominational robot. Which is another way of saying churchly folk can be just as messed up as the rest of us. Despite all our flaws, though, I'd give anything to be a Martyr as opposed to any of kind of hunter. Even my life. Weaknesses: If you keep doing what you do because you enjoy the suffering - isn't that why you got picked? - it all boils down to one fact. The undeniable truth is that some of you out there are devoted masochists. You may call it something else - bad luck, an ugly job that somebody has too do. You may deny that you have this problem. Keep things in focus: You're here to deliver punishment where it's needed, not endure punishment for whatever reason. Masochism, incomprehensible as it is to me, at least implies that you're ready to get out there and face opposition. The self-denial nuts among you sometimes carry things so far that you're literally not prepared for what we do - which endangers all of us! A woman around here took to fasting, in part to help feed the families of people who'd died in the hunt, and in part to "cleanse” herself before combat. One night she passed out in the car on the way to a fight! Then there was the guy who started living in the group's hideaway. Turned out he'd sold everything he owned to buy the rest of us gear! It's hard to knock selflessness like that, but after a few weeks nobody wanted him around - he had no place to bathe. Please, people, you can't be responsible for the welfare of others if you won't take care of yourselves. Maybe it needs to be made clear that "Take care of yourselves" means personal health and hygiene, not "We've all done terrible things and don't deserve to live." If you really feel the need to snuff yourself - and you know who you are - at least give your allies a chance to bow out. Ergo, dynamite vests are lousy options. And besides, they may not affect the enemy you face. Apocrypha: There's a terrifying theory making the rounds, thanks to one of you gloom - and - doomers, that basically suggests the world has already ended and we're all in Hell! Pessimism, thou art a Martyr. Meanwhile, most of the rest of you agree to disagree on the countless imminent end-of-the-world scenarios: Only a hundred God - fearing WASP couples of child - producing age will survive the coming cataclysm; only the 88 most beautiful celebrities will survive the coming cataclysm. What all these outcomes have in common is that you - you alone, you and other hunters, you and whoever else can be convinced to believe you’re right - will make it happen by performing the Ultimate Sacrifice. Hey, at least the next world will be better than this one. The Imbuing: The talkative among you commonly describe your First as "relentless" or "a killing machine." I've seen you modest types nod in agreement. Considering the abuse most Martyrs take when the join the ranks, it's a wonder any of us is alive for any sequel. Character Creation: Martyrs start with above-average Stamina and usually have high Empathy. Exceptions to the latter case include people who practice various forms of self-sacrifice for the attention or approval it earns them. Many members of this creed start with substantial Resources but give them away, abandon them. Starting Conviction:: 4 A. K. A.: Cassandras, Losers, Masochists, ******** class="postcontent-align-center" style="text-align: center"> Stereotypes Avengers - What they lack in toughness they make up for in brutality. Bystanders - Come suffer alongside the rest of us. It's not too late. Defenders - They sacrifice initiative for security (with the exception of that guy on TV, Mr. "Hi-America-I'm-a-monster-hunter-and-you're-all-endangered-couch-potatoes"). Innocents - Wide-eyed naiveté is not a qualification for hunting monsters. Judges - These folks make us look like amateurs when it comes to doing the right thing. Redeemers - The ones who agonize about this job as much as we do. Visionaries - These people are just out of touch enough to be onto something. The Enemy- Punishment incarnate. So what's that make us? Martyr
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:32 pm
REDEMPTION
Keep still and you might live. Assuming you weren't dead
to start with.... It all comes down to triage. Who's dead, who's hurt, who can be saved? The others may be here to take lives in order to preserve the lives of others. Your job is to save lives or figure out whether any life remains to be saved. You watch somebody get reduced to cinders by the light of the sun - pale winter sunlight, at that - and it makes you wonder: Are these things really "alive"? Can you heal a walking contagion? Is there a way to redeem a plague that thinks? Hey, they don't cover this stuff in medical ethics! The problem here is that the things we hunt - some call them "the Afflicted" - look like human beings (more or less), talk like human beings and appear to crave survival the way human beings do. None of which, in my book, certifies them as such and yet... you give them the benefit of the doubt. Your first impulse after seeing one is probably, how can I help? You treat them the way you would the deranged.... the way you hope someone would treat you, God Help you, should you become one of them. Speaking of which, did you ever wonder why we - hunters in general - seem to be immune to vampire or werewolf bites? At least, we don't become like them if they bite us. No answers here, just a suggestion that you avoid such wounds - they still hurt. Maybe "Afflicted" is a better label than anyone realizes. Maybe we're the antibodies for Homo sapiens as a whole. Sure, thee could be a monster virus, why not? It's no harder to believe than, say, some Bela Lugosi-Lon Chaney rematch where the participants don't wear make up and, well, aren't actors. Take my advice: Leave the theories to the prophets. Keep your buddies in one piece, path up victims as you're able, and save lives. Or maybe save life. People talk all the time about "Life-and-Death struggles," but nothing in all my years of trying to help people made that phrase resound in my mind as literally as it does now. These days, it's as if the Four Horseman gallop in at regular intervals. If you've trained yourself to not personify death, or if you believe death can sometimes be good, run-ins with the Afflicted can make you question everything. Which is probably my way of backing into the subject you've been waiting for as much as I've been dreading it: killing. Death is not always the opposition, as any terminal patient in interminable pain can tell you. But there's a difference between helping someone ease into peace and helping to put down the two-legged equivalent of a rabid dog. The dog didn't plan to get rabies. What if hunters aren't immune too this "monster virus: or whatever's out there? What if we just haven't seen anyone get "properly" exposed yet? What if someone who saved your life turns up as one of these things? Let me say for the record that if you suffer such ultimate bad luck and try to share it with me, I'm going to "Contain the infection.: Once that's done, if anything's left of the real you, all my energy will go into salvaging you, no matter what any other hunter has to say. Weakness: Messianic complexes bedevil the practitioners of redemption. Redeemers may be worse than Avengers when it comes to establishing themselves at the heart of their own religions. The Power can come to mean more than the hunter. Unlike Avengers, who can have their own cult following yet manage to remain effective hunters, some Redeemers drift away from the hunt altogether toward a " purer" calling. Avarice seduces even more of our kind. A lot of Redeemers start out doing the occasional "Miracle: For some moneybags-type, just to support the hunt. Next thing you know, that dough starts looking a lot better than risking you neck to reconnect somebody else's - and when it's "private practice" time. Money by itself is no evil, and having it can sure make the hunt safer (though seldom easier). But it should always be a means, never an end. Absolutist Redeemers, the ones who stick to the hunt but develop god complexes of a different sort, are the worst. If you've never seen one in action, count your blessings, They're the Redemption-on-my-terms-only types who can't - or wont - see any alternatives beyond healing some freak or killing it. When they start dictating how the hunt itself needs to go down, it might be time to find a new Redeemer. Apocrypha: Redeemers try to understand what's happened to you and your world through experience - or lack of it. You scientists, professionals, researchers, and the merely informed perceive your states in logical terms - Chernobyl after effects, prior infection, general degradation of the biosphere - and see gloom on the horizon based on the same factors. Someone has to do something about it. The ignorant, uninformed or disillusioned - although no less concerned for others - fill in the gaps with whatever meaning you can: blessing, damnation, personal purpose, a government plot. To the latter, you powers and role simply complement the corrupt world; someone has to try to save the hopeless or deserving if anything good is to follow. Ultimately, most Redeemers perceive one purpose for themselves: We're here too help. Yours is the task to save those who cannot save themselves. In some cases, when a body can't be healed, saving a monster literally means deprogramming it - helping undo the conditioning that created it. The subject may be willing, with a human soul trapped beneath the surface, or salvation may be imposed through force and punishing treatments until the evil side is broken. The lucky among us can find the redeem perhaps one soul after all our efforts, but we never stop looking for others. So we all have the same purpose, yet with some of you, it's as if the rest or us should avert our eyes when you pass. Not that you ask us to, naturally, but the expectation seems there nonetheless. Some of your holier-than-thou types are about as trying as you are handy. The Imbuing: Someone invariably gets hurt during the making of a Redeemer. You've been there: Severed arteries, compound fractures, snapped necks. You've worked the miracles, you've stared at your own hands like they were never yours. You may also have worked a little magic on the cause of the mayhem. Character Creation: Redeemers often couple Dexterity with some high Mental Attribute. Keep in mind that Abilities relating to Medicine are far from essential to plying Redemption. It's the hunter's urge to make things right, not being able to do so already, that matters. Starting Conviction:: 3 A. K. A.: Menders, Deprogrammers, Confessors, Healers; CuradoresStereotypes Avengers - Holy terrors. Bystanders - They're brave to risk the same dangers that we do without the abilities we have. Defenders - The most tolerant of the intolerant ones. Innocents - They can get into big trouble, but they keep us sane and centered. Judges - Their job may be tougher than any other hunter's. Martyrs - If they want to hurt themselves, they should do it in private and spare the rest of us - and the viewers at home. Visionaries - The strangest of us by a mile, but good to have around. The Enemy - Wounds to be healed... or rotted extremities to be amputated. Redeemer
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:34 pm
VENGEANCE
Give back the devil his own. Admit it. You're the type who believes in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. All of our kind do. You may be more forgiving than some or more brutal than others, but for you, justice is retribution. Chances are, even if you live someplace that doesn't practice capital punishment, you advocate it anyway. " Things wearing human faces" used to mean something different. They were rapists, serial killers, psychos who never knew what conscience was. Now you know "Monster" isn't just a figure of speech, and you know how cunning the position is, how dangerous. What hasn't changed is how to deal with the problem. Old monsters and new ones rate the same treatment: Death, in your old life, you'd have jumped at the opportunity to thrown the switch of deliver the lethal injection. Nowadays, your opportunities, your choices, are swinging a blade or pulling a trigger-that, or just standing by. And that's no choice at all. What's weird is that bloodthirstiness actually seems to preclude some people from hearing the Call with you. A buddy of mine always used to say torture was a good thing. He as there my first time, when it all went down. he didn't see or hear a damn thing. though. In fact, he was part of the crowd that rushed out of the bank. He still spouts off about criminals being killed, but he has no idea what he's talking about - and I can't tell him what's really going on. I don't think he could take the real thing, and if he knew, he might be this far you know, a rogue, somebody who goes too far and doesn't care if regular people get hurt in the process. It's weird because, of all hunters, we're the ones likeliest to shed blood ( or whatever some of those things have inside them). The others lack proportion, the idea that the punishment has to fit the crime. Of course, once you start talking about monsters against human beings, about how you "Punish" someone that sees you the way you see cattle, maintaining a "Balance Sensibility" is tricky. As a kid, you might've imagined yourself as a knight or maybe a gunslinger. Maybe that self-image guided you in adulthood and you became a cop or a prison guard or a bounty hunter. Pr maybe it helped end your career when you blew the whistle on your employer. Or it could've remained a fantasy because you never had what it took to make others do the right thing. Then again, you could be like me 0 that is nobody's paragon of virtue, but still sure that there are things you just don’t do. Theft, that's one thing, but killing somebody over stuff? That's wrong and that'll get you killed. You may lie to yourself and say you don't believe in justice, but the fact is you believe in your justice. For some of us, that happens to coincide with what the courts hand out. For them, the system works and what we do is a necessary evil: “If the government had people like you and me, we wouldn't be doing this." Some see the system as ailing and themselves as the cure. And for some, “Justice" is a tool for the enemy. A human idea being used by monsters to cover up the most horrible s**t imaginable. You think corporate prisons are good business? Try thinking of them as game preserves. Not that you should changed your mind about anything. Fold in our "Line Of Work" rarely do. Do people kid you about being hard headed? Inflexible? Get used too it, because our kind has extreme views. You might meet a colleague who seems to share your perspective on the hunt, but then his ideas start to get pretty out there on other religions, races , and sexual preferences. Suddenly, you see that your "Colleague" is a freakin' nut. Take your beliefs to the limit and others will look the same way at you. Try to remain objective. Weaknesses: Extremism may be what brought you into the fold, but it might be what takes you out of it, too. It seems like lots of us believed for a long time - long before hearing the Call - that whoever was running things had the wrong idea. That's why so many of us are anti-government, from white-supremacist military members to black-separatist vigilantes, from Zapatista rebels too Irish Republican Army Soldiers. The trouble here is the same as with insurgency movement: Piss off the wrong federales and they make you their new hobbies. You don't want to have authorities actively after your hide.(They'll be trying to bust you regardless, so don't make it worse). Believe me, monsters are bad enough by themselves. And if you're one of those who believes monsters are the government, give me a day's notice before you come too my town, okay? Intolerance goes hand in hand with some extremist activities. It's also part and parcel of some folk's religious beliefs. People with religious beliefs like that scare me. There are all - white groups and all-black groups and all-Asian groups who say their race is the only one that can hear the Call. Be smart and keep a clear sense of who the enemy is here. You know those murders of interracial couples in New England? The police are clueless, but everything about the crimes say it's one of us... Obsession is a major danger for us. From lunatics who believe in preserving racial purity to nuts who'd blow up a whole building because a monster lives in the penthouse - you'll come across all varieties. Just don't join their ranks, because that makes you the enemy. And you know what that means. If you can't remember the last time you had dinner with your family, or the names of your family members, or whether you have a family (or a job, for that matter), you're obsessed. Apocrypha: You're probably very orthodox in your attempts to explain your mission and why you were called to it. Traditional notions of good and evil are fine by you. Onward Christian soldiers. Crush the infidels. Make the world a better place. Answers to "Why Now?" vary from a cleansing in preparation for the Second Coming to a simple need for humanity to finally reclaim the Earth. By this sort of reckoning, the Messengers get construed as angels, the Holy Spirit or Ancestor Spirits. Yet our kind tends to believe in one thing consistently: ourselves. Maybe that's why hunter "Cults of Personality" Tend to have Avengers at their center. If you can ever get one of these cult leaders to be candid, odds are he'll tell you there are no Messengers, they the voices he hears are his own, that his powers are his" Destiny." In all fairness, some of these folks are among the more effective hunters around - but having worshipers still makes you appear suspicious. The Imbuing: The call to Vengeance is always violent, Someone - or something - almost always dies, whether it's some civilian, his attacker or the hunter in question. You were "Reborn" amid death and consecrated in blood. Is it any wonder that the hunters likeliest to fall to the enemy's level are your own kind? Character Creation: Avengers usually possess high Physical Attributes, but can be weak or fearful people who bolster themselves with weaponry. For the latter, choose high Firearms ratings (and possibly the Arsenal Background), coupled with Wits and/or Alertness to reflect these characters' view of the world as basically menacing. Outlaws and law enforcers are good starting concepts for this creed, though callously murderous individuals on either side of the law are not. Consider giving hunters who are cops or crooks the Contacts Background. Starting Conviction:: 4 A. K. A.: Adjusters, Knights, Soldiers, the Wrath of God; VengadoresStereotypes Bystanders - Somebody else we'll have to avenge tomorrow. Stay home. Defenders - While there's certainly value to having someone you can rely on to watch your back, these guys need to learn that the best defense is an a**-kicking offense. Innocents - Figures it was one of these dumb-asses who went on TV and got himself wasted. Judges - We can't stand around waiting for their famous "impartial decisions"; there's god and there's evil, and evil must be punished. Martyrs - Like us, these guys are willing to die for the cause - but what good is dying if the cause fails? Redeemers - Oh sure, let's "rehabilitate" monsters. That's the friggin' ticket. Idiots. Visionaries - Yeah, yeah, "vigilance and vision." yada, yada, yada. Choose wrong and pay the price. The Enemy - Evil is as evil does. And when it does, we come in and stop it dead. Avenger
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:38 pm
VISION
Claiming a world is a simple-sounding, two-fold process: We
must be patient and look carefully to discern our best path. And
we must pursue that path heedless of obstacles, whether nefarious
interference or the disbelief of our fellows. Neither impediment can
keep us from our goals. Consider the possibilities: that we and are our opponents ( if that's the right word ) may be part of an evolutionary competition like the one between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons; that both sides may be pawns in a conflict between alien intelligences; that we may embody the forces of light and darkness in a war for the fate of the world; that all these explanations of our struggle may be true - or completely false. What every imbued person of Vision brings to the mission is perspective. You have your theories, as do nearly all of us, about what is happening around us, But Visionaries strive to make understanding essential to our activities. Judges get called on to render decisions that have short-term effects. You take the long view and weigh the factors that never occur to other imbued - who probably consider you a lunatic as a result. No matter, if you're true to our calling, insults are ineffective in swaying your attitudes. Which is not to say we don't value the respect of our peers in this apocalyptic enterprise. In fact, the extent to which we can influence other imbued is the measure of our own success. But what success are we to pursue in the larger sense? Is the goal of our mission the determination of whether war can be waged compassionately? Is it defining the limits of tolerance when confronting what may or may not be pure evil? Or simply some atavistic contest for survival of the fittest? Maybe there's a whole other battlefield that we're missing. The perceptions and abilities we share come to us seemingly for the purpose of being used. Presumably, they're meant to be used on entities whose existence we remain ignorant of until the coincidental bestowing of those abilities. But what if the entities themselves - our "targets" - are bestowing these powers? Does our aggression prove to them what with vast power comes vast immaturity? Does every action we take in the "hunt" condemn us and our species in the view of incomprehensible beings? Or is it that beings incomprehensible to us are incapable of sharing our values, and so they regard us as test subjects, vermin or worse? As a Visionary, these are the questions that you must entertain, and whatever wisdom you can glean about the hunt - a potentially dangerous name for our mission, by the way - must be shared with other "hunters" Without guidance, our fellows can be as dangerous as anything they might seek to protect against. So, to pose another question: Are we the brains or this undertaking, its conscience? Yes and yes. And when some of us are proven wrong? Expect it too happen, for we cannot all be right! In that instance, hope that any decisions you influenced came out as well as they could, given what you knew. Anyway, don't be too hard on yourself. We're trying to answer questions we don't even know hot to ask. Not that you need ideas on how to go your own way, but pity the other imbued who literally go after who-knows-what. Think of them as stalking newly discovered species, and think of yourself as a nature guide (or supernatural guide, depending on your inclinations). My own to-do list mapping of lairs and isolation of proclivities or weaknesses, when possible. Your emphases are sure to vary, depending on your interpretation of knowing thine "enemy" is paramount. The more difficult task is often translating such knowledge into practice. Many of you describe yourselves as some combination of diplomat, general, dreamer and baby sitter. It's already challenging to have any meaningful exchange with other Visionaries, given our independent ways. Trying to marshal the divergent attitudes and approaches of the imbued overall can seem impossible. Here's hoping we have vision enough to meet that challenge. Weakness: Other hunters say we're all prone to narrowness of focus, and so they call us Tunnel - Visionaries. OF course, it's pointless to protect; we obviously can devote ourselves to certain minor details. How about that pamphleteer who keeps harping on the mutagenic properties of human saliva? And the way "Monster particles" Are spread by kissing? Gang, keep some emotional distance from your pet theories. Don't undermine your own authority by constantly focusing on fringe matters. Remember the big picture. Addiction affects those of us who pursue comprehension of the Mysteries ( Heralds, hunters, monsters ) through mind-altering substances. Exercise moderation. Visionaries who conclude that hunters are better off not hunting are typically called "Traitors" Nevertheless, following our own vision of the truth is what we do, and a few of you believe humans are being used as catspaws at best and as entertainment - of the gladiator variety - at worst. Needless to say, some of our more eager counterparts consider any such stance blasphemy. If you decide inaction should be the group's new course of action, make sure there are no Avengers behind you when you make the announcement. Apocrypha: Maintaining your composure can be difficult with all the crackpot ideas seeping into Visionary heads. a lot of them seem like plot rejects from The Twilight Zone: The Messengers are our future selves trying to prevent a mutant takeover of humanity in their past. Or. Hell is full and we're seeing the backflow. Or, stuff like this happens every thousand years, and Jesus was one of us. Or, the world is about to end and we have to choose a new one. Who can say who will be right till the last minute? What you do know is, no imbued is certain of his ultimate purpose. It's up to you to discover that purpose and seek alternatives to whatever ideas may become popularly accepted. Perhaps the world hunters should seek apart from monsters is neither this nor the next, but one of our own making. The Imbuing: Visionaries love to trade first-time stories because our experiences tend to vary so much. This one distracted a creature so its victim could escape, that one tricked an attacker into destroying itself. My own "opener to the way" ended after it became apparent that the thing confronting me couldn't face its own reflection. The only constant to these tales appears to be how different Visionary solutions seem to be. Character Creation: Although many Visionaries possess superior Intelligence, some are average in that department but excel at Manipulation - specifically at seeming to have powerful intellects. Leadership and Expression are appropriate Abilities for hunters of this creed. Visionaries sometimes have a concentration in Occult or Science, but an exceptional individual (or a charlatan) might straddle both fields. Starting Conviction:: 3 A. K. A.: Pathfinders, Wayfarers, Prophets; HellseherStereotypes Avengers - Good or bad, they're the desire for justice personified. Bystanders - Given the widespread urge to dismiss them as failed hunters, perhaps they deserve our scrutiny. Defenders - They embody the instinct for self-preservation. Innocents - Apprentices who often take on the characteristics of the others with whom they hunt. Judges - Invaluable in the field, but possessed of limited imaginations. Martyrs - At their best, the rarest of individuals: altruists. Redeemers - Approaching the hunt as an epidemic to be quelled has merit; trying to explain it that way to a mass audience does not. The Enemy - Antagonistic labels may predetermine our behavior in counterproductive ways, so keep an open mind. Visionary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
