Hunters

"Hunter" is a very broad term for the inhuman, uncivilized monsters that live at Street level and below in Metamor City. Unlike most vampires and daedra, who can adopt at least the forms of civilization if not the spirit of it, the hunters have no interest in social niceties. The only law they acknowledge is the law of the jungle: the strong prey on the weak.

Hunters can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The smallest ones are the size of jackals; the largest can reach ten meters or more. Some possess intelligence comparable to that of a human, while others are no smarter than insects. Some are solitary hunters; others travel in packs.

Those hunters that can speak often know the language of the Fae, hinting that they originally came from the Dreamlands. They usually don't speak Common, since they don't hang around humans enough to learn it.

Hunters travel around the city by means of the old commuter tunnels, many of which are otherwise abandoned; the sewers; and the subway tubes, though these often have low air pressure and thus pose a breathing problem for larger hunters. Some dig their own tunnels, or make lairs in disused basement levels of the big towers.

Hunters almost never come out in the daytime; even in the shadows of Street level, daylight makes for poor hunting, and they are more likely to be spotted at a distance by potential enemies. Those hunters who do not have underground burrows are often masters of camouflage, and can remain still and unseen for hours amid garbage piles and snowdrifts.

The Lothanasi tend to be reactive when dealing with hunters: if reports reach them of a monster hunting in a given area, they'll go and hunt it down, but they don't usually go on active sweeps to eliminate any hunters they find. This is mostly a matter of resources: there are many threats more insidious than hunters, and the Lightbringers simply can't clear the creatures out of their lairs faster than new ones can take their place. Making a serious dent in the hunter population would require taking out their places of refuge; since that can't happen without taking down the rest of the city in the process, the Lightbringers do the best they can.

Sample Hunters

…suddenly there was a ripple of motion, as a creature the size of a tiger sprang from the hole and pounced on the light, claws and mandibles snapping. It flew through the empty air and landed, puzzled and disoriented, in the middle of the tunnel. Kate didn’t get a good look at it and didn’t want to stick around to study it further, but it gave equal impressions of a lizard, a beetle, and a jungle cat.
Things Unseen

.

A sound like leather being dragged over gravel interrupted my thoughts. At once I went still and put my hand to the hilt of my sword, eyes alert to my surroundings.

A mortal would not have seen it at all, but after a moment I discerned the creature hidden in the snow-covered refuse pile to my right. It was long and sinuous, perhaps five meters altogether, but the details of its form were hidden by the adaptive camouflage that covered its hide. There I could see eyes that resembled scattered black marbles; there, a claw that seemed to be a rusty hook; there, a set of mandibles that looked like cast-off gardening tools. The smell of blood and offal was on the air, and I knew the creature had eaten recently.

I nodded my head toward it. “Hail, hunter,” I said, addressing it in the language of the Fae.

The thing twitched, then, in apparent surprise. After a moment it answered me, in a voice like metal grinding on metal. “Hail, dark lady. You are the guardian of this ward?”

“I am,” I said calmly. “And I must warn you that I permit no hunting on these grounds. Those who dwell here are under my protection.”

The hunter made a chittering noise that was likely meant to convey scorn. “It was a dog, nothing more. Not even one of the two-legged ones. Barely a mouthful.”

I grimaced, hoping that none of my neighbors' pets would turn up missing. “Nevertheless. Live here if you wish, but do not hunt here.”

Isri Fallon, unpublished story

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