The Venatorial Order of Nimfydd

In the golden age before the scream, Arhat Nimfydd founded the Venatorial Order as a bulwark against those who would breach the walls of the divine form of humanity. The ranks of the Venatorial Order are filled by Vanara Venator of House Reticulum, who have turned their expertise from hunting the monstrous fauna of Aomori to hunting threats to the Empire and to humanity.

Although the sibling tradition of Vanara on Aomori remains strong, the Vanara Venator have swelled of late in the wake of the War Against the Artificials, and the last great culling called against House Cygnus’ war machines. Especially in this time where the Order’s traditions risk dilution, the Vanara Venator maintain the utmost devotion to the Virtue of Propriety, and to security of the ultimate tradition, the human form.

Traditions

Armament

Much as Arhat Nimfydd was famed for her shotgun, it would be rare to catch a Vanara Venator without their own. Although exact form and function is often up to the individual wielder, the sheer utility and stopping power of such a weapon has made it an essential part of the Vanara Venator arsenal, no matter the foe they face.

The barbed lance is a hallmark of the Vanara Venator’s origins in the wilds of Aomori. Devised to aid in the suppression of their mighty prey, the barbed lances are designed to break off at the haft after getting lodged in their target, the shaft coming free to serve as an anchor. Alongside their shotgun, it is quite common to see a Vanara Venator armed with several such lances.

Though they make ample use of their signature weapons, the Order also employs a wide plethora of other arms, each specialized from centuries of hunting. Many such weapons are devices devised to hunt on Aomori, but they have been joined by a growing number developed to combat the new prey they’ve found off planet.

The Order does not subscribe to a single uniform, opting to adapt to both their targets and their environments instead. However, each Vanara Venator always bears a brass crossed shotguns pin at their lapel, a symbol of their purpose. Most also opt to travel with an image of Arhat Nimfydd on their person, although it is rare to display it as prominently as the pin, as her image is far more precious.

Trophies

Following a successful kill, a Vanara Venator will take a token from the corpse as record. If possible this is a bone of the fallen enemy, with a strong bias towards one small enough to not encumber the hunter, finger or toe bones the preferred from humanoid targets. An accomplished hunter is said to have collected “a skeleton or two”, referring to the many trophies they have taken from their prey.

Bounties

Vanara Venator are directed to their targets by the Ministry of Human Sanctity of the High Church, their sacred bounties laid out through infallible rite to discern the truth of a potential target’s humanity. This right is essential, as without it many who would be indistinguishable from their neighbors would not have been discovered and eliminated.

Prior to departing on each bounty, an officiant of the High Church comes to bless the weapons on the hunter. The officiant anoints the hunter’s weapons using the holy meltwater of Andophael, so as to protect the hunter against corruption and to sanctify the target by each cut and shot.

If the target’s corruption and turn against humanity is a more recent development, it is common for the officiant to offer the hunter a brief prayer, so as to hurry the target’s return to their humanity.

“By your arm may their humanity return. By their death may they be made pure.”

Cullings

Alongside the bounties levied against more specific targets the High Church may declare a grand hunt, a sector wide culling of a specific breed of deviant, with bounties awarded for the proof of each kill, not just for specific individuals. Such hunts are so infrequent, it is rare that more than one is seen in the reign of a single Emperox.

The most recent of these hunts was declared against synthetics, specifically the special battle models Cygnus employed to terrifying effect during the war. Although this culling has come to an end since the fall of House Cygnus, some suspect that another might soon be coming, pending the fate of House Serpens.

History

Before the Order

Tales of the legendary Reticulum hunters, the Vanara, are as old as the settlement of Aomori itself. Hunters who went forth into the untamed wilds of Aomori, coming up against the great beasts that dwelt there. The finest whetstone against which to hone the finest weapons in the sector.

Even in this golden era, the Vanara would find themselves called to venture off world in search of more challenging prey, coming up against strange alien beasts on planets across the sector, but this activity was so infrequent it required no further organization.

Founding by Arhat Nimfydd

A great enemy, long forgotten to the passage of time, rose against these foundling Vanara, great hunters all, but ill prepared for the storm that was about to face them. The few that ventured abroad began facing horrific losses in the wake of this new enemy, a vanguard of an even more terrible threat to human prosperity and the Empire.

The greatest of these dwindling hunters, she who we remember as Arhat Nimfydd, beseeched the Exarchs of the High Church for some ordinance, some direction, some call to her fellow hunters who had yet to be roused, to give them cause to leave Aomori and to join the hunt against this terrible enemy.

The High Church declared the first culling against this threat at her urging, and raised the Venatorial Order around her as the hunters of House Reticulum departed their world in unprecedented numbers to do stamp out this enemy vanguard before it gave way to a force that signaled a return to the Wars for Human Prosperity.

Arhat Nimfydd died as she lived, delivering the Sector from this unknown, horrible threat by blast from her holily anointed shotgun. She left behind a new Order, a grand clade of hunters, a boot with which to stamp out threats to the Empire long before they could manifest.

After the Scream

In the Silence, the Order was scattered and as disparate as the many Houses. Isolated on the numerous lost worlds of the Empire, the lives of many of these orphaned Vanara Venator were claimed by both hunts and the chaos, only within Alvero did they continue to thrive.

Upon the rediscovery of Alvero, it became clear to many of the Vanara that the Silence had given room for malignance to take root within the Sector. Dangerous experiments and works of human folly had grown unchecked on the newly reconnected worlds of the Empire without the Order to eliminate them.

With assent from the High Church, the Venatorial Order was born anew, hunters travelling to the ever expanding reaches of the Empire to stamp out these new strange beasts and works of forbidden technology. Many cullings were declared against these strange new creatures which would have never arisen during the golden age, the hunters scarcely finding themselves at rest for the better part of a century.

The Demon At Orghast

As the sector was being reunited, and the true depravities leading out of the isolation were realized, it became known to the Order that a great beast, an inhuman demon wrought of folly, had appeared at Orghast.

Countless of the order were dispatched to bring this monster to its end, and those same countless each met their own instead. All until one hunter, their name long obscured by the crime they had yet to commit, descended upon the world.

For ten days and nine nights they fought, the hunter turning to the same forbidden machinations that had seen the demon realized. By sacrificing all they were, the hunter won success, defeating the demon at the cost of themselves.

In the end, only one Demon At Orghast was committed to the record. A single hunter, who some call brave for giving everything they were, who others deem foolish for abandoning themselves, they who claimed victory over monstrosity by becoming monstrosity.

Rise of the Synthetic and the War Against the Artificials

The Order watched the introduction of the synthetic human by House Cygnus with great concern. They decried the enhanced abilities of these new synthetic workers, wary about what House Cygnus was keeping to themselves on the Synth. But the synths were overwhelmingly popular as a new workforce, and House Cygnus had total control over them, so the Order’s concerns were dismissed as unfounded.

Decades of synthetic acceptance bred complacency, leaving the Order ill equipped to respond to House Cygnus’ betrayal. The Order’s resources were consumed primarily by a cleanse of Aomori, hunting down synths, and their masters, that had disappeared into the wilds following the Synthetic Sedition Order of House Crux.

It wasn’t well until into the War Against the Artificials, when, alongside the declaration by the High Church that the synthetics had no souls, a culling against the synthetic was called, prioritizing the horrific special model Cygnus battle synths that were terrorizing battlefields across the sector. These hunters proved essential to developing strategies to eliminate these synths, their skills in asymmetric combat providing a substantial edge against their target’s inhuman abilities.

Following the war, the Vanara Venator have left the remaining synthetic retirement protocols in the hands of House Crux, appearing only to lend their aid against the few frightening terrors of synths that remain. As many do, they keep a wary eye on Triangulum research, all too conscious of the aid Triangulum lent to House Cygnus in the development of the synthetic.

Bestiary

The Order has dealt with a wide variety of monstrosities since its’ inception. Although many aren’t fit for categorization, some foes have been met again and again over the centuries.

Genetics

Altering the human form through genetic modification has always been viewed as needing the most carefully curation so to as not diverge too far from what makes one human. However, history is littered with those who have opted to push too far, spawning genegineered monstrosities requiring the expertise of the Vanara Venator to exterminate.

Synthetics

A more recent development, the Order were quite apprehensive when House Cygnus first unveiled the synth, concerned with how far their enhanced abilities could be taken. Barring a few clearly unsanctioned acts, the Order was finally turned loose at the decree of a Culling against the Synthetic during the advent of the War Against the Artificials.

Demihumans

Crossing humans with features of lesser species has often been the folly of some genetic engineers. Such deviants are an abomination, a pale imitation of the human form, and must be stamped out. Some members of the Order look hungrily at the quarantined world of Al-Dost, raring to be turned against its’ denizens.

Cybernetics

Although much leeway is granted to those who choose to augment themselves cybernetically, prosthesis viewed as mere tools, extensions of oneself in the same way as one uses a blade, some have sought mechanical means to abandon their humanity entirely.

Hulks of twisted metal, humanity long since abandoned, were the chief among foes in the years immediately following the Scream, although all such beasts have long since been dealt with. A vigilant watch is now kept to ensure that development does not once again give rise to such creations.

Life Extension

A subject of significant debate since the advent of Trilliant’s apparent immortality via life extension, for is death not an essential part of one’s humanity? Of late, any significant inquest has been blocked by the High Church, though some suspect that their relationship with the Trilliant Ring may be clouding their will to act.

Psychics

Although long considered a natural part of humanity, the sheer abilities some possess have lead to questioning if they should just be left to their own devices. With the judgement of House Serpens looming on the horizon, some in the Order speculate that psychics may soon also become targets.

Aliens

A long forgotten enemy. It has been many a century since the aliens of the sector were a threat to humanity, but when they were, the Order specialized in their elimination. Many of the old tools are still stored in the Order’s armories, a safeguard against some future return they’re sure will never come.