Witch Hunter

Witch Hunters is an umbrella term for those Aware humans who are experts in defeating and killing Others and Practitioners.<ref>

My question is what is the point of Witch Hunters?

Specialists in handling/'policing' some heady problems, when practitioners and Others can be very, very problematic. - /g4pyrzr/ Wildbow on Witch Hunters</ref> Sometimes because they cross too many lines,<ref name=":4"/> sometimes just because.<ref name=":3"/>

Methodology

As with any discipline the individual exponents will very amongst themselves, if not actively compete against each other.<ref name=":6">

What's stopping Witch Hunters from just assembling a force numbers and just wiping everything else out?

Differing methodologies, ideologies. No guarantee it'd work. - /g4pyrzr/ Wildbow on Witch Hunters</ref> In some cases A Witch Hunter can have knowledge that rivals Practitioners.<ref name=":5"/>

Training of a Witch Hunter has been shown to include things like the use Innocence to work around Others camouflage and memory effects.<ref name=":1"> When we got our training and they gave us all the tools we need to do this, they kept going on about how important the diaries are. They made us read some too.

I think my problem is that I think too much. Most of us who start this when we’re kids, we don’t live long enough to leave anyone behind. Humans have an instinctive desire to leave a legacy. I don’t like myself enough to want to leave anything of myself behind.
[...]
Rose feels different than when she left, somehow. Now, as I think about how her predecessor handled everything… I think about how Rose coped, and I wonder ‘how did she handle it?’ and I can’t come up with much.

When I asked Eva, Eva reminded me of the techniques we learned. Right off the bat, she found the discrepancy.

When we ask, “How did Rose manage?”, we struggle to answer.

When we ask, “How did the second Thorburn heir manage?” we can mutually agree that the heir was almost eerily in step with this world.

As witch hunters, free of any vows or ties to the world the monsters and practitioners inhabit, we’re protected against the trickery. A measure of innocence can challenge that reality, and clearly see the emperor without his clothes.
[...]
When we got our training and they gave us all the tools we need to do this, they kept going on about how important the diaries are. They made us read some too.

• One Nightmare-type monster was invading dreams. Targeting normals. Not affiliated with Johannes or Sandra. Found wandering the streets in a human guise, spotted through the trickery with innocence, cut down with katana.
  
  

Mags looked up. “Thirteen tolls.”
[...]
He offered her a light smile. A witch hunter could lie. Oaths weren’t binding.

One of these days, after years of loyal service, when it didn’t put too many people in danger, he’d skip the council meeting, and act while they were all in one place.

He had a rocket launcher at home for just that purpose. - Excerpt from Gathered Pages: Andy's Notes</ref> to a limitation. They can lie, and are freely allowed to invade Demesnes without reservation because they aren't bound by the same rules as those who practice.<ref>“If they don’t kill the others,” Ty said. “Because Witch Hunters can kill people. Even innocents.”

[...]

- Excerpt from Malfeasance 11.7</ref>

They're known for having large collections of weapons and Magic Items that they keep for particular targets.<ref>More subtly, she could conclude, objects had a kind of importance in this room. Stuff that might have been family knick-knacks in another house took up odd positions here, sort of akin to how a museum might arrange things. Giving objects a kind of prominence.

Odd objects. A figurine of a bear, a frame that held a strip of cloth with an embroidered knot on it taut, a kettle, a small statue of a pig, a mannequin’s hand, a metronome…

Andy unlocked the cabinet. A drawer slid out, heavy enough that the desk momentarily rocked when it reached its full length. Part of the drawer had to be recessed in the wall.

Knives, swords, and something that looked like a mace or a scepter, but hollow, with holes punched through the surface.

He saw her looking. “Censer. When you want to hit something and you need a particular kind of smoke, both at the same time.”

Five seconds later, he had another drawer open. Guns, many of which were old fashioned, ammo, and lead pipes.

“Take your pick,” he said.

“For real?”

“Some things I wouldn’t let you take, but that’s like, uh, that gun there, it’s the first gun I bought for myself, personal attachment. And that sword right there is impregnated with the blood of a fox-woman. And maybe that obsidian knife, unless you had a specific use for it, it’s sort of niche, and it’d be a pain to replace. Just about everything else, well, if you lost it, it’s an excuse to get a replacement, or it’s less clutter. Win win.” - Excerpt from Signature 8.5</ref>

As they are informed of the supernatural it is hard to leave all that behind and live an ordinary life with the world working against them.<ref>“Their lives were in shambles. Roberto fell in love with Angie and tried to be better for her, and ended up in kid jail. A lot of the time, these weird cases will pop up where Aware will cause a ton of problems, including problems for themselves, and because they face problems when it comes to actually doing stuff… this is a whole complicated concept-”

“The Aware run into resistance if they try to climb the rungs and become a politician or make a billion dollars with their talents,” Lucy said.

“Yeahhh,” Yadira said. “So you know that much. But not even top rung stuff. Even like… if Roberto became a car salesman and he used his asshole power to become the top seller at the biggest car dealership in his city, wherever he is, that’d draw too much attention. So he becomes the top seller at a place where there’s enough other crap going on people don’t pay him a lot of attention, and he doesn’t make that much money. So a lot of Aware will find themselves in similar places on the social ladder, and in the same neighborhood in a town or whatever, and then they crash into one another. And they may not survive those crashes.” - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.3</ref> Practitioners will likely be on the look out for witch hunters and Lords might try to target them.<ref>Right. They were witch hunters. They knew stuff, and it was hard to leave all that behind and live an ordinary life. Practitioners could very well be unhappy or unsettled by the appearance of the twins in their town. Lords or local powers could seek to control them, even abuse them. - Excerpt from Signature 8.5</ref> It's just as likely for such people to try to work with certain agreeable witch hunters to keep the more crazy witch hunters away.<ref name=":7">

Why are they not a bigger thing that people are afraid of?

People are plenty afraid of them. Sometimes you can deal with them by making unofficial contracts and whatever. Bringing Andy & Eva onto the council; if (m)any witch hunters show up those two will say 'this is our turf'. And they're tied into a network that knows what's going on and keeps tabs on the people out there, so they could get tipped off if Long and Mayes drifted their way. Of course, Andy is plotting for the contingency where he needs to blow them all up, so it's not all sunshine and daisies. - /g4pyrzr/ Wildbow on Witch Hunters</ref>

In some cases a Witch Hunter may have a strong pattern around them established by past successes or family history, even if Witch Hunters aren't known for having families.<ref>I think my problem is that I think too much. Most of us who start this when we’re kids, we don’t live long enough to leave anyone behind. Humans have an instinctive desire to leave a legacy. I don’t like myself enough to want to leave anything of myself behind. - Excerpt from Gathered Pages: Andy's Notes</ref> This might make magic less effective on them (similar to a Skeptic) or draw them into being a Witch Hunter against their will (similar to a Designated Victim.)<ref name=":0">“He keeps strange tenants.  Some are complicated.  A gilded lily, who stumbles on magic items by accident on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.  Many are cursed.  Someone who saw something so bent and broken it drove him around the bend.  A child of a witch hunter who survived the rest of her family, who knows something is afoot in the shadows of this world.  The pattern of that family seeks to wrap her up in its flows. [...] Some of them remain and are power sources.  I imagine that swarm tenant is both steady income and a trickle of power.  Others balance out the other tenants.  A skeptic that dulls practices around her to help take the bite out of the worst cursed items.  An elusive man to keep the witch hunter scion’s attention without ever bearing fruit.” - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.8</ref>

Known Witch Hunters

• Witch Hunter network<ref>The quartet in ‘Magog picked up all the C4 we had to dole out before I could get your bid in. Supplies are running low, with the last source we had getting arrested. I know you said Eva was messing around with your grenades, and I know Mac taught you how to rig a daisy chain pin pull. I stuck a belt of pineapples in your shipment. I can’t imagine it’s unwanted.
  
  Rocket? I have serious reservations about giving you that RPG launcher, boy. Either you’re using it, and I don’t think you’re equipped for it, or your sister is using it, and we’re talking a slew of other problems.
  
  Consider asking for help instead. Offer still stands. I trust your sensibility, Andy boy. If you think you need seven (now eight) good witch hunters to cut down the riff raff, you know we’re good for it. We’re all in this together, Andy boy. You two, me and my guys, the Magog nuts, the Montreal organization. - Excerpt from Gathered Pages: Andy's Notes</ref>
  • Samaniego
  • Mac
  • Creevy
  • The Talons
  • Eva & Andy
  • Montréal Witch Hunters<ref>Estrella Vanderwerf
    Estrella leads her family practice at 17, after all family practitioners over the age of eighteen were executed by the Montreal Witch Hunters. - Bonus Material: Student Guide</ref>
• The Abbots<ref name=":2">

The Abbots keep an Augur bound in shackles and charms they've picked up, as well as the Augur's child. The Augur identifies targets for them in riddle-speak, which they use to narrow down the type of Other or practitioner they're dealing with, reaching out to home base a state away. They then tailor their munitions and approach appropriately, aiming for devastating opening moves, not giving targets a chance to respond. Typical attacks are two snipers with specially made bullets at two different angles, each with a spotter, and a team of five midrange guys. Their bullets go through barriers, protections, hurt even Others that can't normally be affected by bullets (immaterial, etc). Each wear charms that make them harder to see with the Sight, not easier. Everyone and everything they take down gets butchered and taken apart to serve as more charms for the same purpose, protecting them, their hideouts and homes, their families, etc. The Augur cooperates because they know when they die or finally break down under the accumulated costs of Seeing that much, their child is next in line. - /g4pyrzr/ Wildbow on Witch Hunters</ref>

• The Power Couple<ref name=":3">

Long and Mayes are a Witch Hunter pair who rove around in motorcycles. Mayes is a Designated Victim. Whatever fate the universe weaves, it keeps putting her in the way of hostile Others and monstrous practitioners. Kind of like a Gilded Lily (someone who, by dint of circumstance or shenanigans on the universe's part chronically stumbles onto magic items). Between the two of them, they've survived enough crap that the pattern's been established, and practices don't really affect them anymore. What's more, their return to sender vibe is really, really strong. They're scrappers, with a few cursed items that don't really affect them, and a strong survivor vibe. Most of the time they crash into a scene, with a whole lot of chaos, start crashing into wards and summons, rebound them, and follow them back to the head of the snake. This does mean L&M sometimes let things loose or screw up balances, but they can often kill their way through those things, or they'll just kill the people who swoop in to deal with them; They're not the strongest, but have a way of turning up in delicate situations and have enough momentum they'll probably get 5-10 years of 'work' done before they get turned into paste or worse. - /g4pyrzr/ Wildbow on Witch Hunters</ref>

• Rieth Library Blind<ref name=":4">

The Rieth Library studies Others, traces them back to origins or realms of origin (Abyss, warrens, spirit world, courts) and maintains contact with several higher-ups. Alabasters, Spirit Kings, Goblin rulers, etc. When they set their sights on a particular Other or Practitioner it's typically for a major reason. They then cite old rules, precedent, deals, and stuff dating back hundreds of years, or otherwise appeal to specific individuals, to obtain permission at the source to have their target dealt with. When successful, which is often, practitioners can be cut off from their practice, or Others weakened and cut off from allies or power sources. Their executioners are 'The Blind', men and women raised from birth to be steeped in doubt and skepticism, while the higher ups are the opposite. The doubt is a blessing that affords The Blind further protections and diminishes every Other and practice in an area. This combines with the Big Karmic O.K. they get from the higher-ups to make them very matter-of-fact, to-the-point Witch Hunters. Their victims typically have their eyes gouged out, eardrums pierced, and hands cut off, before being bound as necessary in power suppressing restraints, if Other or nonhuman enough. - /g4pyrzr/ Wildbow on Witch Hunters</ref>

See Also

• Inquisitor, similar only more uncompromising.
• Blackguard, practitioner ally that lacks Witch Hunter combat training

Trivia

• In PactDice it is an accepted option to play as a With Hunter as opposed to a practitioner.<ref>It'd require unique rules, yes. I think the big thing is that most serious witch hunters are generally trained to an insane degree. They're exposed to Others and drilled, and they end up pretty quirky and different, if not broken as human beings.
  
  They'd probably have tools and techniques. If generated using the Pact Dice system, you could extrapolate so the different categories mean different things. Puissance = firepower, Executions = skills, etc. - Regarding Witch-Hunters and Pactdice.</ref><ref name=":5">

How are they able to survive against the kind of capabilities that Practitioners and Others can bring to bear?

It might help to think of witch hunters as practitioners who make countering Others and practice their focus. Often this is rooted in avoiding the explicit use of practice themselves, gaming the systems of awareness, innocence, establishing methodologies in dispatching practitioners that then become power, and using the trophies and scraps of whatever they get from defeated practitioners to then use against practitioners (items & things they can use without being practitioners themselves). - /g4pyrzr/ Wildbow on Witch Hunters</ref>

References

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