Recruiter

The Academy's Recruiters travel around the continent to find students they consider worthy of attending the Academy, specifically students that are not in the position to apply for its entry-exams.
Bringing in commoners, Tarot Criminals, sometimes even undervalued nobles and other hidden talents, they often are revered by those they brought in. Yet at the same time, the nobles tend to consider them useless busybodies. From their perspective, only worthy nobles should attend the Academy, so the Recruiters simply bring in garbage.
In reality, the Recruiters are essentially spies for the Academy. They uncover nefarious plots, interfere with Criminals and monsters, and may very well turn assassin if they deem it necessary. Rogue agents, they are skilled individuals that can handle most of what the world throws at them.

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Career

Qualifications

The first qualification for a Recruiter is that they must be an Academy graduate without current political affiliation. Unlike with Arena Supervisors, the Academy does not disqualify former nobles. However, Recruiters are vetted very carefully, because they are privy to some of the Academy's darkest secrets.
The second qualification is extreme skill. Recruiters are meant to be able to defend themselves and even take out threats. Anyone that isn't capable of taking on Tarot Monsters, Wild Ones, or someone that needs to be Marked, would not be accepted as a Recruiter.
The third qualification is personality. A Recruiter must be able to show mercy and empathy where it is needed, able to pacify angry villagers and townspeople, while willing to even break the worst Tarot taboos if needed. Someone who cannot be both kind and merciless, is not cut out to be a Recruiter.
As final qualification, all Marked are officially excluded. Their Marks would face constant hostility, making the job impossible. However, a Recruiter might receive covert assistance from a Marked Academy graduate. Even then, the Academy will only hire those that were Marked for misfortunate crimes.

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Benefits

A Recruiter gets a fair budget, which they use for their travel expenses and living decently. In the end, however, they get little benefit from their job. Recruiters wander for months or even years, all while risking their lives, but their true feats are kept under wraps. Their freedom, and gratitude from those they save, are their only real rewards. But for them, that is all they need.

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Perception

Purpose

Recruiters are tasked with finding talents that aren't properly acknowledged, which keeps them from doing the Academy exams. The types of students they recruit vary greatly: some are simply skilled but not valued, others are keeping their abilities secret, and they may even find Tarot Criminals that they believe are still worthy of proper education. There have been times where they stopped a Criminal and Marked them, then offered them a deal. Much to the chagrin of the local authorities.
Their unofficial tasks include exposing forms of corruption, tracking down the worst types of Tarot Criminals, and taking out Tarot Monsters. While the Academy officially remains politically neutral, it cares little for the world being a bad place. So while not authorised, it will gladly covertly intervene, or pass on the intel to others that will take care of things. And when there are places that are too remote to be properly protected, the Academy will gladly help keep these places safe.
There are people for whom Marking isn't sufficient to stop them from being a threat, namely those too devious to stop; people committing crimes worthy of Execution; or nobles outside the reach of punishment. In those cases, Recruiters have permission to kill, and most Recruiters have done so at least once. There is a certain irony in that those capturing Tarot Criminals, are often Tarot Criminals themselves.

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Social Status

For commoners, Recruiters are outsiders with frightening abilities. They care little for those they don't know, and they fear Tarot users. The combination had better keep its identity a secret, otherwise apprehensive behaviour is the best the Recruiters can expect, and violence not even the worst.
For nobles, Recruiters are a nuisance. Noble families often feel entitled to talented Tarot users in their domain, even if they treat said talents as nothing more but dirt. Furthermore, it is bad for their public image when outsiders are the ones taking down Tarot Criminals. People already fear all Tarot users, including the nobles, so to depend on outsiders just makes them look worse.
This contempt is shared by many nobles attending the Academy. They already look down on Examinees, nevermind students that are mere 'charity cases'. While they can't take out their arrogance on the Recruiters, who are rarely present, they still eagerly try to find out whether non-nobles are Recruits. Anyone exposed as such will be treated with extra hostility.

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Operations

Tools

Each Recruiter owns several pieces of Wardstone, to help protect them and others from attacks.
To deal with Tarot Criminals, they own multiple sets of Sealstone cuffs and chains. While not as efficient as a complete seal, these still suppress prisoners their Tarot abilities.
For espionage purposes, they have sets of Sensewires, hidden inside their clothing.

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Dangers & Hazards

First off, a Recruiter may face hostility from nobles and commoners. To not commit a Tarot Crime themselves, they will have to resist these with non-lethal force, or with mundane weaponry. When dealing with a Tarot Criminal, especially those that simply lost self-control, the same restrictions apply.
Predators and Tarot Monsters are also a big threat. But even worse than that are Wild Ones, Tarot users that have lost their mind. Their fighting style is efficient, vicious, and without self-restraint. Combining a predator's instincts with human cunningness, they are the riskiest to fight.

TOC

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Alternative Names

Marker, Garbage Collector, Hunting Dog

Type

Intelligence Gathering

Related Locations

• The Academy