Unlike every other variety of being that a vampire might encounter besides humans, Hunters are not supernatural. They have no true powers, are just as fragile and fallible as mortals, and should be easy to manage. This is usually not the case, though; Hunters have, through the intervention of some higher power or simply their own observation and strength of will, realized that they live in a world full of monsters, and are determined to do something to combat them.

Hunters see things normal mortals don't and notice things that would cause the regular flow of humanity to call them crazy. They spend most of their time trying to change the world for the better, and they do so by seeking to eradicate, relocate, or control the supernatural powers that they alone realize populate the night. Whether it's vampires, werewolves, changelings, or creatures even more rare and bizarre, the Hunters are trying to find them and protect unwitting humanity from them before it's too late.

Types of Hunters

Not all Hunters are created equal, and in fact most do not necessarily even know one another or agree with one anothers' philosophies. They tend to be loners, each discovering the world of the supernatural and deciding to do something about it on their own; some like-minded Hunters do band together, but even they usually only organize into small mutually beneficial hunting bands, and often break up and reform as they move on to new prey.

Hunters, when they bother to view themselves as a larger whole (or are even aware that other Hunters are out there), mostly fall within three broad categories, each approaching the business of rescuing the human world in a different way.

Hunters of Mercy

Merciful Hunters focus primarily on saving people; they view their mission as one to protect, serve, and if necessary die in order that the innocent can be saved. They attempt to take the place of hapless human victims who could not handle a supernatural danger as well as themselves, and to prevent anyone or anything too helpless to defend itself from becoming fodder for strange powers. Their mercy extends to supernatural creatures themselves sometimes, in fact; many merciful Hunters attempt to find the humanity in their enemies and remind them of what they once were, or even to protect supernatural creatures that are on the side of the angels. These Hunters are the ones most likely to work with benevolent supernatural forces, or at least to not attempt to destroy them on sight.

Hunters of Vision

Visionary Hunters are big-picture operators, looking to create a new world order and to set in place long-range strategies that will eventually cleanse the world of supernatural danger and make mortal lives easier. They are the most likely to interfere with other Hunters in the name of guiding them along the "correct" path, and the most likely to come up with wide-ranging plans that have drastic (but according to them, necessary) consequences. These Hunters advocate for not just societal change but a total change of the natural order, and they see themselves as the rightful architects who will bring this new, supernatural-free world into being.

Hunters of Zeal

Zealous Hunters will stop at nothing to destroy evil, and their definition of evil usually includes any and all supernatural beings, and sometimes anything else that they think those beings may have corrupted. They tend toward dedicated crusades against any supernatural creature they discover, and often believe that the ends justify the means, even if innocents die in the crossfire. It's worth it to wipe the supernatural taint from the world, even if some people have to get hurt in order to meet that goal. These Hunters usually have very sparse social lives and are dedicated trackers, warriors, and eventual executioners of anything that strikes them as even slightly out of the ordinary.

Hunter Powers

Hunters are not truly supernatural - they are, after all, directly opposed to the supernatural in all its forms. But they do have powers beyond normal human capability, granted to them by whatever mysterious higher power or inner fire called them to fight the creatures of the night in the first place. The most common types of powers displayed by Hunters include:

• Defense, which allows Hunters to keep supernatural creatures away from them through sheer force of will.
• Deviance, which allows Hunters to rally others of their kind in combat and cause major injury to supernatural foes.
• Innocence, which allows Hunters to hide from and avoid danger as well as helping soothe the mental anguish of other Hunters.
• Judgment, which allows Hunters to nullify a supernatural creature's powers and call upon superhuman physical skills.
• Martyrdom, which allows Hunters to hurt themselves in order to help others or injure a supernatural enemy.
• Redemption, which allows Hunters to heal injuries in themselves and others and damage the equilibrium of supernatural creatures by reminding them of the mortals they once were.
• Solitude, which allows Hunters to communicate telepathically and project their senses over long distances.
• Vengeance, which allows Hunters to create weapons from thin air and cause intense harm to their supernatural enemies.
• Visionary, which allows Hunters to see into the past and future and sometimes move things between them.

Hunter Organizations

Because of their solitary nature, isolated arrival into the world of monsters, and usually short lifespans, Hunters have no greater organizational structure to speak of. Single Hunters or small groups hunt their local areas or respond to distress calls or suspicious activity as they go, and even those visionary Hunters seeking a larger, final solution still usually do so from their own carefully-kept secret bases. However, a few connections for Hunters do exist, and are vital for them in passing information about different creatures they encounter, methods for dealing with them, and possible larger movements in the supernatural world.

Hunter-Net

Maintained by shadowy Hunters who have survived longer than most, Hunter-Net is a carefully encrypted secret website accessible only to those Hunters who manage to find it and provide proof of their activities against the secret evils that stalk the night. Most Hunters stumble across it by accident while researching their enemies or looking for others like themselves, and only a few recognize it for what it is instead of surfing past it like any number of a hundred other websites.

Hunters who do successfully find their way into Hunter-Net place themselves on a mailing list, which the mysterious moderators use to warn members of new supernatural threats and call for information if one of their number needs specific help with a case. A chat server can also be run anonymously from Hunter-Net, which a few Hunters use to communicate more directly. Rumors surface now and then that supernatural creatures might have found and infiltrated Hunter-Net, and while this has never been proven, some Hunters are very paranoid about anything they say or share there, and others refuse to use the site at all out of fear that it might compromise their activities.

The Inquisition

The Inquisition is the officially sanctioned Hunter organization sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church, and has been in existence and operation for well over a thousand years. It is by far the largest and most well-organized Hunter organization in assistance, and was formed by the Church for the express purpose of destroying supernatural affronts to God, which includes not only extrahuman creatures but also any mortals who cross the line into what the Church considers witchcraft or demonology. In modern nights, the Catholic Church no longer officially supports the Inquisition and claims to have no knowledge of its existence, although key high-ranking Catholic agents may or may not be intentionally turning a blind eye to certain zealous crusades going on behind the scenes.

With a millennium of records and training methods to back them up, the Inquisition are without a doubt the most powerful Hunters in existence; they are trained specifically to destroy all known varieties of supernatural creatures, and know more about the limitations, weaknesses, and inner workings of different supernatural species than anyone else, usually including the creatures themselves. These secrets are closely guarded and passed on only to new members of the Inquisition, and such new members are rare, since they require both unshakeable, unwavering true faith and a rare combination of strength of will and physical prowess.

Unlike most Hunters, the Inquisition has been known to occasionally work with supernatural creatures - very rarely, and only those that the organization has vetted through very painful and humiliating methods as being harmless or committed to their cause - when doing so can help them succeed in their goals. Of course, such helpers to the Inquisition are always one mistake or one bad day away from being destroyed themselves, but some believe so strongly, or are so desperate, that they provide assistance anyway. The Inquisition's willingness to use creatures it considers monsters to further its cause should not be misinterpreted as a soft spot; often, members not only don't care whether or not a supernatural creature is actually evil, they are perfectly willing to take out innocent humans in pursuit of destroying them.

Project Twilight

Project Twilight is a secret government agency in the United States that attempts to handle the threat of supernatural creatures and is mostly staffed by Hunters, some of whom seek out employment there after realizing the truth of the world around them and some of whom only become full-fledged Hunters after being exposed to the dangers of the supernormal. Hidden from most other government branches (although they occasionally interact with the FBI, CIA, and CDC), Project Twilight does its best to operate without anyone understanding what they do, but when on occasion their activities do come to light, they specialize in cover-ups and misdirections.

Washington, DC is an especially important area for Project Twilight, considering its strategic importance and the high rate of supernatural activity there. Of course, most people should never have any idea that they're operating there...

Hunters and Vampires

Vampires and Hunters have a long and ugly history, including such famous examples as the fictional Van Helsing hunting down Dracula as well as a myriad of unsung, unknown stories that ended in a dirty alley or a deserted farmhouse. Vampires are often a Hunter's preferred prey, combining as they do very direct danger to human beings, influence over everything in their environment including the government itself, and constant internal wars that render mortals collateral damage. Hunters aren't always totally clear on how to combat vampires, especially if they're fairly new, and may try methods that are not universally successful (such as garlic or crosses), but they usually get enough things right to present a credible threat. After all, even pure brute force can wear down a lot of vampires if enough of it is applied.

Vampires are among the most subtle and human-like of supernatural creatures, however, so they can sometimes cause conflict to arise for some Hunters, especially if they are still very close to humanity or retain human morals. Whether or not a given Hunter or group of Hunters decides to destroy any vampires in the area often depends upon who they interact with first, how that interaction goes, and whether or not there is already any bad blood between the parties involved.

Hunters can be made into ghouls or Embraced by vampires, and both processes work normally. However, many Hunters would be horrified by the prospect, and often either go to great lengths to find a supernatural way to break the bond forged with a vampire, or commit suicide to avoid becoming the thing they hate.