One of the most popular questions from people commenting on our Curseborne blogs and on the Onyx Path Discord is whether the Curseborne core book will contain “global adversaries”, or – to put it another way – grand conspiracies, organized opposition groups, and factions to rail against.
In many ways, a character’s family and more broadly, enemies within their Lineage may occupy that role. In Curseborne, you’ll frequently encounter a Hungry who takes things too far with their victims, an Outcast who wants to drag the world we know into the Outside, or a Primal on a power trip, harassing and terrifying every mortal soul who dares step foot on her territory.
But there are more adversaries than those within your bloodline or bloc.
One such type of adversary is the venator.
Venators
Whether a paramilitary group of vigilantes, a congregation of faithful looking to burn down someone or something unholy, or the victims of Accursed looking for vengeance, all such people eventually fall under the bracket of “venators.” The name originated not at the height of the Roman Empire as many Accursed believe, but in the 17th century, when the first international syndicate of hunters shared word and developed tactics on how best to identify and murder the Accursed. They dubbed themselves venators as a mark of status, separating themselves from simple hunters of men or beasts.
Venators recognize the supernatural as a threat, and while most people see them as conspiracy theorists who spend a little too much time online, there’s one thing they’re right about: the Accursed exist. They’re out there, and the venators’ relative isolation in realizing this only empowers their zeal.
Venators spring up from many sources. The Sisters of the Cross are Church-sponsored, Red Riding Hoods survived an Accursed attack and took a trophy, and Abigail Sloan is a unique case of a woman who hunts Accursed for contracts and for sport, but the majority of venators stumble upon the truth and find it twists and then drives them. The Primal call these people “Ahabs,” with many such would-be slayers arising from their own, human families, while the Hungry dub them “Helsings” and the Dead “Merrins” or “Karrases.” Many venators have encountered the Accursed before and survived an encounter with them, though their knowledge typically only extends to one Accursed family. They use gathered information, trash social media sites, and horror streamers to vet possible targets and coordinate strikes. Supposedly an organization of Venators (with a capital V) exists, though their sponsorship, knowledge, and activities are cloaked in mystery.
Venators pose a variable threat. When they work together, they sometimes have the numbers, training, and equipment to prove to the Accursed that humanity isn’t their prey — that the Accursed are the minority in need of persecuting.
Template: Shiver/Fright/Terror
Drive: Validate possible Accursed threats and eliminate them.
Primary Pool: 6/8/10 (Command, Conspiracy Theories, Survival)
Secondary Pool: 4/6/8 ([Family] Lore, Firearms)
Desperation Pool: 3/4/5
Enhancements: +0/+1/+1 Explosives, +1 Find Evidence Trail
Defense: 1/2/3
Integrity: 1/1/2
Injuries: 1/4/7
Armor: 0/0/1 (Concealable, Light)
Initiative: 3/4/5
Qualities: Attentive, Immunity (Fear)
Dread Powers: Initiative Leapfrog ×0/×1/×1, Shared Ability ×2/×2/×2, Spawn (Hunting Dogs, Venators) ×0/×1/×2
Special: Venators carry weaponry designed specifically to bypass Accursed resistances if they’re targeting the family they know about. These weapons have the Deadly tag. Only venator Terrors have Immunity (Fear).
What do Attentive, Immunity (Fear), Initiative Leapfrog, Shared Ability, and Spawn do when used? Well, Curseborne will very shortly be crowdfunding, and when you back the game you’ll have access to the manuscript with the answers to those mysteries.
Well, I was hoping there would be something more Hunter the Vigil for this line. That’s… not a complementary start. Oh well.
The focus is on the supernatural for the core – and to be frank, Accursed come off as on the whole less harmful to mundane humanity than a lot of WoD beasties, so someone who hunts monsters because they are literal monsters instead of metaphorical is going to be a little more on the dark grey side. If not black convinced it’s white.
Still, the fact that venators are just a term for hunters who might be negotiated with is…honestly saying the opposite to me, it means that once the corebook’s out a book for playing nicer, more nuanced venators is probably in the wings. They’re not jokes as a whole.
Also, most are those who encountered an Accursed and survived. They might not know why they were attacked, they could have been collateral damage or the Accursed wasn’t being very responsible or had gone rogue, and so they hunt with the assumption that all supernaturals are the same kind of threat that they had encountered. A not unreasonable assumption.
So Venators is really a catch-all term for those who hunt the Accursed?
And who share sufficient information and ideas to do so effectively and in a coordinated fashion.
I really like how much overlap there is between the antagonist splats. The fact Riding Hoods can be venators as well as all the tiers of mortal hunters (Ala Hunter the Vigils Local, Regional, Global tiers) means having venstors after you could mean many different things. Hell, by the sound of it there’s nothing stopping an Accursed from turning on their own and going full venator right?
That’s a very interesting question, and one we’ll have to explore!