The Wild Hunt

Comprising the only thing the Fae have to a unified military, the Wilde Hunt is one of the oldest and perhaps most feared institutions within the various courts. Led by an occasionally changing Huntsmaster, the organisation has only one purpose: the death of the daemonic and the “Unliving.”

## Origins

To hear the Fae tell it there has always been a hunt.

What is more chilling is that none on Avernus seem willing to contradict them; even the Ancient One seems to agree that the hunt has always been on Avernus, but he cannot place what was the impetus for its creation.

What is known is this. The Fae are a comparatively recent creation of Avernus, and the Hunt does not recruit exclusively from the Fae. In fact, seemingly any member of the Peoples can join the Hunt. Thusly the Hunt seems to be less an organisation of the Fae and more a conceptual idea that is currently bonded with the Fae.

The tale of its creation leads credence to this idea, speaking of an unidentified harried and broken being that is taken in by a great cave monster. Although this creature is a beast and clearly wishes to devour them, it instead tends to their wounds and heals them, before extracting an oath that in time they shall repay the kindness it bestowed upon them in kind, lest they suffer a curse for all eternity.

The being agrees and as a reward is given a final gift, a magnificent ivory hunting horn which can call the wilds to their aid. Armed with the horn, the once-broken being is able to build themself a life, create a family, and live for many years in comfort until at last the Cave-Monster comes for its due.

Much like the first being, it has been attacked, broken by a poison from beyond the stars and the natural world, and is desperate. To their credit the first does not forsake their vow, tending to the Monster’s wounds, despite its ferocity and malice. However, the youngest daughter is afraid of the Monster and in the darkness hears whispers of what it intends upon her family and her parent most of all. She is tempted forward, to strike before it has a chance to heal and with a single strike from her dagger kills the Cave-Monster, ending it for all time.

Even as she withdraws her blade, her fate is sealed. Before her horrified eyes her parent began to quiver and mutate, transforming into a deer that looks towards her with saddened eyes, while her siblings are each stricken with a fever from which there is no escape.

The youngest daughter looked upon the corpse of the Cave-Monster, and despaired and cried to the heavens for forgiveness which would not come. At last in desperation she took up the hunting horn and blew upon it calling the judgement of the Wilds.

Those ancient kings and queens of the woods stared upon the youth and her great mistake, begging that she would give anything to set this right. So they took her upon her word. She would take up the task of the Cave-Beast, to hunt monsters even greater than it for all eternity.

Her happiness and life for the return of a family she would never see again.

So wracked by guilt was she that the daughter accepted immediately, without a pause, and with a single gesture the curses were removed and she was changed.

The first Huntsmaster rode from that unknown house on a forgotten world.

## Activities

While its origins are in question the Hunt’s power is not, for the ghostly procession of riders across the sky heralds the destruction of whatever foe they have decided requires their attention.

Given its currently Fae membership, potent “solid” illusions are a common part of its attacks, as are spectral hunting hounds, immense martial prowess, seemingly some temporal manipulation, and a capacity to always find their foe.

While the Hunt’s skill is beyond question, its motives often are.

According to Avernites, it rides beyond the Never-Never upon the blowing of the Great Hunting Horn, an artefact held by the Huntsmaster. Yet it sometimes does not do this to hunt a threat, but seemingly to revel in the chase of normal beasts.

During these pursuits the Hunt can be felt charging over the heavens and if their call resonates within one’s soul, it can be replicated. Upon doing so, a representative of the Hunt will descend to greet you.

As has already been emphasised by numerous Peoples and Guardians, Fae are highly self-obsessed beings and at their very best are rarely able to understand enlightened self-interest. For the most part, any deal with one will end badly for the mortal in the end unless it is during an incursion. The sole (potential) exception to this is the Huntsmen, who are...odd.

Instead of trying to tempt Avernites into cursed deals, Hunters usually offer challenges of some kind. Defeat them in this test, and they will reward the clever mortal with something like a bag of enchanted coins, a powerful familiar, or a part of hunt’s current quarry. In case of a failure, the Hunter will instead ask for something generally non-harmful, if often nonsensical. The first dewdrop the loser sees in spring, to care for a hound pup until it is grown, or to rest in their domicile for an evening are common examples.

Again these requests are usually more onerous but are hardly fatal to the loser. It is only if they are refused (or forgotten) that the Hunter will become aggressive. Due to paranoia most Avernites assume these tasks are intended to be simple and easy to forget by design rather than any strange nature of the Hunters themselves.

Furthermore, the Hunt may be far less dangerous or aggressive than a normal fae, but certain things of mortality still do not make quite as much sense to them as they perhaps should. One tale speaks of a man who called the Hunt and won his challenge, with the Hunter going to fetch a piece of the take. The winner returned to their home and the Hunter simply dropped the piece of meat down their chimney, the creature’s flesh causing a small explosion severely injuring the winner. What happens after that is contested, some versions of the tale ending with the hunter riding off laughing, but in others they are chastised and forced to make amends by the Huntsmaster.

The Hunt is known to reside within the Warp, in a realm linked but far from the Never-Never. A glade within a mighty ever shifting forest beneath a sky of eternal twilight and gloom is described within the centre a great fire put at which the Hunters rest and sing of the glories of hunts long past. It is rare for one not of their order to be invited within their humble grove, and those that are given the opportunity never forget the sight and feel of that eldritch place.

The Hunt is regarded with just fear by most, despite its comparatively positive relations. There is something about it that sets most on edge, the omnipresent fear of pursuit buried within the minds of almost all beings that the riders seem to draw upon, like a dagger lightly pressed against one's spine. Even the Eldar are not immune to this and describe the hunt as a strange midpoint. Not the noble riders of Kurnous, but not the dark spectres that follow Anath Raema either.

Only Queen Mabd of the Fae seems utterly unfazed by them, the seemingly emotionless entity possessing far greater insight into the Hunt than almost any other, though she hoards this knowledge jealousy.

### Huntmaster

The leader of the Wilde Hunt is either a single entity that regularly changes its form, or a group within the Hunt itself.

The Huntsmaster’s most common forms are that of a tall Eldar-esque female, albeit with “moon-like eyes”, or a short, heavily bearded being missing its left eye. The position has been held by a huge variety of creatures, but these two seem to stand in most often.

The reason for the uncertainty is that the Huntsmasters may lack consistency in abilities and personality; their actions always seem to align perfectly with that of other Huntsmasters. Thus the confusion as to whether they are a single being that is skilled at acting or a group that have long worked together.

Regardless the Huntsmaster is never seen far from a great horn that no being has ever seen it blow. In fact few stories concern the Huntsmaster doing much beyond coordinating the Hunt and tracking their quarry, a task to which seemingly none can compare. Only a few stories mention the Huntsmaster fighting personally, but even then it is usually in the context of a delaying action for another fighter, leaving their exact capabilities uncertain. Their presence is usually seen as a sign of death however, for even those supposedly beyond such things like daemons will fall more readily before the Huntmaster’s eyes.

## Primal

When consulted during one of his mandatory rests, the Primarch fell into a deep stupor, meditating on the idea of the Hunt, before reawakening in a panicked fear.

When calmed down he explained what he had uncovered, both into the primal in general and the specific nature of the Hunt.

It is already known that there are spirits within the Primal Warp, beings that represent parts of it in ways that are both general and specific. The spirit of a mountain for example is the primal representation of *that* specific mountain, but in turn are connected to the spirit of all mountains upon a planet. More abstract concepts are embodied, but for the Primal Warp, Spirits of the Hunt are the most aggressive and physically potent of them all.

As he explains the Primal Warp has no conception of combat, warriors, or war. All there is is the Hunt. It is the encapsulation of all battle to the mind of that primordial reality and in turn spirits that embody the hunt are amongst the most powerful beings that can exist within the Primal. The issue that extends to most major primal entities is that communication or reasoning with them is impossible. Their nature rejects such things, even to him. So the World, much like the impossibility that is Strength, has created something that *can* be reasoned with.

The Wilde Hunt at its core *is* a Spirit of the Hunt granted semi sentience in a manner he cannot even begin to guess at.

He is certain it did not work exactly as the World had intended, likely in the area of control, as the power of the Primal Warp rejects such things. However he surmises such a being only came to be as a result of the Primal itself being in agreement to some degree. While he is certain that the World is not itself a World Spirit, it is a planet, which might give it a greater capacity to communicate with the primal than previously imagined. Enough to negotiate such a deal?

Whatever the case is, Russ has warned us to be wary of the Hunt, for it has been waiting patiently in anticipation of an ambush millions of years in the making, biding its time, gathering and hiding its strength. If its myths speak truly that its Huntsmaster does not directly overwhelm its foes then to Russ this is merely greater evidence of its tactics, as Chaos frequently seems to pay little direct attention to the Hunt itself.

Furthermore, he stated that whatever primal spirit was used in its formation was incredibly ancient and powerful. Even by the standards of the Primal Warp, which as he is coming to realise means something *very*different to “The First Realm.”

*If,* and it is a very uncertain if, it lost in direct strength what it gained in intelligence and allies has more than compensated for it.

The only thought more chilling to Russ is that the Hunt may well be intended to act as an intermediary.

He has spoken in hushed, drained tones of the Hunters that lurk within the Primal Warp. Monsters as if not more terrifying then any he had encountered in the waking world. Creatures that on further questioning to those ancients who might know were met with further silence from all save one.

The Laughing God merely chuckled merrily and spoke of the jest that had passed in Ancient Days. Of the long enmity between the Eldest and those that came before them. Those even "older" in a fashion whose might could have ended the war had they the capacity to speak.

When pressed further Ceogorach merely winked and walked away, his final remark only to let sleeping dogs remain in slumber.