Occult Hunter

**Occult Hunters**, also known as just **Hunters** or **Slayers**, are people, usually humans, who hunt down the supernatural threats and protect the mundane from fiends, monsters, and other enemies of mankind.

## History

### First Hunter

After Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden, the Morningstar's soldiers sought to punish them for their God's imprisonment. They corrupted the animals of Tellus Mahte with their infernal essence to turn them into fiends, and shaped clay into deformed shape to create the first monsters.

With the birth of monsters and fiends, the natural order went imbalance and catastrophes plagued the Old Earth. However, with their God-like physiques, this didn't disturb Adam and Eve. The evils wrecked the world, the First Man and Woman rebuilt things. This had been the way things went until the birth of their first sons, Cain and Abel.

Seeing the young babies within their mother's arms, Adam made a vow to himself. He walked out of the small cave they called home and snapped a branch from the nearby tree, sharpened and attached it to a jagged stone. He then raised the makeshift spear up into the heavens and pledged his life, soul, and blood to the service of the divine if the Presence would grant him the right to end the lives of all those who preyed upon the future generations of mankind.

And thus began the hunting career of the supposed First Hunter.

## Summary

Hunters are usually humans who, unlike the majority of mankind, are aware of the supernatural world and, even more, they fight against them to protect the mundane from harm. One of the most recurring reasons to go into the hunter lifestyle is a tragedy in their lives that involved the supernatural. However, there are other reasons to decide on being an occult hunter, such as being raised within a hunter family or a Hunter Guild.

Occult hunters typically pass their knowledge onto their children, as they can be killed by supernatural creatures on their regular hunts or ones that look for revenge. When they do so, a hunter family is formed. Many occult hunters also don't, or cannot, reside in a permanent residence as they move throughout the country looking for cases and protecting the people. Most live on the move, and as such, have few belongings beyond essential equipment and supplies which allows them to move easily and quickly.

Those who do have permanent residences don't spend too much time in them, and they are usually distant toward their neighbors in order to maintain their secrecy. Hunters are stationed almost all over the world, and while some would travel in order to track a case that's occurring in a specific part of a foreign country, most remain within their homeland due to the constant rising of supernatural entities that roam about their residence and neighborhood.

They can also form groups and organizations known as Hunter Guilds that dedicate toward the protection of mankind and the destruction of supernatural threats. These Guilds typically hold far more resources, weaponry, and power than a singular hunter, with some even known for employing supernatural entities to fight on their behalf.

And while all occult hunters deal with the more hostile supernatural beings, there are many types of hunters who deal with specific entities, like only witches and vampires for example. They also work as curse-breakers and unofficial exorcists. Some even deal with groups and organizations which either employ or lead by hostile supernatural beings.

While over 80% of occult hunters are humans, about 14% of them are magicians or have practiced the arcane arts, and 6% of them consist of downworlders, former humans and half-humans. Due to their monstrous nature, human hunters frown upon them and generally treat them with distrust. Most hunter groups usually assign a human hunter with their downworlder hunter, either to guide them, protect them, or keep an eye on them in case they fall to their monster instincts. Almost always, these inhuman hunters have their own reasons for hunting down other supernatural beings or even their own kind, mostly for an inner desire to embrace their human self and self-hatred toward their monster self.

## Powers & Abilities

As a particularly vulnerable species, human occult hunters must be in their peak physical condition and possess an extensive knowledge of the supernatural before combating the unnatural. Across all ages and cultures, human hunters have relied on a variety of methods to overcome their physical handicaps and fight against the various supernatural beings that threaten their existence, ranging from firearms to enchanted weapons, to magical power/knowledge and advanced technology.

Hunters are skilled fighters, proficient with firearms, shotguns and melee weapons they might acquire and are also expert marksmen. Some may even carry supernatural weapons made from enchanted metals that give them an advantage against many species of supernatural beings. When weapons are scarce and they are in a dangerous situation, they use hand-to-hand combat or whatever is available as a weapon. They also appear to be proficient trackers and possess prudent tactical skills and an instinctive ability to "read" behavioral characteristics and manipulate people. In addition, they need to be virtuosos of escape, evasion and silent movement, when the situation requires subtlety and stealth, such as surprise attacks.

It is shown they possess many abilities that are frowned upon by law, including, but not limited to: lock picking, breaking into security systems, computer hacking, disguised conning, carjacking and gaining an "advantageous purchase". They are versed with how police, fire departments and various government agencies typically operate and conduct investigations, and know how to both impersonate and evade them effectively. Most of these methods are used to gather information about the cases they're working on, though methods can differ between occult hunters.

Many occult hunters can read and recall Latin incantations, which can be used to exorcise and vanquish infernal beings. Aside from Latin, some hunters are also able to read and/or recite other languages. This is due to the importance of linguistic knowledge in translating ancient and foreign texts to identify a foreign entity and its weaknesses. It's also an unspoken tradition that hunters carry with them journals, or books, with information, details, and methods to kill the different creatures they must face. Veteran hunters possess massive and in-depth knowledge on supernatural lore, and often keep the hunter community updated on any new or recent developments.

In ancient times, hunters used to pray to pagan deities such as Artemis, Neith, and Bast, who are the Patron Gods of Hunting, both regular and supernatural. In more modern times, occult hunters usually invoke the names of the Presence, Divine Aeons like the Biblical God and Jesus Christ, the Angels, or even the Saints. However, some have taken a more agnostic or even antagonistic stance against the divine, viewing most - if not all - supernatural beings as malevolent or amoral.

## Trivia

* In certain regions, they are known by different names, such as **Breakers** in Scotland or **Witchers** in Scandinavia.
* Supernatural beings generally see hunters as mercenaries.
* About 30% of hunters are usually self-taught and don't affiliate with any Hunter Guild.
* While a part of the same hunter label, occult hunters should not be confused with the non-supernatural hunters who hunt normal animals, nor should they be confused with treasure hunters.
	+ Most occult hunters also work as bounty hunters for a semi-stable source of income and to pay for their weapons, equipment, and other supplies.
* When a hunter dies, the body is laid down on a row of logs with a white sheet over the body and then salted and burned. This is to prevent the hunter from becoming a specter or an undead being.
* On occasion, shop owners who are aware of the supernatural world will put hunter symbols in their windows to show that they can be of assistance.
* Hunters keep their weapons close to themselves, as they can be attacked at any moment or to easily transport them to any location they need to go.

## Notes

* List of Occult Hunters
	+ List of Hunter Families
	+ List of Hunter Guilds (Hunter Guild)