***“In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.”
Hunters are mortals with a daunting task: protecting humanity from the World of Darkness, however suicidal or sisyphean the mission. They are drawn to the fight from all walks of life, and end up, willingly or unwillingly, on the other side of the curtain, seeing what the mundane doesn't. Many end up dead, or shackled by the servitude of the Kiss or the Blood Bond. A few have the mettle to do something about it. Those who do so alone have a very short life, like the wick of a nearly-done candle: it’s not impossible, but it’s damn near so.
While not universal, many American solo hunters (as do those from the Vatican) use the cross as a symbol
The rest are part of a hunter organization. These groups are large, powerful, and can put up a consistent fight against the evils of the unknown: they’re not all under the same umbrella, but Kindred tend to call them all “the Second Inquisition”.
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Currently, hunters from foreign state organizations or LEVIATHAN are not playable.
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Even before the 60s, the efforts of the Special Affairs Department in stemming “supernatural phenomena” were curtailed by increasing influence by its mother agency, the FBI; the NSA was also hamstrung by both political interference and budget cuts to the DoD. The CIA was either uninterested or complicit in this state of affairs: after all, they were involved in conspiracies of their own, involving “alien research” and “psychological phenomena”, such as ESP and psionics…
This changed during the closing days of the Nixon presidency, where the President was advised (some say coerced, others say influenced) to support an agency that could handle “the rising tide of cult-related criminality in America”, stemming from the Great Sabbat Crusade, and do so sparing no expense, or answering to anyone but a small advisory board and the President. The internal CIA memo for this was Project NIGHTFALL, with some of its more rogue elements defecting from the Agency and getting into top positions in this newly-born organization.
Badge of the Bureau of Special Investigations, used by the BSI, FEDRA and S-TAC.
The Bureau of Special Investigations was thus allowed to exist, though cutting into precious CIA, FBI and NSA budgets, and creating permanent enemies around itself, both in the State Department and the Pentagon. Still, they had a 30-year moratorium before the Senate would be privy to their budget and operations, or be able to impact either. They thus got to work, cornering the sale of “enhanced drugs of unknown origin”, getting support from the DEA, and “the import of weapons from suspect, cult-like third-parties”, garnering a tenuous alliance with the ATF.
However, the Camarilla and the Giovanni immediately closed ranks (eliminating drug-dealing ghouls and Anarchs, or backstabbing the Koenig branch of the family, who lost many of its members to internal conflicts) to avoid the Masquerade’s fall. The same was done in 2006-2007, with Anarchs and Camarilla teams rescuing captured Kindred and ghouls, preventing a major loss of face, or BSI progress into the study of the vampiric state of affairs, and the Sabbat targeting BSI agents on sight, handing heavy losses to its agents…
BSI agents have a wide berth, allowing them to investigate any potential leads, provided they can do so discretely. Furthermore, lawmen or federal agents that stumble into “unexplained, supernatural phenomena” and manage to get out alive are often given the chance to join. Furthermore, its joint branches, FEDRA (1998) and S-TAC (which was deployed for the first time, officially, in 1999, during the Month of Nightmares) cover the weak spots of the BSI, allowing it to handle all sorts of supernatural threats…
The current heads of staff are Director Nathaniel “Nate” McGregor for the BSI, with Colonel Mara Linwood-Thorpe being the acting commander for the S-TAC and Dr. Felix Reinhardt leading the FEDRA laboratories. At the moment, all three have a different view of how the BSI should engage threats, their allies and enemies, and overall ultimate goals of the Bureau of Special Investigations.
The flaming sword of the Vatican, the Sant’Uffizio has been fighting the good fight with vigor ever since 1996, with the Vox Dei Triumphalis papal bull calling hunters to fight the good fight under the guidance of the Grand Inquisitor. The same year, Gladius Dei reopened its military academy, training many hunters in the physical aspects of the War against Evil.
However, there is much division and strife among those fighting. Secular hunters do not want to fight with those doing so under the banner of the Pope, and vice versa. The same can be said across faith lines, too. Some progress has been made in 2007, with the first attempted cooperation between the BSI and the Vatican, with the Sant’Uffizio opening certain sections of the Vatican Libraries to FEDRA, and S-TAC units training alongside Gladius Dei warriors.
With the revelation of the existence of dhampirs, the Vatican has allowed two knightly orders of “daywalkers” to join the fray on the side of the Lord: the Order of Saint Longinus and the Forsworn Knights of Saint Jude. Furthermore, those hunters of a Catholic, or Christian bent, manifesting the powers of Numina, are given the chance to join as Theurges, with Sanctioned Witches receiving official sanction by the Grand Inquisitor to do so. After the powerful auto-da-fé and reconquista of Portland, Oregon, the Vatican has shown that it can be a threat to vampires all over the world, and displayed the effectiveness of the dhampiric hunters in its employ.
Cross used by the Sant’Uffizio (top), Gladius Dei (center) and the Dhampir Orders (bottom)
At the moment, the Inquisition is undergoing a crisis: the leadership is divided between the Grand Inquisitor, Gabrielle du Valmont, and her zealous hardliners, and those who are closer to the humbler words of Abbess Margarethe Elsbeth, who preach a more subdued, controlled war against evil. This crisis is strained by the different currents about whether they should work alongside secular forces, or those hunters of a different religious, or theological bent, and the status of the dhampirs, theurgists and sanctioned witches amongst the Inquisition.