“People say the world’s going to Hell. They’re wrong. Hell’s come to the world and we’re the thin red line.”

 

You probably remember a time, not so long ago, when night meant rest. When not all your dreams were nightmares. A time before you joined the hunt, before you stood to defend all that you have and everything that you are. A time before you knew the violence you are capable of to save the life of another. If you can recall such peace, consider yourself lucky and learn from my misfortune.
In my country, for my whole life, night has always been when fools with guns or clubs wander under cover of darkness to murder their neighbours. They used to claim that politics motivated their killings. My mother, a fool of another sort, believed those claims and thought herself one of the "right people." She died at the hands of her own tribe. What she never realized is that war does not care, which is why we must care. For you and I to protect the ones we love, we must recognize that we are at war. Perhaps demon-people walk the night now because normal people gave their hearts to hatred, then they changed to match their hearts. Whatever the reason, you know such creatures are among us. It could be that nations everywhere are like mine now, except their nights are full of wandering killers that need no weapons. Instead, you and I and our kind must take up the gun, the spear, the chain - whatever works - to keep the demon- people at bay.
Whatever you were before the world changed, you are now a soldier. Perhaps you always were, or perhaps a firefighter, or a member of the constabulary. On the schoolyard, you were the one who dragged bullies off the children too small to fight for themselves. If you kept your eyes open as you aged, you realized that the world was much like the schoolyard, except the aggressors multiplied even as people like you seemed to vanish.
Maybe watching others lose themselves and become part of that mob is what lets you see through the demon-people's disguises.
Caution and caring are all that separate hunters from mobs. Sometimes you must embody those qualities when your associates grow too... enthusiastic. They say we must carry the war to the ones that started it. Remind your fellows that those who take up the burden of war find it difficult to set aside. Think of carrying your war home to the people you fight for. Think of what your dying does for them: It leaves their protection in the hands of persons with agendas different from your own. In this conflict, there can be no truer form of defeat. When battle is the only way, remember that even the bravest of your fellows need someone to guard the flanks. And remember that hunters sometimes need protection from their own foolhardiness. Any attack carried out with ease is probably a trap. And anyone who finds shame in a successful retreat probably wasn't part of it. Answer all who accuse you of cowardice, for losing the trust of your associates makes you less effective at protecting them and others.
There are no eager warriors among us. That kind dedicate themselves to revenge, it seems. Our kind are reluctant to fight, yet resolute. Let others chase the adversary back to its lair. Watch over them as you are able, but preserve hearth and home most fiercely. Lose your loved ones and you are almost sure to lose yourself to anger soon after. Do that and you risk becoming a threat yourself.

Weaknesses: Withdrawal into isolation is the most common problem that affects Defenders. Only a handful start out as so-called survivalists, but many gravitate to such lives in short order. Defenders with family go this route as their fears grow. It's a natural response: The more you see out there, the more inadequate simple bars and alarms seem. Home fortification itself is routine among hunters and hardly a problem. If you live in a fortress and won't leave it for fear of what you might come home to find, seek help.
More troublesome are loners, Defenders who typically lack family and transfer that protective urge to fellow hunters. Restraint at the wrong time can cost an advantage or even lives. Regret for such casualties eats at the hearts of these imbued.
A scarier form of transference occurs to a Defender who identifies or sympathizes so strongly with the enemy that he comes between hunters and prey. It's a rare turn of events, but a Defender who has some tie to a target (Surprise, your Uncle Jimmy's a creature of the night!) might give his life trying to save it. Scariest are Defenders who claim it's not their place to judge. They see hunters and monsters as predators who all need to be kept apart and leashed.

Apocrypha: Traditionalists interpret the world's dire circumstances as part of a test that must be undergone to guide the rest of humanity through as well. Some of you establish urban "missions" to simultaneously satisfy the urgings of faith and to install protectorates in cities. Everything from tutelary gods to angels turn up in your favourite explanations of the Messengers.
Noteworthy among non-traditionalists are the Conscience of Earth followers, who hold tent revivals and preach about the "awakening of the joint conscience of the world's peoples." Everything the group says sounds pretty innocuous, but cities that have hosted this bunch have also seen masked hunters interfere with local activities.
You "anti-traditionalist" Defenders reject religion as divisive or oppressive. You see abuse and corruption everywhere, and also did so before being imbued. Your ideas about the
Messengers are creative to say the least: "Man, it's ESP caused by psychotropic drugs the CIA put in our LSD" or "The Earth Mother chose us to save her from mutant toxophagic polluters, these guys who, like, live off poisons...."
No matter how you interpret your hunter role, your greatest prize is the world itself. If you cannot claim a place for humanity to live safely, what point is there in living?

The Imbuing: Budding Defenders seem to confront the most single-minded of creatures, ones that appear to have a specific target and that ignore all others. Some of you speak of a first foe that seemed as unwilling to harm you as it was determined to kill its intended victim. Others describe sieges mounted against your own homes or workplaces, situations that required quelling the terror around you even as you fought off your attackers.

 

STEREOTYPES
Avengers — Every war needs warriors, and these guys'll take the fight to the enemy's doorstep.
Bystanders — Just because they choked when it mattered doesn't mean they can't help now... but not by watching my back, thank you.
Innocents — They don't belong in a fight like this. They're the ones we're trying to save.
Judges - They consider every option, even though the course is obvious to us.
Martyrs - Probably the group that's closest to us, but they don't even know it.
Redeemers - If they catch you straying from the straight and narrow, look out!
Visionaries - They're full of ideas, but not always good ones... that fellow showing off his
powers on television was imprudent.
The Enemy - They're everywhere. Safety first.

 

Character Creation: Defenders start with high Perception scores, lots of Empathy and ample Willpower. They can be extremely judgmental toward people they see as indifferent or careless. Many possess the Allies Background in the form of family, a congregation or a neighbourhood watch association. Soldiers or police may have the Contacts Background to indicate such affiliations.

Starting Conviction: 3

A.K.A.: Protectors, Fences, Dead-eyes, the Cavalry; Verteidiger; Defenseurs