Brotherhood of Jaegers

**Brotherhood Jaegers** are, in the words of **Father Jerome Santiarius**, ***“**mostly roughens who enjoyed inflicting violence free of consequences”* (**I Santarius 3.3**). While virtue seems to run short for these individuals, there is a very visceral sense of honor, even amongst the worst of the Brotherhood.  They operate through a large, intricate network of **Jaeger Hauses**, whereby they receive information about jobs, rest, and take payment. If you’re looking for men of valor, look to the **Hightower Paladins**. If you’re looking to get the job done, you have no better place to turn to than the Brotherhood.

## Structure

### Jager Crest

All Brotherhood Jagers recieve a crest that they keep with them to prove their membership in the brotherhood. Developed by Silas Adler himself to better connect the Brotherhood, the crests resemble the head of the wild boars that the original Jaegers hunted before they hunted horrors.

### Klassen

Klassen are the ranks given to Jaegers. These ranks are earned by virtue of the Jaeger's accomplishments or sometimes because of their guts to attempt a particular hunt...and survive. Klassen are typically recognized by each Jaeger Haus, but occationally, some Hauses may not recognize a particular Jaeger's Klasse (an example of this would be **Eulric Danver**'s earning Erste Klasse in the St. Harabel Jaeger Haus in Marris for his hunt & execution of **High Drake Miseer**, yet he is only recognized as Klasse Zweite by nearly all other province hauses, which Eulric attributes to their simple dislike of him).

1. **Oberste**
	* Legendarily skilled individuals. As enigmatic as they are rare. There are typically only one or two in a generation.
	* *Famous Oberstes*
		+ **Silas Adler**
		+ Siegfried
2. **Erste Klasse**
	* The most Elite members of the Brotherhood, granted this rank by the Adlefas (Elder Jaegers, themselves Klasse Erste or higher)
	* *Famous Erste*
		+ **Hamish Wagner**
		+ Gunther of Canteri
3. **Zweite Klasse**
	* Veteran Jaegers who have seen more than their fair share of monsters...and dispatched nearly every single one. These Jaegers have garnered a reputation of excellence that reaches to several provinces, often being requested for hunts by name.
	* *Famous Zweite*
		+ **Eulric Danvers**
4. **Dritte Klasse**
	* A cut above the average Hunter, these Jaegers are well known in their regions as efficient, knowledgeable, and most importantly...effective.
	* *Known Dritte*
		+ **Richard Weld**
5. **Vierte** **Klasse**
	* Most Jaegers are in this Klasse. Well versed in dealing with things that go bump in the night...or day. Pretty much all the bumpy things. .
6. **Anfänger**
	* Novice Jaegers, trainees, and the incompetent lie in this Klasse. Gather enough of them, and they can handle small jobs well enough, but don’t expect if to be timely or limbs to stay intact. Most in this Klasse are apprenticed to a higher ranked Jaeger.

### Jaeger Haus

Jaeger Hauses are independent yet loosely connected bases of operations for Jaegers within certain regions. Not all regions have a Jaeger Haus, but most do. A few Hauses exist within Imperial cities and most are established just outside larger towns so they can operate without too much of the Empire's eyes on them. In order for a Jaeger to get respectable work (and therefore respectable pay), they must come through the Haus. Jaegers that don't operate through Hauses are considered rogue, untrustworthy, and lacking in true skill. Each Haus consists of at least one Kopf, Augen, and Zeiger.

* **Der Kopf**
	+ The job distributor of the Haus. If Jaegers want to make money (in a way that won't get them thrown out of the Brotherhood), they have to get approval from Der Kopf. There is usually only one per Haus, but occationally there can be more than one, each opperating independently.
* **Die Augen**
	+ The information merchants of the Haus, usually bringing jobs to Der Kopf
* **Der Zeiger**
	+ The quartermaster of the Haus. Need a silvered hatched for chop up a Gremlin? Looking for a rare herb that identifies the slimey secretion of a Grell? Desire a good mead? In search of a bed to crash in? Der Zeiger will either have what you need or can point you in the right direction.

## History

### Beginnings

During the **Hand of Righteousness,** it became obvious that the military was ill suited to deal with certain creatures that could be found on the continent. This lead to those undealt with creatures being merely pushed into human settlements to wreak havoc. A group of men and women from several neighboring villiages decided to take matters into their own hands and learn about the creatures in order to hunt and kill them. **The First Jaegers** became legends quickly through their exploits, including, but not limited to: destroying the **Fell Beast of Cantari**, identifying the first **poltergeits**, and crafting the fist **silvered weapons** strong enough to harm a **Lycan**.

### Establishing the Festung

In order to better care for the knowledge, weapons, and trophies the Jaegers were amassing, forts (now called **Alt Festung**) were established withing the Deep Woods.

### Heresy

Some Jaegers were careless in their knowledge gathering and unabshedly dove into dark rituals, lucid magics, and more in their fight against the Dark.

### The Legendary Jaeger

Silas Adler's impact as a Jaeger cannot be overstated.

### The War of Protest & Three Day War

Taking a mostly neutral position, Jaeger activity during the war was kept mostly away from the battles with other Valencians, even though the Empire and the Revolutionists made their bids for their services.

## Alt Festung

A series of ancient forts built by Jaegers during the Hand of Righteousness. Located in the **Deep Forest**, these forts were abandoned after the waking of the **Ra’nash.**

## Ophites**,** Heretic of the Empire

In an effort to be better creature hunters, some Jaegers began dablling in dark magics to augment their physical abilities, some going as far as to tatoo themselves with ancient glphys using Ygro. The Jeagers were dubbed Ophites (meaning "snake") by the Church for what they called "heretical use of magics."