CREDITS

Concept (Hunter: The Vigil)

Justin Achilli, Richard Thomas and Chuck Wendig

Author
Jay Richard

Editor
None, which would explain a lot.

Artists
Jay Richard and Henry Vandyke Carter

Acknowledgements
This would not be possible without the fine products of White
Wolf Publishing, an organization of charming and brilliant
people that the author both respects and fears. The author
would also like to point out that, if White Wolf sues him, he
will be unable to afford to buy more of their aforementioned
fine products.

In Memoriam
Dedicated to the countless victims of the Slender Man and the
Runners still out there. Your Lovecraftian compulsion to
document unimaginable horrors even while your sanity slips
into oblivion is truly admirable.

Disclaimers
White Wolf, Hunter: The Vigil and World of Darkness are reg-
istered trademarks of CCP hf. All rights reserved. Vampire:
The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening,
Promethean: The Created, Changeling: The Lost, Geist: The
Sin-Eaters and Storytelling System are trademarks of CCP hf.
All rights reserved. The mention of or reference to any com-
pany or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trade-
mark or copyright concerned.
This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and
themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fiction
and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book con-
tains mature content. Reader discretion is advised.
Please note that the author is aware how legally useless this
disclaimer is. He also apparently enjoys writing/typing in the
third person. This is probably not healthy and he should
really seek professional help.
This PDF is for free distribution and cannot be sold for profit.
Also, unlike official White Wolf material, feel free to upload
this to any file sharing site.

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DIGITALLY PRINTED IN AMERICA

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 4

Chapter One: Compacts 6

The Carvers 8
The Dirge 14
MI18, the Direct Response Units 20
DRU 1: Red Unit 26
DRU 2: Black Unit 27
DRU 3: Silver Unit 28
DRU 4: Blue Unit 29
DRU 5: Green Unit 30
DRU 6: Violet Unit 31
DRU 7: Yellow Unit 31
XA: External Affairs 32
The Silver Cross 34
The Wordsmiths 40

Chapter Two: Conspiracies 48

The Army of Light 50
Endowment: Lumina 56
Mirrors: The Infinite Macabre 61
Aves Minerva 62
Endowment: Devotion 68
Chosen of Kroll 72
Endowment: Abyssal Blessings 78
Regency of Thorns 82
Endowment: Tolerance 91
Section Nine 94
Endowment: Tolling 101

Appendixes 108
Appendix One: New Merits 108
Appendix Two: New Flaws 114
 The hunter organizations introduced in this book
are either new or recently reinvented themselves.
Some struggle to grow and develop even after dec-
ades of existence. These late bloomers are only
now becoming feared by the darkness.
Others were born with mouths full of gleaming
fangs and empty bellies. Regardless of birth de-
fects, they are all fairly young and most are guilty
of naiveté or arrogance.
They are all fresh meat.
Welcome to the World of Darkness, little ones.
Introduction

Chapter One introduces five new compacts:

The Carvers, a largely unorganized collection
of vigilantes that proudly describes itself as the
serial killers of serial killers;
The Dirge , pop-culture obsessed zombie hunters
training and hoarding in preparation for an
Skin and Bones:

“inevitable” undead apocalypse;

MI18, the government-sponsored hunters of
the UK that are more worried about inter-
department rivalries than the real monsters;
The Silver Cross, secret providers of much-
needed medical aid and support for their over-
whelmed hunter brethren;
And the Wordsmiths , idealists who try treat-
ing and redeeming vampires, ghouls and blood
dolls rather than kill indiscriminately.

Chapter Two describes new conspiracies and

their Endowments. These include:
The Army of Light, a secretive and globally
scattered alliance of civilians drafted by God that
draws its strength from the afterlife;
Aves Minerva, a neopagan religion secretly
fronting a society of witch-hunters blessed by the
Goddess of War and Wisdom;
The Chosen of Kroll , cultists driven mad by
an unknowable (but supposedly benevolent)
alien god that forces them into the Vigil;
The Regency of Thorns , a primarily South
American conspiracy dedicated to stopping the
unwitting pawns of fairy gods and goddess;
And Section Nine , the Russian equivalent of
Task Force: VALKYRIE that targets both mon-
sters and unauthorized hunters operating in the
Russian Federation.
 The odds, they’re not good.
Oh, they should be. Humanity’s herd has all the
numbers it needs to take the war to the monsters.
Mortal beings could swarm them, casting light into
the shadows, illuminating the darkest corners with a
blanket of cleansing fire. If the herd were to
stampede, it would crush all the creatures beneath
its thundering feet.

Sadly, it doesn’t work like that.

Humans remain ignorant. Some do it by
choice (it’s the same ignorance that informs a
Compacts

blindness to war, poverty, and all the pain of

the world). Others are kept in the dark by the
dominant monsters, those creatures
representing a distinct minority with control
over the blind, deaf and dumb majority.
Chapter One:

Hunters are different.

They can no longer abide the ignorance, even if
they’d like to. The scales have fallen from their eyes,
and the truth stands revealed. They can’t just turn it
off. They can’t pretend not to see what’s happening
to the neighbor girl or that poor homeless dude with
the one atrophied leg.

Hunters cannot be blind,

not to the pain, not to the power.
But standing alone against the night,
reaching into the dark to grab hold of justice or
revenge, that’s a sure way to lose a hand.

So, hunters gather.

Hunter: The Vigil

Core Rulebook, 101
Chapter Three:
Hunter Organizations
 The Carvers (Compact)

The Days of GRID
From 1982 to 1984, a serial killer prowled Los
Angeles County. Police from various jurisdictions
initially refused to admit there even was a serial kil-
ler, partially because the victims were exclusively gay
or bisexual men. Sure, the victims all had their geni-
tals cut off and bodies burned, but that didn’t mean it
was the same murderer. Besides, these were the first
days of GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency),
later renamed AIDS. Maybe the murders saved inno-
cent lives by stopping the “gay plague” at the source.
The police admitted to the existence of a serial
killer after the first heterosexual victim was found.
The man was also the first to be hung upside down
and drained of blood before being burned. From then
on, victims went from just gay men to anyone living
near homosexuals, the people close enough to get
second-hand GRID.
In September 1984, a decapitated body was
dropped off at the Los Angeles City Hall. A street
address was carved in the dead man’s chest along
with a simple “YOURE [sic] WELCOME.” The ad-
dress was the man’s rundown, rat-infested house
with walls covered in photos of the murders. The
bookshelves contained dozens of notebooks filled
with scribbled notes detailing potential “plague rats.”
This is the earliest confirmed work of the Carv-
ers, the serial killers of serial killers. They learned not
to wait for the police and instead take justice into
their own hands. They do not pretend their actions
are legal but know they are justified. If the law can’t
or won’t save innocent lives, someone else has to.
Killers of Killers
Originally based out of Inglewood, California,
the Carvers started as a neighborhood watch group
before evolving into a genuine hunter cell. Its mem-
bers became news junkies, searching for any informa-
tion or clues to the start of a new serial killing spree
or string of murders anywhere in the country. Some-

10
 The Carvers (Compact)
times a single member would relocate for months in
an attempt to stop a murderer several time zones
away. Innocent lives needed protecting, regardless of
state or national borders.
The Carvers’ first encounter with a supernatural
serial killer did not occur until 1988. It was an odd
creature, appearing human at first glance before re-
vealing a maw of teeth and a snake-like tongue. It
literally fed on peoples’ fear but developed a taste for
human flesh as well, regarding the meat as a fine des-
sert for its victims’ earlier tears and screams. Two
Carvers died attempting to slay the inhuman creature
before their comrades finally overpowered it. No one
ever conclusively discovered what exactly it was.
The 1990s and 2000s were good to the Carvers.
Through the internet and assorted websites dedicated
to tracking and identifying serial killers, the Carvers
became a global movement. They can be found most
anywhere, sometimes consisting of a single vigilante
but usually operating in small groups. Their websites
offer information on combat techniques and guides
on weapon and firearm laws around the world. Tips
on covering one’s tracks and circumventing the law
are only sent to individuals deemed trustworthy.
The Carvers are more of an ideology than an ac-
tual organization, a mindset of vigilante justice rather
than an anarchist movement. They are hated by most
other hunters for targeting monsters and humans
alike, earning the Carvers the derisive nickname
“manhunters.” The Carvers do not distinguish be-
tween species and, quite frankly, don’t care what a
serial killer is. They will even bring down another
hunter if he goes too far.
The Enemy
The term “slasher” covers both human and inhu-
man serial killers. The label is occasionally used to
describe particularly violent or sadistic murderers,
even if they only kill a single person. A slasher could
be human but the word carries a connotation of inhu-
manity, of a monster that slaughters innocent people
for seemingly no reason.
The Carvers cite Jeffrey Dahmer as a perfect ex-
ample of how blurred the line between human and
monster can become. Dahmer killed 17 men and boys
in four years and was an admitted rapist, pedophile,
necrophiliac and cannibal. During his trial, he even
confessed to attempting to create “zombies” by drill-
I don’t care who or what you are.
Anyone who takes an innocent life
deserves to die.
ing into his victim’s heads. It’s hardly surprising that
he stored severed heads and genitals in his refrigera-
tor. How is this man any better than a supernatural
monster?
The Carvers also frequently mention Ahmad Ju-
radji, an Indonesian cattle breeder who sought to kill
70 women and drink their saliva in order to gain
magical powers. He was stopped at 42 known kills,
well short of acquiring magical abilities, and exe-
cuted by firing squad in 2008.
The examples are seemingly endless: Javed Iqbal
raped and murdered over a hundred Pakistani boys
aged six to sixteen; Yang “Monster Killer” Xinhai
confessed to killing 65 strangers, mostly farmers and
their sleeping families, in just four years; Pedro
“Monster of the Andes” López murdered more than
300 girls in South America, average three kills a week
while in Ecuador….
The Carvers insist there is no difference between
these “normal” serial killers and supposedly extra-
evil, extra-destructive, inhuman slashers. If anything,
the highest body counts are always attributed to the
human killers.
The Carvers know next-to-nothing about vam-
pires, werewolves, witches or many other supernatu-
ral creatures. They have encountered about one of
everything, with a slasher turning out to be some-
thing…else. Maybe it’s a bloodthirsty shape-shifter
that completely gave into its bestial nature. Perhaps
it’s a witch needing virgin sacrifices for her demon
master. A vampire may go too far and feed indis-
criminately, losing his mind to bloodlust and attack-
ing in the open. The terminology doesn’t matter – the
thing needs to die.
Hunters
You were smart enough to connect the dots and
realize the string of cannibalistic murders across the
Midwest were the work of the truck driver living
down the street. It started as a hunch but a week of
research, stalking and spying forced you to admit the
truth. Then the trucker caught you watching him
from your attic with a downward-pointing children’s
telescope. Oh shit. He literally bit the lock off your
door and proceeded to bite a chunk of your arm off
in the ensuing scuffle. You made your escape after
putting a steak knife in his eye to slow him down.
Even now, months later, you can’t stop thinking
11
 The Carvers (Compact)
about what other freaks must still be running loose.
The church burnings came first, then the murders
Factions
Deputies would rather perform a citizen’s arrest
of priests and deacons. The hunt was personal from
than commit murder. They take the law into their
day one, with your church being among the earliest
own hands but want to do it in a way that is legal.
to burn. You were walking home when you saw a
Unlike most other Carvers, they openly question the
man breaking into your new church. Instead of call-
morality of their actions.
ing the police, you stupidly followed the man inside.
Guardians focus on watching after the survivors
You struck him from behind and overpowered him,
of slasher attacks and, all too often, victims’ families
struggling to pin him as he spewed nonsense about
and loved ones. Stopping the slasher is always the
conspiracies and the Church teaching dark magic. A
primary objective but there’s so much overlooked
few blows to the head shut him up. The police re-
work to be done afterwards.
spected your wishes and the media only knew that a
Vigilantes are the most direct, violent and thor-
“Good Samaritan” stopped the serial arsonist and
ough. They’re characterized as paranoid, even chas-
murderer. However, through a police contact, the
ing leads on slashers believed to be dead. Maybe the
Carvers knew exactly how and where to find you.
paranoia is justified: some slashers have returned
The woman sobbed uncontrollably in your
after decapitation or worse.
kitchen and insisted the demon would just find
someone else. The demon was at fault, not her; she
was as much of a victim as the people she butchered. Status
It spoke through her neighbor’s dog and she killed Slashers must be stopped as quickly and effi-
whoever it told her to so it would leave her alone. That ciently as possible. The key factor is how long it takes
was the only way to silence the demon. You added to accomplish this. Chasing after one slasher for
another bike chain to keep her on the chair before months without results may cause a loss of Status.
calling the police. You later found and shot the dog
• You’ve been taken in by the Carvers and offered
just to be safe. You are always this unnecessary thor-
lessons in how to better protect yourself and the
ough, even if it means capping an innocent pet.
slashers’ would-be victims. You gain a free Spe-
Your first kill was a slasher who kidnapped and
cialty in Brawl, Firearms or Weaponry applied to
raped young girls for over two decades. He killed the
your favored weapon or fighting style.
captive girls when they hit puberty and became too
old for his tastes. You arranged his death to look like ••• Friends are there when you need them; real
a simple gas explosion. You needed to find an outlet friends help botch police investigations and hide
for the guilt and disgusting pride you felt from the murderers’ bodies. You gain two dots of Allies
murder/arson and found it online at a Carver’s web- (Carvers) for free, to a maximum of five dots.
site. The internet also directed you towards your lat- ••••• Surviving this long and taking down that
est side project. When not at work or helping the many killers shows you’re not a fool. You gain the
Carvers, you prowl chat rooms as a naïve teenybop- Common Sense Merit specifically applied to mur-
per looking for an adult friend. Anyone who tries to ders, serial killing and slashers. If you already have
meet the imaginary girl in person is quickly dealt Common Sense, then it may be used up to twice
with. Sure, they haven’t killed anyone, but pedo- per chapter.
philes are hardly innocent.

STEREOTYPES
The Promethean Brotherhood: I’ve heard that name a few times. They’re the ones who perform
satanic rituals to steal magic, right? That would be fine if they only killed witches practicing dark
magic. Hell, that’d be more than fine. Problem is, plenty of innocent people have died senselessly
so these Satanists can get high on magic.
Night Watch: Street gangs who use the vampire myths to justify their crimes. But sometimes
there is a serial killer on their turf and we need to work around them to actually get the job done.
Lucifuge: This might be before your time, but do you remember the “satanic child abuse panics”
back in the 1980s? Turns out there might be some truth behind those wild stories. I’m looking
into it right now.
Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit: Police are almost always useless but the Feds can be helpful. They
don’t appreciate what we do but are willing to work with us on occasion. Always remember that
morality is situational. We’re criminals and murderers until the government wants our assistance.

12
 The Carvers (Compact)
Storytelling
Protagonists
Carvers walk a fine line, perpetually risking
becoming no better than the slashers they
hunt. They are the serial killers of serial kill-
ers: where exactly is that line?
Stories involving Carvers do not need to
play out like horror/spatter films. Some Carvers
are passable detectives or investigators and bet-
ter suited for the World of Darkness equivalent
of a crime drama or murder mystery.
Carvers have and will work with other
hunters, largely because there’s strength (and
safety) in numbers. They work with the Union
more than any other compact and have a long-
running love-hate relationship with the Van-
guard Serial Crimes Unit.
The Lobotomized Lycanthrope: The boys at
Null Mysteriis need your help. The eccentric
scientists captured a werewolf and tried per-
forming brain surgery in an attempt to “cure”
him. Instead of making a breakthrough, they
destroyed most of his memory and sanity and
only negated his shapeshifting powers for a few
days. The largely amnesic werewolf took one
look at the next full moon and remembered
what he was. As a matter of fact, that’s all he
remembers. The werewolf, in his shattered
mental state, seems convinced that killing the
people who scrambled his brain will restore his
memories. The Null Mysteriis cell knows the
Carvers deal with “cases such as this” and
would greatly appreciate it if you cleaned up
their mess.
The Phonophobe: The phonophobe’s origins
vary wildly from story to story. Some say his
condition resulted from a flawed experiment to
cure his childhood deafness. Others blame it on
a curse placed by his verbally abusive mother
as she lay dying, usually from injuries he in-
flicted. Less imaginative people claim the
phonophobe was just born that way. Regard-
less, the stories all say that the man cannot
stand the sound of human voices. This is more
than simple hatred; it is a psychological pain
that drives him to kill. More recent stories say
he even cut out his own tongue and sewed his
lips shut. Any unexplained murder becomes
fuel for more inconsistent urban legends. In
the last few days, however, several people have
been found dead with their tongues removed
post-mortem. Is someone emulating the ficti-
tious murderer or, even more frightening, is
the phonophobe real?
Rabbit Hunt: All the locals know the story –
well, stories – about the Bunny Man. The
crazed lunatic lives alone in the woods, skins
and eats rabbits and has a penchant for wear-
ing a bunny costume while killing trespassers.
Some local teenagers discovered how much
more fucked up reality is. It wasn’t just a cos-
tume – he wears the flayed skins of rabbits to
transform into an inhumanly quick, clawed
beast. He picked off the teens one-by-one as
they tried escaping his trap-filled woods. Only
one girl survived. The police do not believe the
survivor’s story and she is the primary suspect
in her friends’ disappearances. Besides, even if
Bunny Man is real, he must be an insane hu-
man and not some sort of “wererabbit.” That’s
crazy talk. The Carvers know better. Your cell
is closest to the woods and you are tasked with
finding the bastard’s rabbit hole.
Antagonists
As already stated, some Carvers inadver-
tently become slashers themselves. Committing
numerous murders, even if the victims are all
serial killers, is a good way of eroding Morality.
A deranged Carver-turned-slasher tries pre-
emptively killing murderers, so he stalks and
slays people who might kill in the future. This
occasionally includes other hunters or Carvers.
Another insane Carver believes a bloodline
is “cursed with evil” and hunts down the ex-
tended family. Maybe the family has ties with
the decadent Ashwood Abbey or the Lucifuge.
It is also possible for a cell of PC hunters to
have goals conflicting with the Carvers.’ For
example: the Cheiron Group is interested in a
slasher’s amazing regenerative abilities and
need this potential lab rat taken in alive. The
Carvers pursuing the slasher would rather see
it killed.
Under Surveillance: You’ve made great pro-
gress with the captured monsters, both those
taken in alive and “semi-intact.” The things
these creatures can teach you are seemingly
endless. Most of the monsters had day jobs and
human forms, leading the police to investigate
the disappearances. You’ve thrown the cops off
your trail but they’re no longer your primary
concern. A white van so generic that it’s fright-
ening has been sighted around the homes and
workplaces of the hunters in your cell. This
can’t be good. One member of your cell sug-
gested that it might be several vans, each more
generic than the last....
13
 John waited impatiently at the edge of the dead-
end alley. The lack of news from his teammates in-
creasingly worried him.
This was completely avoidable. He repeatedly
suggested buying wireless headsets instead of spend-
ing all of the cell’s funds on shotgun shells and spare
armor. They only lost one Kevlar vest, ever, to a par-
ticularly disgusting Type W, so was that really neces-
sary? How many extra vests did they need? Hell, if he
wasn’t barely making ends meet on a dock worker’s
salary, he’d buy the damn headsets out of pocket.
Fifteen minutes of silence ticked by for what felt
like an hour. John stifled a yawn around the time he
heard the first gunshot from inside the old, empty
warehouse. John reflexively readily his own shotgun
and took aim at a door down the alley, as if a
thousand undead horrors were about
to pour into the dark street.
Where’s the signal? This
isn’t go-time. Someone
screwed up.
John held his
ground for another
minute as more noises
clanged and echoed
inside the building.
Hold your position, he
reminded himself. If something
tries escaping, this is the only way
out. If one of the brain-eating sons of
bitches makes it out, the whole city is fucked.
It’ll spread like wildfire. Neighbors will eat neighbors,
parents will eat children and it’ll be because you failed to
hold your position.
Inside, a panicked voice rang out between shot-
gun blasts: “Rule five! Rule five!”
Goddamn it. Everyone knew rule five. If someone
had to shout it as a reminder, then —
Going with his gut and ignoring fairly explicit
orders, John ran down the alley with his 12-gauge in
one hand and crowbar in the other. Of course the
door was locked. He did not waste a shotgun shell on
it; thanks to some unfortunate past experiences, John
knew how much the movies lied about the effective-
ness of shooting out locks. He put his shotgun down
and sloppily worked with his crowbar. Adrenaline
and sweat confounded matters. The door broke
opened and he dropped the crowbar in his rush to
aim his shotgun.
The first room was devoid of life and unlife alike,
which was either very good or very bad news. While
the creatures weren’t making a break for it, that
meant John’s teammates were probably facing all of
them in a confined area. John made a mental note of
the illegally-stored chemical barrels stacked along the
walls. What good was the EPA if violations this bla-
tant kept happening?
John moved to the next room with his shotgun at
eye-level and trigger finger itching angrily. Nothing
but more barrels containing God-only-knows-what.
Another series of blasts, closer and louder now.
The cops might have been alerted by now. Tick
tock, need to kill and get out before the ineffective
but licensed protectors of the city arrived on the
scene. Tick tock.
A glow in the corner caught his imme-
diate attention. Beneath the gap
of a closed door was the red
light characteristic of the
team’s flares. There. He
pulled the door open
and jumped back,
quickly regaining a
two-handed hold on
his gun.
John’s heart sank at
the sight of a mangled
corpse on the floor. The
man was dressed in green
overalls, meaning he was not
one of John’s teammates. It was
an unlucky worker who probably
had no idea what his employers did.
John moved forward cautiously and
kept his gun trained. While the corpse
was missing an arm and a lot of blood, the head
was intact. The man’s remaining hand twitched.
As precaution and out of commonly decency,
John asked: “Are you alive?” With a wet noise, the
man rolled over and drooled blood onto the floor.
His soulless, hungry eyes and John’s met in the red
light. “Thank God.” John sighed with relief before
blowing the zombie’s head away.
John heard the sound of another shotgun and at
first mistook it for an echo. The fight was moving
upwards and away from the street.
Good. We can kill them before they can enter the city.
Thank God. Oh, thank God.
His brief optimism was crushed by the distant
wail of a police siren.
 The Dirge (Compact)

Born on the Bayou 2007. They shared resources to purchase surplus mili-
tary equipment in preparation for future supernatu-
While Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans
ral threats to their hometown. Crowbars are good but
in 2005, a city noted for its long history of voodoo
shotguns are better.
and dark magic, a half-dozen undead monsters es-
Through online communication and videos circu-
caped from captivity amid the chaos and made a
lated by Network 0, the Dirge quickly gained infamy,
nightmarish situation even worse. The zombies’ ori-
allies, contacts and informants. People became will-
gin is debatable but most hunters assume these were
ing to join the fight against the undead as, clearly,
the escaped servants of a necromancing slave owner
this threat was bigger than anyone realized. Reports
of the undead.
of undead activity and twisted magic were too nu-
Through cunning and dumb luck, a small group
merous and widespread for one cell in New Orleans
of ordinary citizens (re)killed the zombies during the
to handle.
worst of the flooding. These total strangers relied on
By the end of 2008, the Dirge officially became a
each other to survive both the hurricane and brain-
much larger organization. They call their cells
eating beasts. The (living) humans had no weapons
“outposts,” small groups dedicated to finding the
except two revolvers and found objects that hap-
first signs of a zombie outbreak before it means the
pened to have sharp points or edges.
end of the world. Dirge safehouse have already
It wasn’t until the next day that black helicopters
sprung up in six cities, each preparing and waiting
arrived and the military deployed a squad to contain
for a zombie apocalypse they hope never occurs.
the potential outbreak. Better late than never, right?
Outbreak neutralized; mission accomplished.
When the helicopters left, as suddenly as they The Enemy
appeared, they did not bother picking up a single The Dirge considers itself a first response group,
hurricane survivor. not a standing army, against zombies. That being
This small group of civilians formed the Dirge, said, the Dirge does not sit idly until CNN reports
“the first line of defense against the living dead.” riotous cannibals. They actively look for trouble and
They began setting up a safehouse in New Orleans in find it in the strangest places.

16
 The Dirge (Compact)
There are various ways to create a zombie. The
common, pop culture notion that zombies result from
a contagious virus is unfortunately accurate, but it is
far from the only means of raising the dead. Some
alchemic and pseudo-religious traditions recommend
a concoction made from, in part, human remains,
frogs and puffer fish. Other methods are purely
magical in nature and come from within a necroman-
cer’s twisted and corrupted soul. Then there’s sci-
ence, à la Frankenstein’s monster. Other times, the
dead just rise.
From equal parts research, combat experience
and blind guesswork, the Dirge has learned enough
about zombies to classify them into four categories:
Type Z (Shambler): The weakest zombie is also
potentially the most dangerous. The virus animating
them is communicable through blood and saliva; a
simple bite is enough to infect a living victim. Type
Zs make up for strength with numbers and can ap-
pear in the hundreds at a single, unlucky location.
They always pursue the nearest, easiest source of liv-
ing human meat, meaning Type Zs more likely to go
after defenseless people than fight armed, profes-
sional zombie hunters.
Type Y (Bloodjacker): A more powerful type
of zombie that are often found in small groups or
“packs.” This is partially because the virus reanimat-
ing them is much less contagious. It has been theo-
rized that it’s actually magic or a curse, not a virus,
but that is debatable. Regardless, these zombies are
physically comparable to normal human beings. Yes,
that means they can run. Yes, it also means they put
up more of a fight. And, yes, some are capable of
complex planning and may put up a good defense or
counterattack. However, they are still driven by a
cannibalistic hunger and this may blind them or
cloud their judgment.
Type X (Reanimated): These are the zombies
the Dirge first encountered in 2005. Their condition is
not contagious, implying they were resurrected by
magic or mad science, and many bear more resem-
blance to Frankenstein’s Monster than George A. Ro-
mero’s living dead. These zombies are relatively in-
telligent and are stronger, more resistant to pain and
sometimes faster than normal humans. They do not
even crave human flesh, although voluntary canni-
Never forget Rule Five:
Aim for the head.
IT can’t eat your brain if
IT has no goddamned jaw.
balism has been reported. It is suspected that Type Xs
negatively impact the environment. Storms follow
them, mysterious diseases appear, roads crack and
birds fall dead from the sky.
Type W (Revenant):
(Revenant) Lone, intelligent and
powerful zombies openly walk the streets. There is
no definitive theory as to what causes their resurrec-
tion. When asked, and they will occasionally answer
questions, Type Ws tell of having been wronged in
life and needing to get revenge. Their anger fuels their
short existence and, in most cases, they burn out
quickly. These zombies often last no more than a
month before and crumbling to dust regardless of
how long they were dead or what injuries they sus-
tained. Revenge can only drive them for so long and,
even worse, they know it. Their bloodlust must be
satisfied now, not later.
Besides the living dead, the Dirge has unknow-
ingly butted heads with other hunters, namely the
Cheiron Group and Task Force: VALKYRIE. They
refer to Cheiron as “Umbrella,” a reference to the
Resident Evil franchise, and know just enough to dis-
trust the organization. The Dirge is not completely
sure what TFV is; some believe it is a government
conspiracy and “containment division” while others
theorize it is a paramilitary group backed by Um-
brella. Regardless, they call TFV the Men in Black
(MIB) for lack of a better term.
Hunters
When the dead rose and besieged your campsite,
you did the only sane thing and ran like a coward.
They – them, it, the monsters – they hit the neighbor-
ing small town before attacking the camp, first strik-
ing the side of town with the gun store. How could
you have realistically helped when you had no
means of fighting back? Could you have robbed an
antique store and hoped they had a sword in stock?
All you could do was run away, right? You watched
from a distance as black helicopters arrived and
bathed the town and campground in napalm. The
news reported it as a freak accident involving an ex-
ploding gas station and a massive forest fire. You
know better and the shame of being such a yellow-
bellied bastard still haunts you. Forget what you
could have done – what can you do now?
17
 The Dirge (Compact)

STEREOTYPES
The Carvers: These guys are a little too violent for my tastes but they’re great to have around
when a Type W is on the loose.
Network Zero: If anyone is going to prove a zombie infestation despite government censorship,
it’ll be these guys. Keep them on speed dial.
The Cheiron Group: We have evidence of a genuine Umbrella Corp operating right here in the
US. We’ve found two separate labs with undead and other … things inside. One was even under-
ground, all Hive-like.
Task Force: VALKYRIE: The government knows way more than they’re letting on. Look, in ‘05,
The black ops soldiers and their helicopters landed in Louisiana before FEMA, for Christ’s sake.

You fought zombies long before it was trendy.

Your first encounter with the brain-eating SOBs was
Factions
There are three main philosophical divisions
nearly two decades ago during a blizzard. Zombies
within the Dirge. No individual leaders have yet ap-
never feel cold and trudged through feet of snow to
peared, probably because the Dirge is currently too
the homes of people trapped inside. You still have
young and small for major schisms.
nightmares of the aftermath, seeing all the blood and
Shotguns want outposts in every major city in
the half-eaten children…. You readily believed the
preparation for a zombie plague. Given the evidence,
rumors about the New Orleans zombies and have
they believe widespread outbreaks are inevitable and
since set up a safehouse.
will most likely originate in a heavily populated city
Back in 2005, you were one of the “lucky” few
where transmission is easier. The Dirge must be there,
who saw the undead wandering through New Or-
in that city and every city, as the first line of defense.
leans during Katrina. You were there for the found-
Machetes realize that zombie outbreaks are rare
ing of the Dirge and like to point that out whenever
and don’t expend the world to end any day now. In-
possible. You moved out of the city and established
stead of panicking and stockpiling weapons, the best
an outpost with fresh recruits who never saw a zom-
course of action is to begin understanding how zom-
bie in person. You love relating stories of the one and
bies work. Most devote their Vigils to either discover-
only time you actually fought the living dead, expo-
ing a universal weakness or developing a vaccine.
nentially embellishing the details with each rendi-
Crowbars know the government is hiding some-
tion. Hopefully there’s never another zombie attack
thing and demand to know what. They cooperate
because you could never live up to your own hype.
with Network 0 and are determined to get to the
Everyone has seen the videos on YouTube, the
truth. The best they’ve gotten so far is a mountain of
series of five- to ten-minute clips showing supposed
blacked-out documents and grainy photos that prove
zombie attacks. Virtually all the comments mock the
nothing. There’s a long way to go and probably not
submitter and point out how fake it looks. So one
much time before a major outbreak.
night when you had nothing better to do, you posted
a few comments defending the videos’ authenticity. Of
course they’re all hoaxes, but you love trolling. Status
Maybe you took the joke too far by continually post- Status is earned by killing or learning about the
ing follow up comments, claiming to have seen the living dead. The Dirge must find and stop outbreaks
zombies for real and even knew one of the camera- before they explode into pandemics.
men. Someone managed to track you down and vis-
• You can’t ignore the truth about the living dead and
ited your house. The visitor claimed the videos are
are welcomed into a Dirge outpost. You gain one free
real and he’s convinced you’re a zombie hunter. Be-
dot of the Safehouse Merit.
fore you had a chance to nervously laugh and explain
this was all a big misunderstanding, he reached into ••• You’ve been in the area long enough to know
his backpack and pulled out a sealed jar with a mov- where to go and what to do when the shit inevitably
ing, severed hand inside. He said it was from one of hits the fan. You gain the Streetwise (Local Area) and
the zombies in the video and wants you to autograph Survival (Urban) Specialties for free.
the jar so he can show it off to his zombie-hunting ••••• You’re more than ready for the zombie apoca-
friends. Furthermore, he wants you to attend their lypse thanks to firsthand experience and a healthy
next meeting to verify it’s your signature. Um, how dose of paranoia. You gain the Favored Weapon Merit
does someone respond to that? and two more dots of the Safehouse Merit for free.

18
 The Dirge (Compact)

Somewhere nearby, a hunter-turned-slasher is

Storytelling waiting to kill you and your outpost so the vi-
rus cannot spread further.
Protagonists The Victim: Numerous people recently re-
The Dirge is a young organization prone to ported seeing and talking with a dead woman
calling anything the least bit supernatural a and that definitely got the Dirge’s attention.
zombie or witch at first glance. They often de- The local news claims it is a case of mistaken
capitate all their fallen enemies and comrades identity, either of the woman sighted or of the
“ust to be sure.” They can easily make a bad original corpse. You managed to track her
situation worse by misidentifying an undead down and discovered she is a Type W, a lone
treat and interfering with another hunter cell’s zombie that is neither infectious nor cannibal-
activities … or arrive just in time to circum- istic, just a complete abomination of nature.
vent the zombie apocalypse by slaughtering the She should die (again), but things are compli-
infected. It really could go either way. cated. She suffered a violent and senseless
Outposts often take on militaristic over- death at the hands of complete strangers. She
tones and adopt an unofficial rank structure is now hunting down the bastards responsible
including a “general” in command and one or and has already killed two of the five men. How
two “lieutenants.” It is recommended that a PC do you proceed and, more importantly, will the
outpost is headed by a NPC general so that one rest of the outpost be okay with the decision?
player does not effectively control the entire
group. The Storyteller always has the freedom
to let a player be the outpost’s general, assum-
Antagonists
The Dirge has an uncanny knack for misun-
ing the character has high enough Status (3+).
derstanding and pissing off other hunter or-
Individual, isolated Dirge hunters do exist.
ganizations. The Cheiron Group and Task
They may be in the process of establishing a
Force: VALKYRIE are not the least bit thrilled
new outpost or recently “lost” their old one. If
with the zombie hunters. Cheiron needs to
the latter is true, the hunter is probably suffer-
keep the Dirge as far away from its labs as pos-
ing from survivor’s guilt and is either desper-
sible. A TF:V cell might find itself fighting the
ate to work with other hunters again or is
undead and the Dirge in an unexpected truel.
afraid to become attached. Seeing one’s friends
The Dirge knows nothing about Endow-
be eaten alive by zombies would traumatize
ments and cannot tell a hunter’s powers from
anyone. The lone hunter likely suffers from the
vile, potentially necromantic magic. Ascending
depression derangement.
Ones may need to fend off a Dirge outpost that
Friends of Frankenstein: The decaying city
believes they are preparing to raise the dead
reeks of a Type X’s presence. Your outpost
with magical embalming fluid. An agent of the
finds the epicenter and locates the Type X with
Malleus Maleficarum using the Boon of Lazarus
relative ease. This will not be a simple kill,
could be labeled a necromancer. A few Lucifuge
however. The Type X is guarded by a witch who
can actually make zombies, so the Dirge would
insists the monster is harmless. The witch is
be very interested in locating them.
safeguarded against the negative effects of be-
The Hunger: A member of your cell is
ing near the Type X through some sort of su-
plagued by nightmares about cannibalism and
pernatural protection and is trying to extend
feels the urge to feed on human flesh. His hair
this protection to everything in the area. That’s
is falling out and his rotting teeth are gradually
all fine and dandy, but the city is dying; can it
replaced by fangs. Jesus, he even started eating
wait for her to finish her little experiment?
a witch your cell killed last week. It doesn’t
The Survivor: Another outpost has not been
take a genius to figure out something is horri-
heard from in a while so you volunteer to in-
bly wrong and a cure is desperately needed be-
vestigate. Your outpost locates the others’ safe-
fore he degenerates any further. To complicate
house and discover everyone inside is a zombie.
matters, his apartment was attacked by a group
They apparently stopped an outbreak but be-
of shotgun- and crowbar-wielding madmen and
came “compromised” in the process. Even
he barely escaped with his life. You doubt these
worse, they’re Type Ys and have retained
people will stop after just one attack.
enough knowledge to use weapons. Still worse
is the one unaccounted, living hunter from
Details on the Hunger can be found in
their outpost. Apparently seeing his friends eat
WoD: Antagonists,
Antagonists 118-121.
each other alive drove him violently insane.

19
 Harris shielded his eyes with his unbroken hand
as he stepped outside. A combination of blood loss
and spending months in darkness or behind painted-
over windows had played havoc with his senses. The
man escorting him lent a free hand to help guide him
down the front stairs. His eyes did not noticeably
begin adjusting until they reached the bottom of the
stairs and entered the hedge-lined courtyard.
Outside were agents and other personnel from
assorted Direct Response Units within MI18. The
joint operation went much smoother than normal –
i.e. it worked at all. Rival units often fought each
other as much as the actual enemy. Most agents, in-
cluding Harris’s escort, wore red-on-black “I” shoul-
der badges. Two agents with white-on-blue “IV”
badges stood to the side as they examined a govern-
ment-issued rugged laptop. Meanwhile, a lone agent
with a yellow-on-black “XA” shoulder badge was
busy talking to his superiors via satellite phone.
Harris felt underdressed and unarmored with
only a pinstriped black suit and a deep red necktie
loosely hanging from his neck. The blood stains at
least gave the illusion he meaningfully contrib-
uted to the battle. He spent most of it shaking
and vomiting in a vacant bedroom within the
mansion behind him.
The agent leading Harris stopped him
briefly, holding his shotgun in front of
them like a tollgate. Harris’s head spun
as he looked down and tried to stand at
the same time. A few feet away was a
severely burned corpse of what was
once a ghoul lying in a puddle of
fire extinguisher foam. Harris was
directed away from the body as it
was loaded into a generic body bag.
Daytime raids are so beautiful in their simplicity.
Attack the enemy when it’s most vulnerable, when
only its human lackeys are up and about. Cut down
the first line of defense and hope the bloodsucker
doesn’t wake up in time to put up a counterattack.
This was just one of five identical raids across the
county aimed at taking out the vampire’s closest un-
dead allies and their living minions. Harris hadn’t
heard about the other raids’ successes or failures – he
was sure there were both – but expected a full de-
briefing later that night.
His debriefing – when was the last time he had
one? How many months ago was that? Not hastily
writing a field report or status update for his han-
dlers, receiving nothing in return but clichéd words
of encouragement....
A debriefing meant Harris’s mission was over.
His undercover work was finished, his infiltration
had succeeded. Maybe the nightmares, dizzy spells
and nausea would also end in time.
Harris could never go back into undercover
work, certainly not as a wannabe blood doll looking
for a vampire master. The risk of recognition was too
great. He helped take out five high-profile vampires
and their cronies; the undead rarely forget such of-
fenses. Hell, from what he overheard, his master held
grudges for centuries.
No, wait, that’s not its title. It was never his mas-
ter; it was his target. It was always the target. He
wasn’t played and manipulated — it was.
Harris suddenly realized how desperately he
needed detoxing and therapy. He fell forward and
felt someone catch him before he hit the ground. Har-
ris closed his eyes and tried not to focus on the mo-
tion or on the unnerving feeling of his feet dragging
along the ground. Another pair of hands helped carry
him onto a metal surface.
“He fed on me before the fight reached his safe-
room,” Harris weakly said to no one, anyone, in
particular. “He, it needed a pick-me-up before
confronting our men.”
Behind his closed eyes, a distant voice asked:
“Didn’t you notice his complexion?”
An equally far-away voice replied: “I
thought it was part of his ‘corporate goth’
persona.”
“How could you mistake this for
corpse paint?”
“Quiet. There’s no time for this.
Focus on your work.”
Harris mentally faded in and out
but picked up select pieces of jar-
gon: hypovolemia, tachycardia and
tachypnea stood out as sounding
unnecessarily technical. He felt someone touching his
forearm and realized an IV was about to be inserted.
Harris felt anxious beyond words and tried vo-
calizing it without sounding insane. There were so
many things to be concerned about and so little time
to panic over each. “Is the rest of the detachment
okay? Give them blood before me. I’ve gotten used to
functioning after blood loss, had months of practice.”
He felt himself taking more frequent breaths as he
babbled. “Most of Red Unit has never been fed upon
and there is no chance in hell that the boys in Blue or
XA ever experienced it.”
The first vice returned, a little less distant than
before. “B-negative, correct?”
“Yes,” Harris answered.
“Plenty in stock; don’t worry.”
Harris opened his eyes just before everything
went black. “Thank you.”
 MI18, the Direct Response Units (Compact)

Secret Service
They know what landed at Berwyn and held off
the inter-dimensional invasion in Rendelsham Forest.
They continue pursuing Spring Heeled Jack, on
the lam since 1986.
They utterly dread Saint Mark’s Eve but report to
duty every April 24th nevertheless. Someone needs
to keep the restless dead at bay.
They have faced both the human and animal
forms of the gytrash and barghest, and don’t get
them started on the shug monkey. They know better
than to enter the moors unarmed.
They staked and incinerated the Highgate Vam-
pire in 1969, only to do it again in ‘70 and ‘71. The
third time was the charm.
They put down the Beast of Bodmin and count-
less litters of the Beast(s) of Exmoor. The accursed
things breed like child-eating rabbits.
They are the Direct Response Units of MI18. They
are the only government-sanctioned monster hunters
in the United Kingdom. If you haven’t head of them,
that’s okay – in fact, that’s more than okay.

Of Forks and Foxes

MI18 was officially, or at least as officially as such
things go, founded in 1940 with the goal of combat-
ing Nazi occultists. Like the American Task Force:
VALKYRIE and the Soviet Section Nine, the British
MI18 had the difficult task of capturing or neutraliz-
ing occultists, witches and monsters that both di-
rectly and indirectly supported the Nazi regime.
MI18 actually had more success capturing witches
loyal to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1943 and
1944 when Britain invaded Italy. While MI18 did not
know it at the time, TF:V and Section Nine were al-
most always one step ahead of the British in captur-
ing the Nazis’ inhuman allies.
MI18’s first mission was during Operation Fork,
the 1940 British invasion of Iceland. British forces met
no resistance, quickly secured strategic locations and
arrested German citizens living in Iceland. MI18 re-
sponded to a frantic report that, when confronted by
Royal Marines, one German family turned into
wolves and fled. The report was somewhat inaccu-
rate: instead of werewolves, MI18 agents found and
killed pack of white werefoxes.
This is the story all MI18 agents hear upon re-

Jenkins!
Chap with fangs!
Five rounds rapid!

22
 MI18, the Direct Response Units (Compact)
cruitment. There’s even a statue in MI18 head-
quarters commemorating the successful werefox
hunt. But if one digs deep enough and gets the
proper clearance, MI18’s records go back to the First
World War. There are detailed reports of incidents
with malicious spirits and demons feeding on fear
and blood in the trenches of the Western Front.
Regardless of when its operations began, MI18
realized supernatural threats extended beyond the
Germans and Italians. The danger was closer to
home. It was close to every home. Each night when
the sun set on the British Empire, monsters came out
to feed.
Operations and
Organization
MI18 is headquartered in the deep-level shelter
beneath St. Paul’s tube station. It was one of the origi-
nal ten planned deep-level shelters during World
War II but never officially completed. Construction
started in 1940 but stopped in 1941 due to concerns
about the foundation of the namesake St. Paul’s Ca-
thedral. The project secretly resumed in 1942 and was
given to MI18 in 1943.
MI18 is subservient to the Joint Intelligence Com-
mittee (JIC) just like the Security Service (MI5) and
the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). In turn, the JIC
is beneath the Intelligence and Security Committee. It
is debatable how far knowledge of MI18 goes but
many agents believe the Prime Minister is at the very
top. After all, the Prime Minister appoints the mem-
bers of the Intelligence and Security Committee, so he
must know if they know. Right?
MI18 restructured and renamed itself in 1946.
Like MI5 and MI6, it assumed a more innocuous
name – the Direct Response Units. The name MI18
stuck, however, and is still in use today.
MI18 stayed quiet during World War II to keep
the public oblivious to the existence of Axis-aligned
occultists and monsters. The last thing the Allies
needed was “proof” that the Axis was an unstoppa-
ble force of evil backed by the armies of Hell itself.
The post-War MI18 continues operating in complete
secrecy for similar reasons: ignorance is bliss and
bliss is stability.
Starting in 1946, MI18 introduced the first four
Direct Response Units (DRU). MI18 previously relied
on spies and assassins but restructured itself into spe-
cialized teams. Each DRU focused on combating a
specific supernatural threat: Red Unit (DRU One)
fought vampires and their servants; Black Unit (DRU
Two) located and destroyed dangerous ghosts; Silver
Unit (DRU Three) hunted werewolves and other
shapeshifters. Additional DRU (Blue, Green, Violet
and the ultra-secretive Yellow) were added over time
as new threats were discovered and categorized.
The number of agents in a DRU range from five
to twenty. The exact numbers fluctuate from casual-
ties and crises but no modern DRU ever listed more
than thirty agents on its roster at any one time. Small
“detachments” of agents, typically three to six per-
sons, are sent to deal with an incident that falls
within their jurisdiction. The larger DRU are often
literally running in several different directions at
once as different detachments investigate completely
unrelated incidents across the United Kingdom.
The leader of each DRU, typically the most senior
agent, is required to deliver monthly reports about on
-going investigations and expenditures. Every bullet
counts, at least as far as the paperwork is concerned.
These reports primarily serve to inform the higher-
ups when/if agents need replacement equipment or
supplies and ammunition.
Other divisions besides the seven DRU exist
within MI18. External Affairs (XA) investigates other
hunter organizations and serial killers. The Foreign
Observation Units (FOU) stationed throughout the
former British Empire alert MI18 about any major
supernatural events happening outside of the United
Kingdom. The appropriate DRU is then alerted and
sent to investigate.
Agents may make their own discoveries and ef-
fectively open cases. This is most common with the
werewolf-hunters in Silver Unit who deliberately
look for monsters in the wild. Ghost-hunters in Black
Unit have been known to kill time with EMF readers
in old buildings. More often than not, agents are as-
signed cases from the higher-ups in MI18. Reports or
even rumors of supernatural activity may be enough
to justify sending a detachment of agents.
MI18 is not foolproof and may misidentify a
threat. This includes the notorious incident when
MI18 hampered the investigation into the 1960s
Moors Murders because DRU agents assumed literal
monsters, not human serial killers, were responsible.
The Enemy of my
Enemy is my Rival
When not fighting monsters, MI18 agents fight
each other over jurisdiction. Each DRU has its spe-
cialty (vampires, werewolves, etc.) and wants a piece
of the action, any action. Each DRU exploits all possi-
ble loopholes or excuses to become involved with a
case or even outright hijack it from another DRU.
For example, Silver Unit is generally antagonistic
towards Blue Unit. The two DRU have an ongoing
23
 MI18, the Direct Response Units (Compact)
feud that is best described as a cold civil war. If a Sil-
ver Unit field report mentions that silver bullets have
no notable effect on a shapeshifter, Blue Unit will
likely use this as “proof” that the target is actually a
witch with shapeshifting abilities and thus under
their jurisdiction. Likewise, if a witch is reported to
change forms, Silver Unit will try taking control of
the case as the subject is clearly a shamanistic
shapeshifter.
This highly-competitive and even aggressive in-
teraction between DRU has become the normal oper-
ating procedure. While this makes agents more dedi-
cated to solving a case and hunting down monstrous
prey, it also means agents will omit information or
outright lie in field reports. MI18’s official database is
filled with holes that could easily be filled. Each DRU
only knows about its particular field of interest and
has virtually no reliable data on other supernatural
threats. For instance, Red Unit knows nothing about
magic while Blue Unit still believes garlic and crosses
ward off vampires.
Ironically, these turf wars force DRU to work
together far more often than they would like. Because
each DRU wants to be involved in virtually any case,
the higher-ups in MI18 commonly appoint an attaché
from one DRU to assist another DRU in an investiga-
tion. For example, a Blue Unit detachment is follow-
ing a witch that turns into a flock of crows and flies
away. MI18 then appoints a Silver Unit attaché to
work with the Blue Unit detachment for the duration
of the investigation.
Across the Pond
MI18 did not discover Task Force: VALKYRIE
until 1944. The Directorate of Military Intelligence
decided against contacting the American counter-
occult unit. It was not inconceivable that the Ameri-
can and British monster-hunters could someday be
on opposing sides, so why spoil a perfectly good se-
cret? TF:V did not know about MI18 until 1955. MI18
never definitively proved which agent(s) caused that
particular security breach.
The first joint mission between TF:V and MI18
was an international vampire hunt in 1958. Agents
for both TF:V and MI18 were killed by an ancient
vampire … and rose from the dead the next day. This
went against virtually all the intelligence either
agency had on vampires. The two organizations for-
mally contacted each other and pooled their collec-
tive knowledge and resources. They tracked the “first
generation” vampire to a seaside Greek village and
finally killed it. All “second generation” vampires
that it sired, including the dead agents, immediately
turned to ash.
This led to the ongoing love-hate relationship

Foreign Observation Units

The British Empire shrank considerably during the 20th century but MI18’s reach remained
largely unchanged. Many countries formerly under British control still host one or more MI18
units, usually without the local government’s permission or knowledge. These Foreign Observa-
tion Units (FOU) are mostly found in regions the British lost control of after World War II. This is
not limited to small island nations; FOU are established in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan,
Israel and South Africa.
FOU are the foreign eyes and ears of MI18. They report supernatural activity back to headquar-
ters and wait for the appropriate DRU to respond. FOU are not intended to directly confront su-
pernatural threats unless (A) the appropriate DRU is unable to respond and (B) the higher-ups in
London give permission. In practice, however, FOU are forced to take a much more hands-on ap-
proach. FOU handle minor threats that the DRU back in the United Kingdom consider too unim-
portant for an overseas trip. Each FOU is largely self-reliant and many do no wait for permission
to engage the enemy. Some do not bother informing the higher-ups in the UK about many inci-
dents or confrontations with the supernatural.

STEREOTYPES
Ashwood Abbey: If they weren’t technically human, I would gladly shoot the bloody lot of them.
Loyalists of Thule: External Affairs and several FOUs keep tabs on the descendants of Nazi sym-
pathizers. We know they’re up to something but there is contradicting evidence as to what.
The Knights of Saint George: I don’t trust them. There’s something hiding behind that charita-
ble, Christian façade. Their name comes up in a lot of Blue Unit chatter and reports even though
the Knights should fall under External Affairs’ jurisdiction.
Section Nine: I don’t care what the Americans say - Section Nine still exists and is active. We
don’t have all the details yet but something is definitely going on in Russia.

24
 MI18, the Direct Response Units (Compact)
between MI18 and Task Force: VALKYRIE. Through
its contact with TF:V, MI18 eventually learned about
the FBI’s Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit (VASCU) and
Zero Company. MI18 independently discovered Di-
vision Six and assumes it is controlled by the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security (DHS).
The Enemy
Unlike many hunter organizations, MI18 as-
sumes most “monsters” still are or were human.
Shapeshifters and witches are humans with extra
abilities who often do not want said abilities. They are
only targeted if they risk exposing the supernatural
world or otherwise threaten mainstream human soci-
ety. This is not a sign of mercy or compassion; it is
simply not worth the time and effort to kill every last
monster and sapient nonhuman that MI18 agents
discover. MI18 lacks the resources or manpower to
do much more.
BY MI18’s definition, anything that was dead but
still moving is no longer human. Vampires, zombies
and similar creatures must die; there is no grey area.
It is not murder if the victim is already dead. Besides,
no one knows what cross-dimensional repercussions
might arise from the dead continuing to elude the
afterlife. It certainly cannot help the order of things,
assuming anything in this universe is orderly.
MI18 is very much aware of otherworldly threats
and hostile aliens. MI18 believes all reports of aliens,
at least from credible witnesses, are actually of non-
human entities from another universe or universes.
Reports of fairy gods and other bizarre creatures are
generally explained as sightings of aliens from out-
side our known universe. MI18 agents have previ-
ously held off not one, not two, but three separate
inter-dimensional invasions since 1950.
More detailed information on supernatural enti-
ties and threats encountered by MI18 can be found in
the description for each DRU.
Agents
A mission to purge a mountainside of Islamic
insurgents uncovered something much more disturb-
ing. Half of your unit died during the confusing bat-
tle and the survivors, including you, cannot remem-
ber what happened. Nightmarish flashes of bloody
fangs and claws still haunt you. Data and radio tran-
scripts from the field confirm that you kept your cool
and got the most enemy kills, but listening to the
screams and shouts is like hearing a radio drama. For
the life of you, you can’t remember being there. Your
amnesia does not matter to MI18; only your perform-
ance counts.
You belonged to a specialized homicide squad in
the London Metropolitan Police. A particularly brutal
rape-murder-rape (in that order) resulted in your
squad working with an attaché from VASCU. Your
squad and the VASCU agent eventually cornered the
killer and learned that he committed his crimes as
part of a bizarre contest. He was competing for sev-
eral different records in a twisted society of murder-
ers. There was absolutely no way you were going to
let this monster live to see a trial. Your squad was
later transferred wholesale into MI18 and now trail
this madman’s friends in the Hunt Club.
You worked in the economic intelligence section
of SIS, specifically dealing with international contra-
band and smuggling. Tracking a stolen Egyptian arti-
fact to Wales resulted in an unexpected discovery
and several near-death experiences. You later learned
that the thieves belonged to the Aegis Kai Doru, a
Greek terrorist-cult that is technically on the same
side as MI18. At the time, however, you only knew
they had magical powers and were royally pissed
when you stole their ill-gotten goods. The artifact
never went back to Egypt and now resides in a gov-
ernment-controlled safehouse beneath Manchester.
Like the artifact, MI18 considered you too valuable to
lose and quickly recruited you.
You never asked for this “gift,” but you’ve al-
ways had the ability to perceive and interact with the
dead. You generally ignored the disembodied voices
until the ghost of a dead government agent contacted
you. He had important information that he needed to
deliver, a matter of national security, and you were
his best hope given the limited time remaining. The
ghost led you straight to MI18 headquarters. MI18
has not let you out of its sight ever since. At least
someone finally takes you seriously.
Factions & Status
While the Direct Response Units of MI18 all be-
long to the same umbrella organization, serve the
same government and protect the same people, they
act independently of each as often as possible.
Agents’ allegiances are to the unit first and MI18 sec-
ond. The following pages are general overviews of
each unit in MI18 and include unique Status Merits.
All agents move up in their unit’s ranks by suc-
cessfully completing assignments and cases. Agents
may gain a dot of Status for successfully wresting
control of a major case from another DRU or, con-
versely, preventing a rival DRU doing the same to
your unit.. The inverse is also possible, with agents
potentially losing Status for thoroughly botching on-
going investigations or losing control to another unit.
25
 MI18: Red Unit

DRU 1: Red Unit

Jurisdiction: Vampires, ghouls and blood dolls.
Overview: Red Unit agents actively search for
vampires and routinely pose as potential ghouls or
blood dolls looking for a master. They infiltrate both
the living and undead subcultures and, if that fails,
trail people legitimately in those subcultures. Ghouls
and blood dolls are considerably easier to shadow
than the bloodsuckers.
Agents masquerading as ghouls or blood dolls
need to regularly change their appearance. Some
maintain multiple identities and trail two or more
vampires simultaneously. No Red Unit agents have
ever officially become ghouls or blood dolls, at least
not long enough to be bound to a vampire’s will.
Again, that’s officially – unofficially is another story.
Even the best-trained MI18 agent is susceptible to
blood addiction.
Vampires are social creatures. They all have allies
and minions, meaning Red Unit almost never con-
fronts just one vampire at a time. Once a vampire has
been uncovered, agents must see how many other
bloodsucking corpses are also potential targets. Why
stake one vampire when an entire infestation could
be eliminated? After weeks or months of planning
and baiting, Red Unit will bring in the big guns – and
plenty of fire – for an all-out assault.
As well-connected vampires often have multiple
servants, slaves or devotees, Red Unit may need to go
through several human minions before actually fight-
ing their primary target. Red Unit generally kills such
people as silencing the vampires’ slaves is the only
practical option given MI18’s limited resources and
manpower. Rehabilitation is out of the question and
not within the budget.
The Enemy: MI18 internal memos – never offi-
cial paperwork or handbooks – consistently describe
vampires as the most dangerous supernatural faction
in the United Kingdom. Intelligence gathered on for-
eign countries confirms that the UK has an abnor-
mally large vampire population. While a worldwide
ratio is roughly one vampire per 100,000 humans, the
more paranoid estimates place the UK’s ratio at one
vampire per 25,000 humans.
The blessing and curse about vampires, at least
for MI18, is that vampires are good at staying hidden.
While this indirectly helps MI18 keep the public igno-
rant of the supernatural, it also makes Red Unit’s job
of finding and (re)killing vampires considerably
more difficult.
Red Unit only began piecing together meaningful
information on vampiric social structure in the 1990s.
It is now common knowledge that the damned dead
are lead by self-declared royalty and clergymen but
the details are still missing. Rumors of a 700-year-old
vampire secretly running York have never been con-
firmed. No one has ever actually sighted the so-called
Shadow Archbishop of Canterbury. The closest Red
Unit has gotten to actually identifying one of the
vampires’ rulers is the Lady of London – and, even
then, all they have is her title.
Rivalries: As ghouls gain limited supernatural
powers from drinking vampire blood, it is possible
for a ghoul to be mistakenly identified as a witch.
This, of course, works both ways and a witch using
blood in her potions or rituals may be misidentified
as a ghoul. This causes occasional problems with Blue
Unit. This also means Blue Unit field reports rarely
mention the use of blood in witches’ spellcasting.
Numerous vampires have been reported to com-
municate with or command animals and few have
even reportedly become animals. Like the fictional
Dracula, some vampires actually can turn into
wolves or bats. In such cases, Silver Unit claims there
is a chance that the vampire is really a cannibalistic
shapeshifter and sends an attaché to “help” Red Unit.
Violet Unit also deals with the walking dead, al-
beit more of a voodoo or zombie variety, and attaches
from Red are often stuck with Violet Unit as a result.
There also persistent rumors about a “river of blood”
in the Underworld that Violet refuses to comment on.
Blue Unit has sporadic trouble with Red Unit.
Various spirits are associated with blood or cannibal-
ism and some possess corpses. Red Unit invariably
claims that these cases actually involve vampires and
Blue Unit misidentified the threat. Violet Unit usually
sides with Blue and tries deterring Red from impos-
ing itself on such cases.
Status (MI18, Red Unit)
• What you lack in experience you make up for
with book-smarts. However, there’s only so much
Red Unit’s field guide can tell you. You gain the
Occult (Vampires) Specialty for free.
••• You have seen enough sick tricks and blood
magic to become somewhat resistant to vampires’
dread powers. Note that you are far from immune,
however. You gain either two dots of the Indomita-
ble Merit or the Unbondable Merit for free. This is
the only exception for Unbondable being available
after character creation. All other prerequisites for
either Merit apply as normal.
••••• You’ve been around enough bloodsuckers to
know when one is lurking nearby. You gain Unseen
Sense applied to Vampires for free. If using rules
from Vampire: The Requiem, you may instead ap-
ply the Merit to Vitae with Storyteller permission.

26
 MI18: Black Unit
DRU 2: Black Unit
Jurisdiction: Ghosts (a catch-all term that also
refers to spirits and demons) and possession victims.
Overview: Black Unit deals with less tangible
enemies and the humans (living or otherwise) these
creatures possess. Black Unit cannot investigate every
supposed haunted house in the United Kingdom;
attempting that would waste both time and resources
and increase the risk of exposing MI18 to the public.
Instead, Black Unit is forced to take a reactive ap-
proach and only targets locations where ghosts are
causing trouble and harming the living. As a result,
Black Unit operatives fight the most restless of the
restless dead.
Some Black Unit members do look for trouble
and investigate rumored haunted places during their
downtime. Such encounters (assuming the place is
haunted) are off-the-books and officially denied by
the Unit.
There is one glaring problem faced by Black Unit
whenever they fight ghosts: humans can’t physically
interact with ghosts under normal circumstances.
Black Unit has a small number of items that actually
harm ghosts but not every agent is issued one.
Fortunately for ghost hunters everywhere, a well-
documented fact about the restless dead is that
ghosts require a physical object, an “anchor,” to
tether them to the mortal world. They elude the after-
life by “anchoring” to an object that had particular
importance to them while alive. Some ghosts have
multiple anchors but most only have one. Given the
option, Black Unit would much rather find and de-
stroy an anchor than combat a ghost. Actually find-
ing and destroying an anchor without forcing a ghost
to attack is often easier said than done.
The Enemy: Officially, ghosts, spirits and de-
mons are all the souls of the restless dead. Some
ghosts take on aspects of their old lives and environ-
ments. Other ghosts lie about their nature and exploit
stories about demons to scare the living. Some ghosts
are delusional and actually believe they are inhuman.
Unofficially, many members of Black Unit think
spirits and demons are fallen angels and that hell is
quite real. Agents in Black Unit are stereotyped as the
more religious members of MI18. Religious devotion
is not a requirement, of course, but agents are forced
to reconcile their personal and religious beliefs with
the undeniable knowledge that souls and the afterlife
are real. Faith is less of a prerequisite and more of a
side-effect of belonging to Black Unit.
Black Unit has encountered places of spiritual
activity and congregation, often old battlefields or
other scenes of mass death. Black Unit agents catego-
rize these as “hotspots” in their field reports but do
not elaborate. This is largely to avoid arguing with
Green Unit agents who insist hotspots are actually
inter-dimensional gateways.
Rivalries: Black Unit has repeatedly shot down
Green Unit’s idiotic theories proposing that ghosts
are actually from another universe. Instances of
physical manifestation may attract Green Unit’s un-
wanted attention, with even a temporary solid form
“proving” that the ghost is a living alien entity.
Violet Unit deals with the Bound (Sin-Eaters),
which in turn commonly work with ghosts. Incidents
of “possessed” corpses and other zombie-like activity
are also likely to get Violet Unit’s unwanted atten-
tion. Violet is too understaffed to habitually send at-
tachés to bother Black, however, but Black is more
than capable of sending attachés to bother Violet
Blue Unit may also try connecting witches to
ghostly activity. This is particularly annoying if a
ghost uses a living person as an anchor. Blue Unit
will inevitably send an attaché to see if the living an-
chor, who may not know they’re being followed or
even stalked by a ghost, is actually a witch.
Status (MI18, Black Unit)
• Black Unit’s knowledge or the restless dead is far
from complete, but its files are far more detailed
than what most compacts have access to. You gain
the Occult (Ghosts) Specialty for free.
••• Black Unit has a small stockpile of blessed
items (WoD: Rulebook, 214), objects infused with
faith that can inexplicably hurt ghosts. This stock-
pile is kept secret from the rest of MI18 because,
quite frankly, the other DRU are not to be trusted
with such rare and irreplaceable tools of the trade.
You gain a two-dot blessed object for free.
With Storyteller approval, you may instead gain a
two-dot Relic pertaining to ghostly or spiritual ac-
tivity. This can be designed using the Endowment
Equation as if making a Relic for the Aegis Kai Doru
or using rules from WoD: Reliquary.
••••• You’ve earned a reputation in the Spirit
World and no one particularly trusts or likes you
there. This is hardly surprising given your line of
work. There is something decidedly not right about
you and all the spirits can sense it. You gain either
the Null (HtV: Spirit Slayers, 140) or Saintly (WoD:
Book of Spirits, 110) Merit for free.
Alternatively, you may gain three total dots of Deep
Report (Negative) applied to one or more ghosts,
spirits or demons. For more information on Deep
Report, see HtV: Block by Bloody Block, 9.
27
 MI18: Silver Unit
DRU 3: Silver Unit
Jurisdiction: Werewolves and shapeshifters.
Overview: When the three original DRU were
established in 1946, Silver Unit was tasked with locat-
ing and eliminating shapeshifters. As MI18 matured
and discovered how diverse the supernatural world
was, however, it became harder to actually define
Silver Unit’s role. There are numerous cases of
witches, vampires, changelings and even some
Bound displaying shape-shifting abilities. Black Unit
even learned that prolonged spirit possession can
warp a human body.
Silver Unit gradually let its control slip away to
other DRUs. By 1980, Silver Unit almost exclusively
focused on shapeshifters that alternated between hu-
man and animal forms. By 1990, virtually all of Silver
Unit’s cases involved werewolves. By 2000, Silver
Unit exclusively hunted werewolves in the wild and
did not bother following up reports about shape-
shifters hiding within human society.
Silver Unit abruptly reversed direction in the
past decade. A roster of naïve but enthusiastic agents
brought new life to the unit. Ever since, agents hunt
anything that appears human but assumes one or
more alternate forms with animalistic qualities. It
does matter if their prey lives in a London flat or a
Scottish moor; it doesn’t matter if it becomes an ani-
mal or a twisted mix of fur and fangs on a human
frame. If it is part man and part beast, Silver Unit will
track and kill it.
Newer agents largely follow leads on shape-
shifters living among humans. The agents have the
upper hand as shapeshifters are less likely to trans-
form into clawed and fanged monsters when sur-
rounded by human onlookers.
Agents usually need to be in Silver Unit for at
least one year before being sent after shapeshifters in
the wild, hunting monsters in the forests and moors
where the enemy has the advantage. The more suc-
cessful an agent is, the more life-threatening his as-
signments become.
The Enemy: It’s not just wolves – shapeshifters
can become practically anything. Shapeshifters usu-
ally turn into creatures native to the area, although
there are exceptions such as the infamous werelion of
Knowsley.
Besides flesh-ripping claws, teeth and horns,
shapeshifters also exhibit an unsettling ability to in-
duce panic and amnesia in human onlookers. Sea-
soned Silver Unit agents can shrug off these mind
games but newer agents are just as vulnerable as any
other human.
The myths about silver and werewolves are
28
mostly true. Attacking the beasts with silver weapons
inflicts more damage than should be possible. Silver
does not always work as efficiently against other
shapeshifting breeds. There are also exceptions, with
some shapeshifters vulnerable to a different sub-
stance instead of silver. This was most famously docu-
mented against a weregoat in Glasglow whose fur
and skin smoldered on contact with gold. Many
agents carry small collections of different metals just
in case their silver bullets seem ineffective against the
enemy.
Rivalries: Blue and Silver Units know that the
line between shapeshifters and witches is ill-defined.
To further confuse the situation, some witches can
even turn other people into animals or monstrous hy-
brids. Much to their chagrin, Silver Unit detachments
regularly work with Blue Unit attachés.
Some shapeshifters, particularly werewolves,
show an affinity for spirits and the two are occasion-
ally found together. Silver Unit has unfortunately
had to seek Black Unit’s help during such cases. Curi-
ously, werewolves generally seem antagonistic to-
wards spirits and have indirectly helped Black Unit
on occasion.
Of all the DRU, Silver Unit is the likeliest to re-
spond to a problem reported by a Foreign Observa-
tion Unit. Silver agents have hunted all manner of
beasts in every imaginable climate and terrain, in-
cluding weregoat along the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border, weremonkeys in India and iridescent were-
spiders in Hong Kong.
Status (MI18, Silver Unit)
• Silver Unit knows more about werewolves than
any other shapeshifitng breed. Thanks to the unit’s
extensive knowledge and experience, you gain the
Occult (Werewolves) Specialty for free.
If you already have this Specialty, then you instead
gain a free Specialty applied to one other type
(“breed”) of shapeshifters.
••• Werewolves’s predatory auras (HtV: Spirit
Slayers, “Lunacy,” 163) don’t affect you as strongly
due to your experience and training. When affected
by Lunacy, your Willpower is considered one dot
higher than it actually is.
••••• You always know when a werewolf is
around, even if it’s in its human form. You gain Un-
seen Sense (Werewolves) for free.
If this level of Status in Silver Unit is acquired at
character creation, you may instead gain the Kin
Merit with Storyteller approval. If using rules and/
or Merits from Werewolf: The Forsaken, this may
be substituted with the Wolf-Blooded Merit.
 MI18: Blue Unit
DRU 4: Blue Unit
Jurisdiction: Witches (Mages).
Overview: When MI18 restructured itself after
World War II, there were officially only three DRUs:
Red, Black and Silver. A fourth, secretive unit called
DRU Zero appeared in 1948 to handle miscellaneous
supernatural threats that did not fall under the other
DRUs’ jurisdictions. It found itself primarily dealing
with cults, occultists, psychics and mutants. By the
1970s, DRU Zero uncovered mountains of informa-
tion about occultists and secret societies of magic-
users. These were not isolated threats: ancient socie-
ties of power-hungry witches hid in plain view.
DRU Zero was rechristened DRU Four, the Blue
Unit, in 1977 and treated as a new unit. Its stated goal
was to discover secret witch societies and forcibly
disband them. It is currently unknown if a new DRU
Zero exists and there is no point asking.
Blue Unit has made little, if any, progress in dis-
mantling witch societies. It has had numerous suc-
cesses and small victories, destroyed a coven here
and a cabal there, but the larger organizations live on.
Blue Unit wins battles but never the war.
Agents in Blue Unit spend more time investigating,
trailing and stalking than they do actually fighting
witches. They would rather locate a small group of
witches instead of kill a lone magic-user. A single kill
would only alert other witches that MI18 was on their
trail. If Blue Unit finds a solitary witch with no con-
nections to other magic users, they usually monitor
their subject and hope other witches recruit her later
down the road. Blue Unit is patient and may wait
years before striking if it means taking out more
witches.
The Enemy: Magic practitioners use innumerable
names and titles to describe themselves and other
occultists: mages, warlocks, sorcerers and will-
workers are rather common. Blue Unit refers to all of
them as “witches” for simplicity’s sake.
Old Medieval tales of witchcraft claim that witches
gain magical power in exchange for their souls; they
literally sign their souls away in the devil’s book. Re-
ality is surprisingly similar. The more ancient witch
societies actually do have their members sign their
names in alien books, ones locked away in towers
inaccessible by normal humans. It is debatable if
these towers are literal or simply metaphorical, but
most Blue Unit agents believe witches draw their
powers from actual, hidden towers. No one is certain
if these towers are on Earth and invisible to the un-
aided eye or if they are placed in other worlds/
universes/realms/dimensions.
Well, that’s not entirely true. The strongest evi-
dence for the towers’ location can be found in the
controversial “Arcadian connection.”
A closely-guarded secret in Blue Unit is that
changelings and witches may be linked. Some, if not
all, witches gain their powers from a tower in Arca-
dia, a mystical realm inhabited by faeries. Thanks to
Green Unit’s investigations, MI18 knows changelings
refer to their homeland as Arcadia. Agents are free to
draw their own conclusions.
Rivalries: The witch-hunters work with Silver
Unit far more often than either unit would like. Many
witches have shapeshifting and/or animal-
controlling abilities. Silver Unit attachés are often
assigned to Blue detachments when a witch exhibits
such powers.
Blue Unit agents also find themselves partnered
with Black Unit. Many witches have familiars, spirits
or animals that act as an extension of the witch’s will
and power. Black Unit has the most experience com-
bating enemies that cannot be touched and are quite
useful when confronting ghostly familiars.
Violet Unit continually finds itself working with
Blue Unit, with Blue arguing that most any Bound
could be a witch. The two DRU absolutely hate each
other as a result.
Blue Unit frequently argues with External Affairs
and MI18 administrators about if other hunters are
technically witches. The most controversial hunters
are the Ascending Ones, Knights of Saint George and
Lucifuge. Blue Unit believes these organizations,
among others, are just witches fighting opposing
witches; this happens surprisingly often among con-
firmed witches and cabals. MI18’s administration
allows these suspected witches, particularly the
Knights, to continue existing as they help keep the
other witches in check and make Blue Unit's job eas-
ier. Besides, External Affairs always watches and
monitores these organizations “just in case.”
Status (MI18, Blue Unit)
• Blue Unit doesn’t know everything about witches
but its agents are the closest MI18 has to experts.
You gain the Occult (Witchcraft) Specialty for free.
••• Continuing observations and studies have in-
creased your knowledge of the enemy. You gain two
of the following Occult Skill Specialties for free: Al-
chemy, Cultural Beliefs, Paganism, Satanism or Su-
perstitions.
••••• Watching and waiting out the enemy is sec-
ond nature to you. All Perception rolls benefit from
the Rote Action quality. This is equivalent of the
three-dot Trained Observer Merit (WoD: Dogs of
War, 38).
29
 MI18: Green Unit
DRU 5: Green Unit
Jurisdiction: Changelings and other “inter-
dimensional entities” (IDEs).
Overview: Green Unit is a three relatively young
and under-funded DRU with a lot to prove. It was
evolved from a task force established in 2004 to in-
vestigate an inter-dimensional breach in Cheshire,
England that may or may not have been caused by
the Knights of Saint George. The details are still
sketchy and the case went cold in 2007.
Green Unit officially exists to deal with inter-
dimensional entities and investigate potential
breaches or fissures into our universe. In practice,
however, it is the changeling-hunting unit of MI18.
Investigations into pan-dimensional intrusions and
alien invaders inevitably lead to changelings and the
Hedge, the thorny maze-like barrier between earth
and somewhere else.
That’s all the other DRUs know about the Hedge,
but Green Unit obviously has more information.
The Hedge leads to another universe that Green
Unit has tentatively labeled Arcadia. This may or
may not be the actual name used by its denizens.
Chatter from Blue Unit implies that some witches
draw their power from Arcadia, or at least a tower in
Arcadia, meaning witches and changelings might
actually be linked. Green Unit is currently develop-
ing a unifying theory connecting all supernatural
phenomena to Arcadia but lacks enough evidence to
formally propose the idea to MI18’s administration.
MI18 strongly advises against pursuing or fighting
changelings in the Hedge where the enemy has the
home-field advantage. Green Unit does not always
report incidents of its agents entering the Hedge,
usually just the times when an agent goes missing.
Green Unit gains most of its leads by following the
mysterious Markets, changeling-run bartering centers
that are always on the move. It is believed that
changelings feed on human emotions. Being sur-
rounded by so much desperation, greed, envy and
nostalgia makes a Market a virtual smorgasbord.
While this may not be as disgusting as a vampire
drinking human blood, changelings are secretly ma-
nipulating and using innocent people.
Green Unit may only head one investigation at a
time due to its small size. So while the Hedge and
Arcadia are not Green Unit’s only concerns, the
agents have little choice but to focus on changelings.
The Unit’s size also means it cannot send attachés to
work with other Units, although this does not work
both ways. Green Unit can expect to be humoring at
least one attaché on each case.
The Enemy: Green Unit questions if the diverse
30
changelings are the same or separate races from one
or more alien universes. That being said, all change-
ling exhibit two key shared abilities: their universe-
hopping powers and the supernatural “mask” that
makes them appear human while on Earth. There is
currently no classification system to catalogue the
various changeling breeds but there is growing sup-
port for one. Green Unit lacks both the time and man-
power to spare for such an endeavor.
Changelings, for whatever reason, are vulnerable
to cold iron. It is not quite like werewolves and silver:
instead of causing abnormal damage, cold iron seems
to hurt changelings more easily. It always finds a
way to draw blood, no matter how much armor or
cover a changeling is protected by. Scattered reports
involving the most powerful changelings go further
and describe the enemy suffering horribly from even
the slightest contact with cold iron. The stronger the
enemy is, the more vulnerable it is.
Rivalries: Initially, Green Unit forced itself into
numerous cases and had attachés assigned primarily
to cases headed by Black and Blue Units. During this
time, Green Unit did not really have any cases of its
own and was generally considered a parasite by the
other DRU. Times have changed, as noted above.
Black Unit is often scrutinized. It is foolish to think
that spirits, ghosts and demons are the same thing.
These creatures, or at least a fraction of them, are
alien beings in the most literal sense. Violet Unit is
distrusted for similar reasons. Green Unit is also in-
creasingly cautious around Silver Unit, as many bes-
tial changelings can be mistaken for shapeshifters.
Violet Unit absolutely hates Green Unit and the
feeling is mutual. Violet deals with creatures entering
or leaving the Underworld, a realm that Green Unit
believes is just the subterranean counterpart to the
Hedge. MI18’s administration doesn’t even humor
Green’s complaints and generally does not allow
Green attachés to bother Violet.
Status (MI18, Green Unit)
• Green Unit issues all new agents a weapon made
from cold iron, a nondescript metal that is very ef-
fective against changelings. You gain a cold iron
weapon that deals either 2(L) or 3(B) and a free
Weaponry Specialty applied to that weapon.
••• In-field experience means you no longer rely on
the unit’s incomplete handbook for everything. You
benefit from the 9-again rule on all Occult rolls per-
taining to changelings and the Hedge.
••••• You’ve dealt with so many changelings that
their illusions no longer fully work on you. You
gain the Unseen Sense Merit applied to Changelings
for free. If using rules from Changeling: The Lost,
your character is considered Ensorcelled.
 MI18: Violet Unit and Yellow Unit
DRU 6: Violet Unit
Jurisdiction The Bound (Sin-Eaters or Revenants)
and anyone or anything using known entrances into
the Underworld.
Overview: A Green Unit investigation into a po-
tential inter-dimensional breach inadvertently dis-
covered the Underworld. Subsequent investigations
uncovered the existence of the Bound, which seem
strangely attracted to the Land of the Dead. Reports
of these incidents were leaked to the other DRU
which, of course, tried stealing the case from Green
Unit. The higher-ups in MI18 established a joint team
to handle it, which included two agents from Black,
one from Red, one from Blue and one from Green.
This team soon became a full-fledged, albeit small,
Direct Response Unit.
The Bound are humans who died but returned to
life after pledging their souls to … well, no one’s
quite sure. The Bound are humans with something
inhuman hitching a ride and it is not entirely clear
who actually controls the body.
Violet Unit is the second-youngest DRU and cur-
rently focuses on observation and not combat. Its
enemies are the most mysterious and least-
understood of the various supernatural beings MI18
has encountered. There is no evidence that the Bound
are inherently a threat to humanity or the United
Kingdom. Regardless, the Bound are a supernatural
subculture living in plain sight; they must be moni-
tored and studied.
Rivalries: Green Unit opposed the very creation of
Violet Unit. Green Unit believes the Underworld is
another aspect of Arcadia and should thus absorb
Violet Unit.
There are similar sentiments in Black Unit which
believes the Bound are “just” host bodies for ghosts.
Violet Unit is almost always burdened with a Black
attaché. Black Unit, for its part, is primarily interested
in stealing as much information from Violet Unit as
humanly possible.
Status (MI18, Violet Unit)
• You gain one of the following Occult Specialties
for free: the Bound, Ghosts, the Underworld or Be-
liefs About the Afterlife.
••• Your connection to the Underworld is deepen-
ing. You gain Unseen Sense applied to the Avernian
Gates, the Bound’s preferred term for entrances into
the Underworld
••••• Continued exposure to the dead has altered
your very soul. You gain either the three-dot version
of At Death’s Door (see the New Merits Appendix)
or the Saintly Merit (WoD: Book of Spirits, 110).
DRU 7: Yellow Unit
Jurisdiction: The Reanimated (Prometheans and
Pandorans).
Overview: Yellow Unit is kept secret from the
other six Direct Response Units. Unlike its sister
DRU, Yellow Unit is less focused on investigating or
combating the supernatural as it is on replicating and
exploiting it.
Red and Black Units both separately encountered
beings later identified as the Reanimated. These are,
as the name implies, reanimated corpses and occa-
sionally artificial constructs that use an unnatural
energy source to mimic mortality.
And that is what Yellow Unit is after - the Reani-
mated’s energy, the “Divine Fire.” It could solve the
world’s energy needs, be used for accelerated cloning
and, perhaps as importantly, allow MI18 to become a
top-tier hunter organization. Depending on future
developments, MI18 could become the next Cheiron
Group or Section Nine. Even if this does not happen,
it is not unimaginable for MI18 to use expendable
clones to do its dirty work.
Yellow Unit has developed methods of storing Di-
vine Fire comparable to nuclear fuel rods. Actually
producing Divine Fire is a mystery, however, so it
must be harvested from the Reanimated (via the Har-
vesting Tactic). Complicating matters is that the Re-
animated cannot be “stored” without negatively af-
fecting the surrounding area as they naturally cor-
rupt their environments. Yellow Unit is forced to
track down Reanimated, capture the walking corpses
and drain the monsters dry of the precious Divine
Fire. It’s a messy and emotionally-draining process
but, well, it’s even worse for the Reanimated.
Rivalries: None, as this Unit does not officially
exist. No other DRU are aware of its activities. Exter-
nal Affairs once began accidentally tracking a Yellow
Unit operative but the investigation was quickly
sabotaged from within.
Status (MI18, Yellow Unit)
• Yellow Unit knows more about the Reanimated
than anyone else in MI18, so you gain the Occult
(The Reanimated) Specialty for free.
••• You are more resistant to the emotion-twisting
powers of the Reanimated. This may be from sheer
force of will or from possessing a weapon-grade
security blanket. You gain either two dots of Indomi-
table or the Favored Weapon Merit.
••••• You gain the Unseen Sense Merit applied to
the Divine Fire. This applies to both the energy itself
(stored or free-floating) and creatures storing and
using it (usually the Reanimated).
31
 MI18: External Affairs
XA: External Affairs
Jurisdiction: Rival hunters and slashers.
Overview: An embryonic form of External Affairs
existed during World War II to monitor Task Force:
VALKYRIE. XA did not exist in its current form until
1948, two years after the original three DRU.
External Affairs investigates other hunter organiza-
tions and counter-occult programs. They keep tabs
on TF:V and desperately want to know what Section
Nine is up to. They tolerate the local Ashwood Ab-
bey, at least for now. They’re still not entirely sure
about the Knights of Saint George but outright dis-
trust the Aegis Kai Doru and Ascending Ones.
Unlike the six regular DRU, External Affairs fo-
cuses almost exclusively on observation over vio-
lence. XA’s agents rely on spy cameras and sound
amplifiers, not handguns and shotguns. Their un-
marked vans feature cutting-edge surveillance equip-
ment, not anti-material rifles or pop-up machine gun
turrets. These agents monitor and record, not maim
or kill, other hunters.
Well, most of the time. XA has the authorization to
“neutralize” hunters that do more harm than good.
Hunters that are unconcerned about collateral dam-
age or innocent bystanders must be dealt with. While
MI18 rarely issues an order to kill another hunter, it
is far from unprecedented.
Newer External Affairs agents are usually assigned
32
to surveillance and spend long hours in unmarked
vans. More experienced agents are used to infiltrate
rival organizations or, when needed, assassinate
wayward hunters. Some are tasked with eliminating
hunters that “went off the deep end” and became
slashers. Then there’s the bloodthirsty Hunt Club, a
twisted society of sociopaths that XA would just love
to forcibly disband.
Rivalries: No one likes External Affairs. More ac-
curately, no one trusts External Affairs. There is a per-
sistent concern among the DRUs that XA also spies
on the rest of MI18. They are the ones watching the
watchmen. But that is absurd. It’s not as if unmarked
XA vans follow the other DRUs’ unmarked vans....
Status (MI18, External Affairs)
• This job requires more skills than being able to sit
in an unmarked van for hours. You gain one of the
following Skill Specialties for free: Investigation
(Body Language), Larceny (Security Systems) or
Streetwise (Undercover).
••• You’re always in the know, especially about
rivals’ activities. You gain two dots of Contacts ap-
plied to other hunter organizations. One or both
dots may be applied to a DRU within MI18.
••••• Your skills are too vital to waste on observa-
tion alone. Now you get to rely on other agents to
perform the more mundane and boring tasks on
your behalf. You gain a greener XA agent as a free
three-dot Retainer.
 MI18, the Direct Response Units (Compact)
Storytelling
Protagonists
By maintaining DRU and FOU across the
former British Empire, MI18 has a global reach
comparable to Task Force: VALKYRIE and Sec-
tion Nine. This makes MI18 one of the most
widespread compacts in existence. MI18 can
enter most chronicles, regardless of setting,
with relative ease. Joint operations between
TF:V and MI18 occur periodically but both or-
ganizations prefer to work alone.
MI18 detachments operate much like Tier 1
cells, only with government sponsorship and
firearms. Depending on the current leadership,
some DRU are more militaristic than others
but most emphasize research. They investigate
rumors, legends and conspiracy theories in
case even part of a wild story checks out. Then,
if needed, they switch gears and eliminate the
threat by any means necessary. Remember, in-
vestigate then annihilate.
Despite External Affairs’ best efforts, MI18
agents are largely oblivious to the existence
and tactics of other hunters. They know about
other government-sponsored hunters like TF:V,
VASCU, Division Six and, to a lesser extent,
Section Nine. They know of hunters based in
the UK such as the local Ashwood Abbey and
Knights of Saint George.
MI18 agents generally work within their
DRU and rarely seek assistance from other
hunters. They are more likely to steer another
group of hunters in a desired direction than
actually ask for help. Other hunters may be
surprised to realize that their mysterious infor-
mant works for the British government.
The Cheshire Connection: A string of ru-
ined investigations have a central theme: a
group of thieves steals a supernaturally-
empowered object and kills its owner(s), which
MI18 just happened to be monitoring. Blue
Unit aloe has lost three potential leads (i.e.
witches) this way. A task force is assembled
with representatives of the various DRU af-
fected by these thieves and External Affairs is
involved for good measure.
The limited information you have connects
the thieves to the “Cheshire Incident” back in
2004. An inter-dimensional drift formed and
the Knights of Saint George were somehow in-
volved. The thieves match descriptions of vari-
ous people wounded in the incident, people
who were presumably innocent bystanders but
now MI18 is not so sure. Even if these people
are the same, what is their obsession with
stealing magical objects?
Double Agent: There is a traitor in MI18.
An agent in your DRU is apparently a double
agent and supplying information to a foreign
government, likely America (TF:V or VASCU)
or Russia (Section Nine). This cannot be toler-
ated any longer but no one knows who the trai-
tor is. You still need to continue ongoing inves-
tigations and keep business going as usual –
the people and governments of the United
Kingdom depend on it – but this issue must be
resolved ASAP.
Field Testing: MI18 has reversed-
engineered a rifle-like device from TF:V’s vam-
pire-draining “Bleeder” (HtV:HtV: Core,
Core 152). This
device, codenamed the Leech, is being issued
for limited field testing. The Leech is far from
perfect and most agents report it failing before
showing any signs of successful operation. Still,
when it does work, the Leech leaves even the
most powerful monsters at an agent’s mercy.
You are part of a detachment sent on a spe-
cial mission to evaluate the Leech’s perform-
ance in combat. There’s one catch – the mis-
sion is unusually suicidal. The administration
appears more interested in remotely collecting
field data than in its agents’ safety. Besides,
how can MI18 know how well the Leech per-
forms unless it is put through the most rigor-
ous testing imaginable? The specifics of the
mission will vary per DRU (and what super-
natural energy their Leech is attuned to) but a
“total party kill” is a likely outcome.
Antagonists
MI18 agents can easily assume another
hunter is the enemy, particularly when dealing
with members of conspiracies. Like TF:V and
Section Nine, MI18 wants the public to remain
ignorant of the supernatural world and this
puts them at odds with groups like Network
Zero who desire the exact opposite. With its
spies everywhere, XA is another likely problem.
The Bug Infestation: One of your hunter
allies has become justifiably paranoid in recent
days. He discovered bugs in his house - as in
electronic bugs, old-school spyware. He has be-
gun digitally recording himself at all times and
analyzes the tapes for evidence that someone is
watching or following him. You half-expect him
to find the Slender Man but this is serious busi-
ness. If someone is watching him, whose to say
that that same person isn’t going after his
hunter associates, including you or your cell?
33
 Briefing Note

Attaché: Thomas (C. Medic)

Assignment: 23, 19 with org.
Organization: Division Six, Unit Five
Date: 5 / 21 / 2011

via nt” (w itc h) on 5/ 20 . Wi tch loc ated and killed.

lity de
RE: Raid against the “necromantic rea
bie s also destr oyed (el eve n out of eleven known).
Zom
s are as follows.
No friendly fatalities to report. Injurie LT ); ov ern igh t in RUMC.
tio n of he ad wou nd (N
1. Dan — rapid-infec
e — rap id inf ect ion of arm and leg wounds (NLT); in RUMC.
2. Jeannett 2nd stage (?); in RUMC.
pe cif ied sic kn ess ; not con ta giou s,
3. Paul A. – uns sta ge (?); in RUMC.
sic kn ess ; not con ta giou s, 3rd
4. Ron — unspecified n Six took boo k but allowed me to make
e”) and not es. Div isio
Obtained witch's spellbook (“grimoir kn own how mu ch of he r not es were day-
s wit h SC . Un
photocopies per contractual obligation
dreams or actual planning. ead cre atu res th at look surprisingly normal
mbi es” - und
Notes proposed creation of “plague zo me tho d of tra nsf er not discovered but
diseas es . Ex act
(passably alive) but carry contagious transit to spread infection.
ne . Wo uld hav e zo mb ies use ma ss
presumably airbor bie s. Fo und evi den ce of magically-
r ins ide th e zom
Believed to have living organic matte . All oth er organs functionally useless.
ma ch ins ide one zom bie
preserved, still-working sto e onl y foll ows orders from their leadership
te fu rth er. Un it Fiv
Request permission to investiga igat ion . Pos sib ly ask other SC partners for
foll ow- up inv est
(still no details) and will not assist in
Union may be wil ling — wit ch ’s hou se is near their territory.
help? The one -si ded , ha ndw rit ten); paperwork for
ook (4 2 pag es ,
ENCLOSED: Photocopies of spellb fur the r investigation.
5 AC P) ; for ma l re que st for
ammunition requests (.4
 Silver Cross (Compact)

Modern Medicine eventually learned about their mentor’s deception

and turned on him. They captured him and, without
The Vigil is a dark, lonely war against creatures
truly understanding the consequences, cut him off
with superior numbers and power. The odds are al-
from vampire blood. After a month without his un-
ways against the hunter and only fools ever think
natural fix, the professor rapidly aged and died in a
otherwise. Fortunately, like every other war in mod-
matter of minutes.
ern times, the Vigil has its medics. On the frontlines
The students-turned-hunters realized just how
and hidden in plain sight, the Silver Cross keeps a
little they knew about the supernatural world. Their
watchful eye on its hunter brethren.
ignorance first enabled a ghoul’s addiction and then
The Silver Cross evolved from a cell of students
that same ignorance inadvertently killed him.
in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medi-
The young cell soon established contact with
cine. One of the students’ professors was a rogue
Null Mysteriis and took an investigative approach to
ghoul attempting to make synthetic vampire blood.
the Vigil. The cellmates quickly grew dissatisfied
Until the synthetic blood was perfected, however,
with Null Mysteriis’s methodology. Where were the
only the real stuff would suffice. He manipulated the
results? How was any of this benefiting humanity?
students into staking vampires for him. The students
Instead of wasting time arguing about theories and

36
 Silver Cross (Compact)
wild guesses, the hunters decided to take a more pro-
active approach. They pooled their resources, made
several risky investments, considered robbing a bank
but relented and eventually managed to create their
secret weapon against the supernatural menace:
They opened an unassuming, perfectly legitimate
outpatient clinic.
The Silver Cross is now comprised of scattered
walk-in clinics throughout the United States and,
with the recent opening of its Toronto clinic, is start-
ing to go international. Silver Crosses operate as nor-
mal outpatient clinics where some or all of the staff
are aware of the Vigil. At the very least, the doctors
and administrators are aware of the situation while
nurses are kept in the dark. Those in the know re-
ceive training to deal with the aftermath of super-
natural attacks and the unique injuries suffered by
people stupid or fearless enough to fight monsters.
The Silver Cross seeks out other hunters and
treats them "without questions.” Privacy is sacred at
the clinics. So far, they have had the most success
with the Union and the Long Night. Workers at the
Los Angeles clinic know the Keepers of the Source on
a first name basis. Some clinics have received denota-
tions from the nearest Ashwood Abbey chapterhouse
or the Knights of Saint George. These donations are
often used to build and maintain “back rooms,” a
euphemism for makeshift surgery suites set aside for
emergency operations beyond a mere walk-in clinic’s
capabilities.
While the majority of Silver Cross employees
take a supportive role in the Vigil, some do fight.
These brave souls, usually armed with only a hand-
gun, travel with hunter cells and treat their com-
rades’ injuries in the field. Most clinics have one or
two "combat medics" on the payroll. Other hunters
generally consider combat medics synonymous with
the Silver Cross.
The Enemy
The Silver Cross’s combat medics have seen
pretty much everything the supernatural world can
throw at a person. Depending on what hunters the
combat medic works with, she specializes in what-
ever monsters that group targets. For example, a
combat medic working with the Keepers of the
Source will almost exclusively find herself fighting
witches. Another combat medic is assigned to a Un-
ion cell dedicated to dismantling the Sin-Eater gangs
in their part of town, so she’s seen her fair share of
Hold on. Stop squirming so much.
I’m trying to remove a bullet here.
necromancy and voodoo.
As the clinics are all based in cities, the Silver
Cross mostly deals with monsters that require or ex-
ploit large human populations. They are more likely
to encounter a vampire or other creature that feds on
humans than, say, a feral shapeshifter or Reanimated
hiding in the mountains. Witches, who are techni-
cally human anyway, are another common problem.
Changelings and Sin-Eaters are also frequent adver-
saries. Then there’s always the occasional slasher.
The Silver Cross will not necessarily help any
hunter, however. While rarely done, the Silver Cross
has refused to help certain hunters based on their
choice of tactics or targets. A combat medic would
never assist a member of the serial-killing Prome-
thean Brotherhood, for instance. A newer clinic has
already had issues with an excessively violent Night
Watch cell. Unless the hunters are doing more good
than harm, the Silver Cross won’t bother risking the
life of a combat medic.
Hunters
It started with a patient found by the side of the
interstate with a bloody stump where his arm used to
be. He ended up in your ER and barely survived the
night. You went to check on him the following day
and found the patient jumping out his room’s fifth
story window. And that wasn’t the weird part – as he
ran through the parking lot unharmed, you realized
the man now had two arms. You needed to know
what this man really was. Months of research led you
towards a specific, nondescript outpatient clinic. You
went there to find out more information and instead
got an on-the-spot job offer. The pay is much worse
but there is something special about a job that not
only saves lives but protects humanity.
You joined a preexistent cell of monster hunters
while still in med school. The hunting group has
since dissolved from equal parts death and in-
fighting. The contacts you acquired along the way
directed you towards a Silver Cross clinic that you
joined right before graduation. Your family will
never understand why you passed up so many other,
higher-paying job offers. The crippling student debt
might kill you before the monsters get a chance.
You were your cell’s medical expert by default,
having been a lifeguard and taken basic training
classes at the community college. While the others
practiced at the firing range, you felt a need to learn
about what the hell you were doing. Your friends
37
 Silver Cross (Compact)

STEREOTYPES
The Union: This is the beginning of something truly amazing. Little neighbor-hood watches and
guardians springing up across the country ... it’s beautiful. We have an unofficial outreach pro-
gram where we’re trying to locate and contact as many Union cells as possible. Together, we could
be the future of the Vigil.
Wordsmiths: I don’t know what to think about them. I hope the Wordsmiths are right and that
even the undead can be proverbially healed but, honestly, I can’t bring myself to put too much
faith in their methodology.
Aegis Kai Doru: About three months ago, a man carried an injured female companion into the
clinic. She had deep claw marks in her chest and several broken ribs, but her main concern was
the amulet around her neck. She fought off any attempt to remove the amulet, even if it was in our
way and occasionally in a wound. Even after surgery, when we wanted follow-up x-rays, she re-
fused to remove it. Remarkable.
The Chosen of Kroll: We’ve had issues identifying, um, friend from foe. Some hunters take ex-
traordinary means to level the playing field and can become quite monstrous in the process. I once
had a patient come in reporting injuries to his tentacles. Just think about that for a minute.

depended on you for their survival and you refused
to fail them. The Silver Cross contacted your cell and
offered its services, saying they learned about the
cell’s existence through another hunter organization
you only recently met. Seeing as how the cell already
had an unofficial medic (i.e. you), the clinic’s admin-
istrator is willing to teach you a few tricks and ex-
pand your knowledge. With enough time and results,
you might even eventually get on their payroll.
You spent most of your “medical career” as a
street medic, a self-taught, unlicensed political activ-
ist with a first aid kit and several medical guides you
pirated online. The earliest monsters you protected
people from were riot police and other pigs hired to
silence you and your fellow demonstrators. You were
more afraid of the World Trade Organization than
the more literal demons lurking around every corner.
A chance encounter with a Union hunter bleeding to
death in an alley from savage bite marks made you
realize what the real threats were. You discovered the
Silver Cross through the Union and they helped you
put your unorthodox medical training to good use.
Factions
Personal philosophies differ from person to per-
son but the clinics’ primary goal is to save lives.
Caregivers focus on repairing as opposed to tear-
ing down. Many are not violent people or lack the
skills needed to survive a scuffle with monsters. They
realize their time is best spent in the clinic and do not
pretend to be superheroes. Most caregivers come
from more traditional medical backgrounds and pre-
viously worked in hospitals or, at the very least, actu-
ally attended medical school.
Cutters believe they need to “cut out” the mon-
strous cancer in society. Combat medics adhering to
this philosophy often carry more ammunition than
medical supplies. They won’t need to patch up as
many injuries if the enemy goes down first. Cutters
tend to start as hunters then acquire medical knowl-
edge to assist in their Vigils. A few have legitimate
medical backgrounds but become cynical, jaded or
outright paranoid during the course of the Vigil.
The Curious perform their normal duties at the
clinic but also have “side projects.” This may involve
running tests on samples of monstrous tissue or more
sinister and dangerous experiments. A few have dual
membership in Null Mysteriis or the Cheiron Group.
Status
Status in the Silver Cross is primarily gained by
repeatedly keeping your fellow hunters alive and
making the Vigil easier, or at least less excruciating.
• Your involvement in the Vigil gives you extra drive
and focus. This goes beyond just saving lives – now
you’re helping save humanity. If you successfully risk
Willpower on a Medicine-based roll pertaining to the
Vigil, you gain an additional Willpower point, even if
this goes beyond your normal limit.
••• Keeping someone alive after a one-sided scuffle
with a werewolf has forced you to learn a few tricks.
You gain the 9-again ability on all rolls related to
treating victims of monstrous and/or violent attacks.
This also applies to injuries from mundane sources
such as car crashes or drunken barroom brawls.
••••• You have a likely taken a more administrative
role at the clinic. By supporting the Vigil, both you
and your clinic have earned the trust of local hunters
and their backers. You gain four free dots of Allies,
assigned to and distributed among other local hunters
or hunter organizations.

38
 Silver Cross (Compact)
Storytelling
Protagonists
The most obvious use of the Silver Cross is
as the hunters’ best friend. The nature of the
organization makes it easy to incorporate a PC
or NPC combat medic into almost any story.
They are best suited for helping independent
cells or compacts as many conspiracies either
have healing powers or are too secretive to
comfortably work with outsiders. The Knights
of Saint George are an exception, with their
American cells regularly making use of the Sil-
ver Cross’s services. The Ashwood Abbey, Bear
Lodge, Keepers of the Source, Long Night and
the Union are all on friendly terms with their
local clinics.
It can be rather difficult to create a game
structured entirely around Silver Cross PCs.
They work best as supporting NPCs or as a lone
combat medic PC in a hunter cell. When consid-
ering the size and resources of the Silver Cross,
is it highly unlikely for a hunter troupe to in-
clude multiple combat medics.
If so desired, the Silver Cross could be
treated as little more than a deus ex machina
that allows PCs to heal between chapters. It’s
entirely possible that there may never be a role
-played conversation between a PC hunter and
a NPC Silver Cross staffer.
A Storyteller might allow the PCs to use a
Silver Cross clinic as a Safehouse. It will likely
have one or two dots of Cache and one or two
dots of trap. The Cache is intended for combat
medics, meaning they may have weapons out-
side of their normal resources. The clinic itself
cannot have any dots of Secrecy, being a publi-
cally known building, although a secret “back
room” or basement level may exist. The clinic
may contain a Torture Suite; someone skilled
with medical tools can be efficient at getting
information.
Sanctuary: A hysterical man enters your
clinic and scares the patients in the waiting
room. Once taken aside, he explains that he is
being pursued by a monster and that the Silver
Cross is the only safe place he can hide. How
he knows this is beyond you but, more impor-
tantly, he wants sanctuary and the monster
likely followed him there. His pursuer is unlike
anything your clinic has dealt with before,
sounding more like Jason Voorhees or Michael
Myers than a “standard” monster. You have
every reason to fear that a real-life Halloween 2
is about to go down.
The Deviant: A known hunter comes into
your clinic for treatment, complaining about
perfectly mundane stomach pains. When he
finally sees a nurse behind closed doors, he
states he has urgent news and needs to speak
with an administrator now. He tells the admin-
istrator that he is a federal agent and a higher-
up routinely provides him with a list of “reality
deviants,” witches, for him to kill. One of your
clinic’s nurses is on his most recent hit list.
Quarantine: A patient is brought in with
deep bite wounds that look disturbingly like
human teeth marks. Before you even knew if
he was a hunter or the unluckiest SOB in the
world, he leapt at the closest nurse and ripped
her carotid artery open like a rabid pit bull.
Things spiraled out of control and the clinic is
on lockdown. Unlike the movies, this “zombie
plague” is slow-acting and there is only about a
fifty percent chance of contamination even if
blood is drawn. There’s no way to know who
can be trusted and who will randomly decide to
eat your flesh. Then there are the other pa-
tients, including those two paranoid hunters
with itchy-looking trigger fingers….
Antagonists
The Silver Cross is an unlikely enemy, see-
ing as their main goal is to help other hunters.
That being said, it is possible to use the good
doctors as obstacles or the unwitting pawns of
a larger, lurking threat. An inhuman spy may
be gathering information on local hunters by
infiltrating the clinic. An item in the waiting
room is a magical monitoring device to keep
track of everyone who enters and leaves.
Not every patient has to be human. For ex-
ample, it is not unimaginable for crafty witches
to seek the Silver Cross’s help from time to
time. Endowments and magic are often indis-
tinguishable and the Silver Cross doesn’t ask
unnecessary questions.
Outside Looking In: Your cell is gathering
dirt on a monstrous cult. The cult’s leader even
has tentacles; this is getting a little too Love-
craftian for your liking. The cell noticed that a
large number of cultists go to the only Silver
Cross clinic in the city, even if some cultists
live closer to another medical center or a hospi-
tal. The clinic is probably a front for the cult,
but can you prove it? Even if it is a front, how
do you proceed? Storming the clinic is a sure-
fire way to be labeled domestic terrorists.
39
 Anne was getting tired of the same conversation day after day, week after week. The short
meetings on the rooftop seemed to go nowhere. She crumpled the now-empty brown paper
bag and, for what felt like the ten thousandth time, said: “You’re a human being and deserve
to be treated as such. You’re not a lapdog, you’re not a doormat. You have rights.”
Geraldine took a long drag on her cigarette. She stood at the building’s ledge with her
back to Anne. “It’s not that simple.”
“Of course it’s that simple.” Anne accepted a cigarette from her more-or-less friend and
joined her at the ledge. The crime-infested city was almost beautiful from such a height.
“No, you don’t understand.” Geraldine flicked her cigarette butt and watched it fall to the
pavement. “First, I wouldn’t call myself human anymore. I have vampire blood in my
system. I haven’t aged in years – ”
Anne cut her off. “You’re still human. A monthly blood transfusion doesn’t change that.”
Geraldine smiled coldly and continued looking out over the noontime city. “Semantics.
That’s just semantics. And, Anne, secondly, by now you know I must obey. I need to fol-
low orders. I’m not a doormat but I don’t have free will.”
We’ve been over this so, so many times. “Are you following orders right now? How are you
being obedient by talking to me?” Vampires keep their servants on short leashes but the
slaves have several precious hours of sunlight to move unobserved and unmolested.
Geraldine finally looked at Anne. “If I disobey – if I disobey and he finds out – then
he’ll cut me off. He holds my life in his hands. My life is in his veins. I cannot live
without his blood.”
Again, the same old argument. “Yes you can. You don’t need it; you only crave it.”
“It’s not like nicotine, okay? His blood keeps me young. I’ve been in his thrall
for over a decade now. Don’t you get it? If he cuts me off, I’ll age thirteen years
overnight. I’ll be mortal again. I’ll age and die like everyone else.”
Anne already discussed every possible implication of Geraldine’s sudden aging. Nor-
mally, a person rapidly aging overnight would draw a lot of attention. The ghoul had no
friends except for Anne, however, so no one would really notice. Her employer was her vam-
pire master, meaning she would need to find a new job and source of income. If Geraldine
was worried about her landlord and other people in her apartment building, Anne already
covered several options. Hell, Anne would let her move in for a while if needed. Anne was
willing to do whatever it took to free this poor woman from addiction and enslavement.
Instead of mentioning any of that, Anne went with a new strategy: “So?”
“ ‘So?’ ” Geraldine repeated. “What do you mean, ‘so?’ ”
“Would you rather die of old age or be damned forever? How is this life any better than
one like mine? Yes, I have a boss, but he doesn’t spit on me or hit me. I don’t get burned with
cigarettes as I lay begging for a drink. He pays me to handle paperwork, not cover up mur-
ders and tax evasion. I’d rather be a clerk than a slave.”
“Stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Just, just stop it.” Geraldine paused then threw her half-empty cigarette box over the
ledge with a growl. “I shouldn’t even be here. He’ll be awake in five hours and I still
need to finish my financial report. His taxes are done but he likes them, he likes
them presented in a binder with a nice cover page. He likes it professional looking. I
need to go.” She walked towards the stairs before stopping at the door. She stood motionless
for a full five seconds before asking: “Can I see you on Wednesday? Same time and place?”
“Of course.” Anne couldn’t help but smile. There’s always hope. “It’s not like I have any-
where else to be on my lunch break.”
“Thank you.”
 Wordsmiths (Compact)

Pinpricks of Light
One. The photos keep appearing. You
killed and replaced two different ghouls
but someone continues violating the sanc-
tity of your lair. You never told either of
your two – wait, sorry, three ghouls about
the photos and merely complain about
trespassers.
The photos are of you. No, they’re not
blurry like normal. No, it’s not a breach of
the Masquerade. The photos are of you
while still alive. They show the friends and
family you left behind.
Mixed in are photos of your victims
while they still lived. Someone having that
much access to your old life is bad enough,
but this means they’re also monitoring
your unlife quite closely.
Tonight the photos take an even more
disturbing turn. They are printed on photo
paper and are clearly not original photo-
graphs. They are of your old life, as before,
but with your victims Photoshopped into
the pictures. Sometimes the victims digi-
tally replace people who were really there,
like your mother, brother or girlfriend.
You mask your fear with anger and
mentally prepare to find a fourth ghoul
when you notice a handheld mirror resting
on your mantle. Someone wrote on the
glass with blood-red lipstick:
How do you even
look at yourself? see it coming until it’s too late. It’s always something
Oh, that’s right, just vague enough to haunt your memory.
“Lovely weather for hunting. It’s a shame the prey
you don’t have to. won’t get too much time in the sun.” The sky was
I’m so sorry. overcast and gray. The sun did not break free all day.
Tears of blood well in your eyes. This has to stop. “How can you stand the heat? It’s hot enough to
boil blood.” It was unseasonably cold for June.
Two. While some ghouls are abused by their mas- “Did you hear about the rabid dog? The police
ters, yours lets you live in relative freedom. You run
found it with a mouth full of some poor child’s
a full-serve gas station and maintain your Master’s
blood. I can’t imagine how the family is taking the
nearby haven. He stalks and hunts like a predatory
loss.” There was no such dog but a child in your Mas-
animal and gives you plenty of free time. You main-
ter’s hunting grounds did go missing.
tain his lair and keep out trespassers while he lets
And, worst of all, a woman met your eyes and
you sip his blood and remain virtually immortal.
said this right before driving away: “It must be horri-
Then customers at the gas station started getting
ble to grow old alone. I’m so sorry.” You’re fifty-four
weird, making strange statements and asking ques-
but don’t even look thirty.
tions. It’s never the same person twice so you don’t
Who are they? What do they want from you?

Do you ever stop to think about

who the REAL monsters are?

42
 Wordsmiths (Compact)
Three. You wait in your rat-hole apartment for a
phone call that never comes. Your Master, the vam-
pire who feeds on you, has not called for days. He
said he needed you, that you tasted too delicious to
eat in one sitting. His fangs puncturing your neck,
the feeling of his claws on your shoulders as he bit
down … it was dizzying and made you feel so alive.
But now.... You can’t wait any longer and need
release. You throw your phone across the room and
begin crying as you enter the bathroom. You open
the medicine cabinet and reach for the razor blades
you continually use, wash and reuse after making
shallow cuts in your arms and legs. It won’t be the
same, like masturbating instead of making love, but
you need to feel your blood flow. Instead of razors,
you find a handwritten note:
You need help. We’re always here.
A local phone number is written beneath it. You
stop crying long enough to locate your phone and
begin dialing before there’s time for second thoughts.
Always Hope
Wordsmiths don’t see the world in quite the same
way as other hunters. In fact, Wordsmiths loathe the
terms “hunter” and “monster” and consider these
words inherently derisive and insulting. They readily
challenge the establish assumptions (such as the evil
of “monsters”) and ways of acting (shoot first, ask
questions never) in search of new ideas. Even in the
face of sheer inhuman horror, the Wordsmiths find
glimmers of hope. Yes, the world is dark and fright-
ening, but it does not need to stay that way.
Wordsmiths respond to vampires with empathy
instead of outrage. They offer an open hand to the
living dead in defiance of fear, cynicism and hatred.
Vampires used to be human and Wordsmiths aim to
reunite these poor people with their lost humanity.
Ghouls and blood dolls are still technically human,
just addicts, and should be shown sympathy instead
of disgust and anger. The cycle of violence, of hunters
killing vampires and vampires killing hunters, must
end; nothing good or lasting ever comes from it.
Will there always be monsters preying on people?
Of course – humans have done that to their own kind
for eons. But must it continue to be a perpetual secret
war with battle lines drawn by what species or race
someone belongs to? Of course not.
Wordsmith the Man
The Wordsmiths grew from a 19th century cell in
Toronto, Canada founded by Wilfred Wordsmith
One of Wilfred’s childhood friends was dying
from an undetermined disease. The boy’s parents
made a deal with a vampire to embrace him, turning
their child into one of the living dead instead of al-
lowing him to waste away. The boy officially died
but his parents kept him hidden in their house and
fed him animal blood. One night, three years after
supposedly dying, he arranged a meeting with his
old friend Wilfred and revealed the truth. The dead
boy had not aged a day.
Wilfred instantly became obsessed with the un-
dead and began uncovering all he could about other
supernatural creatures. By his twenties, he already
independently discovered the existence of witches
and werewolves. Still, vampires were his favorite.
The fact that so many unnecessarily fed on human
blood bothered him. If vampires could drink pigs’ or
cows’ blood, well, why didn’t they?
Wilfred received an answer years later when his
friend, still looking no older than eight, killed a man.
All evidence pointed to the murder being in self de-
fense, with the man breaking into the house while the
boy’s parents were away. The intruder was quickly
ripped apart and there was not a drop of blood to be
found. The boy, inebriated with human blood,
blindly attacked his parents when they returned
home. A day later, after coming down from his
bloodlust, the boy left a note for Wilfred explaining
what happened then set himself on fire.
These disturbing events led Wilfred to establish a
sort of rehabilitation program, finding vampires and
trying to “cure” them of their savage urges. He con-
tacted living relatives and friends of vampires, many
of whom were unaware that their dead loved ones
stalked the night. Without really meaning to, Wilfred
founded a hunter cell that became unofficially known
as “Wordsmith’s Men.”
Wilfred lost some followers but gained others
when he became romantically involved with a female
vampire who swore off human blood. The two later
married and shared a farm, with both husband and
wife relying on the livestock for food.
Upon Wilfred’s death forty years later, his widow,
unaged and unchanged since their wedding day, pa-
tiently waited outside with his corpse until sunrise.
By the time Wilfred Wordsmiths died, the cell had
evolved into a compact and expanded throughout
Ontario and into Quebec, New Brunswick, Manitoba,
the Great Lakes region and Maine. Wilfred became a
legend while alive but lost any real position of au-
thority. Members of the compact referred to him in
the past tense as if he died years earlier. The organi-
zation’s and hunters’ name, the Wordsmiths, re-
flected the mythical nature the real man adopted
even before dying.
43
 Wordsmiths (Compact)

Thinning the Blood base urges and animalistic instincts. Many vampires
are, at worse, no more evil than wild animals. Word-
The Wordsmiths soon discovered that not all vam-
smiths must take the time to observe the Other Side
pires could live (for lack of a better term) by feeding
and find glimpses of humanity beneath the surface.
on animal blood. The older and more powerful a
Hate Breeds Hate, Love Breeds Love: How can
vampire, the more refined its tastes become. The
humans expect anything but hostilities from mon-
Wordsmiths initially encountered and helped rela-
sters when interactions between the two are always,
tively young and weak vampires, ones that could
well, hostile? Furthermore, Wordsmiths never use
drink animal blood but had the option of drinking
derogatory terms like “bloodsucker” and “blood
from humans. Older vampires must drink human
slave,” especially when dealing with the people these
blood. Some ancient vampires may only drink the
words demean.
blood of their fellow vampires.
Optimism, Not Stupidity: Wordsmiths are nei-
It is possible for vampires to become weaker and
ther pacifists nor suicidal; they can and do carry
need simpler blood, however. A vampire may enter
weapons but are strongly discouraged from carrying
torpor, the undead equivalent of a coma. This is the
stakes to avoid potential misunderstandings.
state a vampire enters when sufficiently starved of
Loose Lips Stake Hearts: Wordsmiths are more
blood or impaled with a wooden stake. The vampire
likely to work with vampires, ghouls and fellow
appears to be a normal human corpse but is effec-
Wordsmiths than with other “hunters.” Past experi-
tively asleep and dreaming indefinitely. Pouring
ences with hunter compacts have generally not
blood into the vampire’s mouth awakens him.
ended well. The Wordsmiths are a rather poorly kept
Time spent in torpor practically turns back the
secret. Many hunters have heard of them but are ig-
clock. The vampire is effectively younger and thus
norant of the details or of the Wordsmiths’ current
weaker than he was before. This means a vampire
situation. Some doubt the Wordsmiths still exist or
who must drink human blood may spend a few
ever existed. In fact, more vampires than hunters be-
months or years in torpor and awaken to only need
lieve in the Wordsmiths’ continuing existence.
animal blood. Sure, the vampire will be ravenous and
Strength in Numbers: While they fear hunters
frightened, but letting him loose on a chicken should
more than monsters, Wordsmiths do understand that
calm him right down.
there is safety in numbers. Wordsmiths rarely work
Wordsmiths have established several “clinics” for
alone. Vampires are known to violently lash out
vampires to voluntarily enter torpor and rest peace-
(“frenzy”) when starving, startled or in withdrawal
fully. Some vampires deliberately starve until enter-
and are more than a match for a single human. In the
ing torpor but many allow themselves to be staked—
past, many lone Wordsmiths were injured or killed
the process is faster, albeit still traumatic. Word-
when vampires they considered friends went berserk.
smiths guard the slumbering vampires and awaken
Meetings with vampires are always conducted at
them at the prescheduled time, however many
neutral and (relatively) open locations with at least
months or years later that might be.
two Wordsmiths. Decades of experience has taught
These clinics are tempting for militant vampires
the Wordsmiths that this is best done in mixed-
hunters looking for “soft targets” so the Wordsmiths
gender pairs – one male and one female Wordsmith.
must be vigilant. More than one clinic has been lost to
This rule is relaxed with ghouls and blood dolls as
the Night Watch or Cainite Heresy.
they are do not frenzy. Many ghouls admit to prefer
repeatedly talking to the same, single human so they
The Rules don’t feel “crowded.” Vampires, who are considera-
The Rules summarize the Wordsmiths’ philoso- bly more powerful than humans, feel less intimidated
phy regarding the Vigil and the Other Side. Opti- by dealing with two Wordsmiths at once.
mism is essential; naivety is the enemy; teamwork
and friendship are the greatest assets.
There’s Always Hope: Wordsmiths are optimists
The Other Side
Due to their methodology and inhuman allies,
to the core. There is always a glimmer of hope in
Wordsmiths have an abnormally strong understand-
every situation. Even the most cynical and jaded
ing of the living dead. Vampire society is, to say the
Wordsmiths refuse to let go of at least a spark of
least, complicated. Numerous factions and families
faith. That spark is really all the Wordsmiths have or
exist with conflicting goals, religious beliefs and mor-
need to keep going.
als. Some vampires consider themselves servants of
Look, Don’t Judge: Do not assume a being is evil
God and think feeding on humans weeds out the
simply for being supernatural. Vampires act out of
weak. Others are obsessed with materialism and pri-

44
 Wordsmiths (Compact)
marily exist to annoy the Barrett Commission. Un-
aligned vampires, the ones not indoctrinated into an
organization’s philosophy, are more likely to ques-
tion their nature and listen to the Wordsmiths.
Vampires are further divided into bloodlines and
clans, typically organized around shared physical
traits and inherent abilities. While some vampires are
stunningly beautiful or regal, others are monstrous
and live in sewers or slums to avoid unwanted atten-
tion. These recluses are generally more be receptive
to the Wordsmiths.
Despite originally setting out to help vampires,
Wordsmiths have had more success with ghouls. In-
stead of struggling against an inner beast, ghouls
“only” need to fight their addiction and are able to
return to mainstream human society.
Wordsmiths also frequently encounter blood dolls
but not all Wordsmiths agree about how to handle
them. Most Wordsmiths believe blood dolls are no
different than ghouls and need to stop their danger-
ous behavior. A minority see blood dolls as an ac-
ceptable alternative to feeding on unwilling victims.
The latter Wordsmiths consider the blood dolls to be
a sort of subculture and try not to judge its practices.
Not all vampires are created equal. Some are truly
savage and reduced to mindless, hungry animals.
Such vampires have lost all touch with their human-
ity and are consumed by bloodlust. Others are made
that way, either deliberately or by accident, and form
packs with equally pathetic yet barbaric creatures to
live like wild dogs. Then there are bloodjackers, vam-
pires possessed by something truly alien that ma-
nipulates corpses for its own sick amusement. All of
these behave like vampires but, as much as the
Wordsmiths hate to admit, cannot be reasoned with.
Attempts to “domesticate” feral vampires have uni-
versally failed.
There are also a few vampires that harm other
vampires. As previously mentioned, some vampires
feed on the blood of their fellow undead. Others sim-
ply want to kill other vampires for esoteric reasons.
The most well-known example of this is VII, the bog-
eymen of the vampire world, who war with other
vampires for completely unknown reasons. The
Wordsmiths have repeatedly tried and failed to con-
tact VII, largely because no one living or dead seems
to know what VII is.
Wordsmiths are only vaguely aware of other su-
pernatural creatures. Numerous Wordsmiths report
encountering beings that look human at first glance
but, when seen out of the corner of the eye, or when
its reflection is cast, or its shadow seen … is some-
thing else.
Wordsmiths know magic is real but that is all.
They have made limited contact with magic-users
and have no idea what fuels magic or how one ac-
quires magical abilities in the first place. Wordsmiths
also know werewolves and other shapeshifters exist
but let the Talbot Group handle these cases.
Not-
Not-So-
So-Friendly Fire
Rather than monsters, a more mundane threat
stalks Wordsmiths: vampire hunters. Many hunters
will readily assume Wordsmiths are ghouls or blood
dolls and kill them in the crossfire.
The worst offenders are as follows: the Ascending
Ones, alchemists with a long-standing hatred of vam-
pires; the Cainite Heresy, a group of hunters as mys-
terious and frightening as VII; the Maiden’s Blood
Sisterhood, a sorority that slaughters the undead in a
misguided attempt to protect their campuses; the
Malleus Maleficarum, who frequently capture vam-
pires for some unknown purpose; and the Night
Watch, street gangs that consider all vampires to be a
threat to their neighborhoods.
This is, of course, not limited to those organiza-
tions. Practically all hunter compacts and conspira-
cies that know about vampires take similar stances.
Wordsmiths
A decade of your life was wasted enthralled to a
vampire who treated you like utter garbage. You
were one of the countless ghouls abused and made to
beg for blood from an uncaring master. It took nearly
two years of contact with local Wordsmiths before
you finally broke free of the vampire’s influence and
rejoined mainstream human society. Like an alco-
holic, you’ll never be fully cured and the craving lies
buried within you, but you’ve risen above the urge
and gained too much self respect to ever return to
your old life. You since joined the same Wordsmith
cell that helped you and use your experiences to help
other ghouls break their self-destructive habit.
You keep tabs on all the vampires your cell has
contacted and make frequent social visits to see how
they’re doing. How else can a vampire regain their
humanity unless people treat them like human be-
ings? You’re always arranging events like movie
nights, catching a nighttime minor league baseball
game and other remarkably mundane meetings to
help reinforce the idea that they are no different than
you … they just lack pulses and burst into flame
when exposed to sunlight. That shouldn’t prevent
them from having a “guys’ night out” now and then.
You broke one of the Rules and began meeting
with a vampire by yourself. He is a rather monstrous
and disfigured creature who spends most of his time
45
 Wordsmiths (Compact)

STEREOTYPES
Barrett Commission: You could do so much good with your considerable influence and re-
sources. But you squander it on selfish, personal interests instead of funding rehabilitation pro-
grams and detox clinics for the blood-addicted. How are you solving anything by protecting the
elite when the lowest of the low suffer the most?
Maiden’s Blood Sisterhood: You’re smart girls; you should realize your tactics aren’t working.
How much progress have you really made? The more of them you kill, the more of you they kill.
And the cycle goes on and on and on.
Ascending Ones: Good Lord, you’re selling heroin to fund your Vigils. That’s the only reason we
know you exist: a ghoul we rehabilitated was also addicted to drugs one of your hunters sold him.
You alchemists are no different or better than the vampires you so venomously hate.
Cainite Heresy: What gives you the right? Who do you think you are?

in the city’s sewers to avoid detection by the local
Night Watch and Union cells. The only way to main-
tain contact was by your lonesome as he has largely
forgotten how to socially interact with humans. Too
many people would just push him further away.
Then things got complicated. One night, the vampire
frenzied when he thought you were reaching for a
weapon (you were actually going for your cell phone
to check the time) and attacked. He regained control
only after biting your arm and having begun to feed.
That wasn’t even the worst or weirdest part; you ac-
tually enjoyed the feeling. You’ve since gotten him to
stop attacking humans and instead feed on sewer rats
… and you.
You were with the Wordsmiths for only a matter
of weeks before witnessing a vampire slaughter one
of your friends. After seeing that, how can you be
anything but uncertain and hesitant? Still, there’s that
nagging spark of faith that refuses to die. You’re al-
ways looking for a sign of hope but refuse to admit it.
You sometimes hate yourself for not giving up en-
tirely. Any sane person knows the world is irrevoca-
bly screwed up, so what’s your problem?
Factions
Each Wordsmith has a specialty and serves the
organization to the best of his or her ability.
The Big Brothers and Big Sisters are the moral
support structure, guides and counselors vampires
rely on to help control their bestial or inhuman urges.
These Wordsmiths are also a combination of best
friend and therapist to repentant or scared ghouls
and blood dolls.
Messengers deliver the Wordsmiths’ cryptic hints
and subtle nudges towards humanity. Like vampires
disappearing into shadows and the night, Messen-
gers fade away into daylight and leave photos, ques-
tions, confusion and remorse in their wake.
Scouts locate redeemable or repentant vampires,
ghouls, blood dolls and the like. They rarely interact
with their subjects but maintain long distance and
long term observation. Many lack the social skills of
other Wordsmiths but are crucial in identifying who
the Wordsmiths can help.
The Outreach is not an official faction and exists
within the others. Theses Wordsmiths want to con-
tact and enlighten other hunter organizations. They
typically use the same tactics of contacting vampires
– observing, leaving notes, dropping hints, asking
questions – to reach out to hunters.
Status
Wordsmiths gain Status by helping improve hu-
man-vampire relations, curing ghouls and blood
dolls and gaining new insights into the culture of
blood addiction. Status can be lost by pushing
(potentially) friendly vampires away or by sharing
too much with hostile vampires or hunters.
• You are a Wordsmith, an unsung hero bringing
hope to the damned. Secrecy is crucial and you
gain a free dot of Safehouse put towards your cell’s
clinic or meeting place so it may help redeemable
vampires and/or their human servants without
discovery or outside interference.
••• Your continuing contact with vampires, both
intentional and unintentional, has made you in-
creasingly used to their supernatural tricks. You
gain two free dots of Indomitable (HtV: Night
Stalkers, 134) to a maximum of five dots.
••••• You have made allies among the undead
and some willingly serve as exemplars and role
models for other vampires who have yet to swear
off human blood. You gain a repentant vampire
with Potency 1 (HtV: Night Stalkers, 157) and five
dots of Dread Powers as a free Retainer.
This vampire is not your servant. (S)he is willing to
risk life and limb for you, the cell and the Word-
smith cause but is under no obligation to actually
take orders from you or any other Wordsmith.

46
 Wordsmiths (Compact)
Storytelling
Protagonists
A story about Wordsmiths should focus on
questioning, redemption, hope and under-
standing. They will probably not encounter
scores of friendly vampires and ghouls seeking
therapy; always remember that this is the
World of Darkness. The Wordsmiths’ challenge
is finding vampires and other beings that can
be saved from themselves, who have a chance
at regaining their lost or forgotten souls. A
vampire who is already sociable and coopera-
tive is not interesting; a blood-drinking mon-
ster with a hint of humanity in its eyes is.
Make the players (and hunters) work for it.
Wordsmiths are the likeliest of all hunters
to form “cancer cells,” cells that include both
humans and inhumans. Most Wordsmith cells
that survive long enough acquire at least one
vampire ally, usually with no more than Po-
tency 2. Cells are unlikely to have ghoul or
blood members as Wordsmiths want them to,
quite frankly, stop being ghouls or blood dolls.
\
Missing: An alarmingly large number of
vampires have disappeared over the past few
months. There is no evidence of murder; they
just vanished.
The Cheiron Group or Null Mysteriis are
the likeliest culprits, but neither takes that
many supernatural creatures for research in
such a short period of time. It may be the Cain-
ites, who the Wordsmiths rarely encounter and
know virtually nothing about. The Maiden’s
Blood Sisterhood, Night Watch and the Ascend-
ing Ones are also potential suspects.
The vampires and ghouls your cell works
with have another theory: VII, a cult of vam-
pires dedicated to killing other vampires. VII
are the vampire equivalent of bogeymen and no
one quite understands their motivations.
Regardless of who or what is behind the
abductions, it directly affects your cell when a
vampire you rehabilitated goes missing.
Tears of Blood: Wordsmiths know enough
about the Ascending Ones to distrust the alche-
mists. However, a former Ascending One needs
your help. He used a potion that temporarily
gives humans the powers of a vampire … but
the powers never went away. Neither did the
weaknesses and bloodlust. He desperately
wants to control his inner beast and no longer
crave human blood. The Wordsmiths are his
best and only hope.
Complicating the situation is the hunter-
turned-vampire’s old cell. These Ascending
Ones do not like the idea of a vampire running
loose with intimate knowledge of their potions.
The Ascending Ones’ secrets must stay secret,
even if that means setting an old friend on fire.
The Ultimate Sacrifice: Through luck, re-
search and/or outright combat, your cell has
located and secured the holy grail of the Word-
smiths: a way of making vampires human. A
stationary fissure of light, a crack in reality
itself, is under your cell’s control and is fortu-
nately out of public view.
There’s one major catch: a human life must
be voluntarily sacrificed for the transformation
to occur. The human and vampire enter the
fissure and only the “cured” vampire returns.
Also, as if that didn’t raise enough ethical
questions, the fissure is closing. Reality is cor-
recting itself and the fissure will be sealed for-
ever within a matter of weeks, maybe days. If
it’s going to be put to use, it has to be soon.
Antagonists
The largely nonviolent Wordsmiths may not
make good villains but can become obstacles or
antagonists for other hunters. Less liberal
hunters might need to get through Wordsmiths
to take out a monster or complete a mission.
Wordsmiths are still human and suffer
from the same frailties, vulnerabilities and
temptations. It’s not unheard of for a Word-
smith to voluntarily become a ghoul or even a
vampire. Wordsmiths may be the victims of su-
pernatural creatures other than vampires.
They’re innocent but innocence is also a weak-
ness that demons and spirits often exploit.
Immortal Sinner: Your cell has located a
vampire you’ve pursued for some time. The
monster escaped before but it won’t get an-
other chance. Unfortunately, he has friends …
naïve human friends that you can’t just kill.
Like a death row inmate claiming he found Je-
sus, the vampire swears that he has seen the
light and will never kill again. His human com-
panions have taught him to only drink animal
blood from now on. How could anyone believe
this nonsense? Certainly you and your cell
won’t fall for his ruse. Will you just try to kill
the vampire or, better yet, prove he hasn’t
changed so his new human friends will be on
your side? And what happens if the vampire
actually is sincere? Does that even matter?
47
 Particularly old compacts change, shift, often
grow. They fade deeper into the fog, becoming
true Conspiracies —
from beyond the prying eyes of both human
and monster they work at a ceaseless and
often deranged Vigil that has played
Conspiracies

out over centuries, if not millennia….

Hunters are not supernatural creatures. They do

not command the unholy powers of the night
(although the case could be made for the
Lucifuge), nor do they possess inborn resistance to
injury or death.
Around the world, the vast majority of hunters
Chapter Two:

face the supernatural armed with little more

than their wits, willpower and whatever
supplies they can gather from the local
sporting goods store.

Some hunters, though, by dint of powerful

backers or stores of ancient relics or a
supposed fallen angel in the family tree,
have access to tools beyond those that
ordinary men and women can acquire.
Some would argue that these tools make
them every bit as unnatural as the
things they profess to hate….

Others counter that to destroy the monsters that

hide in the shadows with any chance of success, a
hunter needs every edge he can get.

Hunter: The Vigil

Core Rulebook, 101, 150
Chapter Three:
Hunter Organizations
 Army of Light (Conspiracy)
Seeming Contradictions
The Army of Light is not an army. It has no com-
mand structure, no ranks and only a small core lead-
ership that is reluctant to give orders. It is a young
but growing organization of monster hunters.
That is a gross oversimplification. The Army
does not hunt monsters; it categorizes them in order
to identify threats. Its members, the Soldiers of Light,
are just as likely to keep a protective eye on an inno-
cent supernatural creature as they are to gun down a
dangerous monster.
The Soldiers claim they receive divine protection
and bestowals. Yet the Army is not a religious organi-
zation, even if the vast majority of Soldiers belong to
the Bahá’í Faith. Their supernatural powers are from
God but Soldiers do not need to believe He exists.
The Soldiers are religiously forbidden to lie. The
Army demands secrecy and the Soldiers cannot
safely say the name of their organization aloud. They
can never reveal who they truly are but cannot lie
about themselves, either.
52
The Army of Light not only walks a fine line but
many fine lines. It is a global organization still in its
infancy with the lofty goal of one day becoming the
publically recognized defenders of humanity. They
will become the first and last line of defense against
the supernatural world. Just don’t ask for the details;
they’re not willing to share, not yet.
Power Source
The founders of the Army of Light became aware
of their destiny in 1957. Five women, all Bahá’ís of
varying ages and ethnic groups from across the
world, experienced the same dream and saw each
other’s faces. The details of the dream were never
divulged but most Soldiers of Light assume the
women were given direct orders from God. The
women soon gave up their old lives, moved to an
undisclosed location and kept moving until the day
they died. They never stayed in one spot for even a
month. Since then, every nineteen days before a
member dies, another woman knows she is replacing
 Army of Light (Conspiracy)
her and is aware of her role in God’s plan.
These five women and their successors are the
House of Five, the de facto leaders of the Army of
Light. They are not necessarily commanders although
they sporadically give updates and universal orders
to the Soldiers. Their main purpose is to produce the
source of the Soldier’s powers.
At the center of it all are metal objects called Con-
duits. The specific appearance of the Conduits vary
but most are arm’s length or smaller and all are en-
graved with a five-pointed star that has two elon-
gated bottom points. After being shaped and empow-
ered by the House of Five through a secret process,
the Conduits are released into the world. Tossed in
the ocean, mailed to a random address, placed in a
dumpster … no matter what happens, the Conduit
will find its way. It always finds its way.
Winning the Lottery
You Never Entered
While nine out of ten Soldiers are Bahá’ís, theo-
retically anyone could be drafted into the Army of
Light. Until the person officially becomes a Soldier,
they are jokingly referred to as a “draftee.”
A Conduit somehow enters the draftee’s life,
maybe appearing in the mail, on an office desk or in
an otherwise empty dishwasher. The draftee cannot
ignore the Conduit or try to get rid of it. It will re-
turn. It always returns. Moving to another country
will not prevent the Conduit from tracking its draftee
down – and, yes, that has happened before. Each
time the Conduit reenters the draftee’s life, the
method becomes increasingly more shocking and
obvious. One draftee tried getting rid of his Conduit
a record fifteen times before it crashed through the
roof of his apartment on the fifth story of a twelve story
building and gave him a concussion.
When the draftee gives in, hopefully early on, the
Conduit will wait until he or she is alone to be
opened. The draftee is engulfed in white light and
may faint. Upon awaking, new Soldiers just know
they are different even before using any of their un-
tested powers. From this point on, any supernatural
abilities they are granted are used instinctively. Even
the specific prayers and actions needed to trigger an
inexplicable power are somehow intuitive.
The Conduit still serves a purpose after the
draftee is “promoted.” The Conduits know the loca-
tion of all other Conduits and can open multi-way
communication channels to them. This provides the
Listen, all you need to know
is that we’re on the same side.
THE BAHAwhatnow?
The Bahá’í Faith is a real, monotheistic
religion founded by the prophet Bahá’u’lláh
in 19th-century Persia. Bahá’ís follow the
same God as Jews, Christians and Muslims
and advocate democracy and universal gen-
der and racial equality.
The New Covenant
Many Soldiers believe that the Army of
Light is the most recent in a series of di-
vinely-appointed secret societies that protect
humanity. According to this theory, each
major religion also produced its own breed
of monster hunters and the Army of Light
represents the Bahá’í Faith. The Malleus
Maleficarum’s Benedictions are often cited
as proof of a “Christian” Endowment.
This is not a universal belief, however.
Many Soldiers believe the Army of Light is
unique and the first truly divinely-guided
hunter organization. All others were hunter
organizations with religious overtones,
which is completely different than being on
an actual mission from God.
The House of Five has neither confirmed
nor denied either theory. Given the House’s
past record, it is unlikely to comment on
this topic in the foreseeable future.
Soldiers of Light with a secure communications net-
work informally called “the Conduitline.” Only Sol-
diers may access it; conversations and any related
imagery are entirely mental so no one can ease-drop.
It is hypothetically possible for a mindreader to get a
basic idea of what is being “said,” however.
The earliest Soldiers of Light were drafted in
April 1963, the centennial of the Bahá’í Faith’s foun-
der Bahá’u’lláh declaring Himself to be a Manifesta-
tion (Prophet) of God. The few Soldiers who are not
Bahá’ís usually convert a short time after learning
this. This is clearly God’s work.
The Light
The Army of Light is named such because of the
nature of its powers. The Light is the nexus between
all worlds and realms; all roads lead to the Light. It is
the white light reported during near-death experi-
53
 Army of Light (Conspiracy)
ences, the beckoning and welcoming embrace of the
other side. Anything with a soul (or something com-
parable) journeys through the Light after dying on its
way to … wherever it is going.
The Soldiers can take things from the material
world into the Light and bring properties of the Light
into the material world. This is the source of their
signature power, the ability to seemingly teleport.
They step into the Light and use it as a shortcut be-
tween their present location and where they wish to
be. This is not without its risks, for the Light is very
inviting and often hard to leave behind. The Light
literally tempts the Soldiers with death every time
they pass through.
Friends & Allies
The Army of Light is a geographically diverse
and dispersed group that lacks the traditional cells of
other hunter organizations. As the Soldiers are in
constant contact with each other through the Con-
duits and many Soldiers can Shift (teleport), it is rela-
tively easy to assemble a group to deal with large
threats. Many regions have alliances of several Sol-
diers in the general area who operate independently
until a member reports a problem that is too big to
deal with by him- or herself. For example, the “New
Jersey Battalion of Light” (NJBL) is an alliance of
every Soldier in the state – and its membership is still
in the single digits.
Due to the organization’s size and explicit orders
to maintain secrecy, only a handful of people know
what the Army of Light is. Other hunters aware of
the Army's existence, but not its name, refer to it by
nicknames such as "Bright Shiners" (the Union),
"Lanterns" (Malleus Maleficarum), or "Porters" (Task
Force: VALKYRIE). These hunters know that some-
thing exists, just not who belongs to it, how large it is
or what its goals are. When working with other hunt-
ers, Soldiers often lay down a simple ground rule:
"I'll help you, just don't ask any personal questions."
The Enemy
The Army of Light, despite its militaristic name,
is one of the more lenient hunter organizations. They
are likely to spare a supernatural creature’s life sim-
ply because it poses no threat. This is partially be-
cause the Soldiers generally have a positive outlook
on the world in both its mundane and supernatural
forms. Human beings are inherently good (although
prone to rash decisions and stupidity); monsters are
often part human or were human so they are given
the benefit of a doubt.
Magic-users are handled on a case-by-case basis.
54
Some witches possess no offensive spells, so are they
really dangerous? A middle-aged housewife using
magic to keep her house protected and disease-free is
hardly endangering humanity. Now, a necromancer
or a probability-altering and power-grabbing card
shark is an entirely different matter.
Likewise, not all shapeshifters are viewed as dan-
gerous beasts. While not entirely human, shape-
shifters are not entirely inhuman. Individual Soldiers
often compile lists of known shapeshifters and keep
an eye on them, waiting for a reason to attack. If no
reason is given, the creature is left alone.
Vampires and other undead creatures are an ex-
ception to the rule and are almost always dealt with
harshly. Vampires prey on humans and it is rather
hard to overlook that. It also doesn’t help that so
many vampires are blatantly unrepentant and show
no signs of remorse.
Like the mainstream Bahá’í community, the
Army of Light does not believe in the classic Judeo-
Christian-Islamic afterlife. As they do not believe in
fallen angels damned to a literal Hell, they’re not en-
tirely sure what to make of demons. The common
theory is that demons are just another form of spirit
exploiting millennia-old myths to appear more dan-
gerous. It’s possible that demons started these myths
and have lied to humans since antiquity.
Hunters
As a high school librarian with no fighting ex-
perience, you have absolutely no idea why the Con-
duit chose you. You may be a devout Bahá’í but that
doesn’t qualify you for a crusade against monsters.
What’s even more confusing is that your neighbor-
hood is remarkably free of monstrous activity. In the
months since the Conduit appeared in your school
mailbox, you’ve dedicated yourself to learning every-
thing about the dark, lurking evil that permeates
every part of the world — every part except your lit-
tle corner. Other more experienced Soldiers are al-
ready turning to you and your collection of occult
information even though you’ve never seen a mon-
ster face-to-face.
It was hard enough being the only Bahá’í in your
Mormon town, now you’re the only Soldier of Light
in all of Utah. While your neighbors may not say it to
your face, they never fully trusted you for being so
“different.” Now it will be even more impossible to
avoid unwarranted mistrust and unwanted attention.
Remember how much fun it was trying to explain
those scarred-over werewolf claw marks on your leg
to the overly-inquisitive elderly couple next door?
You’ve never been a violent person, at least not
until recently. While largely limited to verbal out-
 Army of Light (Conspiracy)

STEREOTYPES
The Bear Lodge: Just because it can shapeshift doesn’t mean it deserves to die. Hunting for sport
always disgusted me; hunting innocent sapient beings for sport is even more nauseating. How do
these hunters even know the shapeshifters change forms voluntarily?
The Dirge: It’s always frustrating working with hunters who believe the end is nigh. But the Dirge,
well, it’s hard not to laugh at them. I mean, come on, zombies? They love quoting that “when hell is
full” line and I can’t help but giggle.
Ascending Ones: If you once served God, what happened? When did making and selling drugs take
precedence over saving lives? You’re no more Muslim than the suicidal madmen in Al-Qaeda.
Malleus Maleficarum: We know the Vatican is aware of the supernatural and actively fights it.
How far this knowledge goes, like if the Pope is informed, is anyone’s guess. Regardless of who’s in
charge, this reinforces my belief that God has helped humans combat the darkness throughout his-
tory. He never abandoned His Creation.

bursts — first at the office and now increasingly at
home — you fear it’s only a matter of time before
something worse happens. You founded local chap-
ters of Amnesty International in your high school and
college, you’re in a Local Spiritual Assembly — this
isn’t you. You know you need a break from hunting
monsters but how can you sleep at night knowing
those things walk the streets? Maybe it’s better to lose
sleep from self-hatred than from knowing innocent
blood is on your lazy hands.
The dull metal canister with a pentagram-like
design came in a UPS box on your front doorstep
with no return address. You threw it out and thought
nothing of it. A week later, you woke up to find it
sitting on your Sunday newspaper. You then person-
ally placed it in the city dump and tried not to think
about it. Another week went by and it smashed
through your living room window during Monday
Night Football, almost exactly at the two minute
warning in the fourth quarter. Filled with anger and
fear, some of it redirected from the lopsided football
score, you tried breaking the canister with a hammer
and accidentally opened it in the process. Now
you’re hearing voices from people on other conti-
nents claiming that God has chosen you to fight mon-
sters. What the hell?
Factions
The Soldiers of Light rarely receive orders and
are generally left to devise strategies and assign pri-
orities on their own. Because of this, the Soldiers
greatly differ in their opinions on how to deal with
the supernatural.
Judges believe their main goal is to find what
supernatural creatures should be spared, not de-
stroyed. They realize the normal world is not black-
and-white and, by extension, neither is the super-
natural world. After all, how can they pretend the
Army of Light is “normal” considering the powers
God has granted them?
Protectors are less concerned with finding the
good as with hunting down the bad. While not all
supernatural creatures are evil, the vast majority are
undeniably monsters. An innocent and ignorant hu-
manity must be protected. The Army lacks the man-
power and resources to ask too many questions. The
Army must act and act quickly.
Sources research and collect field data about the
supernatural. Many of them lack viable combat-
related skills and are much better suited to mental
tasks and reconnaissance. Most Sources are experts in
a particular supernatural phenomena, such as vam-
pires or witchcraft, but a few lack a specialty and in-
stead know a little about a lot.
Whisperers devoutly guard the secrecy of the
Army of Light. The time is not right – no one must
know the Army exists until it truly is an Army. Whis-
perers cover other Soldiers’ tracks and destroy evi-
dence of the Army’s involvement and existence.
Status
Assisting other hunters to locate and eliminate a
dangerous threat, even if you never actually face it
yourself, can earn you Status as you become known
as a reliable source of information.
• Congratulations, you've been drafted into the Army
of Light. Like it or not, you now have a Conduit and
may purchase dots in the Lumina Endowment.
••• .You have earned a positive reputation and your
name is frequently mentioned over the Conduitline.
You gain two free dots of Allies (Army of Light), to a
maximum of five dots. Other Soldiers are considera-
bly likelier to respond to any pleas for assistance.
••••• The Light proverbially radiates from you at all
times. You gain the Inspiring Merit for free, even if
you do not normally qualify for it. If you already have
this Merit, you may use it up to twice per chapter.

55
 Army of Light (Conspiracy)
Endowment:
Lumina
The art of the Lumina (singular Lumen) involves
breaching the barrier between the material world and
the Light, the gateway to the afterlife. Individual Lu-
men have no associated dot cost; a Soldier gains a
new Lumen with each dot of the Lumina Merit. She
may safely know a total of five Lumen.
The key word is safely. A Soldier may gain addi-
tional Lumina for 5 Experience Points apiece and by
permanently losing a Health level. Getting closer to
the Light means she grows closer to death.
For example, a Soldier of Light has Stamina 2, is
Size 5 and has Lumina 5 but knows six different
Lumina. She should have seven Health levels but,
because she has an extra Lumen, only has six.
Activation methods vary but the following modi-
fiers apply to all Lumen.
Modifier Location or Situation
+3 Graveyards, battlefields and
old hospitals
+2 Site of a mortal’s death
(within an hour)
+1 Site of a mortal’s death
(within a day)
+1 Soldier’s Morality is 8+
-1 Soldier’s Morality is 4 or 5
-3 Soldier’s Morality is 2 or 3
-5 Soldier’s Morality is 0 or 1
Crepuscular Reach
Besides journeying through the Light, the Sol-
diers can also interact with creatures in Twilight. By
entering a Twilight-like state, a Soldier can physically
interact with ghosts and spirits. Such interaction is
usually combat related.
The Soldier may not use this Lumen in conjunc-
tion with Release the Sun (mentioned later).
Cost: 1Willpower.
Action: Reflexive.
Duration: (Successes) turns.
Range: Self.
Dice Pool: Resolve + Lumina.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The hunter enters a slightly
different state of being, although not in any way that
benefits her. For the rest of the scene, she suffers a
(Lumina) penalty to her Strength and Presence.
Failure: The Lumen does not activate.
Success: The Soldier perceives beings in Twilight
56
as cold, dark amorphous blobs. More importantly,
she is able to physically engage creatures in Twilight.
She may brawl or grapple otherwise intangible be-
ings. Instead of (Strength + Brawl), the dice pool is
(Brawl + Lumina). Ignore Brawl-based damage bo-
nuses from weapons such as brass knuckles. Any
strikes that connect produce a visible flash of white
light. Grappling a ghost or spirit actually helps illu-
minate the immediate area.
This Lumen may be used outside of combat.
Creative applications such as a high-five, handshake,
fist-jab, noogie, wedgie or pat on the back with a Twi-
light creature are possible, even if it may be a waste
of Willpower.
The Soldier is still visible while in this state. She
does appear different, usually paler, but a few sol-
diers actually become translucent.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above, but
Brawl attacks against beings in Twilight receive a +1
bonus. Her Defense is also +1 against beings not in
Twilight for the duration.
Crepuscular Shift
Some Soldiers take the above Lumen and go one
step further. They displace themselves further from
the material world until it is like they’re not even
there. While not true invisibility, it’s close.
Cost: 1Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Scene.
Dice Pool: Stamina + Lumina.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The reverse happens and the
Soldier becomes more noticeable. While no one can
definitively explain what changes, she loses (Lumina)
dice from Stealth dice pools for the rest of the scene.
Failure: Nothing changes about the Soldier and
she is still clearly visible.
Success: Subtract (successes) from incoming
ranged attacks or sight-based attempts to detect the
Soldier. Anyone (mortal or monster) not actively try-
ing to find the hunter automatically fails to see her.
This also conceals her clothing and any objects she
holds that are up to Size (Lumina). This does not af-
fect close combat or other senses such as hearing.
Crepuscular Shift affects surveillance equipment like
security cameras though she can still trip motion sen-
sors and similar devices.
Other Soldiers of Light are unaffected as their
own link to the Light negates the effects of this Lu-
men. They see a Soldier using this Lumen as paler
and instinctively know this Lumen is in effect.
Exceptional Success: The Soldier is practically
 Army of Light (Conspiracy)
undetectable – what more does she want?
Distortion
Contorting and rending the barrier between
realms can have destructive implications. Soldiers
can twist this barrier, pulling it back like a rubber
band, before letting it snap free to damage objects in
the material world. This is often accompanied by a
pitching motion, as if the near-invisible attack was a
baseball, or by pulling an imaginary bowstring.
Cost: None or 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Lasting.
Range: (Lumina x 10) yards.
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Lumina - target's Armor.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The hunter takes the full force
of the attack. She suffers (Lumina) points of bashing
damage or (Lumina/2, rounded up) points of lethal
damage, depending on what type of damage the at-
tack was meant to inflict.
Failure: The distortion misses its mark but the
hunter may try again later.
Success: A small, controlled distortion akin to the
"ripple" that accompanies the Major Luminous Shift
(below) is launched from her hand. This inflicts
(successes) points of bashing damage to a single tar-
get. The target's Defense does not apply.
She may spend 1 Willpower to make the damage
lethal. The attack now produces a visible "ball of en-
ergy," a concentrated piece of the Light itself, and the
target's Defense applies. This damage is aggravated
against vampires and beings vulnerable to sunlight.
Exceptional Success: The extra damage inflicted
is its own reward.
Divine Analgesic
The Light is a comfortably numbing place where
eternal rest beckons anyone who passes through. Sol-
diers of Light can experience that eerie calm anytime
they want. This allows them to block out pain, sick-
ness, poison and fatigue. It is also possible for Sol-
diers to grant other people access to that tranquility.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Scene.
Range: Self or Touch.
Dice Pool: None.
She is able to ignore all penalties imposed by in-
juries, fatigue, sickness, poison, starvation or dehy-
dration up to her (Lumina) rating for the scene.
Where is the Light?
Readers familiar with Geist: the Sin-
Sin-Eaters
are probably wondering how, or if, the Light
is connected to the Underworld.
It is possible that the Light connects to the
“proper” or “final” afterlife. It is difficult to
find ghosts in the Underworld who have
been there for over a century, implying the
souls of the dead eventually move onto to
something or somewhere else. Even the Sin-
Eaters do not know what happens to ghosts
over time but they have theories.
It is also possible that the Underworld is
not even a real afterlife. One recent theory
gaining popularity in the Army of Light is
that the Underworld Sin-Eaters enter is ac-
tually a “dumping ground” of sorts. As souls
enter the World to Come, only the good and
honorable parts pass on while the rest are
shed into the bleak Underworld. It is the
garbage heap of sins and shortcomings.
Then again, the Light might not have any-
thing to do with the Afterlife. Mage: The
Awakening describes the Aether, a realm of
angels and light that may be the true source
of the Army’s powers. Are the Soldiers of
Light some alternate form of Mages?
It is unlikely that any (living) human will
ever know the truth.
Dying for Knowledge
If using the Endowment Equation to de-
sign a new Lumina, there is one “easy” way
for a Soldier of Light to receive a discount:
she just needs to die. Upon returning to life,
the revived Soldier immediately knows a new
Lumen. She saw just enough of the other
side to acquire Heavenly knowledge.
There are various ways for hunters to die
yet come back to life. Certain Endowments,
like those of the Malleus Maleficarum, grant
the power to bring the dead back to life. This
gives the soldier a full -5 cost reduction to
the Endowment Equation.
More mundane forms of resurrection could
be through medical and scientific means.
Plenty of people technically die in a hospital
or ambulance only to be revived thanks to
attentive and fast-responding doctors. This
grants a -3 reduction.
Then there are good old-fashioned near-
death experiences. Almost dying grants a
mere -1 reduction.
57
 Army of Light (Conspiracy)
However, all perception rolls and ranged attacks
(including but not limited to firearms) suffer a –2
penalty as everything appears slightly distant or too
brightly illuminated. Her Defense also suffers a –1
penalty (to a minimum of Defense 0).
She may touch another person and allow them to
experience the effects described above. This costs 1
Willpower per person affected. A Soldier may only
allow up to (Lumina) people, counting herself, to ex-
perience the Divine Analgesic at a time.
Luminous Push
Besides personally entering the Light, a Soldier
may forcibly shove someone through it. Merely
touching an object or person allows a Soldier to send
it on a short, one-way trip through the Light.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Lasting.
Range: Touch. The target must be Size (Lumina +
2) or smaller.
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Lumina - target's Defense.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The attack backfires and the
hunter is moved to the intended location instead.
Hopefully she wasn’t trying to teleport someone out
the top story of a skyscraper….
Failure: The target feels a slight tug but that is all.
Success: The target is instantly moved up to
(Successes x 10) yards in any direction. This may in-
clude trips that would otherwise involve passing
through solid objects but the target cannot be placed
inside a solid object. It is possible to place the target
underwater, for example, but not in a concrete wall.
The next action (including Dodges) taken by the
disorientated target suffers a -1 penalty.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above. The tar-
get can be moved at least 50 yards in any direction.
Major Luminous Shift
The signature power of the Army of Light is the
ability to fully enter the Light and cover vast dis-
tances. The Soldier may bring passengers with her,
even if they are not Soldiers themselves and have no
link to the Light.
Cost: 1 Willpower plus 1 Willpower for every
(Resolve + Composure) turns spent in the Light. The
disturbing peacefulness of the Light requires a force
of will to leave. Any passengers the Soldier brings
must also pay 1 Willpower every (their Resolve +
Composure) turns.
Action: Instant.
58
Duration: Lasting.
Range: Self or Touch.
Dice Pool: Resolve + Lumina – (passengers).
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Instead of entering the Light,
the Light enters her. The hunter suffers five points of
bashing damage.
Failure: The hunter fails to enter the Light but
may try again later.
Success: The hunter submerges herself in the
Light and is able to travel (Speed) miles/turn. If she
brings any passengers, then they all travel at the
same rate. A strange “ripple” briefly appears wher-
ever the Soldier disappears from or appears at, like a
pebble hitting water.
She may bring up to (Lumina x 2) passengers
with her as long as they are all in physical contact.
This commonly involves holding hands in a circle.
Any action including Dodges taken the turn after
leaving the Light suffer a (5 - Wits) penalty.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above except
the rate of travel is doubled (Speed x 2 miles/turn).
Minor Luminous Shift
One of the most common Lumen, this allows Sol-
diers to briefly enter the Light for quick trips. This is
often enough to escape danger, move across a large
area faster or provide access to places otherwise de-
nied to her. This Lumen turns locked doors and bar-
ricades into jokes.
Cost: None or 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Lasting.
Range: Self.
Dice Pool: Wits + Lumina.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The hunter Shifts, just not in
the way she wanted. She is moved (Lumina x 10)
yards in any direction of the Storyteller’s choosing.
Failure: She stays put and is likely confused
and/or annoyed.
Success: She enters the Light, able to instantly
travel up to (Successes x 10) yards. This includes trips
that would otherwise involve passing through solid
objects such as walls or locked doors.
Any action taken the following turn suffers a -1
penalty as the brief trip still involves exposure to the
bright Light
She may spend 1 Willpower to make the Shift a
reflexive action. This is most often done to escape
sudden and otherwise unavoidable threats.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above, except it
 Army of Light (Conspiracy)
is now a reflexive action. If Willpower was originally Brawl attacks using this hand now inflict lethal
spent to make this reflexive, the hunter automatically damage. This holy fire affects vampires as usual and
regains the Willpower point spent. inflicts aggravated damage. If the Soldier rolls an ex-
ceptional success for an attack using that hand, her
Overwhelm victim’s clothes or hair catch fire. This will inflict one
point of lethal damage per turn until extinguished.
As mentioned later (“Sensory Projection,” below),
It should be noted that, at the time she creates the
Soldiers can look into the Light and see events many
sun orb, any items she holds in that hand suffer
miles away in the material world. However, if some-
(Lumina) points of lethal damage. The object will
one without a link to the Light is allowed to see the
continue taking one point of lethal damage per turn
world this way, his experience will be much differ-
until dropped or destroyed.
ent. A useful scouting and spying aid for the Soldiers
She may spend a point of Willpower when the
is pure torture to anyone else.
sun orb appears to make this light become sunlight.
Cost: 1 Willpower. This is extremely dangerous to vampires. Within the
Action: Instant. immediate area, this inflicts 3 points of aggravated
Duration: (10 – target’s Resolve) turns. damage per turn. Vampires within the outermost
Range: Touch. area suffer 1 point of aggravated damage per turn.
Dice Pool: Requires only a successful Dexterity + Vampires must check for frenzy when exposed to
Athletics roll to touch the target. The Soldier must either light. It is comparable to seeing a small fire
touch the target; clothing or armor does not count. (normal) or the sun itself (if the Soldier spent a point
The target's senses are displaced, as if suffering of Willpower).
from an uncontrollable Sensory Projection (below).
The target hallucinates as if in the middle of a drug Sensory Projection
trip. He suffers a (hunter’s Lumina) dice pool penalty By concentrating and mentally reciting a per-
on all rolls for the duration. His Defense and Speed sonal prayer, a Soldier may peer through the Light as
are also halved during this time. The victim may re- if looking through a telescope. She can witness events
flexively spend 1 Willpower point per turn to tempo- unfold in real-time from miles away.
rarily negate the effects.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Extended. She is able to see up to (total
Release the Sun successes) miles away within (Lumina x 10) miles.
The Soldier forms a literal ball of Light in her Duration: Lasting.
hands. Colloquially called a “sun orb,” this may be Range: Self.
used for simple illumination or to devastate vampires Dice Pool: Composure + Lumina.
and other creatures vulnerable to sunlight.
Roll Results
Cost: None or 1 Willpower. Dramatic Failure: Any accumulated successes
Action: Reflexive. are lost and she needs to start over again.
Duration: Scene. Failure: No progress is made.
Range: Self. Success: Progress is made towards projecting her
Dice Pool: None. senses to the desired location.
A blue-white sun orb appears floating near the Exceptional Success: Significant progress is
Soldier’s palm and illuminates the immediate area. made towards projecting her senses. If she acquires
The size of the affected area increases with the Sol- enough successes on her first roll and it is an excep-
dier’s Lumina rating: tional success, she regains the Willpower spent to
activate this Lumen.
Dots Immediate Area Outermost Area The Soldier may use other senses as well, but
(ignore sight penalties) (halves sight penalties)
each projected sense is lost to her current, physical
1 2 yard radius 4 yard radius location. For example, if she wishes to see and hear a
2 4 yard radius 8 yard radius distant spot, she cannot see or hear anything going
3 8 yard radius 16 yard radius on around her body. As she can still feel, she will be
aware of any incoming physical attacks. Returning
4 16 yard radius 32 yard radius
her senses to her body is a reflexive action.
5 32 yard radius 64 yard radius

59
 Army of Light (Conspiracy)

she discovered vampires capable of walking in

Storytelling sunlight. Turns out these were the vampires’
slaves, humans addicted to vampire blood who
Protagonists gain some of the vampire’s powers. These
The Army of Light is primarily concerned slaves did the vampires’ bidding during the day
with protecting the innocent and ignorant from while their masters slept. Then, without warn-
supernatural threats. The Soldiers fight a se- ing, all communication with the Soldier
cret war against more numerous and powerful stopped. The alliance took a quick vote and eve-
inhuman enemies, all in the hope of one day ryone capable of it went to her last known loca-
being allowed to make this war public and tion. You must pick up where she left off and,
openly defend humanity. God willing, bring her back home alive.
As already mentioned, the Soldiers do not
operate in traditional cells. A chronicle involv-
ing multiple Soldiers of Light may involved
Antagonists
If a Soldier is thoroughly convinced that a
characters in an alliance spanning a state or
supernatural creature is harmless, she may
even country.
risk bodily harm to protect it with a determina-
Having a single Soldier of Light working
tion most hunters reserve for protecting hu-
with hunters belonging to different organiza-
man beings. Storytellers must provide a reason
tions can be problematic. A short term partner-
for a NPC Soldier of Light to defend what the
ship to deal with a common enemy is easier to
players and their characters believe is an evil
explain than a long term friendship. The Sol-
beast. The Soldiers are stubborn, not stupid,
diers cannot discuss the Army and this makes
although they are occasionally wrong.
many other hunters distrustful. Some hunters
The Whisperer faction can become a prob-
are just glad to have a new ally and don’t par-
lem for outsiders. Whisperers clean up traces of
ticularly care who her bosses are.
the Army’s existence, which may involve taking
The Hell House: Turns out the urban leg-
back stolen property or evidence. Even a secure
ends about the bloody murders in the 1950s
safehouse can be compromised as walls mean
are true — the spooky old house where the first
nothing to a teleporter. A Conduit taken by the
body was found really is haunted. Well, not ex-
Aegis Kai Doru and locked away in a ware-
actly haunted, more like possessed. The area
house? No problem. A Soldier being drugged
around the house reeks of demonic activity.
and interrogated by Division Six hunters who
Local property values declined as the murder
think she’s a reality deviant? Their safehouse’s
rate skyrocketed in the years since those first
locks and cameras are useless.
sudden and unprovoked murders. The police
Weregoat’s Keeper: Your cell has monitored
gave up on salvaging the neighborhood years
a satanic shapeshifting beast for weeks before
ago, but maybe you can bring it salvation. How-
deciding to make its move. The thing is a dis-
ever, there is no way you’re taking on a de-
gusting, shaggy-haired, hermaphroditic were-
monic entity with that much power by yourself.
goat with a surprisingly attractive human
Better call in the local alliance.
guise. Beneath its living room rug is a penta-
Protect the Herd: You’ve known about the
gram painted in blood and its private rituals
local weredeer for months. Weredeer are harm-
involve bones that you suspect come from hu-
less; they live and work like normal humans
mans. What should have been a standard raid,
and meet up once a month for religious cere-
a quick kill, was interrupted by a woman who
monies in the neighboring national park. Their
just appeared in the house. Great, now you
last ceremony was attacked by something else,
have to deal with a witch and her pet weregoat.
possibly a predatory shapeshifter but the de-
tails are scarce as the weredeer fled. They suf-
fered one fatality and two wounded, all for no Changing Breeds
apparent reason. Their high priestess has per-
sonally asked you (and any willing allies) to Information about the shapeshifters men-
tioned above can be found in WoD: Chang-
guard the next ceremony. You may be human,
yes, but you’re “one of the good ones.” ing Breeds.
Breeds Feel free to come up with your
Search and Rescue: A Soldier investigated a own stats, of course. Weredeer (Flidaisin)
“vampiric cult” for weeks and continuously up- are detailed from 185 to 186. An antagonis-
dated you and the other members of her alli- tic weredeer named Fawn Richards is men-
tioned and stated on 209 to 210.
ance over the Conduitline. At first she thought

60
 Army of Light (Conspiracy)
WoD: Mirrors:
The Infinite Macabre
Of the various conspiracies presented here,
the Army of Light is probably the best suited
for adaptation for The Infinite Macabre.
Macabre The
Infinite Macabre a PDF expansion to WoD: Mir-
rors that adapts the World of Darkness to a
space opera setting.
As the Army of Light is essentially a Bahá'í
Conspiracy, it will eventually begin preparing
for what the Bahá'í believe is inevitable. The
next major religion will appear sometime after
the 29th century and, furthermore, it will de-
velop from the Bahá'í Faith like Christianity
rose from Judaism. The Army of Light will in-
creasingly focus on preparing the way for this
religion (and its Prophet) by purging super-
natural creatures from the worlds of Man.
The Army may lay claim to a region of space
that is believes the next Prophet of God will
appear and has secured it of monsters. Now
the Army wants some breathing room and is
expanding outward.
Alternatively, the Army becomes public
knowledge with the rise of the religion-to-come.
They are the new Prophet’s heralds and defend-
ers of His faithful. Other religious organiza-
tions and hunters may feel an inherent hostil-
ity towards the Army for obvious reasons.
Imagine the Army going up against a futuristic
Malleus Maleficarum serving a corrupt theoc-
racy à la Warhammer 40K.40K The Army may also
suffer a schism as not every Soldier of Light
agrees with this Prophet’s claims.
In the more near-future, at least before the
29th century, the Army may primarily dedicate
itself to uniting the various hunter organiza-
tions. The Army will want to be in charge, of
course, but is willing to compromise. The Army
may evolve into the middleman for the other
hunters, with negotiations and treaties done
through the Army as a neutral intermediary.
New Lumen:
Supreme Luminous Shift
Consider the Army of Light’s signature abil-
ity: they teleport. The speed of light is already a
suggestion to these hunters. What if they de-
velop a new Lumen that moves entire star-
ships? Forget a hyperdrive or Stygian Gate: all
a ship’s crew needs is a sufficiently-skilled Sol-
der of Light.
Cost:
Cost Variable. The standard cost is a point
of Willpower per dot of Spaceship Size (Infinite
Infinite
Macabre,
Macabre 7). It still requires a point of Will-
power to open a gateway into the Light large
enough for Size 0 spaceships, but the gate can
fit three such craft.
If multiple Soldiers of Light use this Lumen
together, the total Willpower cost must be dis-
tributed among them. No participating Soldier
may spend less than a point of Willpower and
each must succeed on the activation roll or eve-
ryone is considered to have suffered a failure
(see below). Likewise, rolling a dramatic failure
means all involved dramatically failed.
Action:
Action Instant.
Duration:
Duration Lasting.
Range:
Range One to three spaceships, determined
by the Willpower spent (see “Cost” above).
Dice Pool:
Pool Intelligence + Lumina
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure:
Failure The gate fails to open
and the Soldier automatically gains the Sleep-
less Derangement (Infinite
Infinite Macabre,
Macabre 11) for
the next (Lumina) days. If she already has this
derangement, it becomes Insomnia instead.
Attempting to use this Lumen while on the
ground or in the atmosphere of the planet is
automatically considered a dramatic failure
unless the Soldier also spends a dot of Will-
power. It is still possible to roll a dramatic fail-
ure, however, but this no longer automatic.
Failure:
Failure The Soldier and her ship fail to en-
ter the Light. She may try again by spending
additional Willpower.
Success:
Success The gateway into the Light opens
successfully. The ship may move up to (Lumina
+ Successes) parsecs in any given direction.
This journey is not necessarily smooth sail-
ing. The ship suffers (parsecs travelled - Space-
ship Size) dice of damage by the end of the
journey, to a minimum of one die.
The Soldier must check for a temporary de-
rangement for every (Lumina) parsecs trav-
elled in this manner. The dice pool is equal to
her Morality. If she fails, she gains the Sleep-
less Derangement for the next 24 hours. If she
already has this derangement, it becomes In-
somnia instead. If she fails additional rolls
(which is likely if travelling over vast dis-
tances), then the derangement persists for an
additional 24 hours per failure. Five or more
failures means the derangement is permanent.
Exceptional Success:
Success Same as the above, but
the Soldier does not need to check for a de-
rangement.
61
 Aves Minerva (Conspiracy)

Public Face
On the surface, Aves Minerva appears
to be one of the many small neopagan re-
ligions worshiping ancient gods casually
dismissed by contemporary society. Aves
Minerva acknowledges the existence of
many deities but focuses on Minerva, the
Roman Goddess of War and Wisdom.
Aves Minerva is organized into covens
led by high priestesses. The covens have
no more than thirteen adult members and
gather weekly for devotions and rituals,
usually at a member’s house or secluded
spot where outsiders cannot intrude. A
few wealthier covens converted empty
churches into meeting places. They are
primarily based in New England and the
Midwestern United States with a single
coven in Texas.
Representatives for Aves Minerva host
events in numerous neopagan festivals
such as the Starwood Festival in New
York, Heartland Pagan Festival in Kansas
and local Pagan Pride Days. They hold an
annual national gathering in March called
the “Quinquatria” after the ancient Roman
holiday. The coven hosting the event
changes annually and prospective host-
covens are chosen by lottery.
Opinions on Aves Minerva are mixed.
Its members are often considered pushy
towards other neopagans in their attempts
to gain converts. Others question Aves
Minerva’s lexicon, particularly how its
members insist on being called “will-
workers,” not witches or pagans. Most
outsiders see Aves Minerva as no worse
and no weirder than any other neopagans.
Conservative Christians distrust all
witches and Aves Minerva in particular; covens dedi- In 1975, Glory’s covenmates become concerned
cated to Minerva seem to experience more trouble when she missed their annual Quinquatria celebra-
with fire-and-brimstone Christians than their witch tion and potluck dinner. They found her unconscious
peers. Aves Minerva has several restraining orders in her living room with all her furniture shoved
against extremist preachers and reverends that insist against the walls. She lay in the middle of seven con-
on “protesting” the little religion’s very existence. centric circles of Latin text written in her own blood
although she lacked any discernable injuries. Glory
Taking Flight regained consciousness before a hastily-called ambu-
lance arrived. She politely but sternly refused to go
Aves Minerva unofficially began in 1970 as a thir-
with the paramedics and did not allow them to enter
teen-woman coven named the Church of Minerva
her house. Because of this, no one outside the coven
Tritonia in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Its founder, who
ever saw the circles of blood.
insisted her real full name was Morning Glory, origi-
Once alone with her covenmates, Glory described
nally belonged to the Feraferia neopagan community
a harrowing full-sensory vision of owls and crows
in Nevada City before leaving for “personal reasons.”

64
 Aves Minerva (Conspiracy)
circling around her as she stood in the storm’s eye.
Women’s voices came from all sides and the birds
formed silhouetted shapes to tell a truly epic story.
The Gods once taught humans how to perform
seemingly impossible feats such as fly and throw
spears of lightning. These powers were fueled “from
within,” requiring only devotion and force of will.
Mythical heroes like Bellerophon and Hercules were
once living, breathing men who protected humans
from literal monsters lurking in the darkness.
However, ancient humans embraced unnatural
powers and forsook their Gods-given abilities. An
otherworldly energy called Source began seeping
through the cracks into our reality. The widespread
use of Source-fueled magic and worship of alien be-
ings with Source in their veins angered the Gods.
They broke off contact with the ungrateful masses.
The Gods abandoned humanity for having first aban-
doned Them.
One of the Gods, Minerva, had not fully given up
on humanity and decided to give mortals a final
chance at redemption.
Glory explained that, by purging Sourceworkers
from the world and using the Gods’ teachings, hu-
mans could show they still needed the Gods. By in-
voking their patron Minerva, they could usher in Pax
Deorum (“the Peace of the Gods”) and the Gods
would return to earth. The divine would once again
walk among mortals as They had in antiquity.
Glory guided and instructed her coven to medi-
tate on the words contained within the circles of
blood. In time, each convenmate experienced a vision
of her own and made a pact with Minerva. In ex-
change for their unwavering devotion, Minerva gave
the women superhuman perception, wingless flight
or let them throw Her father Jupiter’s legendary
thunderbolts.
The process of using these gifts is called will-
working as it uses a person’s inner reserves or force
of will. By performing rituals dedicated to Minerva
and meditating on Her various titles, the women
unlocked mysteries forgotten for centuries. They took
direct action and hunted Sourceworkers, making the
witches forsake ungodly magic or face the conse-
quences.
The coven lost several members along the way,
often by gruesome and unspeakable means, and al-
ways replaced them with fresh recruits to maintain a
total of thirteen women. They formed a satellite
Humans shall not live by Source alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouths of the Gods.
coven, a “farm” of other women to pick from in the
event a current member died.
By the early 1980s, following Glory’s heroic death
at the hands of a flesh- and bone-warping Source-
worker, the coven took a fresh approach and re-
named itself Aves Minerva after an ancient gang of
Roman monster hunters. Numerous covens now exist
and actively fight Sourceworkers while vetting and
educating newcomers. Select members actively pur-
sue Sourceworkers while the others are gradually
informed about the world’s current situation and the
nature of willworking. They are only properly initi-
Lexicon
Cabal: An organization or cult of Source-
workers (“witches”).
Coven: The local branch of Aves Minerva,
consisting of no more than 13 members.
This is equivalent to a typical hunter cell.
Covenmate: A member of one’s coven, syn-
onymous with “teammate.”
Source: Energy from outside of this uni-
verse that fuels both ungodly magic and
powerful alien entities that offer humans
magical knowledge. Its cultivation and use is
offensive to the Gods.
Source Addict: Derogatory term for source-
workers (see below).
Sourcework: The use of Source. Most com-
monly called “magic” or “witchcraft” by
other hunters.
Sourceworker: Humans or other creatures
who use Source, more commonly called
“witches.” Often misheard as “sorcerer.”
Willworker: Members of Aves Minerva or
any other human who uses power “from
within.” Most Tier 3 hunters are also techni-
cally willworkers.
Rara Avis?
Aves Minerva is neither the first nor the
last organization named after the Roman
hunters (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core 18). In fact, there are as
many as three unrelated Aves Minervas in
operation at any given moment. The conspir-
acy detailed here, however, is one of the few
with an actual connection to Minerva and
ancient Roman religion.
65
 Aves Minerva (Conspiracy)
ated when needed or as deemed fit on a case-by-case
basis. Some newer and more open-minded covens
even accept male members.
Aves Minerva is gradually growing across the
United States and hopes to expand into other coun-
tries. Several seasoned willworkers plan to move to
Great Britain and begin their first overseas coven.
The war between Source and Willpower is about to
become global.
The Enemy
Aves Minerva believes all supernatural evil can
be traced to Source and other as-yet-unnamed un-
natural energies. Sourceworkers are their primary
targets. Most monsters originally resulted from
Source-based magic and curses. If there are no more
Sourceworkers, there will be no new monsters and
the existing monstrous population will decline from
natural causes and violent deaths at human hands.
Aves Minerva has acquired various tomes and
spellbooks over the years and has a general idea how
Sourcework is performed. Aves Minerva is aware
that many Sourceworkers call themselves “mages”
and trace their ancestry to Atlantis, as absurd as that
sounds. Atlantis never existed – it was an allegory by
a long-dead philosopher and nothing more.
As little as Aves Minerva knows about mage so-
ciety, the mages actually know less about Aves Mi-
nerva. Most mages assume they’re fighting Banish-
ers, a type of mage that hunts down other magic-
users. The combat-focused mages of the Adamantine
Arrow are closest to the truth but have not yet con-
nected individual willworkers and covens to Aves
Minerva as a whole. Someone will eventually make
the connection, however, and it is anyone’s guess
how the resulting war will pan out.
Sourceworkers’ magical tools are also destroyed
whenever possible. Any supernatural object that
draws strength from Source must be located and
purged from the mortal world. Aves Minerva does
not know how these objects are made but assumes
Sourceworking artisans build them. Most of these
objects are quite old, implying the knowledge or
skills required to make them was lost or intentionally
destroyed in the intervening centuries.
Humans displaying innate magical gifts, i.e.
powers not fueled by Source, are acceptable to Aves
Minerva as long as they keep their powers in check.
A person should not be killed because he can tele-
pathically blow up someone’s head; he should be
killed for deciding to use this power. Fortunately,
most of these so-called “Gifted” people possess abili-
ties much weaker than this.
Other occultists and self-declared witches may or
66
may not be labeled a threat. Many do not use Source
and some are even technically willworkers. These
people are handled case by case. Many of their fellow
“monster hunters” fall into this grey area.
Information on ghosts, spirits and demons is
based completely on Sourceworkers’ familiars and
other inhuman servants. These creatures are never
the primary target.
Aves Minerva’s contact with shapeshifters has
mostly been with Sourceworkers, of course, but also
the occasional “skinner.” Skinners are humans who
ritualistically kill animals and wear the flayed skins
to transform. These beings do not use Source but
their powers are clearly not from the Gods. While it is
possible that some shapeshifters become beasts
against their will, suffering from a curse and thus
being victims and not true monsters, Aves Minerva
has yet to find definitive proof of this. Aves Minerva
keeps an open mind but, when faced with a snarling
man-animal hybrid with a mouth full of human en-
trails, it’s not the time to question if the monster
wants to do this.
Other beasts are just that, beasts, and must be put
down like rabid animals. They were never human or
are far too gone for redemption. For example, one
coven in Vermont found a Sourceworker’s cat feed-
ing on baby’s breath. Not the plant, but the actual
breath of children, with its defenseless victims appear-
ing to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Aves Minerva rarely encounters the undead and
knows virtually nothing about them. Reanimated
servants were encountered once or twice before and
some Sourceworkers create and utilize zombies. Con-
tact between Aves Minerva and vampires is presently
nonexistent. Many willworkers doubt the blood-
suckers even exist.
Hunters
The occult attracted you like a moth to fire. You
became infatuated with Wicca while in high school
and were an obvious recruit for Aves Minerva. Even
after dedicating yourself to Minerva, you cannot help
but want to know more about Sourceworking. You
would never dare use Source, of course not, but
knowledge of how it works and what spells it could
fuel is so damn intriguing.
Your mother was one of the original members of
the Church of Minerva Tritonia and you grew up
knowing the gods left humans millennia ago. The
problem is, even with this knowledge, you want
nothing to do with Aves Minerva. You cannot stom-
ach combat and some of the first enemy magic you
witnessed inflicted a fast-acting plague on its victims.
You are not cut out for this but, with your mother as
 Aves Minerva (Conspiracy)

STEREOTYPES
Keepers of the Source: Have you heard about the aging hippies out in California who think
Source is a good thing? They think it fuels Mother Earth or some nonsense. I don’t know the de-
tails, no one does on my coast, but how could anyone possibly believe that?
Silver Cross: The local Silver Cross has ... taken an interest in our coven. We turned down their
offer for medical assistance and they quickly learned about our healing invocations. I think
they’re spying on us to learn our secrets.
Aegis Kai Doru: None of the Gods favor the Shield and Spear so they rely on trinkets and curios
as crutches.
Army of Light: I’ve heard rumors that the Gods found another group of people worthy of Their
blessings. Well, one of the Gods. The rumors say it might be Vulcan or Mercury but your guess is
as good as mine.

the coven’s high priestess, what else can you do but
fight by her side?
You dated a member of Aves Minerva in college
and didn’t think much of her religion. You were not
particularly religious and didn’t see any harm in her
frolicking with other witches in the woods off-
campus. At least you didn’t see any harm until you
found burns on her body that looked almost like claw
marks. She passed it off as an accident during Chem-
istry but you saw through the lie. You suspected her
witch-friends had something to do with her injury so
you shadowed her to the coven’s next meeting. Turns
out most of their meetings weren’t for rituals but
hunting shapeshifting sorcerers prowling the woods.
That was almost as surprising as when you witnessed
your girlfriend conjure up cackling electricity be-
tween her fingertips. Holy shit, what did she – and
now you – get into?
You were raised to be a good Protestant and
never dabbled in witchcraft of any flavor. An encoun-
ter with a corrupt witch began a complicated chain of
events cumulating in you joining the Long Night.
Two years of trying to convert witches to Christianity
went nowhere and doubt clouded your subconscious.
While fleeing from one particularly pissed off witch
with a fondness for throwing fireballs, another group
of hunters appeared and performed ... well, there’s
no other word for it, they performed miracles. They
actually beat the witch at her own game. They threw
spears of lightning at the pyromancer until she went
down for good. These willworkers, as they like to be
called, want you to join their ranks and actually be of
some use to humanity. But they’re pagan and adhere
to the book of a war-goddess. The Bible is the only
book you’ll ever need, right? Right?
Factions
Aves Minerva’s group and private rituals focus
on Minerva’s names and titles. Some covens, how-
ever, invoke one tile more than others. This aspect of
Minerva embodies what the coven prioritizes in both
life and the Vigil. The three most commonly invoked
titles are as follows.
Aves Minerva Bellipotens (“Powerful in War”)
emphasize Minerva as Warrior, Commander and the
Champion of Champions. These covens focus on the
need to remove Source Addicts from the world to
pave the way for the Gods’ return. We have been
alone for far too long; we need Them now.
Aves Minerva Parthenos (“the Virgin”), also
known as Traditionalists, only allow female members
and are stereotyped as Amazonian sexists. Converts
from feminist neopagan groups such as Dianic Wicca
tend to dedicate themselves to the Virgin Minerva.
Aves Minerva Salus (“of Health”) focus on Mi-
nerva and Her teachings as humanity’s means of sal-
vation. There are few covens labeled Aves Minerva
Salus, but many individuals are called such because
of their supportive role as “combat medics.”
Status
Status is gained with age and experience. It usu-
ally takes at least a year of witch-hunting to gain a dot
of Status. For example, all High Priestesses (Status 5)
have been actively involved with Aves Minerva for
over a decade. This does not mean simply belonging
to the organization is enough; the willworker must be
actively involved in the Vigil during that time.
• Aves Minerva opened your eyes to how far human-
ity has fallen from the Gods’ favor. You may now pur-
chase dots of the Devotion Endowment and make
pacts with Minerva.
••• Your visible devotion to Minerva and fight
against the Source Addicts has drawn both respect
and positive attention. You gain a free two-dot Men-
tor, likely your coven’s high priestess.
••••• You’ve either a coven’s high priestess or the
right-hand (wo)man of one. You are entrusted with
educating a newly-initiated member of Aves Minerva.
This is a free three-dot Retainer who has Status (Aves
Minerva) 1 and Devotion 1.

67
 Aves Minerva (Conspiracy)

Endowment: arrested. After all, how can a dead or incarcerated

Devotion
willworker be of any use? It is very likely that the
willworker will never understand the underlying
reason behind Minerva’s instructions. That hardly
The Devotion Merit represents how much a per-
matters; the willworker’s job is not to question but to
son has dedicated herself to Minerva, the only divin-
worship and obey.
ity with any faith left in humanity. It also indicates
All pacts also include one universal condition:
how well the person’s body channels what can best
the willworker must remain celibate for the pact’s
be described as “divine energy.”
duration. Furthermore, willworkers cannot enter
A willworker (hunter) must first enter a pact with
pacts while pregnant. There are two common theo-
Minerva before benefiting from any supernatural
ries explaining this: (1) Minerva is a virginal goddess
gifts. She begins by entering a meditative state (WoD:
and will not entrust a portion of her divine power to
Rulebook, 51) and focuses on one or more of Mi-
someone who is less than pure; (2) an unborn child’s
nerva’s names or titles. After about an hour of medi-
health would be jeopardized from the divine energy
tation, the hunter feels Minerva’s presence and ex-
humming in her mother’s veins and the vow of celi-
periences a vision of the Goddess or of Her birds the
bacy is a protective measure.
owl Nyctimene or the crow Cornix. These visions
Breaking a pact’s rules has dire consequences.
vary considerably from person to person but the end
The disobedient willworker feels an intense pain as if
result is always the same: the willworker agrees to
a piece of her soul was ripped away. Spontaneous
perform a certain task for Minerva in exchange for
injuries are common, typically appearing as burns or
temporary supernatural abilities.
The duration of the pact determines both how inexplicable claw (bird talon) wounds. Some will-
workers noticeably age and their hair turns grey or
long the willworker maintains these powers and the
even white.
difficulty of the action(s) Minerva requires. All ac-
A hunter may voluntarily enter a new pact at any
tions must be completed before the duration expires.
time. If she is already in a pact and wishes to negate
A one day pact requires simple acts that often
take less than an hour to perform, such as creating a it with a new one, she must first spend a dot of Will-
power to appease Minerva. Otherwise, a pact lasts for
piece of poetry that praises Minerva. Other one day
its specified duration – no more, no less.
pacts have the willworker protect a specific person,
occasionally a strange but usually a friend or loved
one, from an unspecified but eminent danger. An-
other common pact is to either avoid or guard a spe-
Breaking the Pact
The willworker immediately loses one half
cific building or room for the next day. of her remaining health (round up) from
One week pacts commonly require the will- spontaneous injuries that take the form of
worker to remain in or avoid a specified region for lethal damage. She also loses one dot of De-
the duration. Other times the willworker must set votion due to her transgressions. It is not
aside an entire day that week for prayer and devo- wise to anger a Goddess.
tions to Minerva; she may not even hunt on that day.
The willworker may be required to kill a specified
witch or monster before the week expires.
A one month pact is more demanding and incon-
MtA: Summoners
veniencing. The willworker may not be allowed to A book of potential interest is Summoners
indulge in her Vice for a full month or is asked to for Mage: The Awakening. It focuses on the
take a month-long vow of silence. She may need to art of summoning, binding and banishing
perform an animal sacrifice (a pig or another animal creatures from outside our world. This is not
of comparable size) once a week for the next four too different from what many “children of
weeks. Material sacrifices are also common, with the the seventh generation” in the Lucifuge do
willworker spending a notable portion of her income with their vaguely-defined demons.
on purchasing fruits, vegetables and grains to sym- You may wonder what this has to do with
bolically offer the Goddess. Aves Minerva and willworking. The rules for
Devotion and Invocations are loosely based
There is a reason for what Minerva requests re-
on the rules for making pacts with other-
gardless of how random a pact’s requirements ap-
worldly entities and powers.
pear. Perhaps the willworker is avoiding a building
You are free to draw your own conclusions
that will catch fire before the duration expires. Maybe from this.
indulging in sinful behavior would have gotten her

68
 Aves Minerva (Conspiracy)
Invocations
Once in a pact, the willpower invokes Minerva’s
titles and names to display supernatural abilities.
These names may be said aloud, mentally recited or
written down. The method does not matter as long as
the willworker’s thoughts focus on the Goddess.
Each Invocation has a dot rating of one, three or
five dots. A willworker may have up to (Status + De-
votion) dots of Invocations at any time. The Invoca-
tions must be chosen at the time the pact is sealed
and she has access to these Invocations only for the
predetermined duration (one day, week or month).
Minerva Armipotens
Minerva has the power to throw Her father Jupi-
ter’s legendary thunderbolts. Willworkers may chan-
nel this power through their fragile human bodies
and produce a similar, albeit weaker, attack.
One Dot: The willworker reflexively spends a
point of Willpower and electricity briefly crackles
between her fingertips. She then makes a touch attack
(Dexterity + Brawl – target’s Defense) which inflicts
(successes) points of lethal damage. Like with all ver-
sions of this Invocation, the target’s Armor does not
apply unless it offers electrical protection.
Three Dots: The hunter reflexively spends a
point of Willpower and a yellow-white evanescent
spear appears in her hand. Throwing this
“thunderbolt” (which must be done the same turn as
it is conjured) requires a roll of Dexterity + Athletics
+ Devotion and inflicts (successes) lethal damage.
The attack’s short range is ([Strength + Dexterity
+ Athletics] x 2). Medium range is double this and
long range is quadruple this.
Five Dots: Same as three-dot variant above ex-
cept the thunderbolt inflicts aggravated damage.
Note: A willworker may have both the one dot
and three or five dot variants of the Invocation of Mi-
nerva Armipotens. She then has access to both the
“taser touch” and thunderbolts.
Minerva Cabardiacensis
This unusual title (literally “the heron that con-
veys wealth”) hints at Minerva’s generous and giv-
ing side. Willworkers dedicated to her suddenly dis-
cover the best bargains and never need to haggle..
Three Dots: Anything the willworker purchases
is considered to cost one dot less of Resources. If there
is an issue of upkeep or maintenance, such as renting
a penthouse suite, the cost will revert back to normal
when the pact ends.
Five Dots: Same as the above but the Resource
cost is reduced by two dots for the duration.
Anything that is otherwise unavailable for civil-
ian purchase, such as military-grade weaponry and
outright illegal equipment, somehow becomes avail-
able to the character. This may still cost Resources 4
or 5, however, as the willworker is unlikely to find a
cheap tank or used jet just lying around. But the fact
she even has the option of acquiring such equipment
is a boon in itself.
Minerva Caesia
Minerva’s gaze is turned towards the material
realm and She sees all that is corrupt with the world.
The willworker is suddenly aware that a nearby per-
son or object is not normal, that something is decid-
edly wrong about it. This feeling manifests in differ-
ent ways, often a cold shiver down the spine, prick-
ling goose bumps, a sour taste in one’s mouth or an
intense feeling of contempt.
One Dot: The willworker gains the Unseen Sight
Merit applied to Source. She must spend one Will-
power point to activate it for the scene as an Instant
action. Her eyes become grey for the rest of the scene
regardless of their original color.
Three Dots: The willworker gains the Unseen
Sight Merit applied to Source. It remains active at no
cost for the duration of the current pact. Her eyes also
turn grey for the duration.
Minerva Ergatis
With wisdom comes creativity. Invoking Mi-
nerva Ergatis temporarily makes the willworker bet-
ter at inventing and building. Even willworkers who
are all thumbs become proficient artisans and skilled
engineers.
One Dot: By spending a Willpower point as a
reflexive action, a single Crafts-based roll becomes a
rote action.
Three Dots: By spending a Willpower point as
an instant action, all Crafts-based rolls are rote ac-
tions for the rest of the scene.
Five Dots: All crafts-based rolls are rote actions
for the duration of the current pact. There is no addi-
tional cost.
Minerva Medica
Minerva is the goddess of a thousand works,
most famously embodying war and wisdom but also
medicine. By praying and touching an injured person
or creature, a willworker may channel Minerva
Medica’s healing grace. She cannot invoke Minerva
Medica to heal herself.
One Dot: The hunter touches her subject, reflex-
69
 Aves Minerva (Conspiracy)
ively spends a point of Willpower and rolls Intelli-
gence + Medicine + Devotion. She heals one point of
bashing damage per success.
Three Dots: Same as the above but she may heal
lethal damage as well.
Five Dots: Same as the above but she may heal
aggravated damage as well. Healing one point of ag-
gravated damage requires three successes.
Minerva Panteuchia
This aspect of the Goddess invokes Her unsur-
passed skill “with every weapon.” Willworkers dedi-
cating themselves to Minerva Panteuchia discover
that quite literally anything is an effective close com-
bat weapon in their hands.
One Dot: The willworker may ignore the stan-
dard penalty for using improvised weaponry. This
costs nothing to use and is considered “active” for the
duration of the pact.
Three Dots: In addition to the above, any attacks
the willworker makes with a melee weapon gains
either a +1 Damage bonus or +1 Armor Piercing. The
bonus must be chosen when the weapon is first
drawn (meaning once per weapon per scene).
Five Dots: Same as the above. The willworker
may also spend a point of Willpower to gain the 9-
again quality on all Weaponry rolls for the scene.
Weapons that already have the 9-again quality will
instead gain the 8-again quality. Weapons that some-
how already benefit from both gain no further bonus.
Minerva Perspicax
Invoking Minerva Perspicax gives the willworker
what is colloquially called “owl sight” or “owl eyes.”
She gains night vision and her pupils expanded to fill
her eyes while she peers through the darkness.
One Dot: The willworker spends a point of Will-
power as an instant action and her vision improves to
superhuman levels for the rest of the scene. She may
ignore all penalties for seeing in darkness and other
adverse conditions such as dense fog, smoke and
heavy rain. This also grants a +1 Stealth bonus when
relying on cover of darkness.
Three Dots: Same as the above but this “owl
sight” persists for the duration of the current pact.
Her eyes reflexively adapt to darkness and there is no
cost to activate it.
Minerva Praestes
Minerva is traditionally depicted as armored at
all times or, at the very least, sporting a helmet. The
Goddess likewise protects her faithful willworkers
70
from the corrupting influence of Source and other
unnatural energies infesting the mortal world.
Three Dots: The willworker spends a point of
Willpower as an instant action and gains an Armor
rating equal to her Devotion dots. This armor only
protects against magical (supernatural) attacks, usu-
ally meaning Gutter Magic but also applying to
Dread Powers and Numina. It does not stack with
other mundane or supernatural armor the willworker
may be using at the time. This extra protection lasts
for the remainder of the scene.
Five Dots: Same as the above but the armor also
protects against conventional damage such as from
punches and gunshots.
Nyctimene and Cornix
This is the only invocation not directly naming
Minerva but, instead, her owl and crow servants.
Calling the birds’ names shoves the laws of physics
aside as the willworker leaps impossible distances or
defies gravity by flying.
One Dot: By spending a point of Willpower, the
willworker triples her successes on a single jump roll.
The Willpower must be spent before rolling.
Three Dots: The willworker spends a point of
Willpower and rolls Dexterity + Athletics + Devotion.
Success allows her to levitate and travel in any direc-
tion up to her Speed rating. She must maintain con-
centration so staying airborne is an Instant action.
She is not particularly graceful and has Defense 0.
If she is successfully attacked or startled, the will-
worker must reflexively roll Resolve + Composure to
maintain concentration. If the roll fails, she immedi-
ately begins falling (WoD: Rulebook, 179). She may
spend another Willpower point to regain concentra-
tion on a subsequent turn, assuming she hasn’t al-
ready reached the ground yet.
She is still susceptible to relevant environmental
factors while flying, such as extreme cold or losing
oxygen at higher elevations.
Five Dots: Same as the above except the hunter
does not need to maintain concentration to remain
aloft. She may take other actions while flying includ-
ing “running” (flying at a rate of Speed x 2). She does
not lose her Defense against incoming attacks. She
does not beginning falling from taking damage but
only from being rendered unconscious.
Note: A willworker may have both the one dot
and three or five dot variants of this Invocation. The
willworker has the option of leaping great distances
and either levitating or flying. It is sometimes better
to appear unusually athletic when fleeing a scene as
opposed to outright flying away.
 Aves Minerva (Conspiracy)

derful addition in the war against Source Ad-

Storytelling dicts. Then, out of the blue, she breaks off all
contact with you and her own coven. After
Protagonists weeks of trying to contact her, she finally talks
Stories about Aves Minerva will almost cer- to you and speaks of a shocking vision about
tainly involve combating Sourceworkers. The visiting a massive tower surrounded by rolling
hunters may encounter other supernatural green hills and sprite-like beings. She signed
creatures but their ability to sniff out Source her name in an oak book and the ink from the
like blood hounds means they will follow pen bloomed into flowers. The old spells she
witches first and foremost. performed with her coven seem so quaint com-
An attempt to find a single Sourceworker or pared to what she’s done recently.
a cabal may lead the willworkers to another Gods have mercy – they got to her first.
danger entirely. A necromancer might create
zombies for vampires, providing the bloodsuck-
ers with unquestioning servants that function
Antagonists
Misunderstandings and lack of communica-
during the day. Another Sourceworker is the
tion lead to most conflicts between Aves Mi-
“indebted servant” to a pack of werewolves who
nerva and other hunters. To ignorant hunters,
use her healing magic to patch themselves up
the pagan willworkers may be indistinguish-
after their bloody hunts. A witch’s demon fa-
able from witches or a dangerous cult. How do
miliar could really be her lord and master.
they know this “Minerva” isn’t a powerful de-
The Banisher: This is different. A Source-
moness in disguise? Actually, a better question
worker came to your coven for help. He says he
may be how the willworkers know Minerva is
never wanted magical powers and tells about a
really who She claims She is.
horrific, waking nightmare of being dragged
Religious hunters belonging to the Army of
through bloody briars to a tower with water-
Light, Long Night or Malleus Maleficarum
falls of lava where he was forced to sign his
might have trouble accepting the idea that the
name in the Devil’s book. He has since done his
willworkers receive powers from a pagan god-
best to fight witches who enjoy their powers
dess. If Aves Minerva is right, then Minerva is
and voluntarily became what they are. While a
real and the rest of the Roman Pantheon exists
little unstable, he sounds sincere and doesn’t
by proxy. That is quite challenging to a mono-
know if he can continue fighting a one-man
theistic religion and would disturb a hunter
war against dark magic. He needs help, prefera-
who thinks he serves “the One True God.”
bly yours.
There probably isn’t a conclusive way to prove
The man uses Source, the primary reason
which hunter (and religion) is right.
the Gods left humanity behind, and that is un-
Another hunter cell may have nothing
acceptable in Minerva’s eyes. But think of how
against “good” witches. It doesn’t matter if the
helpful he would be, proverbially and literally
witch is another cell’s ally or informant; Aves
fighting fire with fire….
Minerva considers all Sourceworkers danger-
Hunters Hounded: A local branch of the
ous. This also applies to witches in cancer cells.
Long Night discovered your coven and took an
The Artifact: Your cell located a mystical
interest in your activities. Instead of offering
object with unknown powers, largely unknown
help, they’re offering salvation. They don’t care
because you have no bloody idea how to turn it
if Minerva gives you divine assistance while
on. A group of what can only be described as
Jesus has done nothing for them; the Long
witches tracked the object down to your cell
Night wants you to pledge allegiance to the
and demands you hand it over. They claim it is
cross. Even worse, the damn fools won’t leave
fueled by Source, an evil energy you know
you alone, even while on the hunt for Source-
nothing about, and it must be destroyed.
workers. It’s a pity that you can’t just kill
The situation soon becomes even tenser af-
them.
ter a mysterious group tries forcibly taking the
An Old Friend: A neopagan your coven is
artifact from your cell. Apparently these “bad
grooming to join Aves Minerva shows great
witches” want the artifact for their own twisted
promise. She currently belongs to a Hellenistic
purposes and the “good witches” only want to
coven dedicated to Artemis, virginal Goddess of
destroy it.
the Hunt, who has obvious parallels to your
Who can you trust? What exactly makes a
favorite Goddess of War. She relaxes by visiting
witch good or evil, anyway? And would uncov-
the local firing range and would make a won-
ering the artifact’s secrets really be that bad?

71
 The Chosen of Kroll (Conspiracy)
All in Your Head
Do not listen to them. You are not crazy. You are
sane. You are more than sane.
Listen to it instead, the voice lurking in the back of
your head, trying to be heard over your confusing little
surface thoughts. It is your friend and it came to warn you
about terrible things.
No, do not listen to them. Listen to it.
Monsters are real. The animal-men and walking
corpses and the sins-made-flesh, they are real. They are
everywhere and some of them know it. Most do not but
some do so –
Do not listen to them.
Please, it is your friend and it will show you how to
fight back. You can end this, you can kill the monsters.
Please, for yourself and for the world, please listen to it.
Kroll, the Dread Lord
The Chosen of Kroll are precisely that – chosen.
They are entrusted, out of billions of fleshy humans,
with the power to rid the world of monsters. There’s
one catch: the Chosen must first pledge allegiance to
and worship an incomprehensibly alien god.
No one definitely knows what Kroll is or where
He resides. The only thing anyone agrees on is that
He is not from our universe and, for whatever rea-
son, is unable to enter. He is a sentient being of un-
74
told power. All other details are pure speculation.
The Chosen believe Kroll is a benevolent force
that turned His gaze upon our reality and felt pity.
Poor, weak humans were preyed upon by blood-
drinkers, skin-stealers and greedy reality-warpers.
Humans thought themselves as the masters of Earth
but that was so grossly untrue. Kroll decided to help
humanity and lift them above their current state. He
would raise them above the status of talking cattle.
A being of Kroll’s power cannot communicate
with humans without overwhelming their primitive
minds and completely destroying their already frag-
ile sanity. For lack of a better term, Kroll spawned off-
spring known as the Krolli (literally “From Kroll”),
vastly weaker copies of Himself capable of interact-
ing with humans. Even then, the Krolli could only
transmit words and flashes of images. It was still bet-
ter than nothing.
Method in Madness
The first week or so after being contacted by a
Krolli is a jarring and frightening experience that
causes most Chosen to initially believe they are in-
sane. Besides hearing a distant voice insisting mon-
sters are real, the Chosen experience every imagin-
able type of hallucination. The smell and taste of
blood in salt water, a glimpse of tentacles reaching
 The Chosen of Kroll (Conspiracy)
out from the darkness, the sound of children being
devoured alive, the feeling of slime engulfing their
tired body as it lays in bed desperately trying to find
rest from all the noise and sounds and smells and —
Those who accept their condition and ask the
voice for more information gradually become used to
these sensations. The Krolli adjusts to the person’s
mind and actual conversations between it and the
Chosen take place. If the Chosen does not go insane
and commit suicide first, they grow to accept the
Krolli as their new best friend and greatest ally. The
Chosen’s eyes have been opened and they can thank
the Krolli and the Dread Lord. The horrors of the
world are laid bare and now this pitiful human can
do something about it. Of course the Chosen is in-
debted, of course she is willing to make the occasional
sacrificial offering. Of course, of course.
In return, the Dread Lord Kroll gladly shares se-
cret rituals to manipulate dreams, see through an-
other’s eyes and become more than human. Many
Chosen can produce knife-sized claws, mouths filled
with shark-like teeth, lashing tentacles and even reju-
venating slime oozed from their pores.
A Happy Family
The first Chosen appeared six years ago. The first
true cults did not appear for another three years.
The Chosen are divided into local cults, each
headed by a high priest or priestess. The priest was
often Chosen first and leads his cult both spiritually
and in combat. Each cult operates like an independ-
ent church, adhering to a general story but with vary-
ing details and ritual nuances. Some priests empha-
size the need for swift action while others focus on
Kroll’s benevolence in helping humanity with noth-
ing to personally gain.
The cult’s meeting place, headquarters and
stronghold is usually in someone’s house or apart-
ment. This does not need to be the priest’s home, just
the most convenient space. Decorations vary wildly
from cult to cult but altars made of bone and drift-
wood became trendy in the past year. One cult’s altar
is a bathtub filled with ice water and live fish; they
practice their rituals in their priest’s basement so no
one will see the ensuing mess of discarded fish guts
and blood. Another cult performs a parody of the
Last Supper, unimaginatively named “the First Sup-
per,” symbolizing Kroll feeding them information
and sustaining His Chosen. Yet another cult practices
guided meditation and trances, blocking out all dis-
tractions to gain further insights from their ever-
whispering Krolli. Despite persistent rumors among
other hunters, no cult has ever hosted sacred orgies.
Why So Dreadful?
If Kroll is going out of His way to protect
a species that is largely oblivious to His exis-
tence, why does He want to be called the
Dread Lord? This alien god seems surpris-
ingly generous and benevolent considering
this is His preferred epitaph.
Kroll is the scourge of monsters and de-
mons, the nightmare of night-mares. “The
dread is not meant for us,” the Chosen ex-
plain with knowing smiles, “but for them.”
The Call of Kroll
It is probably worth mentioning that Kroll
is not Cthulhu. No human knows what ex-
actly Kroll is or what His goals are.
If anything, Kroll is probably more compa-
rable to Shub-Niggurath, another Love-
craftian being with the epitaph “the Black
Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young.”
In Lovecraft’s story “Out of the Aeons,” the
character T’yog claims that “the gods
friendly to man could be arrayed against the
hostile gods.” T’yog specifically mentions
that Shub-Niggurath was “ready to take sides
with man.”
Lovecraft offers little additional informa-
tion on Shub-Niggurath and merely uses the
name as part of incantations or exclama-
tions in several other stories. Other authors
provide contradictory information, such as
Ramsey Campbell (“The Moon Lens”) and
Gary Myers (“What Rough Beast”). Then, of
course, is Shub-Niggurath’s depiction in the
Call of Cthulhu RPG as an Outer God.
But this is not Call of Cthulhu and
Hunter: The Vigil does not necessarily have
any connection to the Mythos. Storytellers
can make Kroll be anything they want.
You think my
religion’s weird?
It's no weirder than
your God fathering
Himself with a
fourteen-
fourteen-year-
year-old
Palestinian girl.
75
 The Chosen of Kroll (Conspiracy)
The Enemy
The Chosen emphasize hunting monsters that
directly or indirectly prey on humans. Typical exam-
ples of this include vampires and other blood-
drinkers as well as spirits and stranger beings feast-
ing on emotions. As such, vampires, demons and
changelings are the Chosen’s primary targets.
The Chosen are already aware of the existence of
vampire and changeling societies. The details are
lacking but the Chosen realize these creatures are
more organized than many other hunters are willing
to admit. The true nature of changelings, that these
beings were once human, is still a mystery.
The cancerous Reanimated (commonly called
“corpse-constructs” by the Chosen and their Krolli)
are another common target. The Chosen have
stopped just short of declaring a jihad against these
monsters. Destroying a Reanimated is as much of a
mercy killing as a means of protecting everything in
the surrounding area.
The Chosen generally do not bother with
shapeshifters unless the beasts develop bad habits
like a taste for human flesh. Limited research into
werewolves has actually gained sympathy from sev-
eral Chosen, noting the similarities between the were-
wolves’ religious practices and their own. One were-
wolf’s totem spirit is another person’s Krolli.
The Chosen emphasize killing monsters that are
harming or using humans. They will leave
“harmless” monsters alone and their Krolli actively
direct them to more pressing matters. They actually
get along quite well with the Army of Light, even if
the Army is convinced Kroll is anything but a god.
The Army just goes a step further and protects harm-
less or innocent monsters from persecution or annihi-
lation. The Krolli insist this is a waste of time; humans
must be protected as the other creatures can fend for
themselves.
Hunters
It didn’t take long to realize the voice was not
imaginary and certainly not internal. You ignored the
increasing feeling that you were insane and listened
to it. You zoned out at your cubicle one day, lost in
the voice’s words and warnings about monsters crav-
ing human souls and precious bodily fluids. You
snapped out of the reverie to realize your paperwork
was covered in diagrams of homemade melee weap-
ons and torture devices. You laughed aloud when the
voice said your engineering degree could provide
more than a paycheck below the industry standard; it
could save humanity.
After a night of heavy drinking and a failed sui-
76
The Krolli
How the Krolli interact with the Chosen
varies case-by-case. Some Krolli are a sub-
conscious “voice” that subtly influences the
hunter. Other Krolli scream orders and de-
mand fanatical loyalty to the Dread Lord.
Most fall somewhere in between, offering
advice while occasionally “strongly urging”
the hunter to take certain actions. Regard-
less, all Krolli compel their Chosen to pursue
monsters at any cost. Social lives and careers
are meaningless compared to the Vigil.
In game terms, certain Merits for a Chosen
character may be reflected by the actions
and personality of her Krolli. For example,
Danger Sense or an Unseen Sense might be
the Krolli giving the hunter a heads-up to
incoming danger.
Other Merits made possible by a Krolli’s
presence include: Common Sense, Direction
Sense, Eidetic Memory, Encyclopedic Knowl-
edge, Fresh Start, Good Time Management
(WoD:
WoD: Asylum,
Asylum 50; WoD: Reliquary,
Reliquary 84),
Meditative Mind and Tolerance for Biology
(WoD:
WoD: Asylum,
Asylum 51).
cide attempt, you caved in and asked the voice to tell
you everything it knew. It refused to shut up and you
were too incompetent to slit your wrists in the right
direction. You quietly listened as you bandaged your
arms and destroyed the suicide note. The more it ex-
plained, the more you wanted to take the bloody ra-
zor that almost took your life and slice open a mon-
ster’s throat. Maybe that would silence the voice, get-
ting something else’s blood on your blade and hands.
There’s one way to find out.
You knew about Kroll before being Chosen. The
local cult told a select few normal people the news
about Kroll’s benevolent interest in humanity. One of
the Chosen, your older sister, believed you could
handle the revelation. Your initial skepticism disap-
peared when the Chosen demonstrated the effective-
ness of their rites. Months later, you heard the voice
for yourself and wept with joy. None of the other
“normal” cultists have been Chosen yet, but perhaps,
Kroll willing, you’re the first of many.
The voice insisted the man living across the hall
was inhuman. It just insisted and insisted. Something
about his eyes, the flash of lime green in them, his
slightly unusual smell, the stiffness in his expres-
sions…and it insisted. You finally broke his apart-
ment’s door down and beat him to death with a
metal baseball bat. The voice was right – his blood
was green. The voice didn’t stop even when the
 The Chosen of Kroll (Conspiracy)

STEREOTYPES
Null Mysteriis: Ever hear an outsider try rationalizing where your tentacles come from? Yeah,
it’s either hysterical or boring as hell. They’re never willing to accept the obvious - the Dread Lord
has blessed us. It’s that simple.
Talbot Group: No, please, I don’t need your help. I’m perfectly fine. No, seriously, I mean it. Get
away from me.
Les Mystères: I’m not sure we’re alone. Other people have been contacted by beings outside of
this universe. They seem focused on werewolves but there similarities can be striking. I mean,
we’re dealing with pan-dimensional beings driving hapless mortals to fight monsters. That can’t be
coincidental.
Regency of Thorns: The Chosen in Brazil are having problems with, well, I don’t know what to
call them. Fairy hunters, Well, these fairy-hunters think we’re working for an evil fairy god or
some nonsense. We get enough flack from the fundamentalist Christians but this is just ridiculous.
It’s not like our Krolli are pixies or leprechauns.

man/monster’s heart stopped beating and he dis-
solved into a syrupy puddle. You waited until the
police arrived. They arrested you for breaking and
entering but not murder as there was no corpse.
Later, a group of complete strangers intercepted the
van transporting you to a mental institution. The
fight was quick, messy and one-sided. The strangers
rushed you to safety, into a hidden room within their
leader’s basement. They smiled as they explained
that, no, you were not insane. You were Chosen.
Factions
The independent cults generally adhere to one of
three major philosophies.
The Enlightened want to discover all they can
about the supernatural world as quickly as possible.
There are a lot of gaps in their collective knowledge
that need to be filled. Enlightened Chosen often
spend more time researching the occult than fighting
it. Some become intrigued by the similarities between
the Chosen’s rituals and the ceremonies some of their
prey perform, not that they feel comfortable discuss-
ing the details with their fellow Chosen. Krolli often
try (re)directing these Chosen back to more pressing
issues like the Vigil itself.
Evangelicals want to take the story of Kroll the
Dread Lord public. While few in number, non-
Chosen are now actively participating in rituals and
services dedicated to Kroll. These people, called the
Devotees of Kroll, lack the powers of the Chosen but
are some of the most enthusiastic members of the
cults. The Evangelical Chosen want to someday turn
their underground faith into a mainstream religion,
even if it might take decades for the general populace
to be ready for such a revelation. Then again, if Sci-
entology is considered a genuine religion, then
maybe….
The Blessed see the Chosen as inherently better
than the rest of humanity, having been selected for so
great an honor. Many Blessed Chosen come off as
arrogant and condescending to those outside of their
cults, even toward other Chosen. The Blessed are
completely against allowing non-Chosen to partake
in rituals or witness services. If the Chosen of Kroll
ever suffer a schism, it will be because the Blessed or
the Evangelicals push the other too far.
Status
The Chosen gain respect and from their peers by
successfully fighting monsters preying on humanity
and by supporting their fellow cultists. Status can just
as easily be lost because of a cowardly (in)action.
● You survived the nightmares, passed the initial
tests and gain access to the Abyssal Blessings En-
dowment. You also gain a derangement selected by
the Storyteller, either a permanent mild derange-
ment or a severe one that lasts for a lunar month.
Either derangement may be treated or even cured
with psychological help and/or medication with
Storyteller approval.
●●● Other Chosen recognize you as truly one of
Kroll’s. A more experienced Chosen, likely your
cult’s priest or priestess, views you as his protégé.
He or she is considered a free two-dot Mentor.
If you already have a fellow Chosen as a Mentor,
you may add one free dot to that Merit’s value.
Your Mentor has actually grown more useful and
you indirectly benefit from this.
●●●●● If you’re not a local priest, you should be.
You gain either a three-dot retainer (a fellow Chosen
with Status 1 and Abyssal Blessings 2) or a pair of
two-dot retainers (Devotees of Kroll).

77
 The Chosen of Kroll (Conspiracy)
Endowment:
Abyssal Blessings
The Dread Lord Kroll blesses His followers with
unnatural abilities from beyond this world. Perform-
ing any of the following rites requires an “offering,” a
ritual to draw the Dread Lords’ attention.
The number of dots in the Abyssal Blessings
Merit represents the character’s understanding of the
Endowment. A Chosen of Kroll may hypothetically
learn all of the following rites over time, even if she
only has a single dot of Abyssal Blessings. Essen-
tially, she knows a little about a lot. At character crea-
tion, the Chosen learn one rite per dot purchased of
the Abyssal Blessings Merit.
Individual rites cost 5 Experience Points apiece
and take about one week to master and become us-
able. During that first week, all rolls made to use the
blessing suffer a –5 dice pool penalty. Blessings that
do not require a dice roll temporarily require the
player to roll a chance die.
Catch a Flying Memory
Sometimes a bystander sees or hears too much.
Or perhaps an enemy has discovered the names and
home addresses of the cult’s members.
The Chosen can selectively block other peoples’
memories, walling them off with intense, inexplicable
feelings of horror or shame. As long as the power is
unbroken, the victim cannot remember anything
about the occluded event. The memory is not techni-
cally erased, however, but suppressed and buried by
unnatural fear. The memory may be unearthed with
sufficient psychological help or magical intervention.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant and contested.
Duration: Lasting.
Dice Pool: (Intelligence + Abyssal Blessings)
against the victim’s (Wits + Composure). Resistance
is reflexive.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Chosen’s attempt com-
pletely backfires. The target is instead able to remem-
ber the event with crystal clarity, even if they only
vaguely recalled it before.
Failure: The mental block fails to form. The target
knows something just happened but is not necessarily
aware the Chosen tried manipulating their mind.
Success: Blocks up to (successes) nights’ worth of
memories from any point in the past lunar month.
These nights do not need to be consecutive. The block
may be removed through psychotherapy or super-
78
natural intervention, as long as more successes are
gained on the “curing” roll.
Only one mental block may be in effect per vic-
tim. The Chosen may choose to create another mental
block later but the original block is instantly negated.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above, but the
block becomes permanent, even if the Chosen places
another block later.
Offering: The victim looks at his reflection while
the Chosen says a curse in Kroll’s language. There is
no range limit as long as the victim can hear the
curse. This can work via phone but, again, the victim
must see his own reflection at the time.
If the Chosen is successful, the reflective surface
(mirror, storefront window, etc.) shatters. If the Cho-
sen loses the contested roll, nothing happens. If the
Chosen dramatically fails the roll, the reflective sur-
face cracks but does not shatter.
Chorus of Hoarse Voices
The Chosen of Kroll are the only humans who
can understand the alien language of the Krolli and
the Dread Lord. This ritual projects these inhuman
thoughts into the mind of a victim who has no hope
of comprehending them. The victim is unable to
speak or write in anything but babbling nonsense.
Even worse, the victim cannot stop talking.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant and contested.
Duration: Until next sunrise.
Dice Pool: (Intelligence + Abyssal Blessings)
against the victim’s (Wits + Composure). Resistance
is reflexive.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Instead of babbling incoher-
ently, the target gains the ability to understand the
Dread Lord’s language for the duration. Whenever a
Krolli speaks to a Chosen, the target will actually
hear it. Even worse, the target knows who the Krolli
is speaking to. Hopefully the Chosen also knows
“Catch a Flying Memory” (above) and can protect her
secrecy.
Failure: Nothing happens, although the target
does briefly feel like he is being watched.
Success: The victim compulsively speaks in
tongues, suffering from the Vocalization Derange-
ment. He also endures a –3 penalty on all Social rolls
requiring spoken or written communication. His
physical presence and appearance are not affected,
only his ability to convey ideas.
What the victim says is technically correct; it is
what he means to say but is instead in another, com-
 The Chosen of Kroll (Conspiracy)
pletely alien language. It is possible, albeit unlikely,
to translate this “babble” through magical means.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above, but the
duration is doubled.
Offering: An animal’s or person’s dried-out, sev-
ered tongue. The contested roll occurs while the Cho-
sen chants and carves the tongue into a crude hu-
manoid doll. If the Chosen is successful, the tongue
disintegrates in a matter of seconds. The Chosen
must know the target’s name.
Dreams of Strange Cities
Krolli first begin manifesting themselves through
dreams and hallucinations. A Chosen learns to har-
ness this power and manipulate the dreams of others.
She constructs the dream but does not control events
as they unfold; she merely sets the stage and chooses
the actors. Chosen most often use this rite to induce
dreams customized to their target’s sins and personal
weaknesses, filling the dream with temptations of
violence or lust.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Lasting.
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Abyssal Blessings
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Chosen completely fails to
influence the target’s dream. The target instead has a
remarkably restful night and gains an extra point of
Willpower upon waking, even if this goes above his
normal Willpower limit.
Failure: The target experiences a normal night’s
rest and his sleep is undisturbed.
Success: The victim is endangered even while
dreaming. The victim can act freely, after all, and any
violent or lustful actions he performs in the dream
are treated as “real” sins. The Storyteller rolls
(Resolve + Composure) – (Chosen’s initial successes)
on the victim’s behalf in a reflexive action to see if he
is merely an observer or participant. If the roll fails,
he is an active participant and subject to any applica-
ble degeneration rolls if his Morality is 4 or higher.
Anyone aware of the details of the dream gains a
+3 Intimidation bonus against the victim for the fol-
lowing week. For example, the Chosen may repeat
memorable phrases from the dream to induce shame
or horror in the victim.
A victim may only be subjected to this rite once
per lunar month.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above except
the target automatically gains a derangement of the
Storyteller’s choosing for the next week. This is in
addition to any derangements the victim acquires
through his actions in the dream.
Offering: The Chosen spends one night sleeping
on a bed (or other suitable surface) on which she has
written the victim’s name with blood. She does not
need to be sleeping while the target is; this affects the
target’s next dream if he is currently awake.
Even Death May Die
The Chosen are notoriously hard to kill. Many
can produce a clear, green slime with remarkable re-
generative properties. The slime either appears in
open wounds or from pores around bruises. If the
slime is produced for another person’s use, it com-
monly oozes out of the pores in the Chosen’s hand or
pours from her mouth.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Lasting.
Dice Pool: None.
Effect: Applying the slime heals one point of ag-
gravated damage, three points of lethal damage or
five points of bashing damage. If the slime is excreted
for another person’s use, it will only heal one point of
lethal damage or three points of bashing damage.
The slime cannot be stored for later use. Its heal-
ing properties quickly disappear, meaning an imme-
diate application is necessary.
This power may only be used up to (Stamina)
times per week, regardless of who is healed.
Offering: The Chosen must ritualistically scar
herself before her first ever use of this power, inflict-
ing a point of lethal damage in the process. This
leaves a spiraling, looping scar down an arm or leg.
This scar must be replaced if the limb is badly injured
(such as by burns or flaying) or severed from the
body. This new scar does not need to be on the same
limb. The damage inflicted by the scarring process
must heal naturally.
Far from Natural
The Chosen becomes more than human. Kroll
grants His supplicant the power to produce claws,
fangs or tentacles, either as permanent features or on
command. Most Chen prefer summoning these alien
body parts at will as permanently growing tentacles
draws much unwanted attention.
Cost: None or 1 Willpower. If the weapon or
weapons are not permanent mutations, then it costs 1
Willpower to manifest them for the scene. Hiding,
retracting or sheathing them costs nothing.
79
 The Chosen of Kroll (Conspiracy)

Action: Permanent or reflexive.
Duration: Permanent or scene.
Dice Pool: None.
Effect: Upon learning this rite, the Chosen gains a
pair of claws, a mouth filled with fangs or a tentacle
that acts as an extra limb. These may be permanently
affixed to her body or reflexively appear and disap-
pear on command.
Claws and fangs are 2(L) Brawl-based weapons.
Tentacles act as 1(B) Brawl-based weapons and gain
the 9-again quality when grappling. Each tentacle
past the first grants an additional +1 modifier to rele-
vant attack and grapple rolls.
This rite may be purchased multiple times. A
Chosen may only have one pair of claws and one set
of fangs, unless she somehow has more than two
hands or one mouth. She may have up to (Abyssal
Blessing) tentacles.
Offering: When first gaining this blessing, she
sacrifices and eats an animal with body parts similar
to the ones she wishes to acquire. The meat must be
consumed raw. And, no, sushi does not count.
The Fleshy
Minds of Mammals
The Chosen channels the otherworldly nature of
the Dread Lord and radiates with an unnatural aura.
This helps elicit either a strong reaction of fear or lust
from anyone who sees her.
Contrary to the Blessing’s name, this affects any
intelligent being even if it is not a mammal. This is
unlikely to be an issue but the Chosen may wish to
manipulate the mental state of a lizard-man or a hu-
manoid cockroach.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Until next sunrise.
Dice Pool: None.
Effect: She gains the 9-again quality for all Pres-
ence and Manipulation rolls to intimidate, distract or
confuse (if she chose fear) or to persuade, seduce, dis-
tract or deceive (if she chose lust). She cannot per-
form the ritual twice and gain both bonuses.
Offering: A cleaned animal spine wrapped in the
animal’s dried skin is “offered” into a body of water.
This could be from any animal, mundane or super-
natural, or even a human being. Humans are, after
all, just animals.
Strange Visions
The Chosen is able to secretly see through the
eyes of another person. The target has no clue if or
when this privacy violation occurs.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant and resisted.
Duration: (Successes) days.
Dice Pool: (Intelligence + Abyssal Blessings
against the victim’s (Wits + Composure). Resistance
is reflexive.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The target is unaffected but
knows exactly where the Chosen is. The target does
not know what happened but knows who did it.
Failure: The target is unaffected except for a cold
chill down his spine.
Success: The Chosen may see through the vic-
tim’s eyes at any time for (successes) days. This can
be done for as long or as many times as she wants.
Changing point-of-view is an instant action. The Cho-
sen cannot see from her natural body while doing
this but has access to her other senses.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above but the
Chosen is able to use other senses as well, allowing
her to hear, taste, smell or “touch” what the victim
does. She will temporarily lose the ability to use this
sense for her own environment.
Offering: The Chosen eats an uncooked eye from
a sacrificed person or animal while looking at the
victim. There is no range limitation, only that she can
see the victim at the time.

Rites that Should Not Be

The Abyssal Blessings Endowment is derived from the rites of cults dedicated to Things that
Should Not Be, as described in WoD: Second Sight (Chapter Four, “Reality-Bending Horrors”). In-
formation on Rites begins on page 139. Storytellers may allow players to use other Rites in that
chapter as the basis for additional Abyssal Blessings.
It is also possible to retool the Abyssal Blessings Endowment so that it grants access to Rites in
Second Sight.
Sight Rites are ranked from levels one to five. Each dot of Abyssal Blessings gives the
character access to one Rite of that rating or lower. So the first dot gives access to a level one Rite.
The Second dot gives access to either a level one or two Rite, and so on.

80
 The Chosen of Kroll (Conspiracy)

local cult. You thought he only had the Swiss

Storytelling Guard but that’s unfortunately not the case.
These priest-soldiers are mean motherfuckers.
Protagonists Mr. Sandman: Pursuing monsters that prey
Chosen cells are tight-knit cults led by a on people sometimes leads to the discovery of
priest or priestess. The Storyteller will likely previously unknown abominations. A creature
use the NPC priest and Krolli to give guidance your cult nicknamed the “Sandman” is literally
and plot-relevant hints to the PC Chosen. Iso- stealing people’s sleep. Its powers work both
lated Chosen exist but are rare as the cults are ways, as you unfortunately discovered, with it
always recruiting. able to put even fully-awake hunters into a
A hunter already involved with the Vigil brief but deep sleep during the middle of com-
may be contacted by a Krolli as long as she bat. You may never know what this thing is –
does not already have dots in any Endowment. likely either a freak of nature or a member of
Not all hunters will welcome being Chosen. A an undocumented species – but you know it
Null Mysteriis scientist might try different drug needs to die. Better stock up on caffeine pills
cocktails until something shuts the voice up. A and energy drinks for the next hunt.
Loyalist of Thule may undertake tireless occult
research for a “cure.” A good Christian in the
Long Night might beg for an exorcism and des-
Antagonists
Of all hunters, the Chosen most severely
perately cling to his faith in God.
blur the line between human and monster,
Infestation: You wish you had never heard
even more than the Cheiron Group or Lucifuge.
the word “wereroach.” If people think tentacles
By some groups’ definitions, the Chosen are
and slime are disgusting, they’ve obviously
monsters and fair game in the Vigil. Militant or
never witnessed a pack of human-sized cock-
violent organizations, including Task Force:
roach feasting on stray dogs and cats in an
VALKYRIE, will likely take this route.
abandoned warehouse. Their territory en-
Their cultish organization usually unnerves
croaches on your cult’s neighborhood. The sew-
hunters from mainstream religions. Not sur-
ers they scuttle through pass beneath your
prisingly, religious groups like the Long Night
priest’s apartment, the place you use for devo-
seek to convert the Chosen to a more respect-
tional gatherings. Roaches might survive a nu-
able faith. This is more likely to generate con-
clear holocaust but they cannot withstand the
flict than save souls.
Dread Lord’s wrath.
Then there are the “wild card” hunters like
There’s one slight complication. While
the Ashwood Abbey. The decadent Abbey mem-
werewolves and other shapeshifters seem to
bers will no doubt find alternative uses for ten-
change voluntarily, you believe wereroaches
tacles than as weapons. The Chosen may not
are forced to change and their condition is ac-
particularly like this sort of attention, although
tually a disease. Its symptoms and progression
a few might not mind.
appear similar to radiation poisoning.
It is also possible to use the Chosen of Kroll
Kroll wants you to destroy monsters that
and the Dread Lord as a story’s main villains.
prey on humans, so what if the human half of
What exactly is Kroll? What does He really
the wereroach is actually the victim in all of
want from His servants and humanity in gen-
this? What if it has no control over or even
eral?
memory of their actions while in their mon-
The End is Nigh: Cults have always made
strous form?
you nervous, even when the cult is comprised
Nobody Expects the Inquisition: You and
entirely of humans. So when your cell discov-
other local Chosen have recently suffered vio-
ered a cult of tentacle-waving monsters pre-
lent attacks by, of all things, Catholic priests.
tending to be human, you were not so much
Rumor has it that someone who just accepted a
nervous as scared shitless.
Krolli was wracked by Catholic guilt and went
Through your contacts and extensive re-
to a confessional. This freshly Chosen idiot
search, you’ve learned that the cult plans to
spilled everything the Krolli told him to the
summon their evil god, presumably to wreck
listening priest. The privacy of the confessional
havoc on or outright destroy the world. They
apparently doesn’t mean as much as it used to.
also plan to do this under the darkness of the
The Pope doesn’t approve and, more disturb-
next new moon – which happens to be tomor-
ingly, sent his personal militia to deal with the
row night.

81
 The woman is certainly not the archetypical mon-
ster hunter. She carries no wooden stakes, no holy
water, no religious texts. Nothing about her can be
described as “dark” or “brooding.” She looks and
dresses like a normal woman in her early thirties and
does not pretend to be anything different. Sure, she
just broke into someone else’s empty home and plans
to kill the owner, but she is otherwise normal.
The hunter unfolds the bipod and holds her gun
over the kitchen’s island. It was a custom M16A4
assault rifle with collapsible stock, detachable folding
bipod, night vision scope, LED tactical illuminator
and both regular and infrared laser sights. She nor-
mally relied on lower-profile weapons but doesn’t
want to take any chances. Not this time. Not with
this target.
This operation took months of planning and re-
search, mostly because she refused to let the rest of
her cell help. She stalked her target and found its re-
mote wilderness home. It lived off the grid, had nei-
ther a phone nor a TV and relied on solar panels for
electricity. There wasn’t even a genuine mailing ad-
dress, just a post office box located half an hour away
in the nearest town. The one mistake her target made
was occasionally using its laptop at the town’s only
internet café.
The hunter did not want to take any chances. She
placed microphones throughout the area, went to its
house while it was out and fired several blank rounds
into the air. None of the mics near the neighbors’ dis-
tant homes picked up anything noteworthy or recog-
nizable as an assault rifle on full auto. She collected
the mics and spent cartridges, of course. Be careful,
be paranoid, be safe.
Then the hunter hears a noise and freezes. First
came the click and thud of a lock being undone fol-
lowed by the squeak of an old door opening. It was
home early.
It was too early. The hunter hadn’t even set up
the motion sensors yet.
No time, no time –
The hunter quietly prepares to fire at the first
sign of movement. There is no point in using her
night vision scope; what if her target turns the lights
on ? That would be a pathetic way to die, startled and
blinding by simple in-door lighting.
Her target appears briefly as it walks by the
kitchen’s archway, the only way in or out of the
room. It does not pause as it walks by and is proba-
bly headed to the bedroom or bathroom down the
hall. It has no idea. It looks so calm, so tired and so
disgustingly familiar.
The hunter opens fire and unloads half of her clip
before the creature even knows what’s happening. It
dives into the adjacent dining room and out of sight.
She sees it twist and warp in the spray of blood and
blur of motion that ensues. Vines wrap around the
creature and thorns sprout from its pores. Her target
is a rose in dandelion’s clothing.
No second chances, move into position, reacquire tar-
get, reacquire –
She walks hunched and sideways, maintaining
her gaze on the archway to make sure the creature
doesn’t try making a break for it. Any door or arch is
a potential escape route. The gun’s bipod is still ex-
tended and she doesn’t care. Stealth is now irrelevant
and she turns her tactical illuminator – a lavish name
for a flashlight attachment – on its brightest setting.
A red-on-green vine lashes out of the shadows
and the hunter barely dodges. A second follows, then
a third, cutting her left cheek and tearing through the
denim and flesh of her right thigh. She quickly uses
the vines’ positions to triangulate their point of origin
and aims.
The tactical illuminator shows a hideous sight,
the monstrous version of a wood nymph or nature
spirit hunched on the floor as it clutches its bleeding
mid-section. The vines come from the creature’s
head, where its hair should be, and a circle of red
thorns crowns her brow. Eyes of hypnotically swirl-
ing green hues glow brightly in the illuminator’s
blinding light.
The hunter does not hesitate and fires on full-
auto. The creature recoils with a screech and rolls
onto the ground. She drops the empty clip to the
ground and replaces it with a fresh forty rounds. The
switch is instinctive and nearly subconscious.
For a fraction of a second, she wonders when she
went from being a nursing assistant to a soldier. Not
a soldier in title or employment but in mentality.
When did she learn so much about weapons on the
black and grey markets? When did she start spending
more time at the firing range than with her children?
Was it when the nightmares and mood swings
started? Was that when this creature first stepped
foot on earth? Was that when her husband started
planning a divorce or was it around the time he took
sole custody of the kids?
None of that matters. All that matters is here,
now and the flower-woman staining the carpet with
its pale green blood.
The dying creature sees the hunter clearly for the
first time and the rage drains from its face. All that’s
left is a curious sadness as it realizes they share the
same features. The haircuts may be different but the
flesh and bone are identical. “It’s not fair,” it says
softly. “You’re not even real.”
“Funny,” the hunter, the fetch, says as she aims
at the changeling’s head. “I was going to say the
same thing about you.”
 The Regency of Thorns (Conspiracy)

World of
Madness
Outside the visible world is a
beautiful and confusing realm
built of nightmares. It is ruled by
gods with endless power and
time to play, kill and mutilate.
This is Arcadia and its mad gods
play by alien rules. Their concept
of morality is incomprehensible to
inferior humans: virtue and vice
are inverted; manipulation and
lies are mores; bloodlust and be-
trayal are expected.
The barrier between Earth
and Arcadia is the semi-
permeable Hedge. Its exact ap-
pearance varies per locale (forest,
swamp, desert flora, subterranean
tunnels) but it manifests as nature
-gone-mad in all forms. Hobgob-
lins and monsters of all shapes
and sizes stalk its twisting briars
unchecked.
A favorite pastime of the Ar-
cadian gods is to kidnap unsus-
pecting humans and drag them
screaming through the Hedge.
The gods twist and warp their
captives into something … else,
into changelings. These slaves’
new forms suits whatever pur-
pose the Arcadian wants: a brut-
ish soldier to fight in pointless
eternal wars; a beautiful living statue or impossibly
the King of Dead Leaves. The King, like all Arcadi-
skilled musician existing only for the god’s amuse-
ans, was considerably weaker on Earth than in his
ment; a mix of animal and man kept on a short leash
native land. While still a force to be reckoned with,
as a pet or plaything.
his powers were infinitesimal compared to what he
Considering their rampant immorality, it may be
welded as a god.
surprising to learn that wayward Arcadian gods risk
Like changelings, the King appeared human ex-
permanent exile on Earth. They remain unaging and
cept to other beings from Arcadia or manipulated by
ageless but lose a significant amount of power once
Arcadian magic. His only telling sign was when
on humanity’s side of the Hedge. What would an
pieces of his shadow periodically blew away like au-
Arcadian need to do to offend his fellow immoral
tumn leaves. Even then, changelings had no reason to
and immortal sinners so greatly?
suspect the King was anything more than another,
albeit powerful, changeling.
The Dethroned God The King had many enemies in Arcadia and no
One particular banished Arcadian claimed his allies on Earth. That needed correcting immediately.
banishment was completely justified: he wanted to He began contacting changelings’ families, people
prevent an Arcadian invasion of Earth. who had no idea their relatives had been abducted
His true name was an unpronounceable rustling and experimented on by Arcadians. These humans
that roughly translated as El Rey de las Hojas Muertas, had the most reason to care about his story and des-

84
 The Regency of Thorns (Conspiracy)
perately needed enlightenment. Once informed, they
would be the only ones capable of helping the King
halt the Arcadians’ invasion plans.
A Hundred
Blind Cousins
Changelings believe that doppelgangers called
“fetches” are left in their place so no one knows they
were abducted. The changelings are missing persons
who never officially went missing. Their families live
with the fetch and have no reason to suspect foul
play, let alone supernatural intervention.
According to the King of Dead Leaves, that’s not
entirely accurate. In fact, it’s remarkably wrong.
Arcadians do capture humans, that much is true,
but only to harvest part of the person’s soul and re-
place it with “filler material.” The harvested part of
the soul, the “shard” as the King called it, is shaped
into a changeling. The human and three-fourths of
his soul are returned home with no memory of the
event. The shard-turned-changeling remains in Arca-
dia and is immediately put to work.
The fetches aren’t a lie; the changelings are. Any
personality shifts in the fetch result from the human
losing a quarter of his or her soul.
And that’s not the worst part.
Changelings do not escape back to earth. No one
escapes from gods. Changelings, once they serve
their purpose in Arcadia or when their masters get
bored, are intentionally released on Earth. Why else
are changelings’ memories of their escape hazy or
completely nonexistent? There was no escape.
So what does this have to do with a hyper-
dimensional invasion? Arcadians don’t particularly
like going to Earth. Except for banished Arcadians,
staying on Earth for several hours is physically pain-
ful and emotionally distressing. And, again, they’re
comparatively limited in power here. But Arcadians
are fascinated by humans. They like human frailties,
emotions and malleability. It’s humanity’s native en-
vironment that’s the problem.
The Hedge keeps both sides in check, with nei-
ther Earth encroaching on Arcadia nor Arcadia in-
truding on Earth. There is overlap here and there,
yes, some cross-pollination and mutations, but noth-
ing extreme. If the Hedge was ever weakened, the
overlapping would become more dramatic and no-
ticeable. The very idea of the Hedge could eventually
become obsolete as whole terrestrial forests are over-
God is dead, God remains dead and
I set his corpse on fire just to be sure.
run by goblins and supernatural vegetation.
Changelings unintentionally make this possible
more and more day by day. They frequently venture
into the Hedge for personal gain, easier transporta-
tion or escape. Any door or archway on Earth could
become a gate into the Hedge at a changeling’s com-
mand. Slowly but surely, the Hedge is breaking
down due to changelings’ ignorance and indiffer-
ence. The best part is that the Arcadians don’t need to
waste precious time on Earth in inferior forms; their
unwitting slaves do all the work for them.
Once the Hedge becomes unrecognizable, Arca-
dia will freely bleed into Earth. The limitations on
Arcadians venturing outside their realm will lessen
until such limitations completely cease to exist. Earth
will become another playground for the uncaring
and all-powerful Arcadian gods – and there’s noth-
ing humanity could possibly do to defend itself.
First Contact
The King knew the names of several hundred
changelings and used this knowledge to begin build-
ing an army. Through trickery, coercion and ar-
ranged meetings, the King made or forced dozens of
fetches to see their corresponding changelings. The
King usually introduced himself to the fetch after it
saw its changeling but before it made contact. Faced
with undeniable evidence that magical body doubles
were running loose, the fetches and their families
often believed anything else the King told them.
Many chose to join the King’s personal hit squad.
The King never pretended to be a good person
and readily admitted as much. He was not trying to
save humanity from an alien invasion. Earth did not
need protecting from Arcadia; Arcadia needed pro-
tecting from Earth. The King feared his fellow Arcadi-
ans were wrong and that destroying the Hedge
would allow properties of the human world to enter
Arcadia. Instead of expanding the gods’ dominion, it
would annihilate Arcadian civilization and eliminate
magic. While spiteful over his banishment, the King
did not want a civilization he spent millennia build-
ing to crumble without good reason.
The King’s exile began in São Paulo, Brazil but
his journeys brought him throughout Latin America
and eventually into the southern United States. He
showed a remarkable proficiency in Portuguese,
Spanish and English that was never explained. He
established cells in cities with known changeling
courts so his hunters had plenty of prey to pick form.
85
 The Regency of Thorns (Conspiracy)
Even now, the modern Regency remains most active
in places the King personally visited.
Forbidden Fruit
Humans lack changeling’s fairy magic and are no
match for Arcadians. After three years of raids and
assassination attempts using iron-tipped homemade
arrows, the King realized the compact needed teeth.
The King still had access to the Hedge and estab-
lished several private safe spots, “Hollows,” within
its Thorns. He took native vegetation and earthly
plants and began a complicated hybridization proc-
ess. Another five years passed and dozens of captive
changelings and hobgoblins were drained of blood
and magic before the gardens were perfected.
The King called his creation manzanas espinosas,
loosely translated and colloquially called “thorn-
apples.” The fruit resembles small apples that grow
inside thorn-covered shells before ripening and fal-
ling to the ground. Thornapples come in nine differ-
ent colors and each provides a unique supernatural
bonus to whoever eats it. The hunters gradually built
a tolerance for the thornapples and, once they
stopped vomiting after each bite, their bodies
adapted to the alien food. Thornapples provide extra
protection against changelings’ magic, heal wounds
unnaturally fast or grant access to the Hedge.
The hunters quickly became genuine threats to
changelings and even Arcadians. As the fairy body
count rose, so did the hunters’ pride and bloodlust.
Maybe the invasion could be stopped. Perhaps the
Arcadians would give up and decide Earth wasn’t
worth the trouble.
Regicide
It was around this time that the hunters were first
referred to as La Corte del Rey, “the King’s Court.”
The changeling courts originally used this title as a
derisive and sarcastic jab at the hunters’ level of
power and influence. Once news of this reached the
hunters, the name immediately caught on and stuck.
Two years after the thornapples’ introduction,
and about ten years before the present-day, the self-
declared leaders and nobility among the changelings
decided to take a new course of action. Combat was
not working; perhaps a truce would. A dozen
changeling courts and freeholds made contact with
the King’s Court in their cities, often losing a messen-
ger or two before finally getting the message deliv-
ered. In short, the changelings were willing to make a
deal. Each court would create a strictly enforced law
that declared any changeling who opened a new
gateway into the Hedge would be put to death — if
86
the hunters stopped attacking changelings belonging
to these courts. Some courts were even willing to let
the hunters destroy several preexisting gateways as a
sign of good faith.
The hunters and changelings arranged a meeting
on neutral territory in Guadalajara and planned a
conference to hash out the deal’s details. The King of
Dead Leaves and two dozen hunters represented the
King’s Court while three changeling representatives
came from each court or freehold interested in nego-
tiating a truce. Changelings are notoriously obsessive
about deals and contracts and the hunters expected a
drawn-out and overly-formal process. That is exactly
what they got.
No one knows exactly what happened or why,
but no one left the conference alive. On the sixth and
final day, a panicked voicemail left by a hunter in
attendance reported someone assassinated the King
of Dead Leaves with an iron-tipped crossbow bolt to
the head. Two missed calls from other hunters were
reported roughly two hours earlier. A bugged phone
used by a changeling freehold also received a missed
call at this time. Regardless of who shot first, every-
one in attendance died in the crossfire.
Leaderless and infuriated, the hunters began a
new wave of violence against the changelings. They
renamed themselves La Regencia de las Espinhos, the
“Regency of Thorns.” The Regency vowed to show
no mercy, especially not towards the courts that mar-
tyred the King of Dead Leaves.
The King is dead. Long live the King.
Hidden Among
the Thorns
The secrets of cultivating and harvesting thorn-
apples did not die with the King. Knowing that death
was a real possibility considering his weakened state,
the King had the foresight to teach select members of
the future Regency everything required to grow the
alien fruit. There was one major problem the hunters
needed to work around – thornapples can only be
grown in the Hedge.
The Hedge is not all nightmares; it is possible to
find a thoroughly pleasant oasis or grotto within its
vast and increasingly unearthly vegetation. Unfortu-
nately, most of the “good spots” are either taken or
too well-documented for the hunters’ liking. Change-
lings often convert these safe patches into Hollows,
occasionally going as far as living there despite the
obvious dangers.
Even Hollows are not safe; nowhere is safe in the
insidious and expansive Hedge. The Thorns claim
and reclaim whenever and wherever they can. A
 The Regency of Thorns (Conspiracy)
stream-flanked, light-filled valley can become a mine-
field of briars and skewered corpses overnight.
The Hedge feeds on changelings and can be ap-
peased by an offering of their magical energy.
Changelings routinely claim small spaces of the
Hedge as their Hollows by offering some of their
power. The Thorns have their fill and are placated for
a time.
Then there’s another, rarely used option: offering
a changeling’s life to keep the local Hedge happy and
content. The changeling does not need to be a willing
participant and, if the Regency is involved, generally
isn’t. The specifics of the sacrifice can make even a
member of the Promethean Brotherhood squeamish
and are best left to the imagination. The Thorns lap
up the flowing blood and slowly pull back and coil to
form a solid dome of stained vegetation. Drunk on
blood, the Thorns will leave a hundred yard area
completely untouched. The walls begin slowly clos-
ing in again after at least one year, but they are slow
to awaken and uncharacteristically give plenty of
warning that reclamation is near.
Most Hollows feature at least two entrances:
through the Hedge or through the mundane world.
The Regency’s groves are only accessible from the
mundane world. The only way in or out is a normal-
looking, albeit freestanding, doorway in the middle
of the grove.
The Regency does not take chances. Each grove
has at least one hunter stationed there at all times. No
one expects a lone hunter to do much against change-
lings or hobgoblins; the hunter is there largely to
detonate the explosives kept in the grove if it be-
comes compromised. It would be better to lose an
entire thornapple crop than let a single, precious fruit
fall into the enemy’s beautifully clawed hands.
The Enemy
Arcadians: They may be gods in Arcadia but are
quite mortal on Earth. To the uneducated, Arcadians
appear to be extremely powerful changelings. That is
a gross understatement – they master the magical arts
changelings only dabble in.
Arcadians embody their domains. The god of a
frozen wasteland wears a crown of icicles on a pale
brow haloed by continuously falling snowflakes. The
goddess of a wind-swept desert wears a gown of
swirling sands and evaporates the water and blood of
her enemies with an angry glance. A god of the dark
forest stalks his prey with a pack of hobgoblin blood-
hounds and a bow that fires arrows that always, al-
ways, pierce the heart.
The Regency occasionally runs afoul of the infa-
mous Wild Hunt, Arcadians and their pets that de-
light in hunting down humans and changelings for
sport. These hunts increasingly focus on the Regency
as these (human) hunters are potentially more inter-
esting prey than run-of-the-mill changelings. The
hunters literally become the hunted.
Changelings: While Arcadians are the Regency’s
primary targets, they are nowhere near as numerous
as changelings. Changelings are loosely categorized
into five groups based on loyalties and ideology as
their powers and appearances vary so greatly.
Bestias (Beasts): Arcadia births madness and

Inside the Hedge

The labyrinthine Hedge is more than a living maze: it confounds and traps visitors in many sub-
tle ways.
Radios, cell phones and the like cannot contact the outside world. Signals neither enter nor
leave the Hedge. This problem only gets worse over time as human technology becomes increas-
ingly less reliable the further one travels into the Hedge. Yes, this includes firearms. Penalties for
using human technology range from -1 to -5 depending on how deep into the Hedge one travels.
While in the Hedge, humans do not check for degeneration until after returning to Earth. The
Storyteller notes any actions characters take against their Morality while in the Hedge. Once back
on Earth, players make the appropriate roll or rolls starting with the most severe sin.
Changelings can no longer pretend to be human while inside the Hedge. Their illusions no
longer work and they appear as they really are. Even someone looking into the Hedge can see their
inhumanity. Monitoring a known gateway can provide remarkable amounts of information as
change-lings entering the gateway reveal their true forms and hint at their supernatural abilities.
The Hedge reacts to the emotions and alien auras of those inside of it. The more powerful the
creature, the more profound the environmental changes become. An ice-cold changeling is trailed
by sleet. An aquatic changeling subconsciously conjures up seaweed from within the thorns. It is
fairly easy to track a changeling as their proverbial footprints are often visible for an hour or more
after passing through an area. Trackers receive a +1 to +3 bonus when trailing, with the bonus
increasing with the overall power level of the prey.

87
 The Regency of Thorns (Conspiracy)
many changelings are driven insane from years in
captivity. Alternatively, their time in the human
world may shatter their minds; Earth is now alien to
them. Bestias are mentally-imbalanced loners prone
to violence and bloodshed.
Incendiarios (Arsonists): These are the closest
thing hunters have to changeling allies. Incendiarios
want to cut off all entrances and exits into Arcadia
and do not care about the repercussions. Many are
little more than antisocial terrorists. Do not be mis-
taken; they are still a threat.
Nobleza (Nobility): This is the largest changeling
faction and the one hunters will most likely encoun-
ter. Members of the Nobleza want new lives on
Earth, believing themselves to be escaped slaves
whose old lives are gone forever. They try to avoid
recapture and are usually clueless about their true
nature and how greatly they endanger the world(s).
The Nobleza gather in season-themed courts
based around common philosophies: spring
(hedonism and pleasure), summer (wrath and venge-
ance), autumn (fear and theft) and winter (stealth and
emotional detachment).
Revolucionarios (Revolutionaries): Changeling
militias dedicated to conquering Arcadia exist and
are, not surprisingly, comprised of violent idiots.
Their delusions of turning their former prison into a
paradise make even Bestias question their sanity.
Revolucionarios will sacrifice anyone and anything
for the greater cause. They will readily use hunters
and other changelings as bait for Arcadians and hon-
estly do not care if their “friends” survive.
Esclavos (Slaves): Spies, instigators and sabo-
teurs that knowingly serve Arcadians harass change-
lings and humans alike. This term is occasionally ap-
plied to the few humans serving, following or wor-
shiping the Arcadian gods.
Hobgoblins: Hobgoblins are the only truly in-
digenous creatures in the Hedge and are even more
diverse than changelings. The Regency believes hob-
goblins are warped and created by the Hedge itself,
unlike changelings which are willfully and purpose-
fully shaped by the Arcadians. Hobgoblins range
from bloodthirsty beasts stalking the Thorns to intel-
ligent, bargain-hungry, deal-making capitalists orga-
nizing “Goblin Markets” inside the Hedge. Regard-
less of their appearance or perceived intelligence,
hobgoblins are not to be trusted. They are still alien;
they are still the enemy.
Fetches :While one of the Regency’s main goals is
contacting and recruiting fetches, that does not mean
all fetches are trustworthy or stable. All fetches are a
bit … off due to their broken souls. Mental illnesses
and social problems abound. Losing part of one’s
88
soul makes the fetch feel hollow and incomplete.
While some fetches get by with medication and/or
support from the Regency, other fetches are no better
than Bestias. They are too mentally unhinged to be
helpful or trusted.
Miscellaneous Threats: Anything could be the
enemy. The same magic that makes changelings and
Arcadians look human, the Mask, affects their ob-
jects, tools and pets. Anything touched and altered by
the Arcadians looks no more unusual than it did be-
fore. The neighbor’s dog might be a hobgoblin. A
Zippo lighter is really more powerful than a flame-
thrower. A dashboard hula girl statuette warps real-
ity and bends probability with every swing of her
plastic hips. Be careful, be paranoid, be safe.
Hunters
You were hit by a car while crossing the street, on
a crosswalk in broad daylight nonetheless. The driver
stepped out and your eyes met – the driver looked
exactly like you did at seventeen years old. He
jumped back in the car, backed up and tried running
you over. You got off the street in time and ran as
best as you could with a broken leg. Your doppel-
ganger relentlessly pursued you and drove on the
curb to get a better hit. You ducked into a store to get
away and begged the storeowner to call the police.
You lived in fear for weeks and wasted all of your
sick days and personal days before being contacted
by the Regency. The Regency killed your evil twin
and used his fingerprints to find out who you were.
They explained what it was – a changeling – and
what that made you – a fetch, a person missing part
of his soul. They also made it clear that you greatly
owed them.
It didn’t take a genius to realize your hiking trip
had gone horribly off course. The foliage slowly be-
came less recognizable the further you and your
friends entered the woods. Your GPS and satellite
phone stopped working around the time you saw the
glowing red eyes of what could only be described as
an ogre. You were taken aback when, instead of beat-
ing you and gnashing your bones, the ogre asked for
identification. Apparently the “market” was invita-
tion-only and he did not recognize you on the guest
list. One of your friends stammered out a response,
you don’t remember the wording, but it was appar-
ently a wrong answer. The ogre sighed then noncha-
lantly ripped your friend in half and splashed the im-
mediate area in blood. Thankfully, a team of camou-
flaged men with shotguns and improvised explosives
intervened to save you and your comrades. They
were apparently planning to ambush the market but
 The Regency of Thorns (Conspiracy)
changed their plans to rescue you. While
they missed an opportunity to kill dozens Translation, Please.
of hobgoblins and changelings, they Most members of the Regency speak Spanish as their
gained you and your surviving friends as first or only language. Below is a partial list of common,
fresh recruits in the Regency. game-specific terms that Regency members in the Spanish-
You’ve been with the Regency since speaking world would use.
the beginning. Your sister was contacted
by the King of Dead Leaves and subse- English Spanish
Arcadia Arcadia
quently revealed to be a fetch. She died in
Arcadian (True Fae) Arcadiano (m)
combat but managed to kill her change-
Arcadiana (f)
ling a month earlier. Your family didn’t Changeling Feérico (m)
even get the option of burying her – her Feérica (f)
body collapsed into a pile of cogs and Fetch Incompleto (m)
wire. Years of active service, injuries and Incompleta (f)
nightmares has progressively caught up Goblin Fruit Fruta Feérica
with you. You officially retired from your Goblin Market Mercado Feérico
day job and spend more time tending a The Hedge El Seto
thorn-apple grove in the Hedge than you Hobgoblin Duende
do on Earth. It’s not like you’re missing King of Dead Leaves El Rey de las Hojas Muertas
anything – your parents are both dead
and most of your oldest friends in the Regency died entrances into the Hedge. The problem with closing a
or burnt out before you. gateway is that changelings could always make an-
The bug-eyed Greys? The shape-shifting Reptili- other one in the same general area. Condes must se-
ans? The all-too-Nazi-looking Nordics? Guess what – cure an area, actually drive out the local changelings,
they’re Arcadians. All of them. The alien invasion is and make sure it does not fall back into enemy hands.
not from another world but another universe. You The resulting conflicts often appear to be gang turf
know other hunters in the Regency don’t take your wars to outsiders like the police.
theories seriously but it’s impossible to deny the par- There is no single leader of the Condes but many
allels between the alien abduction phenomena and cities have a de facto leader who plans and coordi-
the Arcadians’ sick games. The abductees are part of nates the local Condes’ raids. A city dominated by
the Arcadians’ research and factor into their invasion Condes is called a Condado.
plans. They have to. So while the rest of the Regency Caballeros (Knights) patrol the Hedge and
tries locating and protecting fetches, you’re busy in- known gateways into it. Unlike the Condes who
filtrating and recruiting from support groups for ab- readily close gateways, Caballeros exploit these
ductees and contactees. openings as opportunities to lay traps. Sometimes
these take the form of ambushes; other times they are

Factions outright terrorist attacks. More than one goblin mar-

The Regency is effectively leaderless and still
struggles to find its identity even after years of
growth. Its members pull it in several different ideo-
logical directions at once. If not for a shared history, a
vastly more powerful common enemy and the hunt-
ers’ need for thornapples, many would form their
own distinct organizations and break contact with
the Regency forever.
The various factions use titles of nobility to inten-
tionally mock the changeling courts and entitlements.
Regency cells do not function like courts and lack the
formality of genuine nobility. Hunters occasionally
use the factions’ names as titles before personal
names (Condesa Gómez, Margrave Silva, etc.).
Condes (Counts) are the largest faction and focus
on closing all changeling- and Arcadian-controlled
ket has been devastated by homemade bombs
wrapped in layers of hand-sharpened iron. Cabal-
leros get into frequent screaming matches with the
Condes. It is hard to monitor and booby-trap a gate-
way when someone else unexpectedly seals it.
Caballero Matías Bustamante has produced the
Regency’s equivalent of the Anarchist’s Cookbook. He
creates, stars in and distributes a series of digital
video clips about how to most efficiently ambush
changelings in or near the Hedge. Topics include
properly filling shotgun shells with cold iron, making
victim-detonated traps, operating without leaving
fingerprints or DNA samples and building reliable
flamethrowers. While solely intended for the Re-
gency, these videos have found their way onto Net-
work Zero sites without Bustamante’s knowledge.
Hidalgos provide a mental and social support

89
 The Regency of Thorns (Conspiracy)

STEREOTYPES
Illuminated Brotherhood: I once found a guy tripping balls in the Hedge. At first, I assumed he
was under magical influence. How he could walk in a straight line, let alone navigate an alien di-
mension, is beyond me.
Long Night: I think we’re on the same side, as we’re both fighting to prevent the end of the
world. An Arcadian invasion is not much different than demonic armies marching forth from a
fiery abyss. Hell, I bet they’re the same thing.
Aves Minerva: This Minerva character sounds suspicious. The whole thing reeks of Arcadian
pledges and magic. These witches, or whatever they are, aren’t changelings or noticeably altered
by an Arcadian influence. Still, keep an eye on them.
The Lucifuge: They can supposedly summon Arcadians. Not intentionally, mind you, but they
can do it by mistake. Maybe they could help us lay traps and kidnap unsuspecting Arcadians ...
hmm, it’s worth looking into.

network for fellow fetches. While a handful of Hidal-
gos are human, they are almost exclusively fetches.
They work together to deal with their inherent iden-
tity crisis and cope with the knowledge that their
souls are no longer whole. Hidalgos focus on “the
fetch as a person” and make sure other fetches, espe-
cially fellow Hidalgos, do not further lose their hu-
manity through immoral actions and overly-violent
Vigils. Hidalgos discourage fetches from experiment-
ing with or trying to discover any supernatural abili-
ties granted by their partially Arcadian souls.
Their spiritual leader is Hidalga Vitória Jiménez,
a psychologist and fetch from Venezuela. She goes on
biannual tours to provide her fellow fetches with free
seminars and lectures about dealing with life as an
“incomplete human.” Home-printed copies of her
self-help book/autobiography Pensar en la Inmortali-
dad del Cangrejo are available in five languages.
Infantes, like the Hidalgos, are fetches. That’s
where the similarities end. The small but growing
Infante community pushes its members to discover
their inner power, to fight Arcadian fire with Arca-
dian fire. So what if a fetch’s dread powers are fueled
by alien filler material shoved into a hole in its soul?
It provides strength; it helps level the playing field.
Some Infantes do not use thornapples and rely exclu-
sively on “the power within.”
Infanta Sofía Sepúlveda is a rising star in the Re-
gency and has become the Infantes’ leader in all but
name. Sepúlveda wrote a series of pamphlets collec-
tively named A Lo Divino. She advocates exploiting
the fetches’ curse and turning it into a blessing.
Strength can be stolen from tragedy; power can be
drawn from pain.
Finally, Margraves are the glue binding these
groups together. Their primary goal is cultivating
and protecting the Regency’s thornapple groves
within the Hedge. Many Margraves once belonged to
other factions and are no longer in prime fighting
condition; they believe protecting the groves is the
only way they can meaningfully contribute to the
Regency’s cause.
The largely hermetic Margraves have no recog-
nizable leadership. Each Margrave operates inde-
pendently and mentors one or more Margraves-in-
training during their tenure. Thornapple groves vary
per Margrave: some feature modern connivances and
electronics powered by portable generators; others
are little more than an apple orchid with a wooden
shack in the middle.
Status
Status is earned by supporting the ever-brewing
war against Arcadia and/or embodying and embold-
ening a faction’s virtues and objectives.
• The Regency trusts you with its secrets. And, al-
most as importantly, your digestive system is start-
ing to trust thornapples. You may now buy dots in
the Tolerance Merit and purchase thornapples.
Please note that fetches cannot have more than two
dots of the Tolerance Merit. More information on
the Fetch Merit can be found on page 115.
••• If you are not already in a faction, someone is
bound to notice and steer you in a particular direc-
tion. If you belong to a faction, you’ve begun earn-
ing a name for yourself and attracted positive atten-
tion. You gain a more experienced or resourceful
hunter in the Regency as a free two-dot Mentor. If
you’re a fetch, this mentor is likely another fetch
who understands what you are going through.
••••• Your continuing exposure to Arcadian
magic has made you immune to its tricks. You gain
Unseen Sense (The Mask) for free. You always see
Arcadians and their ilk for what they truly are.
Changelings sometimes call people with this ability
“ensorcelled” and may grant this power at will.
If the hunter is a fetch, she instead gains a three-dot
Retainer. This is likely a fellow fetch looking for a
role model or mentor.

90
 The Regency of Thorns (Conspiracy)
Endowment:
Tolerance
The Tolerance Merit represents how well a
hunter’s body processes thornapples. Anyone with-
out this Merit who eats a thornapple will suffer what
is best described as food poisoning (a Dramatic Fail-
ure). Even the hunters in the Regency go through this
sickening phase as their bodies gradually build up a
tolerance for the alien fruit.
Tolerance is purchased like any other Merit. The
boons granted by thornapples last longer as a
hunter’s Tolerance rating increases.
But how do thornapples go from secret groves in
the Hedge to a hunter’s stomach? The hunter must
contact a Margrave who, in turn, supplies the thorn-
apples the hunter wants. This is surprisingly easy as
most Regency cells have one or two Margraves they
exclusively rely on for thornapples. They might never
even meet the Margrave face-to-face; it can be as sim-
ple as placing “orders” by e-mail and finding thorn-
apples mysteriously in their fridge the next day.
Acquiring thornapples is not without a price. The
hunter must contribute to the thornapples’ further
growth and cultivation. As earthly plants need
sunlight, thornapples bask in memories and dreams.
Mechanically, buying thornapples costs 1 Experi-
ence Point or Practical Experience apiece. The morn-
ing after she acquires thornapples, the hunter awak-
ens with a mild derangement that persists for a num-
ber of days equal to how many thornapples she
bought. If she acquires additional thornapples before
the derangement dissipates, the duration increases
proportionally and it is upgraded to a severe de-
rangement. The derangement varies depending on
what type of memory or dream was taken (as deter-
mined by the Storyteller). The hunter has no say in
what dream or memory is taken and will likely never
know what she bartered away.
Hunters for the Regency start play with (Status +
Tolerance) number of thornapples and a mild de-
rangement of the Storyteller’s choice. The derange-
ment persists for (Status + Tolerance) days.
Eating a thornapple is considered either a reflex-
ive actions over two turns or an instant action for a
single turn. This assumes the hunter is capable of eat-
ing at the time. Upon eating a thornapple, the hunter
reflexively rolls her Stamina + Tolerance. The follow-
ing roll results apply to all thornapples:
Dramatic Failure: The effects do not work and
the hunter immediately throws up. She takes
(Tolerance) points of bashing damage. If she does not
have the Tolerance Merit, she instead takes (6 – Stam-
ina) points of bashing damage and has a -1 penalty
on all rolls for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: The effects do not work and the thorn-
apple is wasted. The hunter’s stomach churns and
she knows that she, and the thornapple, failed.
Success: The effects work as described.
Exceptional Success: The effects work as de-
scribed. The hunter also gains relief from the tempo-
rary derangement she acquired for getting the thorn-
apple. The derangement does not affect her for the
rest of the scene.
Black Thornapple
The hunter eats a sour and watery black thorn-
apple while looking at a changeling or anything else
empowered by Arcadian magic. A photo or video
does not suffice; she must actually see her subject.
She gains (Tolerance) dots of the subject’s Dread
Powers for the rest of the scene. She must know her
subject has these abilities in order to use them.
The cost of using these Dread Powers is doubled.
For example, if the hunter gains the Dread Power
“Tendrils,” it will cost 4 points of Willpower to acti-
vate. If a power does not normally require the expen-
diture of Willpower, she must spend a point of Will-
power the first time that power is used.
The hunter may only mimic the Dread Powers of
one subject at a time. She cannot take on another sub-
ject’s Dread Powers until the duration expires.
Blue Thornapple
For whatever reason, the blue thornapple is the
only thornapple that actually tastes like an apple.
Eating a blue thornapple gives the hunter “armor”
equal to her dots in Tolerance. This is not a physical,
tangible armor but provides protection nonetheless.
This Armor only works against Arcadian magic
in all its forms (contracts, pledges, etc.); it offers no
extra protection against mundane attacks. For exam-
ple, a changeling throwing a punch that is not mag-
ically enhanced would be unaffected by the invisible
armor. Now, if the changeling was under the effects
of Unholy Attribute (Strength) at the time, that’s an-
other story.
Gold Thornapple
Gold thornapples are invaluable to the Regency
and are central to its mission. Eating a gold thorn-
apple, a honey-flavored fruit with a metallic after-
taste, fills the hunter’s body with a warm tingling
feeling. This sensation does not last long, only half a
minute (ten turns), but allows her to do one of the
following during that time:
Open a preexisting gateway into the Hedge. She
91
 The Regency of Thorns (Conspiracy)
knocks on the entrance (door, window, archway, etc.)
and it opens before her to reveal the Hedge on the
other side. The gateway remains open for (Tolerance)
turns. This costs 1 point of Willpower.
Close a preexisting gateway into the Hedge.
Gateways usually remain open for several turns (see
above) and this is a good way to cover one’s tracks.
This costs nothing.
Create a new gateway into the Hedge by touch-
ing the structure and demanding it opens. This may
seem counterproductive to the Regency’s cause, but it
sometimes must be done. This takes two turns and
costs 2 points of Willpower (one point per turn).
Permanently close a preexisting gateway into
the Hedge. By touching the gateway and demanding
it be sealed forever, the entrance can never be turned
into a gateway again. This requires 3 points of Will-
power spent on three consecutive turns before the
gateway is sealed. A new gateway can never be cre-
ated within a (Presence + Tolerance) x 10 yard radius.
Green Thornapple
Anything altered by Arcadian magic appears
deceptively normal due to the so-called Mask. Eating
a sickeningly sweet green thornapple allows the
hunter to peer past the Mask and see changelings for
what they really are. Any other objects or creatures
concealed using Arcadian magic are also revealed.
The duration is a number of hours equal to the
hunter’s dots in the Tolerance Merit.
Red Thornapple
Red thornapples provide an emergency escape
route from the Hedge. By eating a juicy red thorn-
apple, which tastes disturbingly like raw meat, a
hunter instantly reappears outside the Hedge in the
general vicinity of where she originally entered it.
The combination of an awful taste and the side-
effects of suddenly shifting position in time and
space produce a rather horrible, stomach-churning
feeling within the hunter. She either spends one point
of Willpower or suffers three points of bashing dam-
age from bloody vomiting. As a side note, samples of
the vomited blood shows it is not always the same
blood type as the person it came from.
Silver Thornapple
A hunter’s skin and eyes pale after eating a sharp
flavored silver thornapple. For the next (Tolerance)
turns, the hunter’s touch has the same effects as cold
iron. This means Brawl-based attacks ignore change-
lings’ Defense and armor. Similar attacks against Ar-
cadians inflict aggravated damage.
92
If a changeling eats a silver thornapple, his De-
fense is effectively 0 for the rest of the scene.
There are two different prices the hunter may
choose to pay:
(1) Spend 2 points of Willpower after eating the
thornapple. Its effects begin the same turn as the
second point is spent.
(2) Take 1 point of bashing damage per turn from
wracking coughs and suddenly chills for the next
5 turns after the duration expires.
Violet Thornapple
By eating a violet thornapple, the hunter becomes
temporarily immune to all sources of bashing dam-
age. The duration is equal to (Tolerance x 5) turns.
The overly ripe taste of a violet thornapple lin-
gers in the hunter’s mouth for the rest of the scene.
She may either spend a point of Willpower to ignore
it or suffer a -1 dice pool penalty to all Mental and
speech-based Social rolls. This penalty begins the
turn after she eats the thornapple.
White Thornapple
Unlike most thornapples, the white thornapple
does not immediately grant a supernatural bonus.
The bland-tasting fruit remains in the hunter’s sys-
tem for 15 seconds (5 turns) before any noticeable
changes occur.
By spending a point of Willpower (and waiting
patiently), the hunter heals 5 bashing, 3 lethal or 1
aggravated point(s) of damage. The damage is healed
at a rate of one point per turn.
The hunter may only safely eat white thornap-
ples (Tolerance) times per week. Further attempts
induce vomiting and inflict 3 points of bashing dam-
age. No one is quite sure why this happens.
Yellow Thornapple
Yellow thornapples are a nap in every bite. Eat-
ing one produces a relaxing feeling comparable to
waking up from a good night’s rest. While consid-
ered delicious and often compared to candy, the de-
scribed taste varies per person.
For the next (Tolerance) turns after eating a yel-
low thornapple, the hunter receives a +1 bonus to
Composure-based rolls but a -1 penalty to Wits-based
rolls. She is more relaxed but less alert.
Eating a yellow thornapple also restores a point
of spent Willpower. This may only be done once in a
24 hour period. Furthermore, it can only be done
(Tolerance) times per week. Any extra attempts, in 24
hours or a week, provide the dice pool bonuses men-
tioned above but do not restore Willpower.
 The Regency of Thorns (Conspiracy)

That won’t do. The fetch displays an uncanny

Storytelling
Protagonists
It does not matter how sympatric or pitiful
a changeling acts; it cannot be permitted to
continue ripping holes in the barrier between
worlds. The Regency is more than willing to
kill the changeling if that is the only way to
stop it. One or more universes could die if the
Regency falters. There can be no compromises.
Even though the Regency has several
means of detecting changelings, the hunters
are justifiably paranoid. The enemy can pop
out of the Hedge at any natural or manmade
entranceway. Arcadians have captured thou-
sands or millions of humans so what makes
the hunters immune to abduction?
The Briar Patch: You and your cell have
become lost in the Hedge. No one in your cell
has a red or gold thornapple handy so you are
forced to find a preexisting gateway in order to
escape back to earth. Unfortunately, a pack of
hobgoblin briarwolves patrols that patch of the
Hedge and uses the gateway as a trap. These
aren’t werewolves; briarwolves are perpetually
half-man, half-beast monstrosities with dis-
turbing hints of intelligence glimmering in
their yellow eyes. The only way to escape is to
outwit or overpower the briarwolves on their
home turf.
The Loyal Fetch: Your cell has met an un-
usual fetch; he already knows he’s a fetch and
bought into the lie, believing changelings are
the true humans and fetches are constructed
from sticks, straw and other garbage found
lying around. This fetch has now taken an in-
terest in your cell and the Regency as a whole.
He sees no harm in the Regency killing
changelings but finds the hunters’ ultimate
goal of killing Arcadians to be quite unsettling.
ability at attracting Arcadians to his, and your,
location. Can your cell survive persistent at-
tacks from vengeful Arcadian gods? Can you
even confront the fetch without him summon-
ing a small Arcadian army to defend himself?
The Overgrown: An invasive species of
vines with poisonous tomato-like fruit has be-
gun overgrowing numerous thornapple groves.
Whole groves have been lost to these invaders.
No one knows what or who caused this prob-
lem or where the vines originally came from.
That’s also not the biggest problem – the rival
factions of the Regency are fighting for control
of the few unspoiled thornapple groves.
Antagonists
The World of Darkness is not entirely black
-and-white. Some hunters are on good terms
with a changeling or even an entire court or
freehold. The Regency views all changelings as
threats and fair game regardless of who or
what its friends are.
The Regency frequently destroys gateways
into the Hedge. Hunters dedicated to explora-
tion and discovery might consider a gateway to
be a vital resource or, worse, be inside the
Hedge when the Regency destroys their only
known way back to Earth.
Apple Cores: Your cell is investigating a
series of disappearances that you believe are
the work of a supernatural beast. The missing
persons’ homes have all been thoroughly
trashed and show clear signs of struggle. Oth-
erwise, the cases have nothing in common -
the victims are from completely different back-
grounds and operate in unrelated social cir-
cles. Clues are scarce and your only major lead
is the apple cores that keep popping up at the
crime scenes.

Sample Briarwolf
Mental Attributes:
Attributes Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes:
Attributes Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4
Social Attributes:
Attributes Presence 1, Manipulation 1, Composure 2
Mental Skills:
Skills Investigation (Tracking) 4
Physical Skills:
Skills Athletics 2, Brawl (Claws) 5, Stealth 5, Survival 3
Social Skills:
Skills Animal Ken (Prey Reactions) 3, Intimidation 3
Merits:
Merits Allies (Pack) 3, Danger Sense, Brawling Dodge, Direction Sense, Fast Reflexes 2, Fleet of
Foot 3, Fresh Start, Language (Wolf)
Morality:
Morality 3 Virtue:
Virtue Fortitude Vice:
Vice Wrath
Initiative:
Initiative 8 Defense:
Defense 3 Speed:
Speed 15
Health:
Health 9 Willpower:
Willpower 5
Dread Powers:
Powers Clamber 2, Dread Attack (Fangs & Claws) 2, Lurker in Darkness 3, Terrify 2
Special:
Special Its thick hide grants Armor 1/1 and allows the briarwolf to ignore wound penalties.

93
DEFENDERS OF MOTHER RUSSIA
 CLEARANCE V-BLUE (censored)
TIME STAMP [CLASSIFIED], 0400 UTC
TRANSLATOR [REDACTED], Rusted Hammer Unit
TRANSCRIBER [REDACTED], Rusted Hammer Unit
SUMMARY
Yegor [REDACTED]’s handler supplies him with more injections. They exchange manila folders
from bulletproof briefcases and discuss the members of Yegor’s cell. The purposes of this meet-
ing appear to be (1) supplying Yegor with more of the unknown drug and (2) discussing which
members of the cell are trustworthy. They quickly conclude Nikoloz [REDACTED] must be elimi-
nated. 1LT Claire (“Svetlana”) [REDACTED]’s infiltration has not been discovered by the Rus-
sian operative or the other members of the compromised cell.

TRANSCRIPT
[STATIC] [3 min, 18 sec]
[Rusted Hammer’s A/V bug experiences technical difficulties, presumably the result of sweeping and jamming attempts by
the handler (“H”). Bug adapts and begins recording partway into the conversation.[1] The handler is in the process of inject-
ing the first syringe into Yegor’s (“Y”) chest.]
Y: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] still burns. I get these shots three times a year and it still burns every single time.
H: The pain is imaginary. [UNINTELLIGIBLE] your bloodstream. Except for a pinprick upon injection, it never enters
[UNINTELLIGIBLE].
[STATIC] [42 sec]
Y: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] to suspect. All I do is report back to you, so what could they notice? I am not the one running back-
ground checks and other inquiries. They have no reason to question anything about me.
H: You expressed prior concerns about the Georgian, about Nikoloz
Y: I expressed concerns that he was a wild card, not that he discovered my role. He is not a threat but he is ... Nikoloz is a
poor recruit. He continues making disparaging comments about the war in South Ossetia and considers it to be Russia-
occupied territory and not a legitimate country. He’s already going against Russian decree so how can we be assured
he’d take orders from the Russian government? [2]
H: Have you taken peer pressure into consideration? If the rest of his cell accepts our offer, would he be the odd man out?
Y: I’m more concerned that he may convince the others not to join. He is an unacceptable variable.
H: You do not have the authority to terminate him.
Y: I’m not suggesting that he needs to die, merely be removed from the equation.
H: The offer remains on the table. I’ll present it to the higher-ups as an addendum to your report.
Y: I’m not sure I could kill him. I have the skills, do not doubt me, but it is [UNINTELLIGIBLE].
H: Another operative will perform the deed. There cannot be any evidence of our involvement. An accident or chance en-
counter would work best. Your normal tactic of casually shooting [UNINTELLIGIBLE].
Y: [UNINTELLIGIBLE]
H: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] his friend Andrei?
Y: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] sense of humor. [UNINTELLIGIBLE] shelled Chechens in 2000.
H: Sounds promising. Very promising.
Y: Svetlana will follow Andrei. There is no question about that. [3]
H: But will her loyalty be with him or us?
Y: Does loyalty matter as much as unquestioningly following orders?
H: It certainly does not hurt.
[CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE]

[1] Transcriber [REDACTED] notes: “TAKOMA came through with this one.”
[2] While neither Yegor nor his handler have said their organization’s name, this is the first definitive proof they are employed by the Rus-
sian government. This supports the theory they serve the FSB.
[3] Transcriber [REDACTED] notes: “1LT Claire [REDACTED]’s field reports do not indicate romantic or sexual involvement with any
members of the cell. There is no reason to suspect otherwise. This is merely Yegor’s own opinions and speculation. The lieutenant’s
loyalties remain with TF:V and America.”

CLEARANCE V-BLUE
Page 01 of 09
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
Back in the USSR
It is common knowledge among government-
sponsored counter-occult and counter-supernatural
programs that Section Nine began as part of
SMERSH, the World War II era Soviet counter-
intelligence departments. Section Nine was the
counter-occult department tasked with fighting and
capturing Nazi occultists and their inhuman allies.
The contemporary Task Force: VALKYRIE generally
dismissed Section Nine as inept and understaffed,
which was largely true during the 1940s.
That would not be the case for long.
In the mid-1950s, the Loyalists of Thule uncov-
ered incomplete documents from 1945 and 1946 de-
scribing a metallic, bell-shaped device measuring 9
feet wide by 15 feet high. The device contained two
counter-rotating led-lined cylinders storing an un-
known substance. The schematics are labeled entirely
in Russian but the device is curiously named in Ger-
man: Die Glocke, “the Bell.” Other documents later
acquired by the Loyalists in the 1950s and 1960s inde-
pendently verify that the Bell was moved to an un-
disclosed part of Siberia following an unexplained
96
accident in 1956.
Task Force: VALKYRIE began reencountering
their Soviet counterparts in the 1970s. Field reports
distressingly and consistently noted that the Soviets’
hunters were better equipped than TF:V. Stories fil-
tered in about Soviets with lightning guns powered
by cylindrical containers with unknown liquid con-
tents. The Soviets wore suits made of metal mesh that
allowed them to physically interact with ghosts and
spirits. The indignity of being behind the Soviets
drove Task Force: VALKYRIE to develop the Mjolnir
Cannon … thirty years later.
The Loyalists and TF:V both reported incidents
with Soviet “super-hunters” throughout the 1970s
and 1980s. Reports of a Soviet cell taking down an
entire werewolf pack or witch cabal without suffer-
ing a single casualty were not unheard of. The Sovi-
ets also had little problem with hiding evidence as
their infamous lightning guns completely eradicated
the enemy and left no identifiable remains.
The Ascending Ones first discovered Section
Nine during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in
1979. The Jagged Crescent faction was heavily in-
volved in the Afghani opium market and rightfully
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
feared the mujahedeen insurgency would negatively
impact or even halt opium production. This led to the
unorthodox and unprecedented alliance between the
Jagged Crescent and Section Nine in combating the
insurgency. The eventual withdrawal of Soviet forces
spoiled what could have become a productive, long
term partnership between the two organizations.
The glory days of Section Nine ended with the
Cold War. Task Force: VALKYRIE believes Section
Nine was absorbed by the Federal Security Service of
the Russian Federation following the Soviet Union’s
collapse. Stories of indestructible Russian hunters
disappeared around that time, probably because
funding for super-weapons quickly dried up.
Missing Links
Contrary to what Task Force: VALKYRIE be-
lieved and still tells its agents, the story of Section
Nine does not end there. The story just becomes in-
creasingly fragmented and confusing.
The Silver Cross clinic in Chicago treats a man
for blood loss, presumably from a vampire attack, in
1992. A nurse recognizes the man as a resident of
Highland Park, an area with a relatively large percent
of Russian-Americans. This is the first of many visits
the man makes over the next four years. The man
makes a final visit in 1996 to thank the clinic’s staff
for all their help. He cryptically tells them that he no
longer needs their services and is never seen again.
In 1997, Cheiron field operatives in the Ukraine
reported a Russian man with the ability to mutate his
and others’ bodies. Early observations suggested he
had thaumatechnology comparable to Cherion’s in-
novations. Extensive research confirms the man be-
longed to the KGB and the Federal Security Service.
A Carver cell in Turkmenistan disappeared with-
out a trace in 2000. The cell was last reported tracking
down a serial killer with a Russian accent. There is no
evidence that the hunters were killed, nor is there any
evidence that they’re still alive.
A video uploaded to Network Zero in 2002
shows a Russian sailor pursued by Russian soldiers
through the streets of Magaden in Kolyma. The sailor
hysterically warns anyone in hearing range about a
zombie invasion coming from the north. No such in-
vasion occurred. The sailor was reportedly last seen
being forced onto an Ilyushin II-14 transport at the
Magadan-13 airport.
You get your orders and you follow them.
It’s that simple. Play by the rules and
no one but the enemy gets hurt.
Other videos from Russia on Network Zero,
many filmed without the interviewees’ knowledge or
consent, feature Russian soldiers reporting sightings
of the undead in 1994 and 2002, almost as if the
corpses were migrating through the Russian taiga.
The longest such video is of a clearly inebriated sol-
dier and this adds little credibility to the already wild
story. Nevertheless, the zombie-hunting Dirge has
taken an interest in these videos but has yet mounted
an expedition to Siberia due to the finances required.
In 2007, a hunter within the Promethean Brother-
hood writes a detailed report about a witch he sacri-
ficed using the Rite of Hectate and forwards it as an
encrypted PDF to his closest colleagues. While the
Rite has worked half-a-dozen times before, he reports
that it inexplicably failed on this particular witch and
he offers several theories as to why. He claims he wit-
nessed the witch hurl lightning and burn symbols
with a mere touch. The hunter and his house are de-
stroyed by a gas explosion two days later.
In 2010, an Ascending One in Kyrgyzstan alerted
the rest of the Jagged Crescent about alchemists
working for the Russian military. A few cryptic and
paranoid e-mails and text messages are all the evi-
dence the Ascending One left behind. He died from
undiagnosed cancer before making face-to-face con-
tact with more senior Ascending Ones.
Party Lines
No one inside Section Nine will ever know the
organization’s entire history. All active operatives in
Section Nine began serving after the USSR collapsed.
Operatives are told the organization has existed
since World War II and once answered directly to
Stalin. They are briefed about the supernatural world
and the threat it poses on modern civilization. The
Russian Federation is vast and there are plenty of
dark corners for blood-thirsty beasts to wait and
watch. Section Nine is the protective, thankless big
brother of the Russian people.
There are no tales of stolen Nazi wonder-
technology, lightning guns or ghost-proof armor.
These are neither confirmed nor denied and it is best
to never discuss the topic with one’s superiors. Too
many questions annoy the higher-ups.
The panic- and riot-prone public can never know
about the existence of monsters. There is no question
about that. Unlike Task Force: VALKYRIE with its
97
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
memory-erasing drug cocktail, Section Nine takes a
much more low-tech approach and kills or recruits
any unauthorized person who learns too much. The
threat of someone recalling the truth through dreams
or therapy is too great. If possible, a subtle assassina-
tion is preferred; cancer is a wonderful weapon.
Another reason for secrecy is that Section Nine is
not unique. Other governments know about the su-
pernatural and actively combat and conceal it. Opera-
tives for Section Nine know about TF:V, VASCU and
MI18; they are briefed on the psychic-assassins of
Mossad; they watch video evidence of Taoist magic
buried beneath layers of Chinese pseudo-science;
they receive a crash course on the henna-tattooed
sorceresses serving the Saudi royal family. No one
knows how these diverse organizations would react
if Russia showed its hand and revealed the existence
of so many urban legends and nightmares. It is best
to stay quiet, at least for now.
No, Section Nine is not unique: it’s just the best of
its kind. No similar organization protects an area as
vast as the Russian Federation, nor has any other so
successfully expanded outside of its borders and offi-
cial jurisdiction. Section Nine’s influence extends well
beyond that of Task Force: VALKYRIE – and the best
part is that no outsiders know.
Out-
Out-Patient Procedure
Of course, to know this much, a person is already
in too deep. They are either an operative for Section
Nine or on a hit list signed by a nameless Russian
bureaucrat. Assuming the person is the former, then
he was or soon will be subjected to the Zamyatin-
Lagin Procedure and given access to the above-
classified Serum 525.
The official story is that the purple liquid metal
cryptically named Serum 525 was invented in the
1950s and perfected in the early 1980s. It was issued
to Spetsnaz (special forces) operatives during the
Cold War. Section Nine now has exclusive access to
the Serum and any trace of its use in conventional
military units was purged.
So what is Serum 525? Do not ask; you will get
no answers and repeated inquiries will result in disci-
plinary action. What it is does not matter; what it does
matters. The Serum allows human subjects to, among
other things, physically interact with intangible spir-
its, cause cancer with a touch and play with electric-
ity and radiation.
The Zamyatin-Lagin Procedure is a deeply
guarded secret and even people who undergo it do
not know the details. A canister and distribution sys-
tem is installed in the subject’s chest and appears to
98
be a pacemaker upon casual examination. The proce-
dure is preferably performed in a sterile setting but
has been conducted in basements and hotel bath-
rooms before.
The implant dispenses Serum 525 into the sub-
ject’s system in controlled doses. The implant must
be periodically refilled and Section Nine uses this as
an excuse to send envoys with further instructions
and syringes of the Serum.
The implant also contains monitoring and track-
ing devices. Section Nine always knows where its
operatives are, if they are alive or if their implant
needs refilling. This is no secret: Section Nine makes
it very clear to its operatives that they will be termi-
nated for disobeying orders. Rumors about the im-
plants containing poisons to kill rogue operatives are
probably untrue.
A less obvious function for the implant is to pro-
tect the operative and everyone around him. It does
not exist for the Serum’s protection; it shields people
from the Serum. Even while in transit, the Serum is
stored in metal briefcases made of the same alloy as
the implants. Humans cannot be exposed to it for
prolonged periods of time. Why? If the rumors are
true, then Serum 525 exposure caused several Soviet
and ex-Nazi scientists to rip each other apart in an
underground lab in 1956.
But that’s just a rumor, same as the rumors that
Serum 525 is radioactive, carcinogenic and/or de-
rived from the blood of aliens that crash-landed in
Tunguska. Never discuss these rumors with other
members of Section Nine.
The Enemy
Section Nine has always described its missions as
“counter-occult.” It neutralizes or eliminates any un-
authorized supernatural presence in the Russian Fed-
eration. Because of this philosophy, Section Nine con-
siders virtually the entire supernatural world to be a
national security threat. The higher-ups occasionally
allow a monster or witch to live if it pledges loyalty
to the Russian government and accepts a tracking
device implant.
Magic cannot be trusted in the wrong hands.
Shapeshifters and other descendents of spirits are
prone to summoning otherworldly beings to Earth
through bizarre rituals. Worst, most witches and
spirit-spawn inherit their powers; how could this
ever be harnessed for proper and state-approved
use? Sorcerers and their ilk are uncontrollable vari-
ables that must be removed.
Spirits and “ghosts” are echoes from beyond the
mortal world. These things should not be here; they
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
should not exist. Certain operatives specializing with
counter-spirit activities and are almost exclusively
deployed to deal these creatures.
It goes without saying that vampires must be
destroyed. Anything that feeds on human beings can-
not and will not be tolerated.
Changelings and their courts are insufferable.
The last thing a country needs is a shadowy cabal of
half-fairy, half-human freaks waiting to overthrow
the rightful government. The best thing changelings
can do is lay low and never bother mainstream hu-
manity. Keep your heads down or lose them.
Section Nine actively redirects its operatives from
confronting the living dead. Any operative reporting
evidence of undead activity that cannot be confirmed
as vampires must report it to his superiors. The op-
erative is then ordered to disengage and not attempt
further investigation. The higher-ups insist specialists
are sent to deal with these cases, although no opera-
tive ever seems to see these specialists in action.
Self-declared monster hunters are also fair game.
Section Nine tolerates a few cells’ existences for infor-
mation-gathering purposes. For example, while they
destroyed the first Russian chapter of the Ashwood
Abbey in 1949, Section Nine allowed a new one to be
established in Saint Petersburg in 2000 just so it could
be infiltrated. Hunter cells that are not worth infiltrat-
ing or outgrow their usefulness are “forcibly dis-
banded.” Several homegrown hunter cells have been
recruited wholesale by Section Nine after thorough
background searches and successful infiltration.
Hunters
The false conviction for sexual assault ruined
your life and career as a civilian police officer. The
social stigma of being kicked out of the notoriously
corrupt Militsiya is one thing, but everyone believing
you’re a rapist is so much worse. Your time in the
Russian prison system was nothing compared to
your mother refusing to speak with you again. So
when you were randomly offered a job in Yekaterin-
burg as a “security guard and night watchman,” you
were shocked but smart enough to accept. The real
shock came later when you discovered what the job
really was.
You discovered a witch cabal in Gori while the
city was under Russian occupation during the South
Ossetia War. Apparently including the word “witch”
in your report got someone’s attention. As the occu-
pation only lasted a week, the shadowy higher-ups
didn’t have time to dispatch a properly-trained
counter-occult unit to neutralize the cabal. They in-
stead volunteered you and a handful of other soldiers
to kill the witches on Section Nine’s behalf. Only you
survived and have since became part of a Section
Nine unit specializing in “witch busting.”
You’re a spy who joined too late in the Cold War
to meaningfully serve the KGB and grew too old to
be useful in the FSB. You were unexpectedly trans-
ferred to Section Nine and never even got an implant
before being sent on a suicide mission to spy on a
werewolf pack in Belarus. To everyone’s surprise,
you survived and successfully completed the assign-
ment. You have since undergone the Zamyatin-Lagin
Procedure and enjoy being of use to your homeland.
You’re getting old but it’s better late than never.
Life was boring but comfortable then you had to
discover the goddamn vampire living in your apart-
ment building. You just had to play hero, you just had
to decapitate the bloodsucker while it slept. What the
hell were you thinking? An operative for the Russian
government contacted you later that night. More ac-
curately, he appeared in your bedroom with a si-
lenced pistol. He informed you that his unit had
monitored the vampire’s apartment for weeks. You
ruined a long-term investigation that tried uncover-
ing the location(s) of an entire vampire clan preying
on the city’s poor and destitute. The operative said
you knew too much and had two options: (1) disap-
pear forever or (2) join him and his organization. You
had already proven surprisingly efficient at monster-
killing, especially for a draft-dodging college student
with no combat experience, and Section Nine was
willing to overlook one compromised investigation.
Divisions
Section Nine places its field operatives into three,
possibly four, major divisions.
Division E (Э) is organized in into OSNAZ
(special purpose) units. They are the descendants of
the Soviet “super-soldiers” Task Force: VALKYRIE
and other foreign hunters encountered decades ago.
Division E operatives are fully armored soldiers with
assault rifles and the latest military equipment. Some
units are technically light motorized infantry. These
OSNAZ may be deployed anywhere in the Russian
Federation but are occasionally deployed to “near
abroad” nations such as Ukraine and Belarus. Most
members of Division E belong to the Internal Troops,
the paramilitary national guard-like force subservient
to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Division E units
are most often deployed when either Division Yu or
Ya (see below) operatives uncover a threat that they
cannot handle by themselves. As a result, Division E
has become synonymous with “backup.”
Division Yu (Ю) units are stationed in set loca-
99
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
STEREOTYPES
Division Six: How do you fit into all of
this? Who is the Panopticon and who really
pulls your strings? And why can’t we find
evidence of Divisions One through Five?
MI18: Honestly, I expected more from the
British. We haven’t found any evidence of
high-tech or pseudo-tech augmentation. How
20th century of you, Britain.
Cheiron Group: You know the Cold War is
over when corporations have more resources
for counter-occult activity than national gov-
ernments. Early reports confused Cheiron’s
field agents for French and German opera-
tives. Turns out Cheiron’s agents are actu-
ally better equipped and trained than the
French and Germans combined.
Task Force: VALKYRIE: Do you really
think we’re gone? What gave you that idea -
American incompetence or American arro-
gance? The Soviet Union is dead but Section
Nine lives on.
The Higher-
Higher-Ups
Section Nine’s administration is continu-
ally referred to as the “higher-ups” and no
additional information is provided. Even op-
eratives for Section Nine have no idea who
issues the orders.
The only major clue is that Section Nine’s
administrative center, at or least where
many phone numbers and paper trails lead,
is in the Siberian city Novosibirsk.
Divisions E and Yu has many operatives in
the Internal Troops and Militsiya, implying
the Ministry of Internal Affairs is in charge.
However, Division Ya’s operations are cer-
tainly not internal as many are based out-
side of Russia.
It is possible that Section Nine falls under
several different groups’ jurisdictions de-
pending on where an operative or unit is
assignment. Section Nine may not be a true
organization and is simply an umbrella term
for counter-occult operatives throughout the
Russian military and police forces.
Regardless, key members of the Ministry of
Defense are fully aware of Section Nine’s ex-
istence and activities. The Supreme Com-
mander of the Armed Forces is at least
vaguely aware of what Section Nine does -
and the Supreme Commander is the Presi-
dent of the Russian Federation.
100
tions but may be ordered to temporarily relocate else-
where at a moment’s notice. Every Russian city has a
least one resident Division Yu unit monitoring the
area for supernatural threats. Unlike Division E, Divi-
sion Yu operates much more covertly and most mem-
bers do not officially work in the Russian military.
Instead, Division Yu operatives have day jobs and
cover stories for their presence. A common cover is to
belong to the corrupt and feared Militsiya (police).
Division Ya (Я) consists of foreign-based opera-
tives, many serving alone and only in limited contact
with Section Nine. Some have infiltrated foreign mili-
taries and intelligence agencies. While Division Ya
has not yet breached Task Force: VALKYRIE, they
have at least one operative in VASCU. Division Ya is
not just interested in government-sponsored hunter
organizations: any cell, compact or conspiracy will
do. All sources of information must be tapped.
There are rumors of a Division Yet (Ѣ), named
after a letter dropped from the Russian Alphabet in
1918. The symbol found its way onto various docu-
ments but the field operatives in the three official Di-
visions do not know the details. Division Yet is com-
monly assumed to be the specialists sent to deal with
undead activity.
Status
Status is gained by successfully completing as-
signments and following the higher-ups regardless of
how suicidal their orders are. Particularly suicidal
orders often justify a dot of Status. Remember that
Section Nine’s faceless administration always knows
where its operatives are and recognizes disobedience.
• You have joined Section Nine, hopefully willingly,
and are expected to unquestioningly follow orders
from the higher-ups. You gain an implant and may
purchase dots in the Tolling Merit.
••• The higher-ups are willing to pull some strings
for you as a reward for your continuing service. This
may involve some less-than-legal help from the Milit-
siya. You gain a free dot of Resources and either a free
dot of Professional Training or Status in your line of
work. None of these may exceed five dots.
••••• One of the higher-ups noticed your excep-
tional work and has taken an interest in your activi-
ties. This does not mean you know who, or what, this
person is nor do you gain any earth-shattering revela-
tions about Section Nine’s administration. He or she
supplies information, weapons and other resources to
assist you with your increasingly dangerous assign-
ments. Your mysterious benefactor is considered a
free four-dot Mentor.
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
Endowment:
Tolling
The terms “Tolling” and “the Tolls” are used to
describe the abilities Serum 525 grants. There is no
official reason for these terms nor is there any point
in looking for an underlying meaning.
The only official terms for the Tolls are letter-
number combinations. The few official documents
anyone but the higher-ups have seen designate the
Tolls K1, K2 and K3 which are further divided into
five subsections (K1.1 through K1.5, for example).
The only known way to gain access to Serum 525
and the Tolls is to undergo the Zamyatin-Lagin Pro-
cedure and receive an implant to store and process
Serum 525. Even after the Zamyatin-Lagin Procedure,
the Section Nine operative needs to routinely receive
injections of Serum 525 to refill the implant. A man or
woman in either military battledress or business at-
tire will arrive with a metal briefcase containing three
syringes of the Serum. There rarely seems to be a pat-
tern to when this nameless figure makes his or her
rounds. Colloquially called a “handler,” this person
usually also brings instructions and material pertain-
ing to the operative’s next assignment. The Serum is
injected directly into the implant through the opera-
tive’s chest.
While new abilities appear to manifest spontane-
ously, the process leading to their development takes
weeks, months or even years. The operative’s body
gradually becomes better at processing Serum 525
and finds new uses (“Tolls”) for the drug cocktail.
Similar to Teleinformatics and the Goetic Gos-
pels, the Tolling Merit is broken into three categories
or “Bells” – the Bells of Bone, Flesh and Soul. When
purchasing a new dot of the Tolling Merit, the char-
acter gains one power of that rating or below from
any Bell. A character purchasing a four-dot power
must already have one power from the same Bell. A
character purchasing a five-dot power must possess
at least two powers from the same Bell.
Evolution
While the character has no control over
what its new abilities are or when they
manifest, the player obviously does. Alterna-
tively, the player could let the Storyteller de-
cide what the new ability is and be as sur-
prised as the character when the power first
manifests.
Regardless, Experience Points must be
spent as normal. With Storyteller approval,
the power immediately manifests when the
XP is spent.
Bell of Bone
The Tolls in the Bell of Bone make a person less
human to efficiently neutralize or eliminate her oppo-
nents. Most of these Tolls lack the subtlety of the
other Bells and are seen the least in the field.
● Cestus
The operative’s hand warps and enlarges. Muscle
and skin stretch over expanding bones as her hand
appears more like a cancerous gauntlet or boxing
glove. It as if she grew subdermal brass knuckles.
Cost: 1 point of bashing damage per hand.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Scene.
Range: Self.
Dice Pool: None.
A bony gauntlet grows in the operative’s hand or
hands. This adds (Tolling) points of automatic bash-
ing damage to all successful Brawl-based attacks us-
ing that hand. This also translates into a (Tolling)
penalty on all rolls involving that hand for more deli-
cate work. She can no longer properly use tools or
firearms with the enlarged hand.
The hand’s size is increased enough that it can no
longer fit into an average-sized pocket and, as a re-
sult, is somewhat difficult to conceal.
●● Natural Blade
A sharp blade of reinforced bone grows out of
the operative’s wrist. The rest of her forearm swells
and develops boney, almost armor-like growths. This
is one of the rarest Tolls displayed in the field. It is
generally reserved as a weapon of last resort.
Cost: 1 point of lethal damage per hand.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Scene.
Range: Self.
Dice Pool: None.
A machete-like sword of bone grows from the
operative’s forearm or forearms. Attacks made with
this natural sword are made by rolling Strength +
Weaponry + (Tolling/2, rounded up) and inflict le-
thal damage. The sword gives the operative +1 De-
fense against close combat attacks. Her forearm is
considered to have Armor 1/0. This only applies
against attacks specifically target her hand or arm.
The Storyteller may grant a +1 or +2 bonus to
Crafts, Larceny and Survival rolls where using a
knife or sword would help.
This cannot be used in conjunction with Exo-
skeleton (see below).
101
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
●●● Calcification
The operative gains the ability to affect her entire
skeleton and not just sections. This is a major step
towards mastering a full-body metamorphosis.
Cost: Special.
Action: Reflexive.
Duration: Scene.
Range: Self.
Dice Pool: None.
The operative’s skeleton is strengthened and her
body becomes more resistant to injury. She gains a
temporary dot of Stamina for each point of Will-
power spent, to a maximum of Stamina 7. This tem-
porary Stamina does not offer any benefits to resist-
ing disease or poison. She also gains an additional
Health box for every two Willpower spent. The Story-
teller may rule that this does not offer extra protec-
tion against certain attacks, such as a witch’s spell
that only affects the operative’s skin or blood.
This cannot be used in conjunction with Exo-
skeleton (see below).
●●●● Osteokinesis
Unlike the other Tolls in the Bell of Bone, Os-
teokinesis is a useful tool for assassinations and cov-
ert operations. Targets of osteokinetic attacks shud-
der as if undergoing a seizure.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Lasting.
Range: (Wits + Composure) yards.
Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Tolling –
target’s Stamina. The attack bypasses Defense and
Armor as it focuses on the target’s skeleton.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The operative suffers the at-
tack’s effects and takes a point of lethal damage.
Failure: The target is unaffected.
Success: The target’s bones rattle within her
body, causing internal bruising and bleeding. The
attack inflicts (successes) points of lethal damage.
Exceptional Success: The extra damage inflicted
is its own reward.
●●●●● Exoskeleton
This is the rarest and one of the most blatantly
supernatural Tolls. The operative quite literally
grows a bullet-resistant exoskeleton.
There are persistent rumors about an elite Divi-
sion E unit comprised of soldiers with this Toll that
easily plow through any and all opposition.
102
Cost: 3 Willpower and 1 point of lethal damage.
Action: Instant.
Duration: (Stamina + Tolling) turns.
Range: Self.
Dice Pool: Stamina + Tolling.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The operative fails to trans-
form and is weakened from her efforts. This reduces
her Defense by 1 and Speed by 2 for the rest of the
scene.
Failure: The transformation fails.
Success: An exoskeleton appears on her body
and likely destroys any clothes or armor she cur-
rently wears. The exact appearance of the exoskeleton
varies per person but generally resembles some form
of conventional armor such as riot gear or plate mail.
The exoskeleton provides Armor 2/3 and negates
the armor-piercing quality on enemy weapons and
projectiles. She gains a +3 Intimidation bonus.
She also grows the equivalent of a Cestus (see
above) on each hand and gains all the appropriate
benefits and drawbacks thereof.
The bulky bone plates reduce the operative’s De-
fense by 1 and Speed by 2. She automatically fails all
nonthreatening Social rolls.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above. The du-
ration is increased to the rest of the current scene.
Bell of Flesh
The title of this Bell is a bit of a misnomer. There
is evidence that most of the Tolls in the Bell of Flesh
actually deal with radiation and not explicitly skin.
Tolls range from healing to inducing radiation sick-
ness to creating undead minions.
● Lesser Mending
The most basic manipulation of flesh is enough to
repair contusions and other minor damage. These
small injuries would heal on their own in time, usu-
ally without medical attention.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Lasting.
Range: Self or touch.
Dice Pool: Resolve + Medicine + Tolling
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Instead of remedying the
situation, the operative makes it worse. She inflicts
(Tolling) points of bashing damage on her subject.
Failure: No damage is healed.
Success: The operative heals (successes) points of
bashing damage.
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
Exceptional Success: The extra damage healed is
its own reward.
●● Sicken
This Toll leaves its victims nauseated and bleed-
ing. All the operative needs to do is touch her target
and stand back before it begins spewing blood.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Reflexive.
Duration: Lasting.
Range: Touch.
Dice Pool: None. The operative only needs to
first touch her target as an instant action.
The attack inflicts (Tolling) points of lethal dam-
age and the victim loses the 10-again quality on all
rolls for (Tolling) turns. The damage manifests as
either bloody vomiting or spontaneous sores.
Sicken has no effect on creatures without physi-
cal bodies or who are mechanical/artificial like Un-
fleshed Prometheans.
●●● Greater Mending
The operative can undo the effects of gunshots,
bites, stabs and other would-be fatal attacks.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Lasting.
Range: Self or touch.
Dice Pool: Resolve + Medicine + Tolling
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The wounds cut deeper and
burn more fiercely. Up to (Tolling) points of lethal
damage are upgraded to aggravated damage.
Failure: No damage is healed.
Success: The operative heals (successes) points of
lethal damage. This does not heal bashing damage.
Exceptional Success: The extra damage healed is
its own reward.
●●●● Malignancy
The operative gains the ability to manipulate a
living target on a cellular level – she can literally give
her victim cancer.
Cost: 1 or 3 Willpower.
Action: Instant and contested.
Duration: Special.
Range: Touch.
Dice Pool: Presence + Science + Tolling – target’s
Stamina.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The operative’s body develops
painful lesions and she suffers a –1 penalty to all rolls
for the next 24 hours.
Failure: The intended victim is unaffected.
Success: The victim suffers from vomiting, nau-
sea and skin lesions.
If the operative spent 1 Willpower point, the vic-
tim immediately takes (successes) points of bashing
damage. The victim reflexively rolls (Stamina + Re-
solve) once a day until accumulating a total of 15 suc-
cesses. Until then, she suffers the same amount of
bashing damage each and every day.
If the operative spent 3 Willpower, the victim
instead suffers from a virulent cancer. The victim im-
mediately takes (successes) points of lethal damage.
The victim rolls (Stamina + Resolve) once a month
until accumulating 30 successes. Until then, the vic-
tim suffers the same amount of damage once a
month. This assumes the victim is also receiving ap-
propriate treatment to combat the cancer such as
chemo- or radiotherapy. Otherwise, the victim con-
tinues taking damage indefinitely.
This power, in either form, has no affect on vam-
pires and other undead or dead creatures.
Exceptional Success: The damage inflicted on the
victim by the first roll is upgraded to lethal (1 Will-
power) or aggravated (3 Willpower). All subsequent
damage is inflicted as normal.
●●●●● Necromancy
The Bell of Flesh cannot resurrect the dead but it
can revive the corpse. With this Toll, the operative
can create zombie servants from fresh corpses.
Operatives are known to use bodies of the re-
cently deceased, usually people they killed, as look-
outs, spies and guards while on assignment. These
are a wonderful asset to foreign-based operatives
with little or no chance of receiving back-up.
Cost: 3 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Lasting.
Range: Touch.
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Medicine + Tolling –
number of days the target has been dead.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The corpse is engulfed in tu-
mors and becomes completely unusable. Further-
more, the operative is unable to create any additional
zombies for the rest of the scene.
Failure: The corpse stays just that, a corpse.
Success: Benign tumors appear on the corpse
and restore it to some semblance of life. The zombie
will obey its creators’ orders to the best of its ability.
The soulless undead have no Willpower or Morality.
103
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
All zombies have the following Attributes
Mental: Intelligence 0, Wits 1, Resolve 0.
Physical: Strength 3, Dexterity 1, Stamina 3
Social: Presence 1, Manipulation 1, Composure 0
They have the following skills:
Mental: None.
Physical: Athletics 1, Brawl 2.
Social: Intimidation 1.
They also have the Dread Powers Drain (Flesh)
and Dread Attack (Bite) 1. They only heal by eating
the flesh of the living, repairing one point of damage
for each point inflicted on a living victim.
Fire and attacks directed at the head both inflict
aggravated damage. The zombie continues function-
ing until its entire Health track is filled with aggra-
vated damage. Zombies feel no pain and do not suf-
fer wound penalties.
The operative can have no more than (Resolve +
Composure) zombies under her control at any time.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above. The
zombie is unusually strong and gains the 9-again
quality on all grapple and bite rolls.
Bell of the Soul
Section Nine’s most inexplicably esoteric abilities
involve manipulating ghosts. The higher-ups claim
that ghosts, spirits, demons and similar creatures are
all alien beings and most definitely not the souls of
the restless dead. These Tolls are based around ener-
gies and pan-dimensional frequencies, nothing more.
Religious interpretations of these Tolls lead nowhere
and merely waste time.
● Twilight Senses
Before one can fight ghosts, one must actually be
able to see ghosts. This common Toll allows the op-
erative to see, hear, smell and (hypothetically) taste
beings in Twilight. Physical interaction is limited to
vague impressions such as feeling a chill when a
ghost is nearby.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Reflexive.
Duration: Special.
Range: Self.
Dice Pool: None.
The operative gains the ability to sense creatures
in Twilight. She also sees Loci and similar “fractures”
in the barrier separating the mortal world and other
dimensions/planes/universes. Section Nine does not
bother offering its operatives theories as to what
these fractures are; all they need to know is that noth-
ing good comes from them.
104
This Toll’s duration increases with the opera-
tive’s dots in the Tolling Merit:
Rating Duration
1 1 hour
2 6 hours
3 12 hours
4 24 hours
5 Permanent (no cost)
●● Twilight Touch
The next logical step after being able to sense
ghosts is discovering how to combat them. The
higher-ups frown on using so-called “holy objects”
and “relics” and prefer Section Nine’s operatives
fighting ghosts with nothing but their fists.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Scene.
Range: Self.
Dice Pool: None.
The operative is able to physically interact with
beings in Twilight. This does not extend to items she
is holding, meaning she cannot stab or shoot a ghost.
The operative gains a (Tolling/2, rounded up) bonus
to Brawl-based attacks and grapples made against
beings in Twilight for the duration.
●●● Brand
Just because one operative sees an enemy ghost
does not mean the rest of her unit can. The original
application of this Toll involved placing a burning,
glowing mark on an otherwise invisible enemy. It
wasn’t until the late 1990s that operatives discovered
it also affected more tangible and mundane targets.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Special.
Range: Touch (close combat).
Dice Pool: Brawl + Strength + Tolling – target’s
Defense. If used in conjunction with Twilight Touch,
that Toll’s Brawl bonus does not apply.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The operative burns her own
hand and takes one point of lethal damage. She now
has the brand she intended to inflict on her palm. It
will remain there for (6 - Tolling) hours.
Failure: The attack misses and inflicts no dam-
age. The operative may try again later by spending
another point of Willpower.
Success: The attack inflicts (successes) points of
lethal damage. If the target is armored, subtract
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
(successes) from the armor’s Structure first; any re-
maining damage affects the target itself.
The attack also places a palm-sized, lightly glow-
ing brand on the target. The brand is still completely
visible even if the target becomes invisible or enters
Twilight. The mark’s appearance varies per person
and per attack and may be as simple as a handprint
or as complicated as calligraphic glyph. Many opera-
tives place a word like “monster” or “destroy.”
The brand remains for (successes) hours and can-
not be removed. The part that is branded, however,
may be removed or covered up. Branding a person’s
jacket is not a major disadvantage while marking his
face certainly is.
Exceptional Success: Extra successes are their
own reward.
●●●● Arc
Section Nine has not yet duplicated the devastat-
ing effects of its Soviet-era lightning guns by injecting
Serum 525 into its operatives. It has, however, found
a surefire way to neutralize its rivals in Task Force:
VALKYRIE.
Cost: 1 Willpower or 1 Willpower and 1 point of
bashing damage.
Action: Instant.
Duration: Lasting.
Range: (Dexterity x 20) yards.
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Athletics + Tolling – tar-
get’s Stamina. Most forms of armor do not protect
against electrical damage. The target’s Defense only
applies if he is in close combat with his attacker.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The operative accidently
grounds the electrical charge to herself and suffers
five points of bashing damage.
Failure: The operative fails to produce a damag-
ing charge.
Success: The electrical attack inflicts (successes)
points of bashing damage. This also short-circuits
any electronic equipment the victim was holding at
the time. Simple machines (tape recorders, cell
phones, video cameras) are permanently fried while
more complicated objects (like most of TF:V’s Ad-
vanced Armory) are shorted out for the remainder of
the scene.
This attack may be used against creatures in Twi-
light if the operative also takes a point of bashing
damage. Section Nine generally advises against this
as some spirits have been documented drawing
power from electricity and are somehow strengthened
by this attack.
Exceptional Success: Same as the above except
half of the damage inflicted is lethal (rounded down).
●●●●● Spark of Life
While Section Nine is a secular organization,
with some documents implying it is outright atheist,
one of the most potent Tolls can be mistaken for a
divine miracle. Like Frankenstein’s monster brought
to life by lightning, an operative can resurrect a re-
cently deceased person with an electrifying touch.
Cost: Special. Spark of Life costs 1 Willpower
point per roll. If the character does not have enough
Willpower to continue, she may instead suffer one
point of aggravated damage for each additional roll.
Action: Instant/Extended.
Duration: Lasting.
Range: Touch.
Dice Pool: Resolve + Medicine + Tolling.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Instead of making progress,
the operative takes a step backwards. She loses one
success from the total accumulated.
Failure: No progress is made but the operative
may continue trying.
Success: Progress is made towards bringing the
subject back to life.
Exceptional Success: Significant progress is
made.
The operative maintains physical contact with a
dead body until accumulating a number of successes
equal to subject’s Health x 2. Sparks visibly pass be-
tween her hands and the corpse.
The Spark of Life may only be used on subjects
with relatively intact bodies. Reviving a decapitated
corpse, for example, is impossible.
The process of reviving the dead is not perfect.
Subjects of the Spark of Life lose one dot from all
Physical Attributes (to a minimum of one). For what-
ever reason, anyone revived through the Spark of
Life cannot remember the last six hours. This in-
cludes any time they spent in the afterlife, assuming
there even is an afterlife to go to.
Modifier Situation
Subject has previously died at
-5
least once.
Number of hours since the sub-
ject died, rounded down. It auto-
-1 to -5
matically fails if the subject has
been dead for 6+ hours.
For each Toll the subject has
+1 to +5
from the Bell of the Soul.
105
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)
Storytelling
Protagonists
Because of its priorities, Section will only
become involved if a situation threatens Russia
or if there is a realistic chance of acquiring new
knowledge on the enemy or of other hunters’
tricks and tactics.
Divisions Yu and Ya work well in chroni-
cles involving characters from multiple organi-
zations. Division E work in units that are de-
ployed as needed, meaning they are considera-
bly less likely to form alliances with hunters
from other compacts or conspiracies. Division
E may be sent to assist a Division Ya operative
working with other hunters, however, forcing
the unit into a short-term alliance. Also, re-
member that Section Nine likes keeping a low
profile and does not want other hunters know-
ing who its operatives answer to. Hunters
working with a Section Nine operative will
probably never know their friend’s true alle-
giances.
A chronicle focusing on Division E will be
much different than one about either of the
other divisions. Division E is primarily made of
soldiers from the Internal Troops. Inspiration
and appropriate Merits can be found in WoD:
Dogs of War.
War
The Monastery: A Division Yu operative
employed by the Militsiya discovered that sev-
eral of his fellow cops are getting a cut from a
“high class” prostitution ring run out of an
abandoned Russian Orthodox monastery. No,
that’s not the bad news – it’s pretty much ex-
pected that the Militsiya is involved with crimi-
nal activity. The ring has been compromised by
vampires who are recruiting ghouls and blood
dolls from the whores and their johns. It is
safe to assume the myths about vampires and
crosses are untrue considering the amount of
religions iconography in the monastery-turned-
brothel. There is also some concern that the
vampires may be involved with the Militsiya;
they’re already paying off the police, so why
stop there?
The Separatists: Not surprisingly, there’s
trouble in the Noxçiyn province of the Cauca-
sus Emirate, formerly the Chechen Republic of
Ichkeria. This region, under any name, has
been a source of violence and annoyance for
Russia since the 1990s. It continues claiming
independence while clearly remaining under
Russian control. The Chechen people have been
divided over who or what is the “rightful” ruler
106
of their nonexistent country since 2007, with a
government-in-exile claiming it is a republic
while the local rulers insist that it is an emir-
ate. Both sides venomously hate the Russian
Federation.
One of the factions in Noxçiyn has resorted
to unconventional means of asserting legiti-
macy and gaining power. Section Nine learned
that a small Chechen group has begun using
the occult as a weapon and plans to seize con-
trol of the region. Russia would normally like
to see the area suffer from in-fighting, as that
keeps the locals from committing terrorist at-
tacks in Russia, but the idea of a magic-backed
separatist movement is unacceptable. The de-
tails are sketchy but their magic has distinctly
Islamic undertones, even though any sane
Muslim would consider such witchcraft to be
heresy.
You and several other Section Nine opera-
tives have been ordered to stop this group at
any cost. A magic-backed coup d’état cannot
and will not occur.
The Traitor: There’s a traitor in Section
Nine. A Division Ya operative has made a deal
with foreign hunters to sell out Section Nine’s
secrets. There is evidence she killed her han-
dler and captured another operative. The for-
eigners now have three vials of Serum 525 and
a captive with a working implant, so who
knows what they can reverse engineer from
this. You have received orders to terminate
both her and the foreign cell, rescue the kid-
napped loyal operative and find out how much
the enemy organization already knows. Failure
is not an option, not that it ever is.
The foreign hunter organization is likely
MI18 or Task Force: VALKYRIE but this is not
necessarily the case. A Null Mysteriis cell may
just be interested in finding out what Serum
525 is. It is also possible that a compact want-
ing to become a conspiracy plans to produce
Serum 525 to create their own Endowment.
It is also worth considering why the traitor,
well, turned traitor. What does she have to gain
from this bargain?
Antagonists
Section Nine serves Russia first and hu-
manity second. Even operatives working along-
side other hunters are primarily after informa-
tion that benefits and safeguards the Russian
Federation. They must be willing to kill allies
and teammates if the order comes down.
Any hunter cells working in Russia will in-
evitably draw Section Nine’s attention. It is
 Section Nine (Conspiracy)

known that both Les Mystères (HtV: HtV: Spirit Where Are All
Slayers,
Slayers 110, 117) and the Aegis Kai Doru
(HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core 178) have cells active in Russia.
The Psychics?
Section Nine firmly believes that all domestic As someone will inevitably mention, HtV:
cells not under its control must be infiltrated Night Stalkers described rumors about the
Soviet Union training psychics in the 1970s.
and/or eliminated.
It would not be surprising if another,
All-
All-Out War: Any hunter cell that takes vio-
lent actions against a Section Nine operative, VASCU-style conspiracy exists in Russia.
Perhaps operatives in Division Yet have ac-
even if the cell has no idea Section Nine exists,
cess to a previously undisclosed Endowment.
has effectively declared war on the Russian
Maybe such an organization did exist and
Federation. Depending on where the cell’s or-
ders came from, issuing from the cell’s leader folded with the Soviet Union. The Russian
military then cut its losses and focused on
or someone considerably higher in the chain of
the restructured Section Nine.
command, this may lead to an all-out war be-
Either way, the past or present existence
tween Section Nine and the offending compact
or conspiracy. of psychic Russian agents is not hard to be-
lieve, especially considering there are three
Section Nine would prefer keeping its at-
canonical monster-hunting groups in the
tacks under the radar at first and initially rely
on Divisions Yu and Ya. Infiltration of enemy American military and intelligence commu-
cells would begin or increase. Orders to assassi- nities: Task Force: VALKYRIE, VASCU and
nate by cancer or osteokinesis would be issued Zero Company (WoD:
WoD: Dogs of War).
War
as needed. Perhaps the rumors are just that, rumors,
If hostilities escalate or the enemy becomes and the Soviets never developed a successful
aware of Section Nine’s activities, all bets are psychic program. Division Yet is no more
off. Instead of analyzing and neutralizing the psychic than the other divisions.
enemy’s threat, Section Nine would move to If the Storyteller wants government-backed
eliminate it. psychics in Russia, these hunters could have
Division E units will receive orders to de- access to either the Teleinformatics Endow-
stroy entire enemy cells. They will launch si- ment or the Gifted Merit.
multaneous attacks on multiple cells to divide Alternatively, the Storyteller could let the
the enemy’s reserves and resources during the hunters use Dread Powers. Assume the
crisis. If successful, the enemy compact or con- hunters have an Endowment where each dot
spiracy would lose their hold in one or more purchased equals one dot to spend on Dread
cities overnight. Powers. The hunters have access to the fol-
If this war between hunters occurs on Rus- lowing Dread Powers:
sian soil, the attack might be more obvious and Absorb Knowledge (HtV:
HtV: Block by Bloody
devastating. The Russians would let interna- Block, 5)
Block
tional media know about a military or police Agonize (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core 276)
assault on suspected terrorists or a dangerous Alter Memory (HtV:
HtV: Night Stalkers,
Stalkers 169)
cult. It goes without saying that the enemy
Confuse (HtV: Core, 277)
HtV: Core
hunter organization is unlikely to win this
war. The targeted cell or cells should consider Control Emotion (HtV:
HtV: Night Stalkers,
Stalkers
escaping alive to be a victory. 171)
This is, of course, only a general overview Dement (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core 278)
of how events may pan out. The specifics will Ecstasy (HtV: Core, 279)
HtV: Core
vary considerably depending on who or what
Section Nine is fighting. A Les Mystères cult Fury (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core 279)
could be eliminated without necessarily inflam- Hypnotism (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core 279)
ing the rest of the confederation. The Union or Impress (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core 280)
Night Watch would not tolerate one of its cells
being killed, especially if they learn it was done Read Aura (HtV:
HtV: Block by Bloody Block,
Block 6)
by a foreign military on American soil. A simi- Sleep (HtV: Core, 281)
HtV: Core
lar attack on Task Force: VALKYRIE or MI18 Terrify (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core 282)
risks becoming an international incident and
Unholy Attribute (any single Mental or
spiraling into an actual war.
Social Attribute) (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core 283)

107
 Mental Merits
Artistic Soul (
to


)
Prerequisites:
Prerequisites Crafts 3 or Expression 3 and a rele-
vant Skill Specialty.
Description:
Description The character is a natural artist. She
may be proficient in one form of art or writing or
have several specialties. Either way, her talent is both
innate and undeniable.
Effect:
Effect Each dot of this Merit is associated with
either a Crafts or Expression Specialty. Whenever us-
ing that Specialty, the roll gains the 8-again quality.
Drawback:
Drawback The Specialty must have some artistic
New Merits or literally connotations. For example, “Guitar” is ac-
ceptable for Expression but “Lectures” is not.

Skillful Surgeon (

)

Prerequisites:
Prerequisites Medicine 3 or Medicine 2 with a
Surgery Specialty.
Appendix One:

Description:
Description The character can work medical
miracles as long as she is in a clinical setting.
Effect:
Effect She gains a +2 bonus on all Intelligence +
Medicine rolls when treating injuries. This bonus not
apply to rolls about recalling medical information or
performing medical research. This bonus also does
not apply to Dexterity + Medicine rolls to heal
wounds. See WoD: Rulebook, 61 for more informa-
tion on healing wounds.

Surgical Improv (
to


)

Prerequisites:
Prerequisites Wits 3 and Medicine 1
Description:
Description The character knows how to impro-
vise when lives are at stake. She works with whatever
is available when treating a patient. She’s likely be-
come accustomed to working in subpar conditions
with little or no proper equipment during her Vigil.
Effect:
Effect While healing wounds, the character may
ignore up to –(Rating) penalties caused by having
poor (or no) equipment. See WoD: Rulebook, 61 for
more information on healing wounds.
Note:
Note This is essentially a specialized version the
Make Do Merit (MtA: The Free Council, 132).

Physical Merits
Acute Sense (
)
Description:
Description One of the character’s senses is in-
credibly sharp. It is not necessarily supernatural but is
clearly superior to that of normal humans.

108
 Appendix: New Merits
Effect:
Effect Perception rolls based on this sense gain
the 8-again quality. This Merit may be purchased
separately for multiple senses.
Drawback:
Drawback Anything negatively affecting that
sense, such as environmental factors or supernatural
attacks, is particularly offensive. Rolls to harm that
particular sense gain the 9-again quality. The Story-
teller may also raise penalties caused by such attacks
(the deafening effects of a gun fired at close range,
the flash from the stun grenade, etc.) by one point.
Emergency Care (

)
Prerequisites:
Prerequisites Medicine 3 or Medicine 2 with
an Emergency Care Specialty.
Description:
Description The character performs her best
medical work when her patients are either near
death or being treated in the field.
Effect:
Effect She gains a +2 bonus on all Dexterity +
Medicine rolls. This does not affect Intelligence +
Medicine rolls. See WoD: Rulebook, 61 for more
information.
Fists of Fury (

)
Prerequisites:
Prerequisites Dexterity 3, Brawl 2 and Fight-
ing Style: Kung Fu.
Description:
Description The character prefers a form of
close combat that favors speed over brute force.
Effect:
Effect When using her chosen marital art, the
character may roll Dexterity + Brawl instead of
Strength + Brawl. This is essentially the Fighting Fi-
nesse Merit applied to Kung Fu.
Drawback:
Drawback This only applies to the Kung Fu
Fighting Style. If using any other Fighting Styles,
even for a single turn/maneuver, then that roll will
be Strength + Brawl as normal.
Strong Arm (

)
Prerequisites:
Prerequisites Strength 3 and either Athletics 2
or Athletics 1 with a Throwing Specialty.
Effect:
Effect Throwing rolls are now based on
Strength instead of Dexterity. See WoD: Rulebook,
152 for more information on throwing.
Social Merits
At Death’s Door (


or




)
This is adapted from the Death-Touched Merit from
WoD: Book of the Dead, 93.
Prerequisite:
Prerequisite Mortal or Sin-Eater.
Description:
Description The character connects with ghosts
on a deeper level than any living person ever should.
This is usually the result of a near-death experience
but prolonged contact with the restless dead can
similarly stain a person’s soul.
Effect:
Effect With the three-dot version of this Merit,
she gains a +1 bonus to all non-confrontational social
rolls when dealing with ghosts. The five-dot version
increases this bonus to +2.
Members of the Army of Light gain an addi-
tional +1 bonus to either version of this Merit (+2 at
three dots and +3 at five dots).
Drawback:
Drawback Ghosts consider the character to be a
sort of kindred spirit (no pun intended) and will
likely seek her out. Other characters sensitive to
ghostly activity are bound to notice this. As a result,
the character may be mistaken for a Sin-Eater or nec-
romancer because of their association with the dead.
Burning Aura (

)
Prerequisite:
Prerequisite The character must be living and
possess a soul. This Merit cannot be used by anyone
who has temporarily or permanently lost her soul
for any reason. That being the case, it is possible to
gain this Merit by acquiring another person’s soul
who had this Merit. This is much more likely to be
an issue in a Mage: The Awakening game than a
Hunter: The Vigil game.
Description:
Description The character’s aura is unusually
intense. Even people who cannot see auras will be
inexplicably drawn to her.
Effects:
Effects The character gains a +2 bonus to all
Presence-based rolls.
Drawbacks: She is rather hard to ignore, even
when she wants to be. She suffers a –2 penalty to all
Stealth rolls when avoiding supernatural creatures
or anyone with (artificially or magically) enhanced
senses. Supernatural creatures will also tend to at-
tack her first. For example, vampires generally con-
sider her to be a tastier meal even if easier prey is
nearby. The Storyteller may allow her to have fur-
ther bonuses when playing “bait” for a monster.
The Eyes of a Child (
)
Prerequisite:
Prerequisite Only available at character crea-
tion or with Storyteller approval. The character can-
not have any Merits conferring a bonus to Intimida-
tion or her Size.
Descriptions:
Descriptions The character appears to have a
childlike innocence about her. This may not be rep-
resentative or her true personality, of course, but
appearances can be deceiving.
Effect:
Effect Social rolls where her perceived inno-
109
 Appendix: New Merits
cence would help (such as relevant Subterfuge and
Persuasion rolls) gain the 8-again quality.
Drawback:
Drawback It may be difficult for others to take
the character seriously or treat her as an adult re-
gardless of her age. Social rolls where innocence is
not useful (such as practically any Intimidation roll)
lose the 10-again quality.
Special Merits
Abyssal Echoes (
to




)
This is adapted from the Abyssal Resonance Merit
from MtA: Banishers, 39. It is intended to work with the
rules for Gutter Magic in HtV: Witch Finders. This
Merit was originally envisioned as an Endowment and
may be used as such with Storyteller approval.
Description:
Description Magic performed in front of mun-
dane witnesses (“sleepers,” as witches call them)
tends to simply fail. Around some people, however,
magic goes horribly wrong. Characters with this
Merit represent the latter. Magic has a habit of back-
firing and harming the witch around such people.
These living bad luck charms have little or no con-
trol over their abilities to vex witches. It is practically
or entirely subconscious.
Effect:
Effect Increased exposure to witchcraft reveals
more and more abilities. The following abilities are
gained sequentially.
Paradoxical View (•): ( ): The character does not
sense magic, per se, but magic gone wrong. She re-
flexively senses whenever a witch casts a Vulgar
spell within (Wits x 10) yards. She may reflexively
roll (Wits + Abyssal Echoes) to determine the direc-
tion of the witch. If the character can also see the
spellcaster then she automatically knows who the
offending witch is.
Protected Identity (••):( ): Any spell aimed to
gain information about the character is considered
Vulgar. This does not necessarily mean the attempt
fails; it just brings the witch closer to accidentally
inviting Paradox. The Storyteller has final say over
what spells are or are not affected by this.
Abyssal Contagion (•••): ( ): Simply being near
the character increases the risk of Paradox. When-
ever a witch casts a Vulgar spell within (Presence x
10) yards of her, all other witches in range will also
suffer a cumulative -1 penalty to their casting rolls as
if they themselves cast a Vulgar spell. For the rest of
the scene, any failed rolls are considered to have
been affected by Vulgarity and the witch who cast
the failed spell suffers a point of bashing damage.
Dramatically failed rolls also cause Paradox.
110
Paradoxical Pain (••••):
( ): The damage inflicted
upon a witch who fails the casting roll of a Vulgar
spell in the character’s presence is upgraded to lethal
damage. Rolling a dramatic failure on a Vulgar spell
inflicts aggravated damage. This is in addition to
any other narrative effects that occur.
Inviting the Uninvited (•••••):
( ): The character
now has the option of turning any Paradox she wit-
nesses into a Manifestation. An otherworldly creature
is temporarily pulled into this world to vex the
witch. The character spends a point of Willpower
and reflexively rolls (Resolve + Presence + Abyssal
Echoes) against the witch’s (Resolve + Stamina +
Gnosis). Resistance is also reflexive. If the character
achieves more successes than the witch, an Abyssal
creature (often called an imp or demon) appears.
The character has no control over what the sum-
moned creature does. The creature will not necessar-
ily be hostile towards the witch but a confrontation
is all but inevitable. Witches generally attack the
manifested creature first, anyway. That being the
case, the creature is still free to do as it pleases.
The creature’s overall strength and powers are
based on the witch’s Gnosis Rating:
Gnosis Entity
Twilight creature comparable
1 to 2 to a Lesser Demon (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core
166). 3 dots of Dread Powers
Physical creature comparable
3 to a Lesser Demon (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core
167). 4 dots of Dread Powers
Physical, human-like creature
comparable to a Greater Demon
4 (HtV:
HtV: Core,
Core 284-286). 5 dots
of Dread Powers
Twilight creature comparable
to an Elder Demon (HtV: HtV: Core,
Core
5 287-288). 10 dots of Dread
Powers.
The powers and capabilities of the manifested
creature are determined by the spell that acciden-
tally summoned it.
Spell
Tier Effect
Lore No change
1 +1 dots of Dread powers
2 +2 dots of Dread powers
3 +3 dots of Dread powers
The duration of the manifestation is determined
by the witch’s Morality. The creature will be pulled
back into the Abyss after the duration expires, as-
suming it was not already destroyed or dispersed.
 Appendix: New Merits
Morality Duration
5+ One scene
4 One day
3 Three days
2 One week
1 One month
0 Indefinite
Drawback:
Drawback These powers gradually erode the
character’s sanity. With each dot purchased after
the first, she must check for a new derangement
as if she failed a degeneration roll.
Blood Brother or Blood Sister
(

or


, special )
Prerequisite: Both characters must be mortal
(non-supernatural). The Storyteller may allow other
characters to have this Merit as long as one of the
affected characters is mortal, such as a werewolf and
a wolf-blooded (Kin) human. The character may
only have one version of this Merit at any time.
Description:
Description The character shares an unusually
strong bond with another person. Their connection is
genuinely psychic and arguably spiritual in nature.
Such bonds usually form between twins or close sib-
lings but an actual blood relation is not required.
Effect:
Effect Most Social rolls made between the char-
acter and her “blood brother” or “sister” gain a +3
bonus. Intimidation- and Subterfuge-based rolls,
however, are reduced to a chance die. They know
each other too well to be deceived or frightened.
The characters may reflexively roll Wits + Empa-
thy to sense what the other is feeling at the time, re-
gardless of distance. The other character knows
when their emotional state is being examined and
may choose to block this attempt. This block, how-
ever, will be obvious to her “brother” or “sister” so it
cannot be done discretely.
If either character has the Gnosis or Gifted Merit,
she effectively has a sympathetic connection to her
“brother” or “sister” for the purposes of spellcasting.
Drawback:
Drawback The Merit is lost if the person it ap-
plies toward either killed or turned undead.
Special:
Special If this Merit is shared between two
characters, it only costs two dots apiece. If one char-
acter uses this Merit to represent a strong link to a
NPC, then the Merit’s rating is raised to three dots.
Both versions cost a total of 12 Experience Points.
Dhampir (



)
This is adapted from the dampyr (note the spelling
difference) minor template from Night Horrors: The
Wicked Dead and utilizes Dread Powers and other sys-
tems familiar to Hunter: The Vigil. As a minor template,
dampyrs would normally be banned from having Merits
restricted to mortal character such as Professional Train-
ing. With Storyteller approval, a character with the
Dhampir Merit may purchase Merits from The Wicked
Dead that are reserved for dampyrs.
Prerequisites: Character must be mortal (non-
supernatural).
Description: Dhampirs are born from an un-
holy union between a human and vampire. Their
conception is wholly unnatural and can only be
brought about by a curse or forbidden magic. Their
lives are whirlwinds of broken hearts and open
wounds. Vampires are inexplicably drawn to them
and crave their deceptively sweet blood. A single
drop of dhampir blood is enough to send a vampire
in a downward spiral of madness and self-
destruction. Perhaps most tragically, dhampirs usu-
ally have no idea about their heritage and curse; they
are damned from birth and may never know why
their lives are full of so much sorrow and death.
All vampires are drawn to a dhampir but only
vampires of its parent’s clan suffer the full effects of
its curse. The curse is always ironically crippling and
destroys the vampire’s very essence and identity. A
vampire from a paranoid and secretive clan becomes
blatantly open with its supernatural powers, even
displaying them in front of living humans. A vam-
pire from a savage clan loses touch with his inner
beast and may starve to death without realizing it. A
proud vampire from a noble clan is reduced to a pa-
thetic mess who becomes so withdrawn that he can-
not stir himself to feed.
Effects: Dhampirs all have two dots of Unholy
Attribute, applied to any Social Attribute, which
they subconsciously use. The player (and possibly
the Storyteller) determines when the Unholy Attrib-
ute is used but the character has no genuine control
over it.
All dhampirs inherently possess the Unseen
Sense Merit applied to vampires and are oddly at-
tracted to the bloodsuckers. This works both ways,
however, and vampires instinctively want to know
the dhampir better.
Vampires gain no nourishment from dhampir
blood. In fact, they need to get it out of their systems
as quickly as possible. Every point of Willpower the
vampire should have gotten by feeding on a dhampir
either destroys a point of Willpower or inflicts two
points of bashing from bloody vomiting.
Every so often, however, a vampire feeds on a
dhampir and pays dearly for it. The punishment is
111
 Appendix: New Merits
nothing short of a curse, usually an ironic one that
destroys the very nature of the vampire. For exam-
ple, a secretive vampire becomes blatantly open and
needs to spend Willpower to not publically flaunt its
supernatural abilities. The exact nature of this
“curse” is up to the Storyteller but should be fairly
consistent. For example, it only affects the more hor-
rific vampires (Nosferatu) while another curse only
affects vampires with shapeshifting or animalistic
tendencies (Gengrel).
Dhampirs appear to be perfectly normal, mortal
humans. Vampires simply cannot detect anything
unusual about them even through supernatural
means. Dhampirs’ auras always appear as if they
were mundane humans.
Drawbacks: It is worth repeating that vampires
will want to drink her blood. This is a persistent
problem and constant threat.
Dhampirs are half-vampire, half-human. They
are not part anything else. Dhampir may not be Kin
(Wolf-Blooded) or Children of the Seventh Genera-
tion, for example. Their blood does not work with the
Cainites’ Rites of Denial. The Storyteller is free to rule
what other Merits and Endowments are off-limits to
dhampir characters.
Dhampirs have notoriously bad personal lives.
Relationships, particularly romantic ones, always
seem doomed to fail. Dhampirs and their suitors are
known to fall in and out of love without warning.
Whatever mysterious force draws vampires to dham-
pirs also plays havoc with the emotions of the living.
Fae-
Fae-Touched (


)
This adapts rules for fae-touched mortals as men-
tioned in CtL: The Equinox Road. The Fae-Touched
Merit allows such characters to still be considered human
and thus have access to Merits limited to mortals. It can
also be seen as a compromise for players who want a
changeling character in a Hunter: The Vigil game.
Prerequisites: Character must be mortal (non-
supernatural).
Description: According to the changelings, they
were once people abducted by the alien Gentry (also
known as the True Fae, Arcadians and a million
other titles) that somehow managed to escape back to
earth. Their time spent in the Gentry’s realm, Arca-
dia, warped them into fairytale monsters. Some peo-
ple, however, aren’t in Arcadia long enough to fully
transform. Instead of being changelings, they are
merely “fae-touched.” They are still human but their
brief stay in Arcadia caused lasting changes.
Effects: Fae-touched characters always see
changelings, hobgoblins and the like for what they
112
really are and not in their human guises. Using
Changeling: The Lost terminology, she is considered
permanently Ensorcelled.
She may open and use doorways into the Hedge.
This is effectively the same as Shakes’ Dread Power
“Knock, Knock” in HtV: Core, 310. For no cost and as
an Instant action, she may peer through such door-
ways without technically opening them and have a
general idea of what is on the other side.
The timeless nature of Arcadia has boosted her
life expectancy by a full ten years. Furthermore, she
gains a +1 bonus to resist the effects of disease, illness
or infirmity. This bonus does not apply to resisting
poisons or wound penalties.
She may gain the benefits of eating the so-called
Goblin Fruit, the strange plants that grow within the
Hedge, just like a changeling would.
Drawbacks: She suffers from the Amnesia Flaw
and has no knowledge of her time spent in Arcadia.
It is entirely possible she does not remember even
entering or exiting the Hedge. Even worse, there’s
the issue of explaining where she was for several
(Earth) days or weeks while in Arcadia. It is likely
that her disappearance was reported to the local po-
lice and this will bring lots of unwanted attention.
Notes: Fae-touched characters are generally not
in Arcadia long enough to have a fetch take their
place on Earth. The Storyteller may decide otherwise,
however. If the character does have to deal with a
fetch once, then she should have receive some com-
pensation. The character gains two dots of Dread
Powers and registers as “slightly wrong” to anyone
with an Unseen Sense applied to changelings.
Fetch (


)
The Fetch Merit is intended to make fetches from
Changeling: The Lost into playable characters in a
Hunter: The Vigil game. This does not mean characters
with this Merit must be hunters themselves. It is quite
possible for a fetch (PC or NPC) to be the minion of the
True Fae and dedicate its whole existence to antagonizing
one particular changeling.
Prerequisites: Character must be mortal (non-
supernatural). This Merit must be purchased at Char-
acter Creation unless given Storyteller approval.
Description: A fetch, depending on who or
what is asked, is either a changeling’s evil doppel-
ganger or a poor victim who lost part of her soul.
Regardless, changelings and fetches are inexplicably
linked. There is a corresponding fetch on Earth for
every changeling from or in Arcadia. Many change-
lings view killing their fetch as a rite of passage
Effects: Fetches have weaker but similar powers
 Appendix: New Merits
to their changeling counterparts. Fetches have two
free dots of Dread Powers secretly assigned by the
Storyteller at character creation. Neither the player
nor the character necessarily knows what these
Dread Powers are; these abilities must be discovered
in-game. Additional dots may be separately pur-
chased (Rating x 6) XP but a fetch may not have more
than five total dots of Dread Powers.
The fetch naturally see changelings for what they
really are. All fetches have Unseen Sense (The Mask)
for free. She immediately knows when a changeling,
True Fae, fae-touched mortal or anything else af-
fected by their Dread Powers is around.
Drawbacks: Fetches know they are different and
this realization typically begins when a fetch’s
changeling returns to Earth. Fetches all have at least
one derangement related to their identity crisis. This
derangement can never be cured.
It is worth repeating that there is a changeling
out there who probably wants to kill this character.
Worse, this changeling has inhuman friends and con-
nections that are willing to assist in its bloody quest.
Fetches generally do not leave corpses. Their
bodies collapse into random objects before disinte-
grating. This transitory material is usually related to
the nature of the fetch’s corresponding changeling.
For example, a stone-skinned changeling kills his
fetch which then promptly turns into a pile of peb-
bles and dust.
Fetches cannot have more than two dots of the
Tolerance Merit, the Endowment for the Regency of
Thorns, under normal circumstances. The Storyteller
may rule that other Endowments are off-limits to or
limited for fetches.
Magical Lineage
(
,


or




)
This is based on the Proximus and Sleepwalker Merits
from MtA: Core, 334. It also adapts the optional rules for
the Silver Dynasties introduced in MtA: The Silver Lad-
der, 62. It is intended to work with the rules for Gutter
Magic as outlined in HtV: Witch Finders.
Prerequisites: Character must be mortal (non-
supernatural). This Merit is only available at charac-
ter creation and cannot be upgraded later.
Description: The character has an innate, bio-
logical connection to the supernatural (or, more spe-
cifically, the Supernal). She comes from a family that
is known to produce witches even if her magical po-
tential has not fully manifested. Several generations
may have passed without producing a witch, how-
ever. It is entirely possible that she will never become
a witch but spend her life living somewhere between
the mundane and arcane worlds.
Effects: At one dot, she is what powerful
witches call a “Sleepwalker.” Her presence does not
affect the Paradox modifiers of nearby witches cast-
ing spells. Witches commonly use Sleepwalkers as
assistants for this very reason.
At three dots, she also has inherent but weak
magical abilities. She gains access to a Tier 1 Mystery
and its first two spells (the one- and two-dot spells).
She may not purchase additional spells or Mysteries.
She does not use Source nor can she gain it. Any
Source she is supposed to gain in accordance to her
Mystery is instead left floating invisibly in the air for
the rest of the scene. Anyone with the Gnosis Merit
(or an Endowment that uses or exploits Source in any
way) may take this Source. First come, first served.
At five dots, it is the same as the three-dot ver-
sion except she has access to a single Tier 2 Mystery
and its first two spells. Her life expectancy is also
increased by about 25%.
It is important to note that, with any version of
this Merit, the character is still considered to be a
mortal human. She does not register as a witch to any
relevant Unseen Senses or Endowments.
Drawbacks: Having the three- or five-dot ver-
sion of this Merit gives the character a Flaw, which is
likely a side effect from inbreeding. Common Flaws
include Deformity, Lame and Speech Impediment.
Special: The character cannot have the Gifted or
Gnosis Merits. She cannot have any other Merits that
confer psychic or magic abilities, including VASCU’s
Teleinformatics.
She can, however, gain Gnosis 5 at any time by
“trading in” the Magical Lineage Merit. The Magical
Lineage Merit is lost but its value is subtracted from
the cost of buying Gnosis 5.
Wild Eyes (

)
This is based on the Lunatic Glare Merit from WtF:
Blood of the Wolf, 125.
Prerequisites: Kin (HtV: Spirit Slayers, 139).
Effect: The character has more in common with
her werewolf cousins than she may realize. She can-
not cause full-blown Lunacy but projects some of the
terrifying and mind-breaking horror of her inner
wolf. She gains one dot of either the Dement or Terrify
Dread Power. Additional dots may be purchased
separate for (Rating x 8) Experience Points apiece.
This Merit cannot be purchased twice to gain access
to both Dread Powers.
Drawback: This Merit is lost if the character ever
becomes a werewolf or another supernatural being.
113
 Mental Flaws
The Flesh is Weak:
Weak You easily give into tempta-
tion and are prone to distraction. Resolve-based rolls
lose the 10-again quality and your Resolve cannot ex-
ceed two dots.
Incompetent: You can never, ever do something
right nor can you learn from your mistakes. That still
doesn’t prevent you from trying. This Flaw is tied to
one Skill that can never have any dots. Experience Points
are earned whenever a roll based on that Skill results
in a dramatic failure.
Illiterate:
Illiterate You cannot read or write. With Story-
teller approval, this Flaw may be taken if the character
is illiterate in the native language(s) of the area the
New Flaws Chronicle is set. If this is the case, then she can still
read and write but not in any language she is likely to
encounter.
Lazy Eye:
Eye You ‘re not particularly observant. Per-
ception rolls lose the 10-again quality, your Wits can-
not exceed two dots and you cannot have any Merits
Appendix Two:

that grant perception bonuses.

The Unobtainable:
Unobtainable One goal is the basis for all
your actions. Unfortunately, it is so complex or impos-
sible that it will probably never be achieved. You are
willing to do anything to achieve it, however, even at
the expense of more realistic goals.
Unpardonable Sin: You have committed a grave
offense (real or imagined) and cannot let yourself live
it down. This may be a secret from other characters but
this is not necessarily the case. In fact, it is possible for
other characters to know about your “sin” and think
nothing of it; the only one offended by it is you. What
this sin is/was can vary wildly from character to char-
acter, but it must be something you can never forgive
yourself for.

Physical Flaws
Albino:
Albino Your hair, skin and eyes lack pigment.
You’re not exactly a vampire but you must be cautious
about prolonged exposure to the sun. Albinos com-
monly have other Physical Flaws like Hard of Hearing
or Poor Eyesight.
Clumsy:
Clumsy You are all thumbs and have two left feet.
Dexterity-based rolls lose the 10-again quality and
your Dexterity cannot exceed two dots.
Color Blind:
Blind You may only see a portion of the
color spectrum or, in more severe cases, in varying
shades of grey. The specifics must be determined when
this Flaw is acquired. The Storyteller is free to impose
penalties on certain sight-based perception rolls or
relevant Crafts rolls.
Open Wound : One of your old injuries never

114
 Appendix: New Flaws
healed. This is likely the result of a supernatural at-
tack but other explanations are possible with Story-
teller approval. It is effectively a permanent point of
lethal damage. Any attempt to repair the damage
will, at best, only close the wound for twelve hours.
Senseless: One of your senses no longer works.
While hearing is covered by the Deaf Flaw and sight
is covered by the Blind Flaw, this covers the other
three senses. Lacking a sense of smell or taste is likely
the result of a freak accident or birth defect. Having
no sense of touch is a bit more difficult to explain.
Not surprisingly, you automatically fail all Percep-
tion rolls dependent on that sense.
Sterile: You are incapable of having children,
even if you do not realize it. Note that this Flaw is
unlikely to earn you a lot of Experience Points unless
you’re expected to produce offspring. Some characters
might even consider this to be more of a Merit than a
genuine Flaw.
These Old Bones:
Bones Your glory days have come
and gone. You do not necessarily look old but you
feel your age weighing heavily upon you. Stamina-
based rolls lose the 10-again quality and your Stam-
ina cannot exceed two dots.
Weakling:
Weakling You’re no Atlas Man. Strength-based
rolls lose the 10-again quality and your Strength can-
not exceed two dots.
Social Flaws
Awkward:
Awkward You cannot project an image of
strength or confidence. If anything, the image you
project is rather gawky and pitiful. Presence-based
rolls lose the 10-again quality and your Presence can-
not exceed two dots. This is often taken in conjunc-
tion with the Clumsy (above) and/or Aloof Flaws.
Bad Blood:
Blood Another group amongst your kind (a
rival compact, conspiracy, Covenant, Court, etc.) sim-
ply does not like you. It will deny you access to any
location under its control or influence and otherwise
give you hell. Non-confrontation Social rolls with
members of this organization suffer a -5 penalty.
Big Mouth:
Mouth You are naturally talkative and a bit
blunt. Then there are times when you are brutally
honest or a complete prick. Manipulation-based rolls
lose the 10-again quality and your Manipulation can-
not exceed two dots.
Hero Worship: You idolize someone (likely rep-
resented by the Mentor Merit) and disobeying him or
her is unthinkable. This does not necessarily need to
a character you actually interact with, such as follow-
ing the teachings of a long-dead philosopher or try-
ing to imitate a legendary member of a hunter or-
ganization. Experience points are earned when you
suffer for blindly following your hero’s instructions
or imitating him.
Hot Headed: You cannot keep cool in social
situations. Composure-based rolls lose the 10-again
quality and your Composure cannot exceed two dots.
You cannot have the Meditative Mind Merit. Charac-
ters with this Flaw are likely to develop the Irration-
ality Derangement.
Stalker: Someone is following you or has a po-
tentially dangerous interest in your activities. The
person does not have to be inherently threatening but
their actions have the potential to ruin your life. This
Flaw may apply to another (NPC) hunter, such as an
obsessive and intrusive member of Network Zero.
Ward: Your are responsible for another person’s
(NPC’s) wellbeing and they are likely ignorant of the
Vigil. This is essentially a one– or two-dot Retainer
that you do not want and who does not really benefit
you. If anything, he or she is a liability and/or finan-
cial burden. This Flaw most often applies to children.
Miscellaneous
Allergic to the Macabre: You feel sickened by a
certain supernatural presence. This is effectively the
same as the Unseen Sense Merit except it imposes a –1
penalty to all rolls as long as you are near the source
of your unnatural discomfort. Being in physical con-
tact with the source imposes a –3 penalty to all rolls.
This Flaw may be taken multiple times and ap-
plied to different supernatural creatures or phenom-
ena. The penalties for being near these stack, how-
ever, to a maximum of –5.
Geas: Due to an oath, pledge, curse or other un-
fortunate circumstances, you suffer from a Ban like a
spirit or demon. This can result from breaking a pact
with a demon or other supernatural creature like a
powerful mage or changeling. See HtV: Core, “The
Demon’s Ban,” 284 for more information.
Haunted: A ghost (or spirit or incorporeal de-
mon) plagues your existence. You are not necessarily
the ghost’s anchor, although learning why an antago-
nistic ghost has latched onto you would be interest-
ing for all the wrong reasons. This Flaw is lost if the
ghost is permanently sent back to the Underworld
where it belongs.
Inhuman Acquaintance: Not all of your
friends are human. You spend time with a super-
natural being or group, either voluntarily or involun-
tarily, that your hunter allies would not approve of.
This is likely a secret but that is not required.
Tainted: Something is not quite right about you.
You suffer from a Fiendish Flaw (HtV: Core, 283) like
a demon despite being a mortal.
115
 Many hunters think of the Vigil as a
living, breathing entity.
That is not entirely accurate.
The Vigil is in a state of perpetual REBIRTH
AND RENEWAL.
While part of the vigil is always being BORN,
part of it is always DYING.
A cell falls in London
as another cell writes
its manifesto in
Addis Ababa.

An ancient order of
hunters suffers
irreplaceable loses in
Santiago while another
in Hong Kong
builds a machine
that consumes
magical energy.

The Vigil lies trapped

BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH
and never fully knows the joy of either.

This book includes:

• Ten hunter organizations
(five compacts and five
conspiracies) that were
recently born or reinvented.
• Five unique Endowments, one
for each new conspiracy.
• New Merits and Flaws for any
World of Darkness chronicle.

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