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Vampire: The Requiem

2019-08-29T22:31:53Z

2620:0:1000:FD86:58D6:82D0:7E76:A900: /* Disciplines */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Vampire: the Requiem
|picture = [[File:VampireRequiem2eLogo.png|300px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[White Wolf]]/Onyx Path
|system = [[Storytelling System]]
|authors = Justin Achilli ''et al''
|year = 2004
}}
{{WoD-stub}}
'''Vampire: The Requiem''' is the flagship title of [[White Wolf]]'s New [[World of Darkness]] line, and, as its name suggests, the counterpart to the Old World of Darkness's [[Vampire: The Masquerade]]. The changes include the following (naturally, both oWoD and nWoD fans believe their way to be the true way):

* Five clans replace the thirteen, each embodying broad vampire archetypes. Whereas Masquerade's clans had well-researched histories and tracked their lineages to the first vampire, the five clans' true histories are shrouded in myth, legend, and falsehood. Each clan also hosts numerous bloodlines, which are mechanically similar to Masquerade bloodlines.
* Seven covenants replace the Camarilla and Sabbat (five of which are intended for player characters) and are significantly more important to a vampire's nightly existence than clan. Some covenants have goals and outlooks that put them at odds with others (most notably the Invictus, representing the status quo, clash with the Carthian Movement, representing progress).
* Embracing a new vampire costs a ''dot'' of Willpower. Gone are the nights of the Sabbat's "mass Embrace" tactics in normal circumstances; while the Ordo Dracula has discovered a means for performing a mass Embrace, the vampires created during said mass Embrace often turn out...wrong. as in "you had better be prepared to run the fuck away as soon as it's done" wrong.
* Blood Potency replaces Generation. Kindred can increase their Blood Potency easier than they could Generation, but as a vampire's blood strengthens, they lose the ability to draw Vitae from lesser creatures; at the highest levels, a vampire can only gain Vitae from other vampires. Eventually, their blood overpowers them and they must enter torpor, during which time their blood thins and they tend to lose their memories (a phenomenon dubbed the Fog of Eternity). Because of this, nobody knows vampiric history for sure, even though some Kindred keep Requiem diaries of what they remembered (which can easily be in code or deliberately falsified, which is bad when the source vampire forgets the code or the truth).
* A new group of antagonists called the Strix are added. They aren't exactly vampires, but instead are shadowy, demonic owl-like beings that despise all forms of life and Humanity (to the point where they consider a Humanity 0 vampire ''too human'') and claim to be a physical manifestation of the Beast. While they don't normally possess physical forms, they can possess corpses and unfortunate vampires to use as meat-puppets.
* Humanity is tweaked; in addition to the typical sins as breaking points, events that remind a vampire how inhuman he/she is can also cause a roll for "detachment", as it's now known. Reading your own obituary in the newspaper, existing longer than a century, seeing a culture that wasn't around while you were mortal- that sort of stuff.

There are all sorts of splats and expansions, including one for playing in the Roman Empire, one for various other historical settings (WW1 to Ancient Egypt), one for playing as a ghoul, and one for the Eighties (I am deadly serious).

Now into its second edition (originally released under the title of "Blood & Smoke"), which gave vampires a fairly big boost. For example, they no longer only downgrade bullets to bashing; they downgrade all lethal damage to bashing unless they're full of bashing damage.

== Vampire Necrology ==
*First of all being turned to a vampire doesn't change your personality; at least, not right away. You're still the same dude you were before you get embraced, but chances are you're not gonna remain the same for long. The kind of shit freshly turned vampires go through tends to leave emotional scarring, but if nothing else you can still remember what it was like to be a human.
*That said, you're not alone in your head either; vampires call it "The Beast", a sort of super-savage Id that is pure predatory instincts. It's not ''evil'' so much as animalistic; it wants to eat when it's hungry, get away from things that scare it, and fillet things that piss it off. Whether doing any of the above is appropriate in any given situation is irrelevant to it, which can cause problems if the Beast feels the need to kill something in a public area. The Beast mostly makes its presence felt in the form of Frenzies, which are triggered by being exposed to fire/sunlight/banes, getting angry enough to lose control, or letting yourself starve. When this happens, the Beast tries to take control of you in order to get what it wants (e.g. kill the thing pissing it off, flee from fire/sunlight, or feed until it's not hungry anymore). The risk of provoking an anger-induced frenzy is one of the reasons why vampiric society values politeness as strongly as it does- the Beast is highly sensitive to competition.
**Hit Humanity 0, and you devolve into a Draugr- a barely sentient predator completely lost to the influence of the Beast. Anything resembling human thought or personality ceases, and all that's left is the basic urge to hunt and kill. As they are incapable of understanding the Masquerade, draugr have to be put down before they bring any unwanted attention to other vampires.
*Your body is a corpse. It doesn't rot, but it's obviously dead if anyone pays close attention- pale coloration, skin that's cold and clammy to the touch, no heartbeat, that sort of thing. You can burn precious Vitae to create "the Blush of Life", which warms you up and makes you look like one of the living. This is a luxury, not a necessity, but it can help with blending in. (If you have to eat with it on, try to find somewhere out of the way where you can puke it all up when the Blush wears off- the end result feels as unpleasant as it looks.)
*Incidentally, you can have sex, but only whilst using the Blush of Life. That said, it doesn't really compare to the visceral pleasure you get from drinking blood. The Kiss, as it's called, feels like a super-orgasm for both the vampire and the person they're feeding on.
*Speaking of which, that's a thing you need to do. Animal blood can feed you... but only for a short amount of time. Blood from other supernaturals can also feed you, but may have negative side effects, at least before your own blood thickens up.
*Unlike in [[Vampire: The Masquerade| that other vampire RPG]], your power isn't set in stone based on how far removed you are from some mystical progenitor. Instead, it's tied into how old you are and how strong the Blood has become in you. You start out as with a Blood Potency of 1 (usually), and you grow stronger with experience, time (1 dot every 50 years) or [[diablerie]]. This Blood Potency grants you greater access to your supernatural powers and augments many traits about you... but, as your blood gets more potent, your diet becomes rarified. Very soon, animal blood just won't cut it for you. And at Blood Potency 6, even human blood isn't strong enough; only vampire Vitae will do, although you can take a Merit to let you get your fix from other supernaturals. Obviously, this means a lot of vampires learn to be cautious when dealing with their elders least they end up as a snack.
*And needing vampire Vitae isn't a good thing even if you ignore the fact most vampires won't be willing to give theirs up; see, Vitae is addictive to anyone who drinks it. Worse, if you swig too many times from the same vamp you're subjected to the Vinculum, which is a sort of extreme artificial love that creates an all-consuming urge to serve that vampire. Think of it as an uber-crush crossed with an addiction and you won't be far off. Even if the thrall (the one bound by the Vinculum) hates his regnant's guts, he will find it nearly impossible to actually harm the regnant even through indirect means. Mercifully, this state only lasts for a year or so...but another feeding of Vitae from the regnant while it's in effect will renew it.
*Luckily, you can lower your Blood Potency by deliberately going into Torpor, a death-like sleeping state that can last anywhere from a day to a century depending on Blood Potency. However, the bizarre dream-like state that occurs with it had been known to cause memory loss, a phenomenon known as the "Fog of Eternity". Torpor can also be triggered by a stake through the heart or taking a large amount of damage.

== The Clans ==
Nobody knows exactly how the clans came into being or if they even have a common ancestor at all. In fact, the fluff strongly suggests that each clan is effectively its own species of vampire, with their common traits being a byproduct of convergent evolution rather than being a sign of any direct relation.

Regardless of their origins, each one reflects one aspect of vampirism in some way or another. Additionally, each clan possess a staggering number of bloodlines, each with their own unique abilities and weaknesses added onto the original clan's own. Most of the V:tM clans which didn't make the jump to V:tR have been reclassified as bloodlines if they haven't been removed (e.g. the Malkavian clan is now the Malkovian bloodline, as well as a peculiar mind-virus called Malkavia that drives any vampire that catches it hopelessly insane).

===The Core Five===
====Daeva====
[[File:Requiem Daeva.png|90px|right]]
''The Serpents''
*Notable Bloodlines: Toreador, Erzsébet
*Favored Disciplines: Celerity, Majesty, Vigor
*Favored Attributes: Dexterity and Manipulation

The Daeva are beautiful, but the adage "beauty is only skin deep" is very much in effect for them. For all their lustful attitudes, superficial charm, and espoused love of beauty, they're emotionally dead even by the standards of other vampires. This emotional deadening in turn leads many of their number to grow jaded and hedonistic, seeking ever-greater ways of indulging their vices in a desperate attempt to remember what it means to feel again. At the same time, they are more than willing to exploit their beauty and charm to manipulate both Kindred and kine alike.

In 2e, their weakness was modified somewhat - now they have a tendency to grow addicted to a given person's blood if they feed on him/her more than once. The only way to break this addiction is via the death of the mortal in question.

They represent the vampire as a seducer and tempter.

====[[Gangrel]]====
[[File:Requiem Gangrel.png|150px|right]]
''The Savages''
*Notable Bloodlines: Bruja, Dead Wolves
*Favored Disciplines: Animalism, Protean, Resilience
*Favored Attributes: Composure and Stamina

The Gangrel are still the same nature-vampires they were in VtM, but in spite of their close connection to the Beast (or perhaps ''because'' of it) they have established themselves as scholars and philosophers of the Kindred's unique condition. That doesn't mean they won't tear you limb from limb if you piss one off, though.

While they've lost their vulnerability to Frenzying, they do have trouble thinking rationally at times as their minds become more bestial and they don't function very well in human or Kindred society.

They represent the vampire as a bestial hunter.

====Mekhet====
[[File:Requiem Mekhet.png|150px||right]]
''The Shadows''
*Notable Bloodlines: Morbus, Sangiovanni
*Favored Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Obfuscate
*Favored Attributes: Intelligence and Wits

The Mekhet are particularly attuned to shadows and darkness and translate this attunement into a degree of finesse regardless of what they set their minds to. They're particularly adept at scholarly pursuits and infiltration but in many cases can branch out to do a little bit of everything. However, their connection to darkness also exacerbates the typical vampiric weaknesses to fire and sunlight, and with no natural talent for controlling animals or people they have to make extra effort to keep their interference in mortal affairs as shadowy as themselves.

Complicating this further is a tendency to develop banes more easily- esoteric weaknesses like growing confused when approaching a crossroads, or not being able to enter a house without being invited.

They represent the vampire as a creature of darkness.

====Nosferatu====
[[File:Requiem Nosferatu.png|140px|right]]
''The Haunts''
*Notable Bloodlines: Baddacelli, Usiri
*Favored Disciplines: Nightmare, Obfuscate, Vigor
*Favored Attributes: Composure and Strength

Like in VtM, the Nosferatu are monstrous (usually this means they're ugly as hell, but in some Nosferatu it may take more subtle forms like an unnerving voice, a gaze that makes people feel violated, or a shadow that seems to move on its own), but compensate for it with a knack for stealth and an alarming amount of strength when provoked. They're also good record-keepers and many Nosferatu are capable of communicating with ghosts. Of course, they are also experts at using the fear that they generate in others as a weapon.

In 2e, their Touchstones, mortal people they're close to that keep them tethered to their humanity, are now immune to their evil appearances, so there's that at least.

They represent the vampire as an inhuman monster.

====Ventrue====
[[File:Requiem Ventrue.png|140px||right]]
''The Lords''
*Notable Bloodlines: Malkovians, Gorgons
*Favored Disciplines: Animalism, Dominate, Resilience
*Favored Attributes: Presence and Resolve

Still the same stuck-up egotistical assholes that they were in VtM, and also the clan whose members are most likely to be either in positions of power or actively scheming to attain those positions of power. Their mind-control powers are just as good at helping them fulfill their ambitions as they were in VtM, but it also tends to make them particularly vulnerable to acquiring derangements. After all, power corrupts, even among the undead.

2e changes their weakness slightly to a greater risk of losing their Touchstones - the people or things that remind vampires what it was like to be humans. Losing these Touchstones weakens a vampire's ability to resist detachment, and if they're all lost the vampire feels a sudden and overwhelming urge to enter Torpor.

They represent the vampire as an aristocratic lord of the undead.

===Extinct Clans===

====Julii====
[[File:Requiem Julii.png|150px|right]]
''The Founders''
*Notable Bloodlines: Ventrue (rumored)
*Favored Disciplines: Animalism, Dominate, Resilience
*Favored Attributes: Presence or Resolve

The Julii ruled the Camarilla in the age of the Roman Empire. They invented the modern Masquerade, a derivation of the Mekhet concept, but merely hid the fact of their existence as creatures of the night, rather than completely disappearing from mortal view. They claim descent from Aulus Julius, childe of Remus, the twin brother of Romulus. Remus was never Embraced but had become a vampire in a pact with the Strix in exchange for serving them after Romulus left him for dead after their dispute over where to found the city that would go on to become Rome.

This clan disappeared over time, and by the time when the Visigoths sacked Rome in 418 AD they had been wiped out with the Camarilla. Their tenuous grip on their humanity (a side effect of the pact Remus made) probably contributed to their decline, as did their unwise decision to betray the Birds of Dis.

The specific similarities between the Julii and Ventrue and the fact that the Ventrue didn't seem to exist during the Camarilla's reign lead many to believe that the Ventrue are descended from the Julii, but anything that might hint at the truth has long since vanished to the Fog of Eternity. Some of the Strix might know, but they have no intention of revealing the truth of the matter.

====Mikhaili====
''The Winter Kings''
*Notable Bloodlines: None
*Favored Disciplines: Animalism, Fortitude, Bereschligost
*Favored Attributes: Stamina or Manipulation

Once, the Mikhaili were the most powerful clan in Siberia. They were rare, but they boasted many elders and were said to have possessed very potent blood. But when the Gangrel arrived from the south and east, they began Embracing en masse in a desperate attempt to drive out the invaders- only to dilute their blood so badly that even diablerie could not restore its potency. Now the clan exists only as a cautionary tale warning against Embracing too frequently, though some say that Revenants created by Gangrel whose ancestors diablerized the Mikhaili show lingering traces of their power.

The original Mikhaili weakness was an uncontrollable urge to enter torpor from the spring to the fall; when they woke up from it, they were invariably starved for blood. On the off-chance any Mikhaili have survived their presumed extinction, their blood has thinned to the point that their Embraces can only create Revenants, meaning that it's still only a matter of time before the clan ceases to exist.

{{NWoD Clans}}

==Covenants & Conspiracies==
With no Camarilla to give the Kindred a unifying organization to rally around anymore, Kindred instead identify with different Covenants, organizations that are in effect a cross between a political party, a nation-state, and a religion. While the Covenants' goals and ideologies are often greatly divergent if not mutually irreconcilable, their unwillingness to threaten the Masquerade keeps their conflicts bloodless and infrequent more often than not. On the other hand, internal strife within covenants is not unheard of either and can in some cases be more intense than conflicts between different Covenants.

===The Core Five===
The five core Covenants from the core rulebook.

[[File:IconCarthianMovement.png|75px|right]]
====Carthian Movement====
The wide-eyed idealists of the vampire world, the Carthian Movement see no reason why the status quo should remain unchallenged and are intent on challenging its concentration of power within the hands of a small number of elders. Needless to say, ideas like "democratic rule" and "acceptance of change" has made them bitter rivals of the Invictus, who see them as little more than rabble-rousers. The fact that they themselves can't agree on what the status quo should be replaced with doesn't help. But on the bright side, their affinity towards mortal laws and ordinances somehow allows them to gain special boons via their own "laws".

[[File:IconCircleoftheCrone.png|75px|right]]
====Circle of the Crone====
A quasi-pagan Covenant that pledges its loyalty to a goddess-like figure they refer to as the Crone. While the specifics of their beliefs vary widely between its different sects (as do the other deities and spirits they venerate), they all agree that vampirism is a natural state of existence and that any vampire who wishes to seek enlightenment can do so if they are willing to suffer for it. That said, their practice of Crúac - a form of ritual blood magic that occasionally requires sacrificial victims to work - has raised more than a few eyebrows in vampire society for its tendency to rouse the Beast, and the fact the Strix can use it too can only be described as suspicious.

[[File:IconInvictus.png|75px|right]]
====Invictus====
The closest thing to the Camarilla of VtM, they consider themselves the rightful leaders of vampiric society, while everyone else considers them to be a bunch of insufferable pricks. While they give lip service to the idea that they're a meritocracy, in practice the elders of the covenant hold all the power and have a vested interest in making sure that if the younger members try to advance in position it'll only happen on their terms. They may be oppressive and tyrannical, but even their rivals begrudgingly admit that they do a good job of keeping the Masquerade going. Plus, they've got a ton of cash and influence built up over the ages, which the vampires on top get to enjoy for all it's worth. They were descended from the remnants of the Senex, the leadership wing of the old Camarilla, and even in those nights their main interest was in keeping as much power for themselves as possible.

====Lancea et Sanctum====
[[File:IconLanceaEtSanctum.png|75px|right]]
Christianity for vampires. According to their traditions, they descend from Longinus, the Roman centurion who pierced Christ's side with a spear as He was dying on the cross (see the Gospel of John); when His blood dripped upon him, Longinius was cursed with vampirism for his faithlessness and cruelty. Being religiously inclined doesn't mean that the Sanctified are pacifists or averse to their nature as vampires; on the contrary, they see their damnation as a necessary part of their role as a way of putting the fear of God into mortals and are notoriously zealous in their drive to convert unbelievers within vampiric society. This is made much easier for them by virtue of their practice of Theban Sorcery, which is best described as a blend of magic and miracles. The Lancea first came to prominence within the Camarilla during the Roman Empire, though for much of the Camarilla's history it was as distrusted among Roman Kindred as Christianity itself was among the kine.

====Ordo Dracul====
[[File:IconOrdoDracul.png|75px|right]]
If you hadn't guessed by the name, Dracula himself founded this Covenant. Compared to the more religious or political bent of the others, its focus is more on the relatively scientific aspects of vampirism- more specifically, its search for a way to transcend the natural limitations of vampirism. Towards this end, it has developed a set of esoteric teachings called the Coils of the Dragon; while they have yet to fully transcend their vampiric state, the Coils are indisputably effective at mitigating many of the typical vampire weaknesses (e.g. a greater ability to resist Frenzy, reducing the damaging effects of sunlight during dawn and dusk, reducing the consequences of high Blood Potency, etc.) They're absolutely obsessed with furthering their studies of the vampiric condition and don't particularly care about who they hurt if it means another step closer to perfecting themselves. Ironically, this means the vampire splat best able to make themselves into something that's less dangerous to ordinary, innocent people is also the least interested in doing so- their goal is to become better monsters, not regain their mortality.

===Enemy Covenants===
[[File:IconBelialsBrood.png|75px|right]]
====Belial's Brood====
The Infernalists of VtM without the organization, Belial's Brood is little more than a pack of devil-worshipping madmen that have voluntarily given themselves up to the Beast. Although they are divided into numerous factions with their own competing ideologies, they are all crudely united in their disregard for everyone besides themselves and their single-minded thirst for destruction. Imagine Sabbat with a Baali streak.

In 2e, their nature is expanded on somewhat; to become a member of the Brood, a potential member must be Claimed. This is an extremely dangerous process in which the member becomes a draugr but has a Beast strong enough to control their conscious minds without the typical side effects of causing them to degenerate into mindless predators. This process also prevents the new Brood member from performing the Embrace successfully- any attempts to do so will either fail or create draugr.

The organization of Belial's Brood can generously be described as loose, with the
strongest member of a given clutch taking the role of the clutch's leader (or Apex). Unlike the other covenants, they have no place for politicking, eschewing it in favor of the simpler principles of [[Ork|"whatever the strongest vampire says goes" and "anyone can be the Apex if they can kill the current Apex unaided in a challenge"]].

====VII====
[[File:IconVII.png|75px|right]]
Next to nothing is known about them; even their name is a presumed one based only on the image of the Roman numeral they leave behind after their attacks on other Kindred. All that's confirmed about them is that they seek to destroy all other Kindred, which they can sense through the presence of what they call a "Mark of the Betrayer." Bizarrely, their members never run the risk of Frenzy when meeting other Kindred, and even when forced to speak the truth through supernatural compulsion its members can't explain what VII really is. Even mind-reading attempts reveal nothing but an image of the Roman numeral "VII." They may have some kind of connection to the Strix, but nobody knows if they're allies or enemies to the Owls.

===Extinct===
====Camarilla====
[[File:IconCamarilla.png|75px|right]]
The Camarilla was the ruling covenant of Roman Kindred during the time of the Republic and Empire until it fell to ruin during the Visigoths' sacking of Rome in AD 418. It was divided into four wings: the Senex (the government and nobility), the Legio Mortuum (the police and military), the Cult of Augurs (the priests and soothsayers in theory, but in practice they were mostly con artists and false prophets), and the Peregrine Collegia (immigrants, felons, slaves, and other such outcasts and undesirables), with an offshoot of the Peregrine Collegia barely recognized as the Lance et Sanctum (what would later become the Lancea Sanctum). They maintained three Traditions, which have survived in a heavily modified form into modern vampiric society: Dominion (the Camarilla rules the world and divides it into domains as they see fit), Destruction (only the Camarilla's Senex can sentence Kindred to Final Death), and Amaranth (no Kindred may commit [[diablerie]]).

==Disciplines==
{|align=right border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=1 style="margin: 1em; border: 2px solid black;"
|- align=center
| colspan=14 | '''Disciplines of the Clans'''
|- align=center
| || [[File:Requiem Daeva.png|50px]] || [[File:Requiem Gangrel.png|50px]] || [[File:Requiem Mekhet.png|50px]] || [[File:Requiem Nosferatu.png|50px]] || [[File:Requiem Ventrue.png|50px]]
|- align=center
! '''Animalism''' || || X || || || X
|- align=center
! '''Auspex''' || || || X || ||
|- align=center
! '''Celerity''' || X || || X || ||
|- align=center
! '''Dominate''' || || || || || X
|- align=center
! '''Majesty''' || X || || || ||
|- align=center
! '''Nightmare''' || || || || X ||
|- align=center
! '''Obfuscate''' || || || X || X ||
|- align=center
! '''Protean''' || || X || || ||
|- align=center
! '''Resilience''' || || X || || || X
|- align=center
! '''Vigor''' || X || || || X ||
|}

Disciplines are the main powers used by the Kindred to impose their will upon the night. Many of these are based on powers taken from [[Vampire: The Masquerade]], if not in name then certainly in theme. Something that Requiem does explore further is that certain Disciplines are more common than others. These five common Disciplines (Animalism, Celerity, Obfuscate, Resilience and Vigor) can be learned by just about every vampire without the need for a teacher. The only difference is that the three out-of-clan common Disciplines cost an additional dot of [[Experience]] to buy. Each Clan has their own unique Discipline that reinforces their theme. These can also be self-taught by vampires of that Clan, but out of Clan training not only requires a willing teacher of that Clan, it also requires the Vitae of a vampire who possesses this Discipline of at least the level the student wants to learn (note that this does not require the vampire to be of that Clan). And yes, this carries the usual risks of ingesting Vitae.

The five common Disciplines all appear twice amongst the five Clans. Given that there are ten different combinations of two possible, with the third Discipline being unique to the Clan. While this would give ample opportunity to pick a set of five of these combinations so that each Discipline appears twice, White Wolf made the mistake of picking two identical combinations (Animalism and Resilience) for both the Gangrel and the Ventrue. Way to go, guys. The five common Disciplines are:

*'''Animalism:''' Control over animals and at higher levels humans and Kindred alike. Animals can be talked to, summoned or raised as a familiar, while kin and kine an be cast into a frenzy. At the highest level a vampire can mark a territory as their own, granting them bonuses and penalties to their enemies.
*'''Obfuscate:''' Allows a vampire to fade from view and memory alike. At higher levels this can also extend to objects, make themselves utterly disappear, or fill in the blanks with something else. At the highest a vampire can infuse an area with shadows and illusions, making everything in it vanish or not appear for what it is.
*A trio of Disciplines form the Physical Disciplines: each of them enhancing the vampire's physical abilities in some way. They all have some sort of persistent, always on bonus and a couple of effects that require the expenditure of Vitae. These Disciplines are:
**'''Celerity:''' The power of GOES FAST. Adds your Celerity to your defense against attacks that you can see coming, and can spend Vitae to perform great feats of speed (but can't attack twice).
**'''Resilience:''' This lets you be so dead that it increases your Stamina for the purpose of damage soaking, and it lets you soak everything that's not sunlight. Spend Vitae to subtract Resilience from all incoming damage not dealt by your Bane or the sun.
**'''Vigor:''' Super strength! Add your Vigor to your Strength for extra lifting and super jumps. By spending vitae you can increase your damage output (but can damage your weapon) and juggle dumpsters and cars like a champ.

Then there are the five Disciplines of the Clans:

*'''Auspex:''' The Beast's senses cranked up to 11, this lets you read a room for emotions and intent, figure out someone's secrets, employ psychometry, read minds and astrally project. This suits the purposes of the sneaky Mekhet just fine.
*'''Dominate:''' Via eye contact (and it works if the victim sees the vampire's eyes, even through sunglasses and tinted windows) a vampire can impose their will upon a victim. From here a vampire can issue orders, implant a command, alter memories or even outright possess the victim. Perfect for the demanding attitudes common amongst the Ventrue.
*'''Majesty:''' The one-dot power, Awe, lets you shine a spotlight on yourself and from there charm people, play with their emotions and enthrall them, with other powers in this Discipline enhancing the core power. Very useful but not very subtle, just like the diva-like Daeva themselves.
*'''Nightmare:''' Starts with the casting of an aura of dread around the vampire and lets them cause small terrifying illusions. From there it all goes up: directly cause fear, fill a person's mind with terrors visible only to them, inflict powerful hallucinations or cause terror so strong it can potentially kill. A natural power to have for the revolting Nosferatu.
*'''Protean:''' The power of nature itself. This lets a vampire hide in the ground (or any earth-like material), grow natural weapons or armor and at the apex become a cloud of Vitae-devouring smoke, pierced only by a pair of bright yellow eyes. This comes naturally for the wild, predatory Gangrel.

Various other minor Disciplines exist, but most if not all of them are exclusive to specific Bloodlines or have been forgotten over the ages.

==Ghouls==
As in ''Masquerade'', a [[Ghoul]] is a human who's been fed vampire blood to turn them into an unaging toady. '''Unlike''' in ''Masquerade'', being a ghoul is a whole lot less fun, and far less of a free power-up for humans.

See, vampire blood - Vitae - is incredibly addictive. It's like cocaine mixed with liquid orgasm. But more than that, it carries a mystical compulsion, making you increasingly enthralled to the vampire you drunk it from (known as the regnant). Drink three times from one vampire, and you're addicted to it. And this blood bond, this Viniculum, is all but impossible to break on your own - it'll go away on its own if you don't drink that vampire's vitae for a year, but the Vinculum creates an artificial but intense love for your regnant that compels you to do whatever they command you to, whether you want to or not. Mortals are most susceptible to this, but other supernatural beings are vulnerable as well. In vampiric society, it's commonly imposed on other vampires as a form of punishment.

To turn somebody into a ghoul, a vampire feeds them a point's worth of Vitae and spends a point of Willpower - naturally, they tend to wait until their future ghoul has a full-blown Viniculum developed in order to ensure their loyalty. Once that happens, bam, they're a ghoul. They immediately stop aging and gain a single dot in Celerity, Vigor or Resilience - exactly which Discipline is chosen by their vampiric creator. They can learn further Disciplines, but at double the cost of a vampire learning them, although they're considered Blood Potency 0, can only spend 1 point of Vitae per turn, and their "Vitae Pool" is equal to their Stamina dots. They can also burn Vitae to augment their physical prowess and to heal wounds, just like a vampire.

Ghouls need to feed regularly, as only the presence of vitae in their system sustains their existence; this requires drinking a point's worth of Vitae from a vampire, with either the vampire or the ghoul spending a Willpower point to "charge" the Vitae, once per month. They can technically "fast" by simply not using their Powers - so long as a ghoul has at least 1 unspent point of Vitae in their system, they still count as a ghoul, no matter how long it's been since they last fed - but if they ever have to spend their last Vitae point, then they immediately lose the powers of the ghoul. The state itself isn't lost permanently; a fresh drink of Vitae will bring them back to the eternal night, but they can't use any of their Disciplines, and time starts catching up on them. As in, they age a year for each ''day'' they go without feeding. And if they do manage to find fresh Vitae, they don't reset the clock, they just pause it at a new point.

Needless to say, the longer a ghoul has been around, the more dependent they are on drinking Vitae - age will turn them into dust if they've been alive long enough.

That's not to say that rogue ghouls don't happen. Usually, it's because somebody else killed a ghoul's master and left the ghoul alive, or a vampire wasn't able to renew the Vinculum on his ghoul and the ghoul ended up defecting to another vampire's service. But any Hunter cell stupid enough to try turning themselves into ghouls to become better vampire hunters, a la [[Hunter: The Reckoning|the Society of Leopold]]? They're up shit creek without a paddle. Or even a boat.

Ghouls who lack a vampiric master will take desperate measures to get their fix, up to and including killing vampires for their Vitae. While these cases are uncommon, they happen enough for most vampires to realize that they should never underestimate what their servants can do if left to their own devices.

In 2nd edition, these rules are tweaked slightly. For starters, that monthly feeding of preservative Vitae no longer requires either party spending a Willpower point after the initial ghoul creation, and they can't be knocked unconscious by Bashing damage. That's the good news. The bad news? A ghoul whose failed to upkeep themselves can't halt the decay by taking just one sip of precious Vitae anymore. Nope, now they keep aging until they've ingested Vitae equal to the Blood Potency of the last vampire they drank from before they missed their monthly dose.

The 1e "Ghouls" sourcebook also covers things like Ghoul Families - akin to Masquerade's Revenants, animal ghouls, and plant ghouls. These were re-introduced in the 2e "Half-Damned" sourcebook.

==Larvae, Revenants, and Dhampir==
'''Larvae''' appeared in 1e and are basically a nod to the Sabbat's love of Mass Embrace as a weapon in ''Masquerade''. A larva was only partially embraced (Willpower point insted of Willpower dot), and as such rises from its grave as a Blood Potency 0, Humanity 0 monster - more of a blood-drinking, sun-fearing "rage [[zombie]]" than a vampire proper. They can mature into proper vampires if they diablerize one or manage to survive 50 years. Until then... they're basically extremely dangerous to everybody, and very hard to control.

'''Revenants''' are a 2e invention who arguably have replaced Larvae. Less of a clan and more of a mistake, Revenants are "spontaneous vampires", occasionally created when someone with vitae in their system dies or is exasanguinated by a low Humanity Kindred. They are a miserable lot, constantly bleeding out their vitae during daysleep and in a nearly permanent state of Hunger Frenzy because of it. They have all the weaknesses of vampirism and very little of the strengths, and they are often forced to become walking Masquerade breaches out of necessity. Unless, of course, some other vampire decides to fully Embrace them, giving them a clan and with it, some degree of ability to use their lemons to make lemonade. A small handful of revenant "dynasties" exist on the fringes of vampiric society, but they often struggle to stay afloat due to the difficulty many of them have in performing their version of the Embrace. Their only compensation is Chary, a crude Discipline that allows them to hold onto Vitae slightly better.

'''[[Dhampir]]''' are the rare result of a vampire-human pairing. As vampires are naturally sterile, a dhampir can only be created either via powerful blood sorcery or in the extremely unlikely event that a human with an unborn child is turned (male or female, though it happens somewhat more often in the latter case) without the baby being stillborn. Dhampir have limited forms of supernatural abilities known as Twists and Malisons, but the former can't be controlled consciously and the latter requires the blood of the dhampir performing it to work. Furthermore, the vampiric parent's Clan influence frequently leaves permanent psychological scars even if the dhampir is wholly ignorant of his half-damned heritage:
*Daeva dhampir struggle to form social bonds with others, and even when one is forged they are prone to sabotaging those relationships in a form of social self-harm.
*Gangrel dhampir are restless and prone to wanderlust. They have little patience for niceties and obligations, and can grow shockingly violent if they feel like they're being tied down.
*Mekhet dhampir are paranoid, and they try to fight it by gathering information about everyone around them. In many cases, this turns into a sick form of voyeurism based on stealing people's secrets and breaching their privacy.
*The disgust that the Nosferatu generate is turned inward in their dhampir offspring, leaving even the most well-adjusted Nosferatu dhampir wracked with self-loathing. The inferiority complexes thus produced often push others away from the dhampir, leaving him even more entrenched in his hatred of himself.
*Ventrue dhampir go through life with a sense of thwarted entitlement; the world ought to be their oyster, but for whatever reason their goals are always ever so slightly out of reach. Naturally, this tends to make them domineering and arrogant as they try to force others to bend to their will without the easy out of Dominate.

Unusually, dhampir also have an innate connection to the workings of fate and possess an uncanny ability to sense the supernatural above and beyond that which pertains to the Kindred. Because of this, it is not unheard of for a dhampir to end up making allies with other supernatural beings, especially when destiny ends up nudging them in that direction. Though it's a stereotype that many dhampir become vampire hunters, this is less of a result of their cursed blood and more of a byproduct of the average vampire being a ''really shitty'' parent.

==Blood-Drinking Kin==
Vampires who aren't Kindred, brought-up in the book Wicked Dead. Their Blood Potency is 0, so each time they meet a "true" vampire, they cower in fear.

===Ghûls===
Arabian mages who have gained immortality, as well as alchemy and a few other powers, at the expense of cannibalism. They're also... not undead. In fact, they probably have it better than Kindred.

===Jiang Shi===
Chinese "hopping vampires", formerly human mages as well. They only have access to Celerity, Resilience, and Vigor, but in return they're not destroyed by anything other than fire (upon "death," they teleport to their graves, torpid, at full health). They are like ghosts in that they cannot stray too far from their anchors, otherwise they'd teleport back. Of course, they can use living beings as anchors.

There's actually two varieties of them, one from Wicked Dead (aforementioned), and one from Blood & Smoke/2e, who are more like a clan of true Kindred, not being as invulnerable to everything but far more mobile and better adjusted to vampiric society.

They'd be a sixth great clan, were it not for the fact that (A), they need two deaths, one of a person that is completely pure of heart, to raise another of their number, and (B), the Kiss of the Vampire is denied to them (it feels more like a particularly painless frostbite when they chow down), so they have to be really clever and subtle about feeding, and (C), when low on Vitae they appear more visibly corpselike (mold begins growing on their flesh and they become cold to the touch). On the bright side, they can still do the grave teleporting thing, and can change the location of their "grave" if needed (although that requires the death of another pure-hearted person to do so). They specialize in the Animalism, Obfuscate, and Celerity Disciplines.

Despite their weaknesses compared to more traditional Clans, there's cities where the Jiang Shi have thrived and even joined with the other Kindred - it's not like the whole "two deaths to do an Embrace" thing is anywhere near the worst thing Kindred in general have to do to keep living.

===Fomorsae===
Emotion eaters who feed on self-loathing and body issues. Getting fed on by them causes a person to look more and more beautiful... at the cost of their life force, leading as many times as not to a beautifully preserved corpse. Ironically, the Vitae so gained is stored in fatty deposits, meaning that the Fomorsae are, to the last vamp, horrendously obese and ugly themselves. They are extremely touchy about this.

They're also the exception that proves the rule of Blood Potency 0, since they do have one or higher points in it... and they know Dominate.

===Aswang===
Actually several kinds of blood-drinking shapechanging supernatural beastie from the Phillipines, with one variety from World of Darkness: Antagonists and three from Night Horrors: The Wicked Dead. All share the common trait of being Technically Living Vampires, and thus suffering no effect from sunlight other than reverting to their human form during the day. The "vanilla" Aswang is a One-Gender Race of Always Female blood-suckers who never smile with their teeth because they have four pairs of canine teeth instead of the human two pairs. At night, they revert to the forms of ugly, haggish versions of themselves with Femme Fatalons and elongated, fang-like teeth, who use their hypnotically beautiful voices to lure prey into their reach, as they must feed regularly or be trapped in their monstrous form even during the day. The Halimaw assumes the form of a demonic Winged Humanoid at night and feeds with its mawful of jagged fangs and ripping claws, as well as being prone to suffering from a split personality that makes it actually delude itself about being human during the day. The Tik-Tik becomes a monstrous blood-sucking bat/mosquito hybrid. The Sigbin becomes a fang-mouthed hornless goat that lulls people into a trance by clapping its oversized ears together. All forms of Aswang are hated by the Kindred, as they don't make any attempt to uphold The Masquerade and so "real" vampires have to work harder to cover up for them.

===Baykosh===
A (mercifully) unique ghost who hunts down and murders people who have survived conflict in order to feed on their cut-short lifespan.

===Bhuta===
Ghosts so desperate to experience life once more that they possess human beings, even knowing that this will A: damn them to an incessant craving for human blood and flesh whilst they are so incarnated, and B: result in the inevitable destruction of their host body.

===Penanggalan===
A Malaysian variety of vampire that can exist as a relatively normal human during the day. At night, its head lifts up from its body, dragging along its internal organs and leaving its hollowed-out body behind as it goes hunting. To keep the body from rotting whilst the head and guts are away, it has to pickle it, and so even in human form it tends to stink of vinegar (or sometimes booze). It loves the blood of pregnant women and children, and so it prefers to go after these prey. It can be killed by burning it, exposing its head-and-guts form to sunlight, or stuffing its hollowed torso full of blades, broken glass, thorns, etc. so that it tears its entrails apart when it squeezes inside at dawn.

A sadistic end, perhaps, but unfortunately perhaps the best; the bite of the Penanggalan contains a vicious wasting illness that often kills people the vampire would much rather leave alive (and in particularly bad cases, even Embraces them spontaneously as new Penanggalan). The only known cure is the initial vector's liver-something they are understandably reluctant to part with, even given the Healing Factor.

===Chihuateteo===
An ancient cult composed of witch-priestesses of the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca in his aspect as a god of malice and discord. Each one is a woman who has suffered a stillbirth (which, ironically, makes them the opposite of the honored-if-dangerous ghosts of women who died giving birth that they take their name from) and was found by the other Chihuateteo and offered a way to give the tragedy meaning and never have to face the spectre of death personally again. Should she accept (and destroy something dear to her to show her willingness), they initiate her into the order and she becomes a claw-fingered spectre that looks like the unholy lovechild of a human and the world's largest owl. With her new vocation, she gains the ability to turn into one or gain an owl's talons as well, the secret Rites of the Crossroads they use to cause their god's holy strife, Age Without Youth, and the Disciplines of Majesty and Obsfucate, as well as a Beast of her own. She can't generate Vitae herself despite being fully alive (she has to steal breath instead), and her Beast is a tame one (it only risks frenzy in response to anger and is easy to bring to heel before it gets that far), but Kindred wise in the ways of Strix look at the Chihuateteo and wonder. Also, they're Mexican ultranationalists (rather fitting, since their benefactor was one of the most revered members of the Aztec pantheon and was said to be the patron deity of the Aztec kings).

===Rizzetti Apparatus===
The odd one out, since it's a machine that was never alive in the first place. The Rizzetti Apparatus is an old clockwork device from the heyday of Victorian Science, one of the first blood transfusion devices ever created (if not the first). It never went into full production, though; besides its titular inventor being murdered by his first patient, there's a very rare vital component of coral (and the bacteria that live in it) that only grows in one very specific lagoon. Worse, the impurity filtering process invariably puts said impurities in the blood donor, killing them. As for the patient, not so much-in fact, the bacteria-filtered and infused blood is not only never rejected, but supernaturally potent. The patient ceases to age, and for a while, is effectively in the prime of youth. Then the bacteria invariably reproduce faster than the body can keep under control, becoming an impurity themselves, one that consumes the patient's blood. To survive, they need another transfusion. And another. And another...

== See Also ==
* [[Vampire the Requiem Homebrew Bloodlines]]
* [[Vampire Steroids]]

{{WoD-Games}}

Codex Astartes

2019-08-29T21:52:13Z

2620:0:1000:FD86:58D6:82D0:7E76:A900: /* Chapter Organisation */

{{Topquote|The Codex Astartes is a set of rules. They guide us. Shape us as Ultramarines. Teach us how to hold duty and honor sacred above all. But how we live with those rules is the true test of a Space Marine.|[[Captain Titus]], [[Ultramarines]] 2nd Company}}

{{Topquote|They tell me Guilliman wrote a book, maybe, with all that time on his hands he might have seen this coming|Leman Russ, during the Horus Heresy}}

{{Topquote|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|So, I accepted the book and gave it a five out of ten "it was OK" review.]]|Rogal Dorn}}

The Codex Astartes (a.k.a Codex Asstardes) is the collective name given to a series of tactical and organisational guides written by [[Roboute Guilliman]] over the course of his life, compiled at the end of the [[Horus Heresy]]. The Codex's organizational mandates split the remaining [[First Founding|Space Marine Legions]] into smaller chapters, for reasons discussed below. It also includes many tactical doctrines and stratagems for just about every situation, like the formidable [[Steel Rain|STEEL REHN!]] Most loyalist Space Marine chapters follow the Codex Astartes to varying degrees, with [[Ultramarines]] and their successors seeing it as literal holy writ, while some chapters like the [[Black Templars]] and [[Space Wolves]] merely see it as a book of tactics to be referred to when necessary. Most chapters will fall somewhere between those two extremes, using the codex where necessary but making adaptations where necessary (the [[Imperial Fists]], for example, use the Codex, but have a special appendix on how to Fist better, called the Book of Five Spheres. I guess Dorn was a fan of Musashi?). Almost all chapters will make a few minor alterations at the very least, usually just superficial things accounting for the chapter's culture. Now that Guilliman woke up, odds are he's going to update the codex like a fa/tg/uy updating his army lists, so the boys in blue should have some new reading material soon. Fortunately, since he's been adding Primaris Marines to Chapters that already have a thousand Marines, Guilliman has probably thrown out the number limit thing, realizing it was really stupid (or that no one noticed the Great Crusade never officially ended and so all Chapters are technically crusading and so have no number limits in the first place).

A certain detail needs to be mentioned that seems to have been missed by the Adeptus Astartes by the 41st millennium. Namely the fact that Chapters fought together in the same battles during the Great Crusade. It is highly likely that Guilliman fully expected this practice to continue after splitting the legions up. But, then the Chapters went and parceled out their companies (and sometimes squads) throughout the galaxy. As a result, while they often win, their loses are also famous and their victories tend to be somewhat costly. If the entire Chapter fought together, though, they would win too quickly for casualties to reach any notworthy number and could swiftly zip from world-to-world kicking the absolute shit out of anything and everything. Case in point: Black Templars.

==What the Codex set out to Accomplish==

The Codex Astartes was written with three main purposes in mind.

First, the Codex is a tactical and strategic guide. It contains tips and plans on how to handle nearly any battle situation imaginable, and then some. The Codex served with flying colors until the modern day of the setting, when its weaknesses began to show against certain [[Tyranids|unconventional]] [[Necrons|enemies]]. Much like ''The Art of War'' or the FBI tactical guidebook, if you can get your hands on a copy you can anticipate the actions of those that use it, but countering it is '''really''' fucking hard because of just how comprehensive the Codex is. It doesn't just tell you "When your enemy is doing B, do C to counter it," it also says, "And when the enemy counters C with X and Y, use Z to shut down their counter." In real life warfare, soldiers have a hard time adapting to new information under pressure, which is why commanders need to limit the orders they give to their troops and keep them as unambiguous and simple as possible; drilling them on exactly what to do in a given situation, especially in such a comprehensive manner, does have its advantages since it reduces mental clutter. Sun Tzu's ''Art of War'' is still being taught millennia after its publication; now imagine that same spark of tactical genius manifesting inside the mind of a superhumanly intelligent demigod. The Codex isn't perfect - no tactical treatise is - but it's damn close.

Second, the Codex is an organizational guide. Guilliman was a flawed genius, an organizational savant literally unmatched in the galaxy, and more than a little OCD when it came to detail. Beyond simple mandates about the composition of the Chapters, the Codex contains information on the minutia of administration. Details on every subject from bolt shells to bread, water distribution to weapon production, organization of auxiliary forces, suggested countermeasures to [[Nurgle|viral]] outbreaks, training schedules, troop morale, ammunition production, distribution of that ammunition to terrestrial and naval combat units, how large reserves can be built up, how long those reserves will last when production stopped, ration distribution for militant and civilian populations, how those rations can be stored, food cycling to avoid waste, integration of chain of command with allied and auxiliary forces, integration of militia into formal military, suggested staging area locations relative to battle lines, suggested landing area locations relative to battle lines, prioritizing access to and from these areas, [[derp|guides to avoiding massive compound sentences]], fortification locations, demolition strategies for those fortifications in the event that they must be abandoned, and I could go on. It also has plenty to say on how to live your day to day life, with everything from codes of honor to follow, to how your boots should be laced. Seriously, the Codex can tell you how to spend every minute of your life from birth to death, and pretty much every part of it is either acceptable or outstanding, if admittedly inflexible. Much of it, if applied to the Imperium as a whole, would also solve most of the grimdark.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the final version of the Codex is designed to keep the power of the Imperium decentralized. At the end of the Heresy, Guilliman wanted to ensure there wouldn't be any repeating performances of the strife that had gripped the galaxy. To this end, he split the Imperial Army into the [[Imperial Navy]] and the [[Imperial Guard]], and broke up the Legions, to keep one person from ever having the power to cause such massive chaos. Whether or not this was a good move is [[skub|a subject of ongoing debate]]. Detractors would point out that the newly decentralized and feudal Imperium is nowhere near as capable of unified action as it was before the heresy, pointing at how this decentralization screwed the Imperium over during [[the War of The Beast]], while its defenders would point out the examples of The [[Badab War]] or the [[Macharian Crusade]] as examples of too much centralized power devolving into a clusterfuck, to say nothing of the Horus Heresy demonstrating why giving any one person too much power over the Imperium is a ''very bad idea''.

However, one thing that people often forget when they argue about whether Legions or post-Heresy Chapters are better is that the Legions and Chapters have very different roles. Legions of a hundred thousand Astartes are great when you want to steamroll the galaxy - ''which is also exactly what the original Legions designed for'' - but such huge armies are not so great when you want to maintain peace in a sprawling galaxy-spanning empire. What the post-[[great Scouring|Scouring]] Imperium really needed were small-scale elite rapid-response forces, which is exactly the kind of role that the Chapters are most suited for. Well, that coupled with a large normal army to act as first-responders very quickly and hold the line for the big boys to come smash face.

And this is also a much more efficient use of the Astartes. You don't need a space marine to man a gun line or garrison a fort - why let a marine do a guardsman's job? - and considering how long it takes to create a fully-fledged Astartes, you'll want to get the most out of every single one of them. Also remember that there weren't all that many loyalist Astartes left alive after the Heresy. Getting a thousand Astartes killed just to win a battle may have been A-OK during the Great Crusade or the Heresy, but the post-Heresy Imperium just couldn't afford losses like that anymore (for a while, at least). Hence, it only makes sense for the space marines to conform to tactics where your average space marine battle will result in few marine casualties, if any. Guilliman designed the Codex marine armies to be modular, precise, and efficient in ways that the original legions weren't.

Of course, the trade-off is that the marines are no longer well suited for large-scale warfare. But large-scale warfare and armoured warfare are now the Imperial Guard's job, anyway. On top of that, Legion-sized (or at least multichapter) deployments can and will still happen whenever necessary, like with the [[Armageddon|Armageddon wars]] or the [[Black Crusade|Black Crusades]] or the Wall of the Imperial Fist Legion during the War of the Beast. But all that being said; yes, there are situations in M41 where the Legions of old would probably be more effective than any gathering of Chapters. Especially the [[Tyranids]] and the bigger [[Necrons|Necron]] dynasties come to mind, though there's also less formidable threats like the [[Tau]] (who are still powerful enough to inflict unaffordable losses on a space marine Chapter (the more Marines fighting the more quickly the enemy dies before they can inflict significant loses, though)). But even there, the Guard is a perfectly fine substitute for a Legion in most if not all of those cases. Especially with their godly mechanization, tanks, and artillery. Hell, their standard procedure is to simply use various artillery to eradicate everyone and everywhere the enemy could hide (bunkers, trenches, buildings, tunnels, ''anything'') then send in tanks to wipe out any resistance and the ground pounders to hunt down the survivors. We have billions of Guardsmen dying every day, but the number of Guardsmen makes billions a day look like literally a drop in a literal ocean. So, incredibly minute casualties on the whole. Because of massive guns and lots of them. This means that the Astartes are not needed nearly as often as the Guard. Especially since the Guard almost always operates on the defensive, which means that line-breaking supersoldier armies are rarely needed.

Interestingly enough, the original version of the Codex had no plans to break apart the Legions at all. Instead, it proposed their unification into a single Legion formed from multiple self-sufficient Chapters, which would merge and break up as needed regardless of which Primarch they descended from. While this may have been able to preserve the advantages of being a Legion better, the other [[High Lords of Terra]] were scared shitless by the idea of the Space Marines unifying and promptly rebelling a second time, so the original plan Guilliman had in mind never came to pass. Even the idea of it happening was enough for the 41st millennium-era High Lords to plot Guilliman's overthrow when they heard he might resume his old position. Which shows how dumb they are. The Primarchs are the sons of the Emperor for a reason. They are '''''really fucking scary dudes'''''. Besides, the Space Marines would unify as much or as little as they choose and there really isn't anything the High Lords can do about it. So, their concerns over Guilliman's original intentions for Chapters didn't matter and the changes didn't matter, either. They still operate the same way Guilliman had intended but with far less communication and co-ordination unless they needed. Since they usually don't needed, it doesn't really matter at all.

When Guilliman finally got off his ass, he began to see the flaws that came from strict adherence to the Codex Astartes. Thus, he has begun reforming its guidelines and got rid of several of its restrictions on Space Marines. He currently hopes to replace it entirely with the Codex Imperialis when the latter is complete. .

==Chapter Organisation==
Under the Codex Astartes, the Space Marine legions were to be split into groups of 1000 fighting men, called a [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapter]]. While many people assume this means a chapter is composed of 1000 men, this is a bit misleading, because that 1000 man number does not include a chapter's upper echelons, support structure, auxiliary units, dreadnought-interred veterans, the librarius, vehicle crews, honor guard, and specialists (tech marines, apothacaries, chaplains, etc). This means that a chapter will commonly have upwards of 1100 space marines while still being codex compliant, and many chapters will have large units of mortal retainers to serve as auxiliary forces, so it's not uncommon for a chapter to have tens of thousands of soldiers to call upon, though only a minority of them will actually be Adeptus Astartes. It's important to note that the Chapter was already an existing sub-unit within the pre-Heresy legions, and those were organized much as they were in the Codex.

By the 42nd Millennium, the reawakened Guilliman has set about redrafting the Codex Astartes to accommodate the inclusion of Primaris Marines, who do not form the same sorts of squads as their traditional brothers. However he has not massively changed the organisational units of "Chapter" and/or "Company". With the new codex, the space marine company is still 100 men on paper, but can be organised in a far more flexible arrangement of squads and can accommodate additional squads drawn from reserve companies. It also means that whole Companies ''(or even Chapters)'' of Primaris Marines can be formed without the need to makes exceptions for them.

The 1st Company is composed of [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]], and only marines who have served in the first company are allowed to wear [[Terminator|terminator armor]].

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Companies are Battle Companies. Guilliman's reorganisation allows companies to be composed of as many as twenty squads of five men, there will always be least six Battle line squads, at least two Fire Support squads, and least two Close Support squads. They train together, and when a Space Marine Company deploys as a single unit, it will be one of these.

The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Companies are Reserve Companies, and are more specialized than the first five companies. The 6th and 7th Companies are composed entirely of Battleline squads (whose Tactical Marines also specialize in using [[Bike Squad|bikes]] and [[Land Speeder]]s, respectively), the 8th Company of Close Support squads and the 9th Company entirely of Fire Support squads. Additionally, Primaris Marines in reserve companies may also be seconded to Battle Companies as '''Vanguard Marines'''.

The 10th Company is composed entirely of [[Scout]] Marines, who are eventually promoted to other companies after a certain number of years. It's worthy of note that the 10th company is typically the largest in the chapter, containing 100 neophytes in addition to veterans seconded to the company for training. Additionally, the 10th company's 100 man limit is often uncapped so as to keep the chapter's flow of new marines steady in times of great loss. With the recent revisions to the Codex, Guilliman has ordered that all [[Primaris Marines]] train in '''Vanguard Tactics''' during their time in the Scout Company and can later revert to the squad organisation as required, whereas a regular Tactical Marine might never don his Scout uniform ever again. Consequently, it now retains 10 squads' worth of Vanguard Marines whose roles can be changed as needed, while the Scouts no longer seem to be counted towards the nominal 100-marine limit at all.

There is a fair amount of leeway given to what roles the reserve companies can maintain. The 7th company, for instance, is given the moniker of "tactical reserve." Some chapters field these companies as bodies to replace losses from the battle companies. Some use them to train landspeeder pilots (the Codex states the entire company should be able to ride landspeeders.). Some chapters, such as the [[Salamanders]], use the 7th company to train fighter pilots for their Air Force. Others, typically those suffering from heavy losses, use it in place of the tech auxillera for tank crews. Still others keep weapon specialists, such as dedicated plasma-gunners, on hand to replace battle company soldiers as need demands.

===Marine roles===

Among the tenets of the Codex, Guilliman outlined the roles of various Marines to be used in Chapters. They include the following:

====Battle Line====
*'''[[Tactical Squad|Tactical]]''': The backbone of a Battle Company, Tactical Marines are those who are flexible in combat, relying on both ranged weapons and melee weapons in combat. Note that due to the order of the Companies, they usually have served as both Assault and Devastator Marines, so they definitely know the basics of both, granting the majority of the chapter great theoretical tactical flexibility.
*'''[[Intercessor]] Squad''': Those Primaris Marines who are armed uniformly with some version of Bolt Rifle-either the standard version, the more mobile Auto Bolt Rifle, or the longer-ranged Stalker bolt rifle. Their role on the battlefield is to set up lines of fire and advance on and secure objectives much in a similar way to Tactical Squads; although they lack their little brothers' overall flexibility due to their exclusive use of Bolt Rifle variants, it is said that a combination of these units with other squads is invaluable to a commander.
*'''[[Infiltrator]] Squad:''' Recon Primaris Marines wearing a slightly lighter armament, but are expected to perform extended operations behind enemy lines. All Primaris Marines can revert to Vanguard Marines at any time, though Primaris Marines from the reserve companies often get seconded to frontline companies in this way.

====Fire Support====
*'''[[Devastator Squad|Devastator]]''': Devastator Marines can be summed up in three words: Blow shit up. The purpose of the Devastator is to provide heavy weapons fire in battle, artillery strikes, and hunting tanks. Once a Scout earns his Black Carapace and Power Armor, he will be attached to a Devastator Squad, allowing him to gain battlefield experience by watching the conflict from afar, with the added perk of allowing a new marine to bond with his armor while learning its strengths by lugging heavy weapons around. Unlike [[Sisters of Battle]], the Devastator title refers to organization rather than weapon skill. Devastator squads will contain both heavy weapons and bolter marines who act as spotters and loaders. Likewise, the heavy weapon marines in tactical squads are tactical marines, not devastators.
**'''Devastator [[Centurion Squad]]s:''' Devastators trained to wear Centurion Warsuits, allowing them to carry considerably more firepower than any other marine short of a dreadnought. Centurion squads are organised in combat squads of three rather than five, which means that the reorganization of the codex to accommodate more variety actually means leftover soldiers can bulk up other Demi-squads without interfering with the 100 man standard.
*'''[[Hellblaster]] Squads:''' Primaris Marines who show a particular talent for marksmanship are elevated to the position of Hellblaster, which makes them a sort of elite promotion rather than Devastators who are often newbies. The reason for this is because the Plasma Incinerators they wield are very rare and difficult to maintain, and so are be entrusted to the care of a warrior who can put them to best use. Their role is to provide dedicated anti-armor firepower without sacrificing mobility in the process, and assault and heavy variants of the Plasma Incinerator also exist for greater effectiveness against massed light infantry and vehicles, respectively.
*'''[[Aggressor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines equipped with Mk X Gravis Armour and Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets and Flame Gauntlets (essentially power fists with built-in bolters or flamers, respectively). in the case of the former, they may also use shoulder-mounted grenade launchers to further supplement their firepower. Aggressors fulfill a similar role to Centurions and are also organised into combat squads of three, but Aggressors are somewhat more lightly armed in exchange for superior maneuverability. Their role is to provide close-range anti-infantry fire support to an advancing force as they move in for the kill.
*'''[[Eliminator]] Squad''': Marksmen Vanguard Marines wearing stripped down Phobos Armour, coming with a Shrike Pattern Bolt Rifle with special ammunition. Their duty is to hunt for targets of opportunity while being extra stealthy.
*'''[[Suppressor]] Squad:''' Come with Omnis Pattern Armour, which is a lighter variant of Gravis Armour equipped with various jump packs, grav chutes and shock absorbers. Unlike Inceptor Marines the aren't meant for crashing onto the battlefield from low orbit and cause havoc, but are instead intended to maneuver themselves into position and lay down withering fire with their Accelerator Autocannons.

====Close Support====
*'''[[Assault Squad|Assault]]''': Assault Marines are those who specialize in melee combat, using [[Chainsword|Chain]] and [[Power weapon]]s alike to fuck up the enemies of the [[Imperium of Man]]. In addition, they also take to the field wearing jump packs which allows them to deepstrike onto the battlefield, move quickly from point to point, and even execute a jet-fueled charge of awesomeness into the enemy. This is the next stop in a new Marine's career when he graduates from the Devastator squads (Blood Angels start as Assault and become Devastators), helping to familiarize him with any weapons he hasn't used yet, and putting him through the crushing psychological stress of hand-to-hand combat under something resembling optimal conditions. Assault marines can also use bikes, attack bikes, landspeeders, drop pods, Rhinos, and Razorbacks.
**'''Assault Centurion Squads:''' Assault Marines trained to use the Centurion warsuits for siege breaking and trench clearing.
*'''[[Inceptor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines who fulfill an analogue to the Assault squad role, though their function is less about engaging the enemy at close quarters and more to act as the spearhead unit that will arrive in advance of the main force and secure the drop zone. Their Assault Bolters and Plasma Exterminators are surprisingly powerful for their size, allowing Inceptors to perform deadly hit-and-run attacks.
*'''[[Reiver]] Squads:''' Primaris specialists in shock and awe tactics, who fill a role somewhere between Assault Squad and Scouts. Their mission profile is to create confusion and terror by attacking from unexpected angles, so to do this they can either infiltrate onto the battlefield or glide in silently on grav chutes. In battle, they can choose to wield either a paired combat blade and heavy bolt pistol for melee use or a bolt carbine for close-quarters firefights.

====Others====
*'''[[Scout|Scout Squad]]''': Scout Marines are Neophyte Space Marines who are charged with scouting terrain and enemy positions, in addition to demolitions and what we would today call special forces operations. A risky job, but this has the effect of ensuring that the more cautious ones survive while the reckless and foolish are weeded out.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran]]''': Veteran Marines are those who have seen through several centuries, allowing them access to all the cool toys in the Chapter's armory. They're hopefully experienced and cool-headed enough not to, say, [[Dakka|super-glue the relic blade of the founder to the codpiece of their armor to skullfuck the enemies of mankind.]] A Chapter's first company veterans get to wear [[Terminator]] armor (the Crux Terminatus is a cross between a medal and authorization papers), but they sometimes stay with normally-sized power armor instead, which is instead slowly turned into Artificer armor by all the bling and enhancements. Power-armored Veterans are divided into two subgroups: Vanguard (who focus on close quarters combat) and Sternguard (who focus on bolter drills and other forms of ranged warfare).

The first and tenth companies '''very''' rarely take to the field as single formations. Instead, the veterans are seconded to other companies, often serving as commanding officers and sergeants to other squads, so as to spread their experience and skill as widely as possible. Whilst the same is also said of Scouts, who are attached to other companies as auxiliary units so that they can learn their trades alongside their more experienced brothers.

A very common codex variant is to keep a company's veterans attached to their parent company permanently, acting as an additional squad in a company and assisting the captain and his command staff where necessary, filling the role of champion, standard bearer and any other administrative positions. These men are very seldom counted as part of the 100 man structure of the company and are instead counted amongst the command staff. More rarely the Veterans will supplant one of the tactical squads, particularly when they act autonomously from the Captain and form the line of battle instead of as a command squad, or in an even greater deviation from the codex, adding an extra squad that is counted amongst the company's order of battle. This organization is used by the [[Space Sharks]], [[Iron Hands]], [[Iron Snakes]], [[Executioners]], [[Dark Angels]] and others.

===Ranks===

The Codex Astartes formalized and simplified the ranks among the Adeptus Astartes, eliminating some ranks like "commander", while adding some more. They include:

*'''[[Chapter Master]]''': The grand poobah of the Chapter. He is the one who gives Marine companies their assignments, and is under no obligation to recognize any external authority save for the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]], though most Chapter masters will recognize and honor (if not obey) the authority of the Inquisition and the Administratum. A chapter master is not merely the commander-in-chief of the chapter, he is also expected to be an administrator, a paragon of martial skill, a councilor, a tactician, a strategist, and often even an admiral or a planetary governor, as the chapter master will typically have ultimate authority over the chapter's homeworld, or home fleet in the case of crusading chapters. Needless to say, chapter masters are some of the most formidable individuals in the galaxy, rivaled only by the greatest heroes and monsters of other races.

*'''[[Brother-Captain|Captain]]''': Captains are the commanders of Companies, overseeing their Marines from the front line instead of the back. Captains are usually promoted from the senior Sergeant in the Company. The most senior is the First Captain, who commands the Veteran 1st Company, and is often the official heir apparent to the Chapter Master. Each Company Captain also holds a Chapter-level position of authority, supervising his Chapter's fleet, vehicle pool, recruits, or territory, for example.

*'''Lieutenant:''' with the unveiling of Cawl's new Primaris Marines came a slight reorganisation of codex companies and delegation of officers duties. Each space marine company would have two lieutenants subservient to its captain, though their exact duties can vary from chapter to chapter. ''(Salamanders lieutenants are [[This Guy|ceremonial bodyguards]] for their Captain, whilst Iron Hands lieutenants are [[That Guy|naysmiths]] charged with arguing against their Captain's battle plans in order to ensure his logic is free from human error)'' Largely, their main function is to act as an executive to their Captain and take command of the demi-companies when the company splits (one per demi-company), and allowing specialist officers such as Chaplains and Librarians to actually focus on their roles rather than taking command themselves. Which makes sense considering specialist officers trained for a particular duty may be no more qualified to command than any other battle brother.
**As with Captains, there is no actual requirement for Lieutenants to be Primaris Marines, and as it stands, regular Astartes lieutenants are more flexible thanks to the wider range of compatible wargear.
*'''Force Commander''': Not a rank but a title given to the commander of a task force (duh), either given if more than one company is fighting at the same time in which case it would be the senior captain or if the company has to split up and a junior officer such as a lieutenant takes command of forces aside from his own captain.

*'''[[Brother-Sergeant|Sergeant]]''': Sergeants lead squads of four to nine other Marines depending on the influx of recruits. There are approximately ten sergeants per Codex approved Company. Often, the most senior sergeant will be the commander of a company's "First Squad" ''(usually a Tactical Squad)'' and will likely be next in line for a promotion if the Captain is ever slain, but not always. Members of the Captain's Command Squad may also be Sergeants who get additional duties as the Captain's role might require.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran-Sergeant]]''': Not a "rank" exactly, but more of a recognition of status for those who have been members of a Chapter's First Company, quite frequently these guys get redistributed back to the lower companies to act as squad leaders where their experience will do some good, hence "Veteran Sergeant". These guys will usually get to wear the "Crux Terminatus" even when in power armour, to represent the fact that they have earned the right to use Terminator Armour. Note that Veteran Sergeants can serve in the ranks of the Scouts, Devastators, and Assault Marines despite being technically overqualified, in each case helping the new recruits to adapt to Chapter life. In old 3rd Edition rules you could get Captains without terminator honours, which kind of implied that they never passed through the first company but still got command, nowadays a Captain is just one thing.

*'''Champion''': Champion is actually a number of positions within a chapter, with each company having a champion, the chapter as a whole having a champion, and a champion being drawn from within the ranks of the honour guard to serve as the personal champion of the chapter master (though these last two positions are often held by the same marine). A champion is theoretically the best close quarters fighter in a company, charged with protection of the Captain from all threats. Given that your average Captain is a badass in power armor, this may seem redundant, but it's supposed to allow him to focus on coordinating the battle. One of the biggest dissonances between the crunch and fluff is manifested with the champions, in that on the tabletop officers are almost universally more formidable than the champions that are supposedly there to protect them. Also, rather hilariously, the current status of their chapter champion is one of the only breaks the Ultramarines have with the Codex Astartes, due to the raging ego of one [[Cato Sicarius]].

*'''[[Honour Guard]]''': Like a veteran-veteran, assumed to be the best of the best. These guys get bunched together and given some of the best gear available to the chapter. The fluff tells us that these guys are peers of Captains in terms of battlefield experience, but do not have the command rank to actually issue any orders, though when Honour Guard speak up it's advised that the officers nearby listen carefully. Thankfully the tabletop game is balanced not to give a whole squad full of Captain-equivalent soldiers.

*'''Standard Bearer''': The Company Standard Bearer, given the title of '''Ancient''' ''(the old term for Ensign, who was traditional standard bearer)'', is charged with carrying and protecting the Company Standard, or banner. Also frequently joins the Command Squad. Should a Company Standard Bearer drop the banner and let it fall to the ground, he will essentially forfeit his honor. If the Standard Bearer should be killed and the banner stolen, then the entire Company will be dishonored until the banner is reclaimed. Which means that if you steal a Company Standard, you now have nearly one hundred Space Marines who were just trying to kill you, but now you had to go and make it personal. The most elite of these is the Chapter Standard Bearer ''(often a member of the Honour Guard)'', who carries the Chapter banner in war.

===Other Departments===
Outside of the above mentioned battle ranks, there are other positions within a Chapter:

====Librarium====
A chapter may have any number of librarians, with no Codex-mandated minimum or maximum. The fact that psykers, let alone Astartes psykers, are rare makes the position self-limiting.
*'''Chief Librarian''': The head of the Librarium, who assigns [[Librarian]]s to assist in battlefield communications. Also tests to see whether or not his battle-brothers are tainted by [[Chaos]] ("Yes brother, this is [[Rape|standard Codex procedure]]." *Snaps Latex gloves*)
*'''Epistolary:''' The highest rank below Chief Librarian, Epistolaries serve as the main communication aides on the battlefield.
*'''Codicier:''' Mid-level Librarians, who evaluate reports from campaigns and document them in their Librariums.
*'''Lexicanum:''' Entry-level Librarians, they are responsible for compiling battlefield reports for the Codiciers.
*'''Acolytum:''' Neophytes who have been identified as psykers.

====Apothecarion====
A chapter may have any number of apothecaries, although the Codex mandates at least 11 (one per Company, plus the Chief Apothecary).

*'''Master of the Apothecarion''': The head of the Apothecarion, who assigns an [[Apothecary]] to each Company. The Apothecarion in turn also takes care of the [[gene-seed]] that Chapters place such holy emphasis on, and for good reason: no gene-seed - no new recruits. Also, considering the relatively practical and utilitarian approach marines take to science, Masters of the Apothacarion are some of the only actual scientists in the entire freaking Imperium, if you don't count the ones that pray to their own bionic elbows, which you shouldn't.

====The Chaplaincy====
A chapter may have any number of chaplains, although the Codex mandates at ''least'' 11 (One per Company, plus the Reclusiarch/Master of Sanctity).
*'''Master of Sanctity''': The head of the Chaplaincy, and spiritual leader of the Chapter. He assigns [[Chaplain]]s to the Companies to oversee the spiritual health of the Chapter. This position is often, but not always, held by the chapter's Reclusiarch. Though it might be tempting to compare them to warrior bishops, they're actually atheists, seeing the Emperor as an honored predecessor and the epitome of humanity, but not a god.
*'''Reclusiarch''': The Chaplain who oversees the Chapter's Reclusiam ''(where they keep the relics and other secret historical stuff)''. But quite often the job gets rolled-up into the Master of Sanctity's job description (particularly if the Chapter is relatively young and has not accrued entire millennia worth of trinkets). It's uncertain what interaction ''(if any)'' they have with the Master of Relics, or it is quite possible that a Chaplain receives the role if that Captain of the 9th company gets a different position. Or, maybe, the Reclusiarch looks after the more "holy" and historically significant relics, and distributes some of them to Chaplains to carry in battle, while the Master of Relics okays the deployment of precious but combat worthy stuff like ancient marks of power armour or Heresy-era tanks, as Master of the Forge is technically a specialist position, not an authoritative one.

====Armoury====
A Chapter's armoury consists of any number of [[Techmarine]]s and dedicated vehicle operators, who do not formally get assigned to any Company.
*'''Master of the Forge''': The head of the Armoury, who assigns [[Techmarine]]s to oversee maintenance of the machine-spirits of the chapter's wargear and motor pool. Their position often overlaps to some degree with the Chapter's Reclusiarch, given that both are responsible for keeping the chapter's relics in good condition, so many artifacts will fall under both of their duties. Again, given that their religious zeal is tempered by the practical mindset of a space marine, Masters of the Forge are some of the only engineers in the galaxy that are actually still innovating to any degree, which really shows when you compare the armories of the modern space marine chapters with their traitorous counterparts.
*All Space Marines are required to familiarise themselves with operation of Rhino tanks at the very least as part of their standard training.
**Drivers of the armoury vehicles are referred to as '''Custodians''' ''(unrelated to the [[Adeptus Custodes|golden bananas]])'' many of whom are assigned when necessary from the squads of the 6th & 7th reserve companies. They are expected to continue their development through the companies and learn ''every'' aspect of war so that vehicle commanders better anticipate the roles of Tactical/Assault/Devastator and provide battlefield support without even being requested. That is unless they get assigned to the armoury on a more permanent basis, such as being trained to operate larger, more precious vehicles and/or end up specialising in armoured operations.
**Battlefield support vehicles tend not to be assigned permanent crews, and are manned by individuals capable of operating a number of chapter vehicles, helped in part to the ubiquity of the Rhino chassis and the standard training.
*Dreadnoughts are typically assigned back to their original companies, and appear sporadically across a chapters roster, though some chapters assign Dreadnoughts to their own formations instead. However the technology to build even the most basic dreadnought is rare and time consuming; even for master artificers, so the number is limited. But even then, the frequency of wakefulness decreases over time and they get used less and less.

====The Fleet====
A chapter is allowed a fleet of as many ships as it can get together, and may assign Marines to these ships as permanent staff, in a similar fashion to the Armoury, although the Codex is significantly more flexible on Fleet staff. A chapter can be Codex compliant without any Marines in their Fleet at all. Ship designations made for Space Marines have a fairly narrow band of marine transport capacity, between one to three companies worth, which does not change significantly between chapters. Therefore, while a chapter could theoretically muster a fleet of any size, the practical restraints limit the upper and lower bands of a chapter fleet's size.

*'''Lord Admiral''': Often the Captain of the 4th company gets this position by default as "Master of the Fleet", but it's [[Uriel Ventris|not unheard of for a Captain to step down]] from the position if someone else would be better suited to the role; they call that person "Lord Admiral", and he gets command over the Chapter's fleet assets. Though it might be perfectly reasonable that that space marine holds a battlefield rank of Battle-Brother or Sergeant, so he's probably just temporary until the Captain ''(or his replacement)'' wants the job back.
*'''Lieutenant Commander''': In the days of the Great Crusade, these individuals commanded battalions of five companies, outranking Captains and were subservient to Chapter Masters. We know of [[Marines Errant|only one example]] of this rank though it is uncertain whether the title holds the same authority as before. From what we know it now applies to the commander of a vessel, which makes sense since most Space Marine chapters have more ships than Captains, so ''somebody'' has to get the job of commanding them. Though often we assume it's just a techmarine or sergeant of whichever squad gets attached to that vessel or more likely a badass high ranking [[Chapter Serf]] who doesn't need to be superhuman to understand how spaceships operate.
**With the advent of the company rank of Lieutenant, it is uncertain as to how the Lieutenant Commander actually fits in the new command structure: whether it is a superior form of Lieutenant with new duties ''(which is what the rank itself implies)'' or if it is a Lieutenant who has been officially combined with the Force Commander role ''(see above)'' and has his own units set aside from his company that he commands on a full time basis. Or more likely, considering that Space Marines tend to hold to an army chain of command rather than a naval hierarchy, the rank is probably an honorific title that stands alongside their company rank such as with the Lord Admiral. It is also quite possible this is now the same as a old ''naval'' Lieutenant Commander, which was a ''Lieutenant'' serving as the ''Commander'' of a vessel.

==Codex Skub==
In case you haven't picked up on it yet, the Codex is rather controversial, for a number of reasons. First off, and perhaps most significantly, is the fact that even GW's own writers don't agree on what the codex is. [[Dan Abnett|Saint Abnett]] views it as a book of tips and strategies, comparable to ''The Art of War''. Graham McNeill (the guy who wrote the Ultramarines Omnibus) sees it as a comprehensive but inflexible guide to strategy, organization, and conduct. Matt Ward quite famously sees it as a literal Space Marine Bible, a holy book that all marines follow to the letter. Like a lot of GW lore, the canon is up in the air, and as such it's kind of open to interpretation. When it comes down to it, most of the argument over the codex comes down to people saying, "The Codex is a detrimental, absurd tome written by an OCD fucker that only serves to weaken the Imperium!" and others saying, "The Codex is one of the most important things in the entire imperium, setting down the rules that have allowed it to survive to the modern day!" Both people are correct because of the nebulous canon. Many writers are clearly very critical of the Codex, and portray it as antiquated and damaging, whereas others portray it as comprehensive and useful, but increasingly antiquated. Also there's Ward, but let's not talk about him. Which version is true? Yes.

It's also worthy of note that many people within the Ultramarines take the Codex with a grain of salt. [[Captain Titus]], [[Uriel Ventris]], and even [[Marneus Calgar]] and the freaking [[Roboute Guilliman|primarch himself]] have all been critical of the codex at various times, or rather, been critical of people's reception of it. All of these people see the codex as useful and important, but take issue with people, Ultramarines or otherwise, that see it as a holy book that contains everything you need to know. Perhaps Guilliman himself put it best, saying, ''"[My teachings] are yet flawed. No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed."'' As the opening quote implies, Captain Titus is also quite critical of Leandros's interpretation of the codex, pointing out that personal initiative is just as important as adhering to the codex. Then again, Titus is also quite clearly a company champion who got mixed up for a captain, what with his disregard for tactics in favor of glorious melee, so maybe we should just ignore what he thinks.

Ultimately, your own take on the codex is going to depend on a number of things, including whose canon you believe, you opinion of the Legions, your opinion of Guilliman, and a dozen other things, just decide for yourself. Don't let yourself get pulled in by the fanboys saying the Codex is the perfect guide to everything, and conversely don't listen to the idiots who say the Codex is only useful as toilet paper.

=="Codex" Chapters with doctrinal variations==
More commonly, are those chapters which follow the codex at an organisational level, but disregard certain tactical aspects contained within, most likely because they have their own modus-operandi that they have a preference for, or because they create their own unique tactics that had never been considered.

'''[[Aurora Chapter]]'''
*Follows the Codex Astartes, yet has a large number of vehicles.
*They have a lot of vehicles.
*For a 1000 man sized Chapter, they have a lot of tanks.
*Of all the Codex Chapters they have the most tanks.
*Their armored spearhead attacks are pretty devastating.

'''[[Charnel Guard]]'''
*Cannot say too much about those guys since they are very secretive, thus their organisation and structure are completely unknown.
*Are confirmed to be Blood Angels successors, yet as said before, they are totally unknown from a organisational and structural P.O.V.
*Have a lot of Great Crusade and Horus Heresy Era stuff, including a Fellblade.

'''[[Crimson Fists]]'''
*More tactically oriented [[Imperial Fists]].
*Actually do follow the Codex more closely than other Sons of Dorn (but not that much like the Hammers of Dorn).
*At the time of their founding, they were known to be the most level-headed members of the Imperial Fists Legion, therefore took in the Codex much faster and easier.
*Only deviation is the existence of a Crusader Company that is a 1st Company that has 128 Veterans. A result of an event where they were reduced to 128 members during the Crusade of Righteous Liberation.
*Due to the whole situation with Rynn's World, the Chapter became very capable at fighting [[Orks]].

'''[[Emperor's Shadows]]'''
*Iron Hands Successors that follow the Codex.
*Put more emphasis on projectile weapons (like Bolter Weapons) and Dreadnoughts.

'''[[Hammers of Dorn]]'''
*Follow the Codex to the letter, yet do put more emphasis on heavy weapons and overwhelming firepower.
*No really, they follow the ABSOLUTE LETTER of the codex.
*Not even the [[Ultramarines]](Famous for having the primarch that wrote the damn thing) follow the codex more rigidly than them.
*They probably actually read the Codex from cover to cover.

'''[[Hawk Lords]]'''
*Codex compliant, yet put large emphasis on flyers.

'''[[Minotaurs]]'''
*Instead of sending out a single company, the Minotaurs utilize mob and berserker tactics along with sending out all ten of their companies to utterly overwhelm and crush their foes.

'''[[Raptors]]'''
*[[Reasonable Marines|Camouflage Power Armour]]. Technically this IS in the codex, but they're the [[Derp|only space marine chapter out of literally thousands]] that actually bothers to do it. They're also sneeki beekies, just like their Raven Guard progenitors.

'''[[Raven Guard]]'''
*Sneeki Cheeki [[beakie|Beekies]]. While they do follow the codex, their chapter is renowned for its skill with [[Reasonable Marines|stealth tactics and guerilla warfare]]. It also made extensive use of mutants (during the [[Horus Heresy]]) due to their situation after the Drop Site Massacre.

'''[[Space Sharks|Space Sharks/Carcharodons]]'''
*Greater emphasis on infantry and terror tactics.
*Will sneak up as close as possible to the enemy to later tear them a new one in close combat while berserking.
*May be organisationally non compliant as well, but they are quite tight lipped about it.
*Like the Iron Hands and Dark Angels, they keep veterans in their battle companies to maintain coherency within the companies.

'''[[Storm Giants]]'''
*Codex compliant, but utilize armoured assaults, Drop Pod strikes, and heavily use Scouts to get intel before ruining someone's day.
*Due to their heavy use of Scouts, they have a larger than average 10th Company.

'''[[White Scars]] and some Successors'''
*Disproportionate emphasis put on bikes and speeders compared to heavy vehicles, still adhering to codex formation however.

==Chapters with differences in formations or composition==
Some chapters have taken the idea of a "Chapter" and tweaked it with their own unique spin on its organization, either by adding units or ranks that aren't found anywhere else, or have their own composition of companies that doesn't fit with the approved codex model. In some cases they may ignore the codex altogether and do their own thing.

'''[[Black Dragons]]'''
*Dragon Claw squads, made up of mutants who make use of adamantium-coated wrist blades.

'''[[Blood Ravens]]'''
*'''Pre-Aurelian Crusade''':
**Usually, the Chapter Master was the Chief Librarian too, like [[Azariah Kyras]]. This tradition of Chapter Master/Librarian combo started with Azariah Vidya (as in Vidya Games or the Indian term for knowledge, science, scholarship, learning and etc.).
**Their gene seed causes them to have an above average number of Librarians, so many they can field two whole squads of them in the First Company. Librarians are so recurrent among Blood Ravens that it's not uncommon for one to even be a Captain.
**Actually Codex Compliant in structure, yet utilize their Librarians to scry and predict the movements of their enemies (so their Scouts are Librarians too?) and use the intel to formulate a counter strategy (because they appeared in [[Dawn of War]], their way of war is an emulation of how RTS gamers play when they are serious).
**Non-standard patterns of [[Apollo_Diomedes|speech]], incidents of [[Blood_Ravens_Force_Commander|hairesy]], compulsive [[Blood_Ravens#Bloody_Magpies|kleptomania]] and emphasis on [[Indrick_Boreale|devastating, defensive deepstrikes]].
*'''Post-Aurelian Crusade''':
**With [[Gabriel Angelos]], a non-psyker, taking the position of Chapter Master and separating the Chapter Master and Chief Librarian positions, they returned to a more codex-compliant organization, albeit severely undermanned.

'''[[Blood Angels]] and Successors'''
*[[Scout]]s graduate to [[Assault Squad]]s rather than to Devastator squads.
*The use of [[Heresy|non-standard tech]], like Baal Predators, Furioso and [[Dreadnought#Chapter_Specific_Dreads|Librarian Dreadnoughts]].
*Sanguinary Priests (Apothecaries) make up part of the chapter priesthood equivalent to Chaplains, who are busy tending to...
*...The [[Death Company]].

'''[[Dark Angels]] and Successors'''
*The [[Deathwing]] & [[Ravenwing]] instead of First and Second companies. As of 8th edition, this modification has been officially approved by Guilliman, ostensibly on account of their proven effectiveness.
*Inner Circle in place of usual chapter command structure.
*Chaplains taking the additional role of [[Chaplain#Dark_Angels_Interrogator-Chaplain|Interrogators]].
*Battle Companies incorporate an additional squad of [[Veteran Squad|veteran marines]].
*Some nifty STC that they do not share with anybody apart from their own successors.

'''[[Executioners]]'''
*Disregard many of the Codex's rules and trappings, but nonetheless follow the ten company outline.
*Choose to go into close combat with the enemy, while heavily preferring Land Speeders over Bikes.
*Heavy emphasis on their own skills and superhuman abilities enhanced with sheer determination.
*Each company has three [[Chaplain|Death Speakers]].
*Battle Companies have only one Devastator Squad each, but can field their own Veteran Squads.

'''[[Exorcists]]'''
*Have two additional scout companies to account for the high attrition rate amongst recruits.
*...said attrition rate being caused by subjecting recruits to daemonic possession.

'''[[Iron Hands]]'''
*Have a Chapter Council instead of a fixed [[Chapter Master]], though a leader may be nominated.
*Chaplain Techmarines, aka "[[Chaplain#Iron_Hands_Iron_Father|Iron Fathers]]".
**The current leader is thus a Chapter Master Chaplain Techmarine. And people say the Blood Ravens are the crazy ones.
*Each Clan Company has its own armoury, rather than a single armoury for the whole chapter.
*Terminator Armour was distributed to squad sergeants instead of being reserved only for the First company.
*Pre-6th Edition fluff indicated that individual companies (clans) had their own veterans and recruits, newer fluff put them more in line with the Codex.

'''[[Iron Snakes]]'''
*Instead of having five regular battle companies and five reserve companies, the Iron Snakes have ten battle companies with an equal number of veterans, regulars and neophytes for perfect balance.
*Each squad has a Apothecary, personal Squad Standard Bearer and a number of specialists of their own.

'''[[Red Scorpions]]'''
*Apothecaries act in squad command roles instead of sergeants.
*Functionally the opposite of the Raptors, the Red Scorpions ignore all of the codex's teachings on stealth.

'''[[Salamanders]]'''
*Have seven oversized companies instead of ten, but otherwise broadly conform to the codex.

'''[[Star Phantoms]]'''
*Each company takes a [[Devastator Squad]] over a [[Tactical Squad]], leaving five Tactical and three Devastators in the battle companies
*The chapter is never at full strength, seldom even at half, but maintains weapons as though they were. Their "tactical" reserve companies can fill in for full devastator squads, if needed.

'''[[Storm Wardens]]'''
*Tempest Blades being a non-codex formation.
*Heavy emphasis on mechanized warfare and mano-a-mano honorable duels to the death.

'''[[Ultramarines]]'''
*Tyrannic War Veterans are a non-codex formation.
*Originally, Guilliman deliberately gave himself an 11th company in contravention of his own rules for the sole purpose of guarding the [[Imperium Secundus|Pharos]]. Though this company got [[Scythes of the Emperor|rolled into its own chapter]] while the Adeptus Terra were doing their audits for an unanticipated Third Founding.
*The Ultramarines still have an [[Ultramarines Honour Company|"apparent" 11th company]] that guards the Eye of Terror; made up of volunteer squads donated from their successors but all wearing Ultramarine uniforms.
*After Guilliman's return, he appointed Decimus Felix as an 11th captain ''(no particular company this time)''. The break with the codex was enough to give Felix cause for concern. Later, Guilliman appointed him Tetrarch and gave him authority over Ultramar's Eastern expanses.
*[[Cato Sicarius]] is still the 11th ''(12th/13th?)'' He now commands the [[Victrix Guard]], which is a new formation of Veterans who act as Guilliman's bodyguards and envoys.

'''[[White Consuls]]'''
*Have [[Alpharius|two Chapter Masters]] instead of one

==Non-Codex Chapters==
As mentioned, there are so many chapters in the Imperium and very few of them follow the codex absolutely to the letter. Many chapters have their own preferred mode of warfare based upon their experiences, supplies and dispositions, often they generate their own interpretations and deviations from the codex. Here follows a comparative listing of those chapters and the way in which they differ from what the codex actually prescribes.

'''[[Astral Claws]]'''
*'''Pre-[[Red Corsairs]] Times''': Before [[Lugft Huron]] went pants-on-heads retarded, the Chapter was known for being exceptionally stubborn with skilled Bikers and favoring lightning strikes and boarding actions while still following the Codex.
*'''[[Badab War]] Times''':
**Due to Huron's pants-on-heads retarded thinking, the Chapter seized the Badab Sector's industry and made it so that Bolter rounds and Rhinos were mass-produced to the point being expendable, not to mention the larger-than-standard number of marines due to them purposefully not paying their geneseed tithe.
**Emergence of specialized units (such as the hated Corpse-Takers) and human Auxilia. Squads larger due to aforementioned not paying of the geneseed tithe.

'''[[Black Templars]]'''
*"Chapter" made up of ad-hoc crusade fleets and fighting companies, their numbers thus swelling up to six times the size of everyone else's.
*No Scout company, instead recruits are apprenticed to fully fledged battle-brothers, aka "Crusader squads".
*No Librarians.
*Doctrinal emphasis on close quarters combat.
**Abundance of previously unsanctioned Land Raider "Crusader"s to deliver said Crusader squads to CQC. See the trend here?
*May or may not deify the Emperor. The canon is kind of up in the air right now.
**The position of "Emperor's Champion", a Chapter Champion-esque title but of faith significance.

'''[[Grey Knights]]'''
*Due to their unique training and equipment (not to mention the [[Chaos|intimidatingly]] [[Chaos Space Marines|insane]] [[Daemon|shit]] they have to deal with), the Codex would actually hamper them instead.
*All psyker Chapter of Demon hunting marines. Nuff said.
*The infamous [[Dreadknight]].
*When the Neophyte ends his training, he becomes a battle brother and is issued a suit of power armour and his standard wargear.
*Do not have any artillery weapons like Whirlwind Artillery Tanks or lack of certain vehicles other Chapters have.

'''[[Legion of the Damned]]'''
*Previously Codex adherent [[Fire Hawks]] (maybe, now it's uncertain if they are Fire Hawks or somebody/something completely different), now a horde of angry hellfire powered, space/time/dimension travelling, [[AWESOME|spectrerevenantdemonspacemarines]].
*Utilize more powerful, but unstable early versions of existing Imperial Weapons like early Horus Heresy Era Plasma Weapons.

'''[[Space Wolves]]'''
*Ignore the organizational parts of the codex outright. It would be easier to go [[Space Wolves|their page]] to find out how they are organised.
*Simply put, [[Leman Russ]] wanted them to be forged in his vision instead that of Roboute Guilliman, and Guilliman gave him permission to do so.
*Although they do however take some useful tactics from the codex because they like them, they see them as just that: useful tactics, and nothing more.
*Fenrisian Wolves/Thunderwolves used by the Chapter. This may or may not be heresy.
*Have more than a thousand marines, yet not that much as the Black Templars.
*Threw the typical training process out the window because of the Canis Helix.
*In the previous editions, they had access to Leman Russ tanks (since the tank was named after their Primarch).
*Wolf Priests combine both Chaplain and Apothecary roles.

==Purpose for Gamers==

Of course, there's a reason [[Games Workshop]] included the Codex Astartes in their fluff (long before Matt Ward came along, by the way). Basically, it makes it easier for players to invent their own Chapters.

Players who just have an idea for a cool color scheme or name but don't want to put any effort into making up a whole organizational layout can just make a Chapter that rigidly follows the Codex, like the [[Ultramarines]]. Those who want to have one or two unique organizational or tactical features can make a Chapter that generally follows the Codex but has some variances, like...well, most of them (see above). And players that want to make up entirely independent structures themselves can make Chapters that ignore the Codex entirely, like the [[Space Wolves]] or the [[Black Templars]].

This means that [[Matt Ward]]'s Codex worship isn't just lame, but actually bad for GW's business: By telling players that only Codex Chapters are any good, he's discouraging players with their own ideas from investing in models, paints, tournaments, and maybe even later editions of the game. Truly, there is no end to his failure.

{{Marines-Forces}}

Hunter: The Vigil

2019-08-29T21:43:32Z

2620:0:1000:FD86:58D6:82D0:7E76:A900: /* Conspiracies */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Hunter: The Vigil
|picture = [[File:HTV_Cover.png|250px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|system = [[Storytelling System]]
|publisher = [[White Wolf]] / CCP
|authors = Justin Achilli, [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]] ''et al''
|year = 2008
|books = Hunter: The Vigil Rulebook
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:175px">
*''Witch Finders''
*''Block by Bloody Block''
*''World of Darkness: Slasher''
*''Horror Recognition Guide''
*''Night Stalkers''
*''Spirit Slayers''
*''Compacts & Conspiracies''
*''Mortal Remains'' (2e)
*''Tooth and Nail''
</div>
}}
''Two words: Fuck monsters.''

''Fine, I'll give you a longer explanation, but I've got to be quick, the bastard MIBs are probably already tracking this. '''Hunter the Vigil''' is a [[World of Darkness]] game line, back when [[White Wolf]] was still a thing. See, some people didn't want to play as an undead rapist or a lunatic witch. But they didn't want to just sit around and act like they could just ignore the terror in the world as a plain ol' mortal. White Wolf already tried hunters once. Time to try it again.''

''See, these hunters don't ''all'' get powers. Hell, a lot of them don't even know what they're fighting. You want to be a hard working sonuvabitch that's got his buddies and baseball bats to beat down that drug dealer or monster hanging around your kids' school? Do it. Want to be part of an organization of basement dwelling fuckups who use cameras to film demon summoning ceremonies to upload to YouTube? Done. A descendant of Hell itself? Do you want to throw fireballs or get the ability to summon demons?''

''I don't think I need to say it, but since you don't know anything about how the world really is, I'll tell you. Hunter doesn't get along too well with the characters of the other New World of Darkness game lines. You're supposed to be staking vampires that kill people, or cutting up fairies with iron daggers, why the fuck should there be any playing nice?''

''Morality? Here's your damn morality: Monsters don't count. Any "hunter" who says there should be exceptions isn't a real hunter. Ignore those fucks who think they know the right way to handle monsters, and remember that collateral damage is irrelevant as long as you can justify it.''

''Yeah, you don't understand because you haven't been doing it too long. Give it time. Pretty soon you'll realize that you can't trust anyone anymore.''

...Of course, by that point, it might be wise to remember what Nietzche said: "He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster". And sure enough, an alarming amount of Hunters tend to devolve into Slashers: lunatics whose obsession with killing for its own sake grants them limited supernatural abilities which make them the perfect serial killers.

'''Hunter: the Vigil''' is another ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' attempt at adapting part of the Old, in this case, ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''. However, it is in many ways a superior game, with less broken magical powers and ill-thought-out ideas, and more being a squishy human surrounded by terrible threats that will tear away at your sanity, soul, and flesh. If that sounds [[grimdark]] as shit, that's only because it is. It literally has a spin-off game, ''Slashers'', devoted to playing as one of the above-mentioned Slashers so you too can play a murderous psycho who wouldn't be out of place in... well, a slasher movie.

Still, despite all that, ''Hunter'' is, or can be, an oddly hopeful game. Sure, you're probably going to die, but in [[World of Darkness|a world like this one]], it is a good and noble thing for [[Imperial Guard|ordinary people]] to stand up and refuse to be victimized. One candle blows out, but lights two more as it passes. The Hunter dies, but the Vigil goes on forever. World without end, amen.

All in all, perhaps the biggest difference between the two versions of Hunter, and why Vigil has attained a popularity that Reckoning has lacked, is that Vigil takes more of a pro-[[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] stance, whilst Reckoning, in accordance with the rest of the Old World of Darkness, is very much on the anti-HFY! stance. Vigil hunters, even at Cell tier, woke up to the true world around them and chose to fight the things that go bump in the night even though they know next to nothing about them. Reckoning hunters were forced awake by "mysterious powers of good" and can only hope to challenge the monsters because those same patrons gave them all kinds of anti-monster abilities.

Hunter: The Vigil is still in its first edition and had a limited run of books: the core book, an expansion for monster territory, a collection of short stories based in the Hunter setting, three books focusing on the World of Darkness' Big Three (Vampires, Werewolves and Mages) and one book to wrap it all up and reveal the truth on some groups. Four years after the first book it received the book Mortal Remains, which updated the game to fit into the Chronicles of Darkness. This was not a "true" second edition like Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, and Promethean have been receiving, but instead, it was a book that updated some things and expanded on the "lesser" lines of Promethean, Changeling, Geist, Mummy and Demon. Another book, Tooth And Nail, focused on the newly introduced Beast line. Hunter: The Vigil's second edition [http://theonyxpath.com/corebook-outline-kick-off-hunter-the-vigil/ is in the works at this moment.]
== Hunter Organization ==
Hunters are organized into groups at three levels; Cell, Compact, and Conspiracy.

=== Cell ===
At least the [[Imperial Guard]] get some backup, amirite? A Cell has only one to a few people in them, maybe five or six if you're lucky. They have no support base, no guiding ideology, no way of telling if the tentacle monster is really going to rape, kill and eat them (Spoiler: It will, and not in that order). So what do they have to help? They're not being told what to do by people who have no idea what's going on either but act like they do.

=== Compact ===
When a bunch of cells met up and decide they have more in common than being killed by werewolves on a monthly basis, they sometimes form into a compact, a collection of cells that go from citywide to nationwide. The cells have some things in common, but there's no real bosses, so they make things up as they go along still, but now they have some help to call. Provided said help doesn't decide it's not worth it or that they have the right idea on what to do.

'''Ahl al-Jabal:''' A Middle Eastern compact founded in the Middle Ages after a leader of the Hashshashin (the Islamic sect that lent its name to the term "assassin") discovered that vampires had infiltrated much of the Muslim world. They're notable for having very strict rules about collateral damage, for reasons which should be very obvious if you've been paying attention to world history over the past couple of decades.

'''Ama-San:''' Traditional Japanese pearl divers, almost exclusively women, who know all to well what horrors lurk in the deep. They are skilled at drawing them to the surface where these ladies kill the monsters, butcher them and sell off the meat to make a tidy profit.

'''Ashwood Abbey:''' A bunch of bored, jaded rich assholes who want to hunt the most dangerous game of all in a world where that ''isn't'' "man". Sick fucks to the core, even when other books try to tell you they're in it "for the thrill". To them, hunting's a game, and they want to play without any rules. Also, they have money. Lots and lots of money. Which is why they think they can afford to hunt monsters with swords and arrows. They claim that they convinced Jack the Ripper to join them for a while, but apparently he liked killing prostitutes better than killing monsters.

'''Azusa Miko:''' Shinto priestesses who talk to the dead, they were kicked out of the mainline temples because in Edo-period Japan traditional stuff like this was considered unwholesome. Now they travel the nation seeking spirits to placate, and if necessary shoot them with their bows. Are all female as well, but they have male counterparts in the Geki who do similar stuff.

'''The Barrett Commission:''' Politicians who have found out that vampires (and other monsters, but mostly vampires) like to meddle with politics, so they decided to band together in order to keep them out.

'''The Bear Lodge:''' Big Game Hunters who have decided that werewolves are the ultimate trophies to hunt. They can't actually keep any pelts or anything, but the hunt is still dangerous enough they keep at it. Sometimes they even just let the werewolf go if it hasn't hurt a human being since their real interest is honing themselves into the ultimate hunters, a sentiment that has earned them a surprising degree of respect from the Uratha (who are themselves well-versed in the sacred role of the hunt).

'''Bijin:''' Pretty Japanese people who are travelling artists and performers (Bijin just means "a beautiful person") who started to figure out that monsters exist and decided to hunt them. Think the [[Toreador]] except they're not vampires.

'''Division Six:''' A secret government agency hunting down "reality deviants" before they can cause the total collapse of reality. Really, they're the unwitting dupes of the Panopticon Seers of the Throne being used to hunt down the Awakened, but they don't know that.

'''The Hunt Club:''' Sick fucks who make the Ashwood Abbey look like saints by comparison, this is only a "hunter" compact in that it's pretty common for burnt-out hunters to end up in it. This is basically a social network for serial killers and Slashers who haven't completely lost their ability to relate to people, based on covering up each other's messes and scoring "points" by their kills. Based on the rules they follow they either hunt people that nobody will miss (homeless, prostitutes), those who have squandered their lives or held others back (aka, those who are only alive because it's illegal to kill them) and those who are quite capable of defending themselves or would draw significant investigation (the physically and/or politically powerful).

'''Habibti Ma:''' Founded by Eme Amun Hassan, an Egyptian woman who lost her husband and sons to a suicide cult. After suing every authority who watched it happen but didn't act she was left with a fortune and an empty feeling. Hassan began to organize a group dedicated to breaking up cults and returning cultists to their families: Habibti Ma. The authors have admitted they fucked up and should've called the group Habibti Ma'at, named after the Egyptian goddess of mercy that Hassan bases her group's ideals on. While they act out of mercy they're not above kidnapping, torture and psychological abuse to deprogram cultists. This means that they'd rather go after cultists of monsters (frequently cults of arisen, vampires and the Kinfolk of werewolves), but if push comes to shove they'll take on the monsters as well.

'''The Illuminated Brotherhood:''' Wigged out druggies whose experiments in psychedelics have clued them into the existence of ghosts and spirits and who continue to poke at the supernatural despite their lack of any training in what to do when they get noticed.

'''The Keepers of the Source:''' A bunch of hippies and eco-nuts who have the sucky ability to sense those carrying Essence by feeling pain, so they think werewolves and mages are "parasites of the Earth Mother". Used to use typical peacenik tactics to try and convince the werewolves and mages to stop channeling Essence; when this kept getting them killed, they upgraded to terrorist acts instead.

'''The Keepers of the Weave:''' Native American storytellers and lorekeepers. Since they don't write things down all stories have to be told and shared in person, making their knowledge especially fragile. They keep the stories of all the iterations of various monsters the people encounter and seek to make connections to provide everyone with (hopefully) correct information.

'''Les Voyageurs:''' Native Americans and French settlers protecting the French colonies from werewolves and other beasties who want to maul them for hunting beavers and stuff. Given the fact that they're armed with muskets, bows and hatchets compared to, well, a fucking werewolf it speaks for their badassery and skill at trapping that they still exist.

'''The Long Night:''' The Westboro Baptist Church on one end, the Triple Rock Baptist Church on the other, with tent-healers in the middle. The Long Night believe it's the end of the world and a lot of them do ''not'' feel very fucking fine. The belief that Jesus will arrive if all the monsters are dead is about the only thing most of them can agree on, beyond that, how you treat monsters and your fellow man is all up in the air.

'''The Loyalists of Thule:''' Ex-Nazis and people they've essentially blackmailed into being hunters. The Loyalists were originally the Thule-Gesellschaft. Knowing they done goofed, they think they have to atone for what they've done by hunting down monsters. Note that they're running low on people who were actually Nazis and the younger members are asking why they need to be so hung up on WWII.

'''Maiden's Blood Sisterhood:''' A sorority of vampire-hunting college chicks. Like Buffy, only no superpowers.

'''Network 0:''' Making shows like Ghost Adventures and Finding Bigfoot look professional, Network 0 are all obsessed with finding footage and evidence of the monsters and dark parts of the world and either shoving said evidence of them in people's faces or hiding it and waiting to shove it in people's faces.

'''The Night Watch:''' Ghetto toughs, petty hoods, gangbangers and other street trash who've decided they aren't going to stand for being the go-to munchies for vampires anymore.

'''Null Mysteriis:''' When scientists find out the truth, they don't go full-mystical. They break out their gear and start researching. They analyze vampire blood, study things from other dimensions and look for theories to explain why witches can break reality.

'''The Promethean Brotherhood:''' Envious pricks who perform human sacrifices on mages, monsters, even Conspiracy-tier hunters to try and steal their magic for a joyride. [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Promethean:_The_Created#Alchemists Ahem].

'''The Protectors of the Light:''' Native American hunters who hunt the monsters of the New World. More or less the only group actively upholding the Vigil, but the arrival of the Europeans and intertribal tensions make their duty more and more difficult.

'''The Reckoning:''' A bunch of fundamentalist Christian preppers and sovereign citizens who hunt Heroes rather than Beasts after a Hero leveled their compound. It's wacky. Especially when they start kidnapping Beasts to lure Heroes to them, which makes ''them'' more likely to turn into Heroes, or when they go on and on about Heroes causing collateral damage while causing collateral damage.

'''The Reclaimers:''' A cell on the cusp of becoming a Compact, the Reclaimers believe that the Lairs of Beasts are made from the collective subconsciousness of humanity, and them using this somehow weakens the human race. So the Reclaimers set out to break into the Lairs of Beasts and collapse them to make humanity whole again. Despite them figuring out how to do this, this is a terrible idea for three reasons: A, a Lair is a gigantic fucking deathtrap, and B, a Beast's Lair is where its Horror lives and it's not going to just let you collapse its home, and C, the Beast that the Horror belongs to is also going to notice, get pissed off, and merge with said Horror to bring it to its full power.
[[File:Yuri's_Group.PNG|300px|thumb|right|Yuri Kochiyama of the group of the same name, using the Going to Groups Tactic on a vampire. This involves being a support group for a reluctant monster. And no, you aren't required to have [[Awesome|Raoul Duke]] to perform this Tactic.]]
'''The Scarlet Watch:''' In the aftermath of the Inquisition a couple of powerful families banded together and formed a united front against vampires. Their descendants have moved to the New World and some seek to continue the fight against the ever-increasing numbers of vampires in the colonies. But the vampires have long memories, and they do not take kindly to being hunted. If they had magic whips this Compact would be the [[Castlevania|Belmont clan]].

'''The Talbot Group:''' Well-meaning healers hoping to try and "cure" werewolves and spirit possessions. Founded by a couple whose son turned into a werewolf. They're slowly making progress and are considering how the werewolves they have pseudo-pacified handle spirits doing bad shit, [[Derp|which is the entire purpose of werewolves to begin with.]] This unfortunately places them in the top-tier of werewolf-themed hunter groups where intelligence is concerned.

'''The Union:''' The compact of the common men and women who don't know or care about what the monsters are as long as they stay out of their neighborhood. Unlike most Hunters, they prefer to react to monster depredations rather than go out looking for trouble themselves. Membership is pretty huge for a compact, but semi-balanced by their weak internal coordination and general complacency.

'''Utopia Now:''' A bunch of Libertarians looking to make the world a better place for everyone. The catch? They want to do this using whatever they pilfered from dead institutional demons, demons who have taken over buildings instead of people (translation: the God-Machine's Infrastructure). Their founder is a Stigmatic, a human who has been exposed to a demon in its true form and was changed for the experience. He is now looking to rid the world of institutional demons and build a utopia where they do not exist.

'''Yuri's Group:''' A mix of the Talbot Group and Habibti Ma'at, Yuri's Group is a support group for critics of [[Beast: The Primordial|this ill-concieved little experiment]], who sometimes take the fight to their former tormentors. Starting to branch out into helping the battered housewives of all the other gamelines too, with the odd attempt to help vampires, beasts, and other predatory supernaturals who're still human enough to feel bad about the things they do to humans cling to what humanity they have left in them. Frequently team up with other Cells and Compacts to provide support because sacrificing an entire support group worth of people is bad for attendance rates.

=== Conspiracies ===
It would be god tier, if they weren't so god-awful about so much. Conspiracies aren't just the largest groups in Hunter. They're controlling governments, churches, and have access to endowments. What's an endowment? Do you want to shoot werewolves with plasma weapons? Kill a golem with God's holy power? Wolverine claws? Take your pick, just remember that the conspiracies don't give a shit about you unless you get results, and more than a few have their own dirty little secrets which the Hunters working for them aren't supposed to know about.
[[File:Aegis Kai Dante.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The example character of the Aegis Kai Doru. People immediately recognized this as a shitty photoshop that snuck by the editing team. And yes, this does mean that Hunter: The Vigil is [[meme|featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry Series]].]]
'''Aegis Kai Doru:''' Definitely not a front for an Arisen/Guardians of the Veil hunting down their old magical toys. Nope, not at all. In all seriousness, they've got a ton of fancy relics and match the [[Blood Ravens]] in their interest for more, and they really hate mages and werewolves. Their name is Greek for ''shield and spear'', and two of their most powerful Relics are the Aegis and the Doru.

'''Ascending Ones:''' What do you need, man? Heroin from Afghanistan? Crack from Columbia? Weed from Mexico? Mysterious alchemical mixtures whose formulas were first perfected in ancient Egypt? Pay up, you'll be helping them wage war on evil. Just as long as you're okay with rampant drug addiction and street crime where they take control.

'''The Cainite Heresy:''' Crazy fuckers who use blood magic and are obsessed with killing all vampires RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. They are descended from an organization of rebellious ghouls in the Roman Empire that turned against their vampiric masters.

'''The Cheiron Group:''' They're better than Umbrella, if only because they haven't accidentally triggered a zombie apocalypse yet. They don't just get powers, they get powers from ''monster body parts''. Vampire limbs, serial killer brain implants, hands "volunteered" from the Lucifuge. Just don't expect a decent retirement package and keep in mind that there's a good chance you might end up becoming the test subject for an implant that they haven't quite worked the kinks out of. Are actually lead by aliens who use the Cheiron Group for some mysterious reason.

'''The Faithful of Shulpae:''' Weird cultists who ritually cannibalize their "gods" (read: any monster that can live a long time) as an act of worship as some kind of messed up version of the Eucharist, in doing so to obtain some of their nifty powers. The fact that the "gods" they worship generally DON'T want to have their flesh devoured doesn't seem to bother them at all.

'''The Hototogisu:''' During the Edo period the Japanese merchant caste, the despised-but-wealthy bottom rung of the Confucian caste system, discovered the various supernatural critters that had infested Japanese society. One of them, a man named Inoue Akio, realized after a conversation with such a monter that he could write up a very predatory contract that literally bought some of the monster's supernatural powers off it, and did so in a way that didn't actually result in any kind of loss of resources to him. This is their Endowment: Setto (Japanese for theft). Several hundred years later they rule the roost in the Japanese supernatural community; immortal, rich, and with enough supernatural lackeys at their disposal that they can easily defend their business interests while conning their marks out of shit like immortality.

'''The Knights of Saint Adrian:''' Half biker gang, half paladin order, all bounty hunter, no real subtlety. They work for angels to capture or kill demons. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing really depends on how big an asshole a particular demon's being. And how much you've read about the God-Machine. To facilitate this they are given tattoos with angelic magic coded in. For example, one makes it so they can punch a demon so hard their stolen human face flies right off while another is basically an infinite ammo cheat code for the Knight's firearm of choice.

'''The Knights of Saint George:''' Ostensibly a branch of the Church of England, in reality, they hunt mages with their own magic-nullifying spells because they fear they'll wake up the Lovecraftian "Faceless Angels" if they aren't killed. Said angels may or may not be Mage-style Abyssal spirits.

'''Les Mysteres:''' They think they're helping the innocent, oppressed spirits fight against their tyrannical werewolf masters by siding with the underdog werewolves who agree with them. Anyone who has ever played [[Werewolf: The Forsaken]] will realize that they're being manipulated and are too dumb to know that "freeing" the spirits will result in the destruction and/or enslavement of humanity at the hands of said spirits and the Pure who ''actually'' outnumber regular werewolves two to one. Somewhere, a Uratha is trying to stave off Death Rage after learning what this group is trying to do.

'''The Lucifuge:''' They've got Hell in their blood and they aren't happy about it. They view the destruction of supernatural beings as a way for them to redeem themselves in the eyes of God. At least they get kickass powers from it. Fun fact: their founder has been alive since the 800s. Fun fact 2: they always have exactly 666 members. Don't ask too many questions about what happened to the guy you replaced.

'''The Malleus Maleficarum:''' Vampires, Witches, and Demons; that's the order of importance for the Catholic Inquisition. Don't question it and you won't be taken down to the church basement. Agree to help and you can call on God and his saints to give you awesome abilities to slay monsters. Please ignore the fact that their leader is a ghoul still addicted to vampire blood who uses "holy" magic.

'''The Merrick Institute:''' A shadowy government-linked research collective used nasty, damaging science to discover [[Beast: The Primordial|the Primordial Dream]], and started gathering "gifted" kids with a mixture of scholarship money and violence to try to weaponize it. In one of their labs, the test subjects were able to escape and kill their tormentors, save a few who were sympathetic to their plight, then commandeered their tech and training to try to make something good out of what they were put through. The end result is ''A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'' in the World of Darkness, and indeed they are referred to as such at one point. Their Endowment is Dreamscape, allowing them to gain supernatural powers while inside of a dream, allowing them to hunt Beasts and similar monsters on their own turf. This makes them very powerful in the dream world, but useless outside of it (in no small part because the experiments performed on them left many of the kids crippled or even comatose). They're also thematically a bit like what the [[Deviant: The Renegades|the Renegades could be like in their upcoming game]], since the original collective is still active and hunting them down. The only reason they're a Conspiracy and not a Compact is because by White Wolf's self-imposed rules only Conspiracies can give Endowments.

'''The Otodo:''' Named after the single most complex kanji consisting of no less than 84 brushstrokes (which roughly means "the appearance of a dragon in flight"), the Otodi are a family of cousins close and distant whose ancestors lived in a village [[Monstergirls|that engaged in sexual intercourse with a bunch of]] [[oni]]. The blood of their spiritual ancestors created a race of half-oni who use their powers to protect Japan and its people from the monsters hunting them. They also go after those Otodo who don't join in the fight against evil and consider Changelings to be just like them, explainations be damned. This means they're more or less the Shinto equivalent of the Christian Lucifuge. Their powers even work the same; the Otodo's Endowment of Seitokuken is more limited in scope (you can pick only five of the seven powers in total, while the Lucifuge has a much wider array) but no less potent: a well-buffed Otodo can take on a fair number of monsters head-on. Because of their limited numbers the Otodo see no problems with increasing their numbers by copious amounts of boning, and when they're not killing monsters or getting laid the Otodo keep meticulous records of their offspring to keep an eye on those who could develop their powers.

'''Task Force: VALKYRIE:''' MIBs, conspiracy creators, and America's last line of paranormal defense. Great story, but the execution isn't quite as neat as it sounds. They're composed of various government entities (i.e. military, law enforcement, and so on) and designed to prevent supernatural subversion, but in practice it's a bureaucratic clusterfuck that can barely keep track of which monsters they're supposed to be killing - [[Rage|this naturally draws ire]] since performing their duties entails watching ''literally'' everyone, themselves included. But at least they get to carry around a laser cannon and ghost-killing bullets when they need to. Oh, and only some of the top brass know that most of their budget secretly comes from vampires using the organization to deal with their rivals.

'''Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit (VASCU):''' FBI agents with telepathic powers who use their abilities to hunt down supernatural serial killers, mostly Slashers. The subject of much hilarious interdepartmental in-fighting and dick-measuring with VALKYRIE. VALKYRIE's got neater stuff, works outside the law, and has a better idea of what's going on. But VASCU isn't nearly as much of an organizational mess and its agents are often actually good at their jobs.

== Slashers ==
Not really meant as player options (although they are technically playable for those who really want to) because of their powers, goals and because having your players play actual serial killers instead of hunters would be very fucked up, Slashers are either hunters who have gone off the deep end or people who just happened to go batshit insane in the worst possible way. They all have some kind of ''Undertaking'', a modus operandi based on famous real-life and fictional serial killers. Each of these can go even crazier, going from a Ripper (a Slasher who's still human, at least in the physical sense of the word) to a Scourge (a Slasher with powers that border on the supernatural). While Slashers can be very powerful they all have a Frailty, a psychological (and sometimes physical) weakness linked to their particular brand of insanity.

Generally speaking, Rippers are less powerful than Scourges, but Scourges are more deeply crippled by their Frailties in addition to inheriting the Frailty of their Ripper counterparts.

=== Rippers ===
'''Avenger:''' Avengers are out for revenge. Having been deeply hurt by someone else they take (lethal) revenge on those who wronged them, then go on to hunt people like their first target to prevent others from being wronged like they were. But with every victim they kill, they grow increasingly indiscriminate to the point where the subjects of their revenge have only tangential connections to their initial victim. While the drive for revenge is not an uncommon origin for a Hunter, the difference is that Avengers often do not target supernatural beings specifically (not for long, anyway). They are ''very'' capable at handling several targets at the same time, but are driven to chase their targets no matter what, which can make them easily manipulated. Drawn from movies like ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'', ''Death Wish'', and ''Urban Legend''.

'''Brute:''' One could say that these Slashers are more like animals than people, but animals aren't capable of sadism like they are. A Brute lives only for the hunt and the kill, contempt for human weakness estranging the Brute from the rest of the human race. Exceptionally dangerous at close range and nearly impossible to stop when they've found a victim, a Brute out for blood is a killing machine, shrugging off pain, fatigue, and injury in the pursuit of their prey. Their bloodlust makes them less perceptive though, and with care one can avoid a Brute who has not spotted its prey yet. Drawn from movies like ''Ravenous'' and ''The People Under The Stairs''.

'''Charmer:''' A rather friendly and affable sort at first glance, a Charmer will appear nice, help you out, win your trust and then strap you to a rack and work you over with a blowtorch as he mocks your decision to trust him. Often the product of abuse in their childhood, Charmers are obsessed with vulnerability and punishment, frequently abhorring sex as well. They will find a victim, win their trust until they let down their guard, then do whatever horrible thing it is they do. Those who trust them tend to make all kinds of excuses for them and dismiss any implied wrongdoings, all the way until they are the next victim. The particular worldview of a Charmer is also their greatest weakness: if someone resists their charm or sets them off in another way, a Charmer will lash out, often violently, revealing themselves in the process. Based on the likes of Stuntman Mike from ''Death Proof'' and Preacher Powell from ''Wolf Creek''.

'''Freak:''' Physically deformed and shunned by humanity, Freaks want revenge on the world for rejecting them. They get it by performing the most depraved sorts of acts on their victims. They often grow attachments to people (like their family or other Freaks) or places and know their environments to an almost supernatural degree. Freaks sometimes team up with a supernatural being as an Igor of some kind, but sooner or later they realize they are being used, which inevitably results in the death of either the Freak or the supernatural. Because of their worldviews and hideous appearances, Freaks are very bad at social interaction. Based on monstrous killers like Francis Dolarhyde from ''Red Dragon'' and Leatherface from ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre''.

'''Genius:''' Working with their superior intellect, a Genius can deduce what a victim is going to do, how they'll react to situations, their routines and so on. They can also learn about their target by talking to them, discovering oddities, psychological problems or secrets with nothing but a conversation. They love using traps to kill people, rigging things to kill and maim in inventive ways. Some will give their victims a way out when putting them in a trap, feeling that if a victim doesn't figure it out then the resulting horrible blood-typhoon isn't the Genius's fault. Because Geniuses tend to be creatures of order and routine, when an irregularity happens that isn't part of their plans, they tend to get irate and sloppy, even if it wasn't something they could have prevented. Based on urbane serial killers like Hannibal Lecter from ''Silence of the Lambs''.

=== Scourges ===
'''Legend:''' The evolved form of the Avenger, Legends are Scourges who have transcended mortality to become living slasher myths. They're the murderous boogeymen that people tell stories about, stories that are ultimately all-too-real. Each Legend is, as you'd expect, wrapped up in his or her own personal mythos, gaining strength when others "play their parts" right but also being compelled to obey certain bans or afflicted with banes based on their legends as if they were spirits- nobody's sure if they're just that fixated on their own legend or if it somehow deprives them of free will. Based mostly on urban myth slashers like ''The Hook-Handed Killer'', the ''Lover's Lane Maniac'', or the ''Licking Lunatic'', they also tap into the more "supernatural" slashers from films like the titular character of ''Candyman'' or Freddy Krueger from ''Nightmare on Elm Street''.

'''Mask:''' The evolved form of the Brute, Masks are killing machines to an even greater extent than their Ripper counterparts. They are supernaturally durable to a level to make even the monstrous player splats sit up and go "Damn, that's a tough bastard!" ''Any'' attack, no matter how weird or supernatural can only inflict a single point of damage to them. However, this durability doesn't count for shit against booby traps, ambient damage, or other things that aren't actually "attacks" (most likely because otherwise, they'd be nigh-invincible), and they're literally incapable of doing anything that doesn't involve trying to hunt people down and kill them- they can't speak or even understand human language anymore, and extended contact with living things seems to actually cause them pain and a desire to respond with violence. In short, they simply want everything around them to die. Based on super-tough film slashers that never seem to stay dead; the most iconic examples of a Mask are probably Jason Voorhees from the ''Friday the 13th'' films and Michael Myers from ''Halloween''.

'''Psycho:''' The evolved form of the Charmer, the Psycho has been consumed by their murder-lust, their obsession eating away at them until they can barely feign normality on a day-to-day basis. A Psycho still has enough charm that they can trick victims into lowering their guards at just the right moment, but suffers from intense obsessions; if they fail to manipulate someone, a Psycho is compelled to make that victim their next target. Patrick Bateman from ''American Psycho'' is called out as an inspiration for this kind of Slasher.

'''Mutant:''' The evolved form of the Freak, Mutants are even more hideously deformed to the point where they are no longer recognizable as having ever been human. Their mutations act as either natural armor or natural weapons as a result and are even worse at social interaction than Freaks due to their horrific appearances. However, their mutations also make them painfully vulnerable to a certain kind of stimulation, making it impossible for them to bear and reduces them to a state of atavistic rage- a cave-dwelling monster that burns in agony at the touch of sunlight, a blind abomination that hunts through scent and recoils at strong odors, etc. Mostly owe their origins to "Hillbilly Horror" type Slasher flicks, such as ''The Hills Have Eyes'' or ''Wrong Turn''.

'''Maniac:''' The evolved form of the Genius, Maniacs are even crazier, but also startlingly charismatic; they prefer a more "hands off" approach to killing, and mostly sate their murder-lust through proxies and Rube Goldberg-style deathtraps, having the ability to not only gain great understanding of peoples' psychologies by studying them but also driving them off the deep end to become the Maniac's loyal flunkies. Their flaw is that they're obviously insane to anyone who doesn't end up adopting their twisted mindsets, penalizing their Social skills with anyone who isn't as crazy as they are (and doesn't catch their brand of insanity from interacting with them) and making them very recognizable. Jigsaw from ''Saw'' and John Doe from ''Se7en'' are perhaps the best examples of Maniac type Slashers in modern films.

== Nests ==
A new feature to be added in 2e, Nests are exactly that: the nests that the monsters you hunt call home. Taking a page from the Lairs of Beast, these places typically have a bunch of Tilts and Conditions associated with them that will give Hunters a hard time...and that's assuming nobody's home when they come to investigate. Most of them are fortunately mundane in nature, but a handful of them called Tainted areas have their own lingering supernatural effects, with shit like tricking interlopers into thinking they're nearing the exit when they're actually going deeper inside or causing hunters to see each other as the monster who lives there. Most dangerous of all are the cases where the Nest '''is''' the monster, in which case anyone stuck inside will need to get creative if they want to escape alive.

== Books ==
Because of its status as a Limited Run game, Hunter: The Vigil has not received many books. The books that they have made do a fine job at making for a tight setting that does its thing well. The books are:

*'''Hunter: The Vigil Rulebook''' is the core book presenting what the game is about, how it expands on the base World/Chronicles of Darkness book, what the Compacts and Conspiracies are about how to run a game of Hunter.
*The trio of books on the "Big Three" of World of Darkness. These books go into depth on how their particular brand of nasties are fought, how the core Compacts and Conspiracies see them as well as new toys for them, new Compacts and Conspiracies that specialize in a particular brand of enemy and how to fit the monster into your Hunter games:
:*'''Night Stalkers''' is the Vampire book and adds The Barrett Commission, Maiden's Blood Sisterhood, The Night Watch and the Cainite Heresy.
:*'''Spirit Slayers''' is the Werewolf (and spirit) book, adding The Bear Lodge, The Illuminated Brotherhood, The Talbot Group and Les Mysteres.
:*'''Witch Finders''' is the Mage book and details the use of magic in a low-key version of Mage: The Awakening. It also adds Division Six, The Keepers of the Source, The Promethean Brotherhood and The Knights of Saint George.
*'''Block by Bloody Block''' is for urban monster hunting and has rules for Territories, parts of the city that you can drive monsters out of to reclaim them as your own, freeing a city this way. It also has rules for webs of alliances/enmities between various groups so that getting rid of one group might gain you allies somewhere and enemies somewhere else.
*'''World of Darkness: Slasher''' is technically a core book, but it's been made an honorary Hunter book. It details the Slashers, those Hunters who go off the deep end. It also includes the rules for those government agents who hunt Slashers, the Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit (VASCU).
*'''Horror Recognition Guide''' is a collection of fifteen short stories set in Philadelphia, detailing various Hunter Cells who get into contact with various monsters and how this ends. The book works as inspiration for Hunter games, with no stats included.
*'''Compacts & Conspiracies''' is the finale book, greatly expanding on the various core Compacts and Conspiracies. It gives them more rules, more background and lifts the curtain for a few to reveal that they're actually being duped.
*'''Mortal Remains''' was released four years after Compacts and Conspiracies to update Hunter: The Vigil for Chronicles of Darkness. It goes into detail on Prometheans, Changelings, Geists, Mummies, and Demons, adds a whole slew of new Dread Powers for monsters, updates a lot of existing rules and adds four new Compacts and Conspiracies: Habibti Ma'at, The Faithful of Shulpae, Utopia Now and The Knights of Saint Adrian.
*'''Tooth and Nail''' was released in the wake of [[Beast: The Primordial]] to expand on how to fight <s>Beasts</s> Heroes. Tries very hard to convince people who somehow haven't heard of it that Beast is a good book with a good premise and not an abomination unto God, and places an undue emphasis on Hunters teaming up with Beasts to fight Heroes. Famous for its "great" art including a guy in a hospital gown with psychically projected weapons and armor about to fight Cthulhu and his humongous lunchbox, Danny DeVito as a Cheiron Group scientist (about to inject the remains of a Beast into Donald Trump's penis, no less) and the picture of Yuri's Group shown above. Contains one Cell that's soon to be a Compact, two new Compacts and one new "Conspiracy": The Reclaimers, The Reckoning, Yuri's Group and The Merrick Institute.

== See Also ==

*[[Hunter Fan Compacts]]
*[[Hunter Fan Conspiracies]]
*[[Delta Green]]

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