History Characters / HunterTheVigil

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: '''Everyone''' absolutely ''despises'' the Abbey. It's almost a RunningGag that no matter how bad one particular Vigil Compact or Conspiracy is, they still look down on the Abbey as a bunch of sickos.
** In ''Slasher'', [=VASCU=]'s Stereotypes section for the Abbey has one hunter recall the time he was hunting down a serial killer who liked chopping up old men with a hatchet, only to find an Abbey cell had got there first and was, quote, "violating our perp like animals: they hadn't even put him out of his misery". The [=VASCU=] agent apparently threw up harder than he ever had before, whilst his partner, a member of the New York Police Department's Special Victims Unit, was so revolted that she immediately shot them all dead. Both agreed to cover it up as "self defense".
* TheHedonist: An especially dark and twisted variant. The basic motivation of the Abbey is hunting monsters because it's ''fun''. And since monsters [[FantasticRacism aren't people]], they have no qualms about... experimenting... with using them for pleasure as well. Raping them, torturing them, eating their flesh, drinking their blood, making them into trophies and clothes: these are all things the Abbey has been said to do.
** A consequence of this is that the Abbey would be offended at discovering [[TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated the Pilgrimage]]. Monsters are sport; they're not supposed to try and become people. If monsters can become people, then that makes the Abbey monsters, and the Abbey will not accept the idea ''they're'' the monsters.

** ''Spirit Slayers'' makes reference to Ashwood Abbeyists making sport of tracking down a spirit named Jean-Pierre that possessed working-class laborers and then murdered their families, killing its host, then letting it possess another host to start the cycle over again. Apparently, this "game" would still be ongoing into the present day if a cell of Malleus Maleficarium hadn't interjected and dispatched the spirit.
*** The same splatbook also references Abbeyists taking werewolf skins as trophies, despite the fact that [[ThisWasHisTrueForm werewolves revert to human form upon death]]. According to internal rumor, some Abbeyists don't let this stop them and so they prepare the now-human corpses as throw-rugs -- [[EvenEvilHasStandards though nobody sober will admit to doing so]].

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: ''Tooth and Nails'' reveals most of them are terrorized by [[TabletopGame/BeastThePrimordial Beasts]], as they are well-aware the Begotten ''hate'' them, and even they realize being on the shit-list of literal incarnations of nightmares is bad. Some of them still risk themselves at hunting Beasts obviously, but most of the Compact look down to these members are suicidal.

* TheChainsOfCommanding: They certainly believe these exist.

* FourStarBadass: Any member of the Five Stars division, in theory.

* CombatPragmatist: The Trappers, and presumably many other members of the Lodge.

A secret government group organized by the mysterious Mr. Smith to hunt down "reality deviants" who are going to cause the destruction of reality. [[spoiler: Secretly, they're pawns for a member of the Seers of the Throne, an evil mage who is sending them out to assassinate non-Seer mages and prevent Awakenings.]] They first appeared in America in 1976, when Thomas Major, a hunter who worked in the office of a prominent New England Congressman, and a group of like-minded DC power players moved to interrupt a shadow war brewing between various occult societies on the eve of America's 200th birthday. Division Six divides itself into three '''Departments'''; '''Alpha''' (planning and logistics, the nominal cell-leaders who receive hit-lists from the Panopticon), '''Charlie''' (surveillance and intelligence gathering), and '''Whiskey''' (assassination).

* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: Subverted; they ''believe'' themselves to be a secret branch of the US government, but in truth, [[spoiler:they are being used by the Panopticon.]]

* GaiasVengeance: They're militant hippies; they tend to invoke this archetype.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The Long Night all believe that Armageddon is coming. As a general rule of thumb, they think this is good, because they believe that afterwards, a new world will be made that is free of sin. Thusly, they fight to both accelerate the time until Judgment Day occurs and to prove themselves worthy of being reborn into the new world.
* TheFundamentalist: Their members almost invariably are. Though emphasis is placed on their positive attributes, such as the Merciful faction or their general willingness to fight for humanity's sake, it is made clear that many of the uglier sides of this trope are in place. Many of the Hopeless, for example, only loathe themselves ''because'' of their strict religious upbringing and beliefs.
** ''Compacts & Conspiracies'' makes this side of them even scarier, by revealing that there are members of the Faithful doctrine who actively insinuate themselves into high positions of government, business, and even entertainment... so they can use that influence to push Armageddon ever closer.

* HeteronormativeCrusader: A possible archetype for a Long Night member, but thankfully not one likely to have much emphasis placed on it.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Let's face it; their fundamental doctrine is that the end of the world is coming... and they have to ''accelerate it'', because they believe it will be a ''good thing''.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: A general archetype for the Penitent faction.

* BerserkButton: Anything and anyone relating to Nazism or Neo-Nazism, to put it mildly. Neo-Nazis who join end up dead. Monsters that use Nazi trappings, or which were connected to the Nazi regime, or simply may have been, are the focus of their ire.
** Suggesting that maybe the Loyalists don't need to be so hooked up on their past ties to the Nazi movement is also a ''bad'' idea.
* CantStandThemCantLiveWithoutThem: The Three Old Men of Munich; the last survivors of the founders of the Loyalists. Each despises the other two as a living reminder of his sins, but they depend on each other to run the faction. It's noted that many think they're only still alive because each refuses to give the others the satisfaction of seeing him die first.

* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: The founding principle of the compact. The Loyalists were formed from those Thule Society members who felt they would never be able to redeem themselves for their Nazi connections. As mentioned above, they react ''violently'' to younger members who suggest that maybe the Loyalists can move on from their fixation with the Nazis.
* {{Precursors}}: The Loyalists believe that there are some out there who can answer many of the compact's questions. May or may not be related to a similar race of ancient beings from [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening another World of Darkness line.]]

* VanHelsingHateCrimes: Averted; Though dedicated to fighting vampires, when it comes to other monsters, the Sisterhood is not unwilling to try diplomacy, though they approach the matter with caution.
** The Sisterhood actually has one of the better relationships with mages; there is an express mandate that unless a "witch" presents a clear and immediate threat to the population, the case must be reviewed by the Pleiades Council before any action is taken. Officially, this is because a cell of the Sisterhood killed a student reported to be a witch at Bryn Mawr College, and the ensuing investigation almost ended the organization. Unofficially, this has led to conspiracy theories that the Pleiades may themselves contain at least one mage.

* AgentMulder: They all are dedicated to the belief the truth is out there and it must be found. The Army of Truth are the minority who wants to try and convince everyone else to accept the truth.
* BasementDweller: A large part of their membership. Though subverted, since going after monsters with nothing but a camera is pretty badass.

* NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters: With a liberal interpretation of the word "friendly".

* AgentScully: They believe in the paranormal, but use scepticism to separate genuine supernatural phenomena from myths. Consequently a lot of other hunters stereotype them as the more extremely in-denial version of AgentScully. Exactly how right (or wrong) they are to think this way is one of the more notorious cases of DependingOnTheWriter in the line.

* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Averted. It's one of the greater causes of member conflict when one sort of scientist feels qualified to venture opinions on another type of science.

* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: They aim to analyze the supernatural with science in order to understand how it works. They are not even close to success, but they keep trying.

Dating back to the middle of the 19th century, founded by a man named Jacob Hite, the Promethean Brotherhood is a worldwide Compact dedicated to a single thing: mastering the mysteries of the mysterious Rite of Hecate, which allows them to temporarily acquire the power of magic-users by ceremoniously killing them. There are three particular philosophies, or ''Colleges'', prominent amongst its members. The '''Orphic Temple''' believes that refining the Rite of Hecate requires understanding and ''believing'' the Orphic Mysteries. The '''Cautionaries''' preach that actually hunting witches should cease, or at least dwindle to the bare necessity of testing subjects, until the Rite is perfected. Finally, the '''Experimentalists''' continue to try and refine the Rite by testing the most bizarre and wild new theories they can think of.

* MirroringFactions: It has been noted their philosophy actually makes the Reckoning occasionally guilty of the very things they criticize Heroes for; they sometimes kill other Hunters in their pursuit of Heroes, and since they believe the end justifies the means, they can cause the death of innocent bystanders. In fact, because of their proximity with Beasts, many of them ''[[HeWhoFightsMonsters actually end up becoming Heroes]]''. And these turned members usually are killed by their cellmates on the spot... much like Heroes immediately kill their Beast family members.
* ZombieAdvocate: Downplayed; people in the Reckoning ''do'' advocate Beasts have their own role in the natural order and should not be slaughtered by Heroes just for being what they are, but that just means they won't go out of their way to kill them; if they feel a Beast truly is dangerous or has to die, they will kill it without a second thought. They are less focused on protecting Beasts, and more on protecting the many innocents Heroes put in danger when chasing them.

* ReinventingTheWheel: The Conciliators faction has its root in the theory that the "wolf-children" could be used to protect mankind from the spirits. This is actually the ''purpose'' of werewolves in the first place; it's just most of them refuse to accept this role.
* WrongGenreSavvy: The Talbot Group wants to cure werewolves, but they live in a setting where werewolfism -- at least ''true'' [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken werewolfism]] -- can't be cured. It's a genetic trait and, once it manifests, a werewolf ''is'' a werewolf, and could no more be cured of it than, say, an African man could be "cured" of being an African. Though as noted above, the Conciliators actually are pretty close to figuring out the truth.

* VanHelsingHateCrimes: Averted. The Union generally doesn't have time or the resources they can waste killing every supernatural creature they encounter. As a result, they tend to follow a live and let live policy; only monsters that actively endanger people on their turf warrant a response.
* VillainsActHeroesReact: Because they're busy holding down jobs to support themselves and their families, and thusly they want to avoid unnecessary injuries, the Union is one of the least actively aggressive Compacts. They come out in response to monster predations, rather than going looking for trouble. The relatively few aversions are members of the General Strike faction.
* WeirdTradeUnion: Though nowhere near as organized as an actual union, they meet the majority of requirements for a real union, like communal support for each other and fighting for workers' rights. With stakes.
* WorkingClassHero: Though they run a whole range of occupations, the general feel of the Union is typically a very blue-collar worker with a hard job. The Politicals faction is nearly playing this trope straight. It's not just monsters, it's corporate suits and government patsies that deserve the Union's anger as well. (Some bloodsuckers just are more literal than the others.)

* TheyWouldCutYouUp: If you're an institutional demon, anyway.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Horn truly believes in the new world he pursues. However, the compact is... somewhat in denial that they're using living beings to build their new future.

* ALighterShadeOfGrey: Along with the Talbot Group, Yuri's Group is easily one of the most heroic Hunter groups in the supplement. They give rehabilitation to Supernaturals who don't want to hurt people and psychological treatment for victims of Supernatural attacks, helping others in the Supernatural community first and hunting monsters later. And even then, they limit their hunting to Beasts [[HorrorHunger (whom intentionally scare/hurt people to feed themselves)]], and Supernaturals who intentionally prey on weaker people [[ForTheEvulz just because they can.]]

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"Hunter" in the TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness, refers collectively to all the human individuals who know about the supernatural, and decide to take arms against the monsters threatening them and their loved ones. This covers everything, from lone people who just found out about it and decided to take arms, to entire groups and large-scale organizations dedicated to the task for one reason or another.

!!!Ahl al-Jabal
-->''I don't mind being snuffed out, so long as I keep alive the flame of the human spirit.''

!!!The Ashwood Abbey

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-->''Try this, I think you'll find it quite stimulating.''

!!!The Barrett Commission

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-->''This is '''my''' country, '''my''' people. If anyone will be using them, it'll be me.''

!!!The Bear Lodge

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-->''Wait, I need his ears to prove my kill!''

!!!Division Six

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-->''Reality has been pushed beyond accepted norms. We're here to fix that.''

!!!Habibti Ma

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Habibti Ma is an Egyptian compact born after Eme Amun Hassan lost most of her family to a suicide cult. As she searched for a way to ease her grief, she learned of the Egyptian goddess Ma'at, embodiment of justice, and realised what she wanted to do. With assistance from psychologists, legal experts, and private security professionals, she created Habibti Ma, a group dedicated to disbanding cults and returning members to their families - legally when possible, but more than willing to engage in kidnapping and psychological warfare if need be. In the process of so doing, they have learned that praying to human gods appears to have a strong impact on cultists of the undying for reasons they do not as yet understand. There are three main '''Duties''' in Habibti Ma. The '''Good Sons''' engage with cults directly, breaking them up, kidnapping their victims, and working with psychologists to deprogram cult members. The '''Watchers of Isfet''' look for cult activity at the street level, and are learning more about the supernatural shadows of the world in the process. '''Mothers Against Cult Activity (MACA)''' are a group who raise both money and awareness on the dangers of cult activity. While they have no official ties to Habibti Ma, in practice they are the political and financial arm of the compact.

!!!The Illuminated Brotherhood

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-->''I've seen things you couldn't believe.''

!!!The Keepers of the Source

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-->''You took something from Mother Earth. Now you're going to have to give it back.''

!!!The Long Night

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-->''Blessed is he who stays awake. Let us all keep watch.''

!!!The Loyalists of Thule

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-->''I don't have any choice. I have a debt to pay.''

!!!Maiden's Blood Sisterhood

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-->''Did you think us shuddering alone and waiting for rescue?''

!!!Network Zero

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!!!Night Watch

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-->''You picked the wrong street, bloodsuckin' motherfucker!''

!!!Null Mysteriis

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-->''For everything, a theory. This is not the occult. This is science.''

!!!Promethean Brotherhood

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-->''It's nothing personal. You've just got something I want.''

!!!The Reckoning
-->''A wise woman once said, the definition of a hero is a person who gets other people killed. You can look her up later.''

!!!The Talbot Group

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-->''It's not you. I know that. It's the thing hiding inside you.''

!!!The Union

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-->''There's power in a union.''

!!!Utopia Now

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Utopia Now is a compact with far-reaching goals - namely, the overthrow of existing governmental systems and their replacement with self-sufficient communities enabled by technology, drawing heavily on libertarian thinking. Unfortunately, the technology's not there yet, so they seek out [[GeniusLoci institutional demons]], exorcise them, and take the infrastructure that's left. Their founder, William Horn, is a Witness (read: a [[TabletopGame/DemonTheDescent stigmatic]]) who saw the demons lurking in institutions, and decided that to be free of them required building a world without the institutions they depended on. Horn became a successful entrepreneur, and has now set out to build the new world he seeks. There are three known '''Departments''' in the compact. '''The Cure''' eliminate supernatural parasites so they won't make their way into the compact's new world. '''Operators''' track down and destroy Utopia Now's main targets, institutional demons, and see what they can take from the demons' physical components. '''Incubators''' step in after other groups destroy institutional demons, to see what use they can make of the remains.

!!!Yuri's Group
-->''She said that life is not what you alone make it. That it's the touch of everyone and every experience you have. We don't prevent scars; we stop people from being cut.''

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Doctors are members in charge of helping victims psychologically, and as such rarely take part in the hunts. When they ''do'' take part, however, the memories of all the broken people they saw make them absolutely ''ruthless.''
** Really, the entire faction qualifies as this. Yuri's Group is founded on the principal of helping people recover from psychological trauma in the Supernatural community, and are incredibly tolerant of [[TabletopGame/BeastThePrimordial (most)]] Supernaturals. They are also one of ''the'' biggest [[BullyHunter Bully Hunters]] in the setting, so if you're a Supernatural who gets their jollies on torturing people, Yuri's Group will ''[[YouCanRunButYouCantHide hunt you down.]]''

!!!Aegis Kai Doru

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-->''Oh this? Ten a penny. I keep it for... sentimental reasons.''

!!!Ascending Ones

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-->''Our war is eternal. Our sacrifices, ceaseless. Drink this, and be ready.''

!!!The Cainite Heresy
-->''I ask again: Who is Cain?''

* KnightTemplar: A world without vampires - ''at any cost.''
* MythologyGag:

!!!Cheiron Group

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-->''Ours is not to reason why. Ours is a fantastic pension and health package, however.''

!!!The Faithful of Shulpae

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-->''Today, we honor those who have fallen in the hunt for Divinity, and in their name, we feast! Try the arm, there’s still meat on it.''

The Faithful of Shulpae are an ancient, and extremely secretive, conspiracy dedicated to Feasting on gods (which in practise usually translates as devouring long-lived/immortal supernaturals, with special preference for [[TabletopGame/MummyTheCurse Mummies]]). There are a number of ways to be '''In Service''' to the Faithful. '''Keepers''' maintain the temples, ensure the "gods" don't wake up, maintain the Feasting calendar, and decide who participates in which Feasts. '''Guides''' look for the "gods" out in the world, as well as potential candidates for the Faithful. '''Celebrants''' are the ones who take the risks of bringing the "gods" to the temple - those who take the greatest risks are first to take the Feast.

!!! The Hototogisu

* GuileHero

!!!Knights of Saint Adrian

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-->''That thing ain't human, which makes it payday.''

* WrongGenreSavvy: In many settings, the Knights' belief that angels are good and demons are evil would be correct. Not here, though - the angels are agents of the status quo, while the demons are looking to escape from a God-Machine that's amoral at the very best.

!!!Knights of Saint George

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-->''We have a sacred duty. Hope nobody gets in our way.''

* SuccessionCrisis: They're currently facing one as the Knight Commander ages. There are two possible candidates. One wants to modernize the Knights, which some fear will damage their secrecy. The other is a hardliner who would bring the Knights back to their roots - but she's a woman, and the old guard would ''never'' accept that.

!!!Les Mysteres

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* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Zigzagged, at least to a degree. The Spirit Emissaries do try to avoid just following the spirits blindly, and to avoid letting them have too much control when they are "summoned in", and they do have a strict rule against allowing spirits to claim human bodies. However, they also turn a blind eye to the spirits generally influencing people and walking in the world of flesh, they fail to realize that claiming results in a spirit ''completely controlling'' a person's body instead of just "sharing it" like when they Ride an Emissary, and most importantly of all, they've come to believe that the ''Pure'' are "the good guys" simply because their take on the proper role of spirit and flesh is the same as what the Emissaries believe.

* TooDumbToLive: The Spirit Emissaries actually think that the Pure are the "good and noble underdogs" of greater werewolf society. The Pure not only outumber the Forsaken roughly 2 to 1, but also consist of the Fire-Touched [[note]]spirit-worshipping [[TheFundamentalist religious fanatics]] who view [[MadOracle madness as a sacred blessing]] and [[{{Plaguemaster}} disease as holy for its symbolic comparisons to faith]][[/note]], the Ivory Claws [[note]][[AristocratsAreEvil stunningly wealthy, powerful and ruthless werewolves]] who think werewolves are [[ANaziByAnyOtherName "the master race"]] and who'll expend human lives like petty cash in pursuit of their goals[[/note]] and the Predator Kings [[note]]neo-barbarians who want to blast the world back to the Stone Age so they can go back to hunting humans like livestock[[/note]]. BeliefMakesYouStupid is putting it mildly in this case.

!!!Lucifuge

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-->''Hell is other people.''

!!!Malleus Maleficarum

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-->''Heresies must be met without mercy.''

!!!The Merrick Institute

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-->''We hunt where nobody can, or will,''\\

!!!Task Force: VALKYRIE

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* BadassNormal: No magic, no mutations - just a lot of high-tech firepower and ''balls of steel''.

!!!VASCU
-->''The only thing worse than our job is what happens if we don't do it.''

One of the types of opponent most frequently met by hunters, Slashers are human serial killers whose urge to kill begins to grant them abilities beyond the human norm. Gameplay-wise, they are divided between two types: Rippers, covering those who are still mostly human, and Scourges, covering those who have developed supernatural abilities well above anything human. In turn, these are divided between Undertakings, defining the kinds of killers they are, with each Scourge Undertaking being the "evolution" of a Ripper one. Note that these names only apply in term of '''gameplay''' - the book makes it very clear they are not referred to as such in-universe, where slashers are too diverse to be categorized.

!!!The Hunt Club
-->''This isn't your fault, but I can't keep scoring low.''

For all intents and purposes, the Hunt Club is a compact of slashers, a gentleman's club dedicated to hunting the greatest prey of all - humans. And, if at all possible, doing it with style. They began as a secret society in Edwardian England, when rich and powerful upper-class men gathered to combine their power so they could partake in a then-illegal pastime; hunting foxes. However, they found the thrill of fox hunting grew stale, especially when there was no real shock from the populace to be gained. By 1881, the club had dwindled to five members, when they made their newest hunt; two homeless drunks, plucked from the streets of London, who found themselves chased through the wilderness by five bored aristocrats with long knives. After they ran their prey to ground and butchered them, the Hunt Club found its new calling. By 1903, it had spread throughout the English-speaking world. But they got careless, and in 1904, they were almost decimated when the Society of Twelve Keys (British predecessors to VASCU), and through them the police, caught onto them and captured many of them. The survivors went underground, and refounded the club, which persists to the present day. The Club divides itself by three "Rulebooks", outlines set by the three most important centers of the Hunt Club before 1904. The '''London Rules''' are the traditionalists, following on those victims who society won't generally miss; street people, drunks and prostitutes. The '''Boston Rules''' are bizarrely philanthropic, focusing on quarry who have squandered their lives or hold others back -- the sort of people who, as the saying goes, are alive only because it's illegal to kill them. Finally, the '''Melbourne Rules''' are the rarest but most respected members of the Club, since their code adheres to the ancient ideal of worthy prey. Specific variants are those who seek out only prey that should be able to validly defend themselves, or who would bring definite police scrutiny, though doing both is, of course, even better -- these are killers of police officers, government agents, soldiers, and the rich & powerful. Though not exactly intended to be a ''player'' option, the Hunt Club organize themselves fundamentally the same as a compact of hunters, and it's implied that more than a few burned out or morally disjuncted hunters join their ranks.

!!!The Subtle Collectors' Association

* DumbMuscle: They usually are simple at best and stupid at worst, but very strong and very good at killing people. One should not underestimate them, however - they can display some cunning, and some of them are smart enough to [[TrapMaster craft traps]], albeit not quite as sophisticated ones as Geniuses.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: The reason why they kill - they find the notion of trust fascinating because they honestly believe HumansAreTheRealMonsters, and as such don't understand why people would allow people they barely know access to them in vulnerable situations.

* BondVillainStupidity: Out of all the Undertakings (except maybe the Charmers), they have the strongest tendency to play with their victims before killing them, either by using elaborate traps or by playing a cat and mouse game with them. The justification for this trope varies - they can be reluctant to kill with their own hands, be physically incapable, or just believe that granting their victims a possibility to escape obviates their moral responsibility in the death.

The scourge version of an Avenger. The most obviously supernatural variant, Legends are slashers who have become famous through stories told by people about them, which eventually resulted in them becoming the very nightmare people believed them to be, becoming stronger and healing quickly when in a situation that the stories state is when they strike - but those same stories also generally contain ways to ward them off, which they find usually works.

* GlorySeeker: Why they're the evolved version of Avengers - they ''want'' people to know who they are, what they're being punished for.

* WouldntHurtAChild: Masks sometimes ignore a specific type of target, with children being the most frequent example. This doesn't seem to be out of mercy, however - they just ignore them as if they weren't there.

* FantasticRacism: Hunters who became Psychos frequently are people who suffered some trauma at the hand of a supernatural creature - and develop a hatred of everything supernatural as a result.

* RevengeBeforeReason: One of their main weaknesses - a person who manages to escape a Psycho or press their BerserkButton becomes their obsession, to the point of predictable behavior.

[[/folder]]

* FantasticRacism: Having originated as a vampire-hunting sect, they have a particular focus on vampires, but they loathe two kinds of vampires above all, both for religious reasons. Vampires of the [[CrystalDragonJesus Lanceae et Sanctum]] are hated and despised for seeming to embody everything bad about the Christian faith. Vampires of the Daeva clan are hated for being [[VampiresAreSexGods sultry, bloodsucking corpse-bound]] HornyDevils, due to their focus on tempting, subverting and corrupting humans into their playthings for their own base, ungodly pleasures and desires.

* AntiHero: Type IV or V is the ''best'' a Slasher can hope to be, if not an outright VillainProtagonist.

Founded in the Summer of Love by a minor psychic, a hippy woman who preferred the name Starflower, the Keepers of the Source were originally a New Age occultist group known as the Dowsing Society, dedicated to mapping the flow of ley lines. Their first interactions with the true occult underground came during the Samhain festival in Balboa Park, 1970; one of their members, a true [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening mage]] named Cassandra, used the ritual as an opportunity to tap a Hallow, during which Starflower and at least one of her disciples, the prodigy Duncan Redgrove, felt such agony that they blacked out. Though Starflower begged Cassandra to return the "stolen blood of the Earth Mother", Cassandra refused her, insisting that what she had done was natural. Redgrove was furious, but Starflower insisted on a pacifist tactics. For five years, they were the joke of the occult underground as they attempted to passively convince mages and werewolves to "leave Mother Earth alone" and "return what they had stolen". Most simply ignored them, but some of them lashed out at the foolish hippies; three died in mysterious accidents that Redgrove swore were the work of overzealous and overprotective mages. Finally, in the summer of 1975, Starflower led a peaceful demonstration intended to hold back a group of people from tapping a hallow. That group, however, were a pack of four ''werewolves''. A dozen Dowsers died, one was maimed for life, and Starflower spent three months in hospital. By the time she got out, Redgrove had taken over and the Dowsing Society had been replaced by the far more radical, militantly minded Keepers of the Source -- Starflower herself was made to leave in 1985, when they officially changed their name. Currently, three primary '''Philosophies''' exist amongst the Keepers. The '''Children of Gaia''' are a small but growing resurgence of Starflower's old pacifist teachings, while the old and prominent '''Hand of the Mother''' are the Redgrove-founded militants who lead the Keepers to war. Meanwhile, Redgrove's daughter, Karen, currently leads the '''Dynasts''', who vacillate between the two extremes, but have yet to settle on a solid direction.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: One of the main reasons they are seen as so disturbing by hunters. Even Scourges are closer to regular humans than most supernatural creatures, yet the level of depravity and cruelty Slashers are capable of rivals some of the worst monsters. And unlike most monsters, they aren't [[TheVirus unwilling victims of a contagious transformation]], nor [[HumanoidAbomination things that weren't humans to begin with]], nor do they suffer from a HorrorHunger compelling them to harm people; they are just plain, ordinary humans who turned by developping too much of a taste for murder.

* MirroringFactions: To the Night Watch (both groups are criminals, or at least work with criminals in pursuit of the greater good) and to the Long Night and/or Malleus Maleficarium (both are heavily motivated by their religious doctrines, which in-turn color their viewpoint of the supernatural world and their place in it).

* BadassGrandpa: While Baudolino is a ghoul, and thus, TheAgeless, he only became one in his 60s, and he looks it. He has still been leading his organization from the shadows for ''centuries'', despite vampires being natural conspirators who could easily recognize his existence.

* {{Homage}}: They are based on the BitchInSheepsClothing killer archetype, such as Harry Powell from ''Film/TheNightOfTheHunter''

* {{Hypocrite}}: They hate Heroes for not caring about all the innocent victims and collateral damages they leave behind while pursuing Beasts, but they are themselves guilty of this every now and then. See NotSoDifferent.
* NotSoDifferent: It has been noted their philosophy actually makes the Reckoning occasionally guilty of the very things they criticize Heroes for; they sometimes kill other Hunters in their pursuit of Heroes, and since they believe the end justifies the means, they can cause the death of innocent bystanders. In fact, because of their proximity with Beasts, many of them ''[[HeWhoFightsMonsters actually end up becoming Heroes]]''. And these turned members usually are killed by their cellmates on the spot... much like Heroes immediately kill their Beast family members.

* NotSoDifferent: To the Night Watch (both groups are criminals, or at least work with criminals in pursuit of the greater good) and to the Long Night and/or Malleus Maleficarium (both are heavily motivated by their religious doctrines, which in-turn color their viewpoint of the supernatural world and their place in it).

* NotSoDifferent: To Cheiron Group; Both organizations make themselves more powerful with the remains of supernatural beings. The Faithful's stereotype entry on Cheiron lampshades this, and also reveals that making the comparison between the two conspiracies is a good way to get [[BerserkButton kicked out]] of the Faithful.

Publically known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Malleus Maleficarum are actually the modern-day descendants of the old Inquisition, still upholding a sacred duty: the elimination of all supernatural horrors. They have a particular focus on capturing and destroying vampires... aided, no doubt, by the fact their founder still lives and secretly runs the organization; [[ReligiousVampire a rogue ghoul, he uses them to secure the vampire blood he needs to sustain his immortality]]. The Malleus Maleficarum is divided into three orders. '''The Order of St. Longinus''' are specialists in hunting vampires, and have a particular opposition to the blasphemous vampire sect who call themselves the [[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem Lancea Sanctum]], who ''also'' purportedly revere the Saint Longinus as the first of their unholy kind. '''The Order of St. Ambrose''' are scholars and detectives that painstakingly research solutions to dangerous problems, and often clash with witches and sorcerers over the knowledge they have secreted away. Finally, the '''Brotherhood of St. Athanasius''' are an unabashedly militant wing who favor swift, violent solutions to problems.

* RealityEnsues: The Illuminated Brotherhood is noted as having a very high mortality rate. "Psychedelics don't teach people how to fight."

* AgentScully: They believe in the paranormal, but use scepticism to separate genuine supernatural phenomena from myths. Consequently a lot of other hunters stereotype them as the more extremely in-denial version of AgentScully.

* {{Expy}}: Jacob Hite seems to have more than a few similarities to [[TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness Samuel Haight]]. Besides the obvious similarities in their names, both of them were {{Muggles}} that were assistants to supernatural beings[[note]]Samuel was [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse Kinfolk]] while Jacob had a [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening Mage]] as a mentor[[/note]], both stole the powers of the supernaturals they were working with by murdering them, and both founded organizations based around murdering supernaturals for their powers. Thankfully Jacob killed himself after the turn of the 20th century, so he will probably not be appearing anywhere else in the TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness.

* InTheBlood: Madness and the urge to kill often run in the mutant's blood, alongside whatever causes him to be disfigured.

* TooDumbToLive: The Spirt Emissaries actually think that the Pure are the "good and noble underdogs" of greater werewolf society. The Pure not only outumber the Forsaken roughly 2 to 1, but also consist of the Fire-Touched [[note]]spirit-worshipping [[TheFundamentalist religious fanatics]] who view [[MadOracle madness as a sacred blessing]] and [[{{Plaguemaster}} disease as holy for its symbolic comparisons to faith]][[/note]], the Ivory Claws [[note]][[AristocratsAreEvil stunningly wealthy, powerful and ruthless werewolves]] who think werewolves are [[ANaziByAnyOtherName "the master race"]] and who'll expend human lives like petty cash in pursuit of their goals[[/note]] and the Predator Kings [[note]]neo-barbarians who want to blast the world back to the Stone Age so they can go back to hunting humans like livestock[[/note]]. BeliefMakesYouStupid is putting it mildly in this case.

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: [[spoiler: Members of this compact undergo special training that makes them more likely to trigger a paradox, and this training sometimes makes an agent "no longer capable of separating deviance from proper reality". Anyone familiar with ''MageTheAwakening'' realizes this means that the agent becomes a mage. Agents who experience this are rarely seen again by other agents.]]

** They believe spirits are inherently good and noble beings that are oppressed by werewolves. Again, anyone who has read the Werewolf line knows that spirits possess a particularly ''dangerous'' form of BlueAndOrangeMorality, and the primary task of werewolves is keeping them in check so they don't turn humanity into cattle.

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: [[spoiler: Members of this compact undergo special training that makes them more likely to trigger a paradox, and this training sometimes makes an agent "no longer capable of separating deviance from proper reality". Anyone familiar with MageTheAwakening realizes this means that the agent becomes a mage. Agents who experience this are rarely seen again by other agents.]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: The all-seeing Mr. Smith is this to Division Six. [[spoiler: In reality, the power behind Mr. Smith is the [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening Panopticon]], ie the very mages that give the rest a horrible name.]]

* VillainProtagonist: This is what you can get ''at best'' if you decide to include a Slasher as a player character. A Slasher's Integrity cannot go above 4, which represents the point where a character becomes a remorseless killer.

* WrongGenreSavvy: The Talbot Group wants to cure werewolves, but they live in a setting where werewolfism -- at least ''true'' [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken werewolfism]] -- can't be cured. It's a genetic trait and, once it manifests, a werewolf ''is'' a werewolf, and could no more be cured of it than, say, an African man could be "cured" of being an African. Though as noted above, the Counciliators actually are pretty close to figuring out the truth.

Publically known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Malleus Maleficarum are actually the modern-day descendants of the old Inquisition, still upholding a sacred duty: the elimination of all supernatural horrors. They have a particular focus on capturing and destroying vampires... aided, no doubt, by the fact their founder still lives and secretly runs the organization; a rogue ghoul, he uses them to secure the vampire blood he needs to sustain his immortality. The Malleus Maleficarum is divided into three orders. '''The Order of St. Longinus''' are specialists in hunting vampires, and have a particular opposition to the blasphemous vampire sect who call themselves the [[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem Lancea Sanctum]], who ''also'' purportedly revere the Saint Longinus as the first of their unholy kind. '''The Order of St. Ambrose''' are scholars and detectives that painstakingly research solutions to dangerous problems, and often clash with witches and sorcerers over the knowledge they have secreted away. Finally, the '''Brotherhood of St. Athanasius''' are an unabashedly militant wing who favor swift, violent solutions to problems.

-->''A wise woman once said, the definition of a hero is a person who gets other people killed. You can look her up later''

* NeverLiveItDown: Invoked InUniverse as the founding principle of the compact. The Loyalists were formed from those Thule Society members who felt they would never be able to redeem themselves for their Nazi connections. As mentioned above, they react ''violently'' to younger members who suggest that maybe the Loyalists can move on from their fixation with the Nazis.

* DemonSlaying: What they think they're doing for good, but it's a bit more complicated than that.

* WrongGenreSavvy: In many settings, the Knights' belief that angels are good and demons are evil would be correct. Not here, though - the angels are agents of the status quo, while the demons are looking to escape from a God that's amoral at the very best.

* HolyHandGrenade: Some of their Benedictions can be used for offensive purpose. Most notable is the Wrathful Sword of St. Micheal the Archangel, which temporarily grants any melee weapon the ability to inflict ''aggravated'' damages to supernatural creatures.

* MetaphoricallyTrue: They believe werewolves are a case of spirit possession, which is in a certain way accurate. They think this means werewolves can be dispossessed. This isn't true... at the very least, it's ''not'' something you want to do. "Exorcised" werewolves do exist. They're called Zi'ir, or [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Broken Souls"]]. Exorcism chases out the human shreds of their soul and leaves behind a particularly violent and deranged spirit behind.

* MetaphoricallyTrue: They believe werewolves are a case of spirit possession, which is in a certain way accurate. They think this means werewolves can be possessed. This isn't true... at the very least, it's ''not'' something you want to do. "Exorcised" werewolves do exist. They're called Zi'ir, or [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Broken Souls"]]. Exorcism chases out the human shreds of their soul and leaves behind a particularly violent and deranged spirit behind.