Eternal

"Today we will be discussing the thread level eternal. Who here has heard about it?" Most students lift their hands. "Who can give me a definition of what it means?" All hands but one go down. "Yes, Trainee Williams?"
"This threat level was introduced as a means to classify those who defy common sense. They have lived for a very long time and the limitations of their power and influence is hard or impossible to determine. It is assigned by a special task force of the Thread Assessement Bureau."
"Thank you Trainee Williams. I see at least one of you has read the material. Who knows of an example and why they have recieved this classification?" A few hands go up. "Yes, Trainee Gomez."
"Cassidy, the last dragon was assigned this level. She got this classification after she defeated the Huntress herself. Nobody has dared to attack her ever since."
"Thank you! Cassidy is indeed the the most well known example. Nobody else can claim to have defeated our patron in combat after all. You all attended the lecture on threat level classification last semester. This lecture will focus only on this special classification and I won't repeat the basics. If you are unsure about something please refer to your notes, the other students or email on of the tutors of this lecture. As you know we will cover the history of this classification level, some of the people who are currently classified as Eternals and how you should act if you ever encounter an Eternal during an assignment. Of course most of you never will, but if you do the knowlegde of this might just safe your life. When it comes to Eternals there is no space for mistake. Any questions?" Trainee Williams raises her hand. "Yes, Trainee?"
"Will the surprise guest lecture be held by an Eternal?"
"That will be a surprise, Trainee. Any other questions?"

— Lecture by Professor Stein

Eternals is a description for anyone who has existed for a long time and is expected to continue to exist for a long time still. The most common eternals are demi gods and ancient vampires. Most other examples are unique beings like Cassidy or extremely rare like Liches. The term is rarely applied to species that are not at least somewhat human in origin. Dryads can live for many centuries and some have likely older than a thousand years, but as their live is bound to a tree that is kind of expected. Furthermore, they are not as powerful and usually only survive so long because noone tried to kill them.

History

The term was first coined by a specialist of the Hunter's Guild. He was studying the relationships between the most powerful vampires amongst each other and their subjects. To do so he became a servant of Quan Cheng. Over time he realized that the oldest vampires were never involved in fights and always acted as mediators or moderators. They did pull the threads for these conflicts from behind the scenes by controlling the various smaller factions. When he returned he classified these vampires as Eternals in his report to the guild. He suggested that only the most veteran of hunter's would be capable of hunting vampires of this caliber.
Over time the classification was expanded to other very powerful individuals who had lived for a long time and had major influence over the world.

Assignment Process

Potential Threat

Secrecy

The full list of names is not public record. However, since almost all members of the Hunter's Guild have access to the list and through the use of the term during missions and in some records, most of the names are known. The guild does not actively punish or even reprimand anyone who leaked a name, but does discourage everyone to do so. The guild does not ever acknowldge a name in any official capacity when asked, but it is impossible to put the cat back in the bag when it does get out.

Public Perception

Many people in the world are aware of this classification. Early on

Global Balance

Amongst the eternals exists a global balance where each of them has their sphere of influence and does not actively intervene in the territories of others. This global balance is maintained by a series of treaties between the major factions. These treaties were initiated by the Hunter's Guild to ensure that they could protect human life without having fight these powerful individuals directly.
The guild can make these treaties only because of Clarissa, as she can go head to head in direct combat with most eternals. She is an eternal herself. This balance would be broken if any of them would fight as these fights would weaken both combatants and give third parties an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
During the cold war this balance was rather precarious and there were various conflicts. This changed to some extent when the Soviet Union collapsed, but there were still various conflicts. Once the veil fell the situation changed again and the eternals came together to ensure, that the humans would not attempt to wipe them all out. As even though humans are much weaker than eternals, there are quite a lot of them and they do have powerful weapons. No eternal is keen to find out if they could survive the detonation of a nuclear war head close to them.

Misdirection

As the title is well known in the world it is very useful to have this title. It is never a good idea to threaten or attack an Eternal or those loyal to them. Some crafty individuals who are weaker and younger have spread the rumour that the guild classified them as eternal. This reputation can give them authority and prestige to gather more allies. At the same time i deters enemies to attack them as few would dare to challenge someone as powerful. The list of official assignments of the title is not strictly a secret, but there is no official record on the internet of it either. Hunters can always check if a specific individual has actually been assigned the classification, so this trick is unlikely to work on them.

Common Types

Among the eternals there are two types of individuals that are likely to become eternals if they survive long enough.

Undead

Vampires and liches both have the ability to become eternals. This is extremely rare despite the fact that they do not decay and can preserve themselves for an eternity. Most of them either die at the hands of the guild or other powerful supernaturals. In some cases current eternals kill them off to avoid their competition. In total there are four liches and twenty seven vampires classified as eternals. The classification bureau suspects that this list is not complete but not too far off the real number either.

Divine Ancestries

A young woman enters the lecture hall. Moments later all the trainees in the massive hall are slient. A few still whispering confused.
"Unfortunately Professor Stein will not be able to make it today. His expertise was required on mission. I will hold the lecture in his stead. I hop that is okay for all of you." Most of the trainees start nodding, but one who raises his hand. The woman points at him and says: "Rank and name Trainee?"
The trainee immediatly stands to attention and says with a strong voice: "Second Year Trainee Robert Howart, Ma'am."
"State your question, Trainee Howart."
"Yes, Ma'am. W-who are you?" The entire room immediatly turns their heads at him. With clear disbelief in their faces. But nobody dared to make a sound.
"Do you have any ancestors who were hunters themselves, Trainee?"
"No, ma'am. I joined the academy at the recommondation of a friend."
"I see. Would anyone like to enlighten your colleque to my identity?" All hands go up. The young woman points at a trainee in the second row: "Rank and name, student."
"Second Year Trainee Danielle Williams, ma'am."
"Any relations with Hunter Scott Williams, Trainee?"
"Yes, ma'am. He was my Great-great-great-granduncle, ma'am."
"I see. Thank you for your and your families service to the guild, Trainee. And please extend my congratulations to your mother for her recent promotion."
Caught by surprise Danielle answers with a short delay: "It is a great honour to serve, great huntress!"
With a smile the Huntress turns back to Robert: "Does that answer your question, Trainee?"
Turnining bright red Robert tries to apologize: "Y-yes, ma'am. I am really sorry, ma'am. I didn't think the Huntress would still give lectures, ma'am. Not that there is anything wrong with that, ma'am."
"It is fine, Trainee. Most of the others likely had an image of my face in their home while they grew up. So you were at a bit of a disadvantage. I am sure it will not happen again."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good. You both can sit down again. As you know today's topic will be Cassidy. I apologize in advance for probably going off script, so please refer to the script for what is relevant to the exam and ask Professor Stein if there are any questions. Now lets get started."

— Introduction to the 7th Session

Humans of divine ancestry are very likely to survive for a very long time. As such most will eventually get classified as Eternal. Well known are the generals of the Legion of Glory. All of whom

Type

Threat Classification

Organization

Hunter's Guild

Requirements

Classifcation by a Hunter's Guild Classification Agent

Characters

Cassidy
Quan Cheng
Etzli
Clarissa