To Curse the Darkness

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• Hunter: The Vigil - To Curse the Darkness

Game Description

"Sometimes it is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness."
- Chinese proverb

"Sometimes it is better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness."
- Terry Pratchett

They have lied to us for centuries.

"Humans are weak." "Humans are helpless." "Humans are prey." Lies. All of them. Fed into our collective consciousness by years of myths, of pop-culture stories, of news broadcasts detailing the latest murder. Lies told to us by ourselves. Lies of the most insidious kind, for even those who realize what they are believe that they hold a grain of truth.

The truth is much simpler. They do not.

Humans are strong. Humans can fight. Humans can hunt. Humans can kill.

The only weapon that They possess is our ignorance. They fear us. They hide from us. They are weak. We are strong. So they lie, and their lies trap us as fatally as any hunter's snare, and we become their cattle, ignorant of their existence. And the trap is well-made indeed, for even those who escape it seldom realize the truth, for they have lain more lies, and those who escape the first believe that their cause is hopeless and impossible, that they stand as wavering flames before an inexorable tide of darkness.

There are few like us, who know the truth of things. We are not helpless. We are not like the teeming masses, ignorant of the threats arrayed on the doorstep. We are not like the few partaking in the Vigil, who resign themselves to short, violent existences battling an unbeatable foe. We are the true warriors for humanity, not merely hunters but Hunters, who follow the trail of darkness back to its source and send it screaming to oblivion.

Because we know that the fight is not hopeless. We do not stand the Vigil. We do not defend. We attack.

The Game

This is To Curse the Darkness, a somewhat unorthodox Hunter: The Vigil game I'm running. The characters are extremely experienced Hunters, ones who have known each other and worked together for a long time. How long, exactly, is up to the players to determine; maybe the cell was originally founded by two of the characters, but grew to encompass the others over time. In any case, the characters are extremely experienced in battling the creatures of the night.

However, for whatever reason, the cell as a whole does not share in the idea that the Vigil is hopeless. Through long years of experience, the cell has learned that vampires can be destroyed. Werewolves can die. Witches bleed like anyone else. And the cell's actions against these forces not only can but do make a difference. A big difference. Because, when you get down to it, supernatural fiends are actually quite rare.

The Vigil is hopeless only because it believes itself to be. It waits for the darkness to attack, rather than taking the fight to the darkness. You know better.

The Plot

Out of all the creatures of the night, the most overtly dangerous are the vampires. Hunting them is always a challenge. Vampires are dangerous foes, both physically and socially. They are rarely without human servants, both knowing and unknowing. And, while you have had your eyes opened to the reality of the world, the rest of humanity has not. Those who are unaware of the truth of the darkness are best left that way. The monsters fear us for good reason: humanity is a dangerous foe when roused, but it is even more dangerous when frightened. The amount of destruction humanity could bring to bear against its enemies is unimaginable, but letting that happen would result in untold numbers of lives lost as collateral damage.

Vampires must be hunted carefully. Subtly. They must be kept as ignorant of your actions as the innocents you seek to protect.

So that's why you've spent the past month hiding out in the outskirts of Leominster, watching, scoping out the area, making sure that you aren't going to get any nasty surprises tonight. Because this guy is pretty well set up. He's got lots of humans under his thrall, and the old house is a fortress. But none of that's going to help him tonight.

The Setting

This is set in a fictionalized present-day Leominster, Massachusetts. Leominster is a real town. It happens to be one of my favorite places in the world, on account of the fact that I was born there. But it's been years since I've lived in New England, and my memory of the town is extremely hazy. Don't expect the landmarks to conform to reality beyond what I can gather from maps and articles.

The Crunch

The game is an ordinary Hunter: The Vigil game, with the following rules in effect.
- Player characters may not be members of any compact or conspiracy.
- Player characters do not have normal lives. They may have at one point, but the past few years of your life - or at least the past few months - have been dedicated to the Hunt.
- Player characters start with 100 normal experience and 50 practical experience each. You can spend these points as you see fit, though you may want to consult with the rest of the cell before selecting any Tactics to spend your practical experience on. Exception: If you would like to play a less-experienced, newbie Hunter, I won't stop you, but don't expect me to pull punches. Kudos on doing it the hard way for role-playing purposes, though. The cell will need at least two people who are taking the full experience budget, though.
- Equipment will be given out as I see fit. Ask for anything your character really needs. Anything else, I'll hand out as appropriate.
- Player characters all know each other. This may be a brothers-in-arms relationship going back to the formation of the cell or a teacher-apprentice relationship having started only months ago, but you have been working together as a unit for some time.
- Players may not take the Retainer Merit. You can, however, take stuff like Allies. You just don't have Jeeves following you around all the time; you move around too often for that.

The Applications

Post your applications in this thread. Include your character's name, age, gender, physical description, backstory, yadda yadda yadda. You know the drill. Having a sheet completed at this point isn't strictly necessary, but it couldn't hurt your chances. Please keep it in spoiler tags to keep from cluttering the thread.

The Rest

Remember, you're good, and you're tough, but you're not invincible. You're big fish, but there is always a bigger fish. But I intend this game to be rather heavy on the supernatural butt-kicking, so have fun with it.