Valehunter
To preserve peace, one must first draw a blade.
To walk through the darkness, one must first accept fear.
To fully live, one must first embrace death.
The valehunters are a loosely associated order who specialize in killing demons and aberrations. They are bound by centuries of tradition and a shared mission: to eradicate demons from Leitoria.
Career
Qualifications
Traditionally, valehunters spend most of their time beyond the walls of civilization while on the hunt. Nature survival skills are vital, as they need to spend long periods of time in the wilderness on their own. Hunters learn skills such as distinguishing edible and poisonous plants, tracking animals, and emergency treatments for injuries.
As towns have expanded, a number of valehunters have begun to focus on killing the demons that prey upon city dwellers. For them, it is more important to train their voidsense, a subtle sixth sense for the presence of abyssal magic that all humans possess. This allows them to identify disguised demons hiding amongst average citizens.
Career Progression
Becoming a hunter is not a choice to be made lightly. You must commit both your life and your death to the burden of hunting demons and to the protection of your fellow hunters.
Valehunters operate in master-apprentice pairs. Before officially becoming an apprentice, a potential student must travel with the senior hunter for at least three months to determine if they are truly prepared to commit to the life. If they choose to commit their life to the path of a hunter, the pair will journey to the Frostsvale grotto during the annual solstice gathering of hunters. In front of the other hunters, the new initiate will complete the commencement ritual and be officially recognized as a valehunter apprentice.
For the next several years, the master and apprentice pair will travel, train, and hunt together until the master decides that their student is prepared to become a fully fledged hunter. There is no outside evaluation for this transition. It is simply up to the discretion of the teacher.
The lengths of apprenticeships can vary, but people typically join the order at around fifteen or sixteen and become full valehunters during their mid-twenties.
Payment & Reimbursement
There are lot of reasons why people choose this life. Some do it to protect others. Some do it for religious or moral reasons. Others experienced tragedy at the hands of a demon and are out for revenge. They don't do it for the money, that's for sure.
Valehunters are not employed by anyone. If they are lucky, they will sometimes be paid for freelance jobs by clients who put a contract on a certain demon or aberration. Many hunters live off the wilderness or take on odd jobs on the side to make a living.
Perception
Social Status
Valehunters are a small and scattered group who rarely receive public attention. Many people have heard of the wandering hunters, but few really know much about what their life is actually like.
Most view them with a mixture of wariness and respect. Their wilderness-centered lifestyle and unusual traditions have given the valehunters a reputation as some sort of strange cult. Still, demons are widely feared for their cruelty and cunning, and anyone who risks their life to fight them is respected.
History
People have hunted demons for as long as demons have hunted people.
However, the valehunters and many of their traditions were founded during the fifth century DE by an Ashheart Pyromancer named Ivana. During the Tribal Age, Ivana was one of the few pyromancers who left the Ashheart Monastery to travel the world. After arriving in Ain, she was horrified to discover the presence of flesh eating demons, abyssal beings that were nearly unheard of back in the mountains of Quentoria.
She made it her life's work to eradicate the demons that preyed upon the small villages in the Spiderglade Mountains. When she eventually passed on her sacred ember to her apprentice, she also passed on her life's mission.
Its founder's background as an Ashheart pyromancer is evident in many of the valehunters' traditions. Hunters work in mentor-apprentice pairs, and much of their symbolism is based around fire.
Operations
Tools
Dangers & Hazards
To fully live, one must first embrace death.
For a valehunter, death is an inevitability. Every day is a battle against the wilderness, the malevolent demons, and the horrors of the Abyss. Valehunters believe that death should not be feared, and instead one's mortality should be embraced.
As a symbol of this doctrine, all hunter initiates undergo the commencement ritual in which they intentionally drink a bowl of water containing the spores of an evermold fungus. Completing the ritual sets a limit on the valehunter's lifespan in exchange for an edge in combat during their hunts.
For about thirty-five, the fungal parasite permeating their body will help to stitch their wounds back together, mending major injuries in a matter of days rather than weeks. However, once the fungus fully matures it will begin completely draining its host as it prepares to release its spores.
This action causes violent spasms, vomiting, and internal bleeding. There is no way to remove the parasite or cure the infection, and the host will die within a couple of days. When the fatal symptoms appear, a hunter is given a fast-acting poison to allow them to die peacefully before the parasite consumes them from the inside.
Demon hunting is a legal profession, but certain jobs can land them on the wrong side of the law. Hunters are often discretely hired to clean up the messes of occultists who dabbled beyond both the law and their own abilities.
A Hunter's Uniform
Valehunters traditionally wear green hooded cloaks that obscure their faces. Underneath, they wear practical hunting gear suited for whatever region they work in.
All valehunters wear a distinctive set of copper earrings that distinguish them from other types of hunters or wanderers. The complete set is made up of three pairs that are worn along the top edge of the ears.
The bar earring worn along the top of the ear is known as the hunter's ring and is worn by all valehunters who have been accepted into the order. Slightly lower is a thick copper ring the master's ring, while just below that is the thinner and smaller student's ring.
Senior hunters who do not have an apprentice will wear all three pairs. Once they choose a student, they will give them their student's ring, leaving the master and student with a complete set between them. Once the apprentice becomes a fully fledged hunter, both hunters will acquire either student's or master's rings to bring them both to three pairs.
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