Hunter: The Reckoning

The Imbued are relatively new to the World of Darkness and, unlike Kindred or Garou, have little in the way of a coherent society of Hunters. The closest thing to a social organization for Hunters is "Hunter-Net," described later. Although Hunters are generally unaware of the labels, a Hunter is defined by their Creed. Additionally, Creeds are grouped by a primary Virtue that engenders the Creeds. A Hunter's creed is chosen at the imbuing directly related to their actions. Hunters creeds and powers are given for a reason. Players cannot not find any pacifist Avengers.

Atypical of other World of Darkness splats, the Hunter's Edges (powers) do not have a linear growth, meaning an early ability may be stronger or more useful than a later one.[2]

The ways of hunters differ radically according to the personality and the type of imbued. They develop a strong tendency of how to deal with monsters and how to protect humanity. This leads to three main virtues a hunter may follow in an active, an assessing and a passive way.

Those hunters that tend to show compassion towards creatures of the dark, and attempt to persuade the dark supernatural forces to turn to light, follow one of the Mercy Creeds. The Mercy Creeds are:

• Martyrs: Those who sacrifice themselves all for their cause.
• Redeemers: Those who wish to bring the monsters back into the light.
• Innocents: Those who refuse to prejudge the supernatural.

Those hunters that are unforgiving and dogmatic in their belief that humanity is meant to "Inherit the Earth", and that the dark supernatural forces are arrayed against this manifest destiny of mankind, tend to be one of the Zeal Creeds. The tendency of these hunters to be warriors/soldiers among a group of Hunters gives these Creeds the stereotype as brute "zombie-killers." These Hunters do the dirty work out of a passion few humans may understand.

• Avengers: Those who seek revenge for the harm done by creatures of the dark.
• Judges: Those who mete out punishment based on how monstrous the creatures have acted.
• Defenders: Those who safeguard and protect the innocent from the darkness.

Understanding and information gathering are the primary gifts of these Creeds. Originally charged to lead the Imbued in their war against the unnatural powers of the world, the Visionary Creeds consist of one viable Creed and two "Lost Creeds." In theory, these "Lost Creeds" consist of people who were granted too much insight for the mortal mind to handle and have ended up either deranged or overly violent due to this Calling. However, there is some implication throughout the different source books that these "Lost Creeds", specifically Waywards, ended up precisely how the Messengers wanted them.

• Visionaries: Those who seek to understand the greater meaning behind the imbuing and the existence of the supernatural.
• Waywards: Lost Creed. Imbued who have become overly violent towards the dark. Many Waywards suffer from some sort of mental derangement. They should have been the strategists and tacticians of the Imbued; however, Waywards cannot turn the benefits of second-sight off, and are subject to supernatural visions at any time. This tends to cause extreme mental trauma. Though some Waywards can handle this mental strain, the constant reminder of the supernatural can, and sometimes does, turn some Waywards into psychotic killers. Because of either psychosis or Calling-inflicted rage, Waywards often see only the need to destroy the enemy, and are known to cause large amounts of collateral damage in the completion of this task.
• Hermits: Lost Creed. Imbued who receive psychic static near other Hunters and supernaturals. They should have been the intelligence gatherers for the Imbued, receiving information directly from the Messengers. The unfortunate side effect of Hermit's powers result in debilitating social anxiety around any form of the supernatural.

Hunters communicate via a forum network called "Hunter-Net", which is located at the fictional website www.hunter-net.org. Though the site is relatively secure, at least one instance of a supernatural being infiltrating Hunter-Net has been recorded. It was maintained by an Imbued called Witness1, and other Imbued who maintain and add data to it included Bookworm55, Doctor119, and the infamous God45. When taking a screen name on Hunter-Net, one takes a word to describe oneself and then a number signifying what order they joined in—by this Doctor119 is a Hunter who has decided to describe himself as a doctor and is the 119th person to sign in.

Throughout the path of what is now known as the "Old World of Darkness" (as opposed to the New World of Darkness, the current incarnation of which is called Hunter: The Vigil), the original Hunter-Net was dismantled and broken. Witness1, the proprietor of the site, deleted a number of accounts on the original H-Net, but claimed that someone or something else had hacked his account. A new Hunter-Net was built, but it hardly had the following of the original.

Many subsets of the site sprung up around Hunter-Net, founded by specific hunter creeds. One of the most notable is the Firelight mailing list located on the first page of the Creedbook Avenger.

The Dark Ages time setting that is the closest equivalent to Hunter: The Reckoning is Dark Ages: Inquisitor. The reason for this is probably the fact that the Imbued did not exist until the Final Nights time period in the World of Darkness. Despite the similar nature of the two games, Inquisitors tend to play at a significantly greater and more powerful level than Hunters.