“Claiming a world is a simple-sounding, two-fold process: We must be patient and look carefully to discern our best path. And we must pursue that path heedless of obstacles, whether nefarious interference or the disbelief of our fellows. Neither impediment can keep us from our goals.”

 

Consider the possibilities: that we and our opponents (if that's the right word) may be part of an evolutionary competition like the one between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons; that both sides may be pawns in a conflict between alien intelligences; that we may embody the forces of light and darkness in a war for the fate of the world; that all these explanations of our struggle may be true – or completely false.
What every imbued person of Vision brings to the mission is perspective. You have your theories, as do nearly all of us, about what is happening around us, but Visionaries strive to make understanding essential to our activities. Judges get called on to render decisions that have short-term effects. You take the long view and weigh factors that never occur to other imbued - who probably consider you a lunatic as a result. No matter. If you're true to our calling, insults are ineffective in swaying your attitudes. Which is not to say we don't value the respect of our peers in this apocalyptic enterprise. In fact, the extent to which we influence other imbued is the measure of our own success.
But what success are we to pursue in the larger sense? Is the goal of our mission the determination of whether war can be waged compassionately? Is it defining the limits of tolerance when confronting what may or may not be pure evil? Or is it simply some atavistic
contest for survival of the fittest? Maybe there's a whole other battlefield that we're missing. The perceptions and abilities we share come to us seemingly for the purpose of being used. Presumably, they're meant to be used on entities whose existence we remain ignorant of until the coincidental bestowing of those abilities. But what if the entities themselves - our "targets" - are bestowing these powers? Does our aggression prove to them that with vast power comes vast immaturity? Does every action we take in the "hunt" condemn us and our species in the view of incomprehensible beings? Or is it that beings incomprehensible to us are incapable of sharing our values, and so they regard us as test subjects, vermin or worse?
As a Visionary, these are the questions that you must entertain, and whatever wisdom you can glean about the hunt - a potentially dangerous name for our mission, by the way - must be shared with other "hunters." Without guidance, our fellows can be as dangerous as anything they might seek to protect against. So, to pose another question: Are we the brains of this undertaking, its conscience? Yes and yes. And when some of us are proven wrong? Expect it to happen, for we cannot all be right! In that instance, hope that any decisions you influenced came out as well as they could, given what you knew. Anyway, don't be too hard on yourself. We're trying to answer questions we don't even know how to ask.
Not that you need ideas on how to go your own way, but pity the other imbued who literally go after who-knows-what. Think of them as stalking newly discovered species, and think of yourself as a nature guide (or supernature guide, depending on your inclinations). My own to-do list includes identification, tracking, classification, mapping of lairs and isolation of proclivities or weaknesses, when possible. Your emphases are sure to vary, depending on your interpretation of what we are all here to do, but the importance of knowing thine "enemy" is paramount.
The more difficult task is often translating such knowledge into practice. Many of you describe yourselves as some combination of diplomat, general, dreamer and babysitter. It's already challenging to have any meaningful exchange with other Visionaries, given our independent ways. Trying to marshal the divergent attitudes and approaches of the imbued overall can seem impossible. Here’s hoping we have vision enough to meet that challenge.

Weaknesses: Other hunters say we’re all prone to narrowness of focus, and so they call us Tunnel-Visionaries. Of course, it’s pointless to protest; we obviously can devote ourselves to certain minor details. How about that pamphleteer who keeps harping on the mutagenic properties of human saliva? And the way “monster particles” are spread by kissing? Gang, keep some emotional distance from your pet theories. Don’t undermine your own authority by constantly focusing on fringe matters. Remember the big picture.
Addiction affects those of us who pursue comprehension of the Mysteries (Heralds, hunters, monsters) through mind-altering substances. Exercise moderation.
Visionaries who conclude that hunters are better off not hunting are typically called “traitors.” Nevertheless, following our own vision of the truth is what we do, and a few of you believe humans are being used as catspaws at best and as entertainment – of the gladiator variety – at worst. Needless to say, some of our more eager counterparts consider any such stance blasphemy. If you decide inaction should be the group’s new course of action, make sure there are no Avengers behind you when you make the announcement.

Apocrypha: Maintaining your composure can be difficult with all the crackpot ideas seeping into Visionary heads. A lot of them seem like plot rejects from The Twilight Zone: The Messengers are our future selves trying to prevent a mutant takeover of humanity in their past. Or, Hell is full and we're seeing the backflow. Or, stuff like this happens every couple of thousand years, and Jesus was one of us. Or, the world is about to end and we have to choose a new one. Who can say who will be right till the last minute? What you do know is, no imbued is certain of his ultimate purpose. It's up to you to discover that purpose and seek alternatives to whatever ideas may become popularly accepted. Perhaps the world hunters should seek apart from monsters is neither this nor the next, but one of our own making.

The Imbuing: Visionaries love to trade first-time stories because our experiences tend to vary so much. This one distracted a creature so its victim could escape, that one tricked an attacker into destroying itself. My own "opener to the way" ended after it became apparent that the thing confronting me couldn't face its own reflection. The only constant to these tales appears to be how different Visionary solutions seem to be.

STEREOTYPES
Avengers - Good or bad, they're the desire for justice personified.
Bystanders - Given the widespread urge to dismiss them as failed hunters, perhaps they deserve our scrutiny.
Defenders — They embody the instinct for self-preservation.
Innocents - Apprentices who often take on the characteristics of the others with whom they hunt.
Judges — Invaluable in the field, but possessed of limited imaginations.
Martyrs - At their best, the rarest of individuals: altruists.
Redeemers - Approaching the hunt as an epidemic to be quelled has merit; trying to explain it that way to a mass audience does not.
The Enemy - Antagonistic labels may predetermine our behaviour in counterproductive ways, so keep an open mind.

 

Character Creation: Although many Visionaries possess superior Intelligence, some are average in that department but excel at Manipulation - specifically at seeming to have powerful intellects. Leadership and Expression are appropriate Abilities for hunters of this creed. Visionaries sometimes have a concentration in Occult or Science, but an exceptional individual (or a charlatan) might straddle both fields.

Starting Conviction: 3

A.K.A.: Pathfinders, Wayfarers, Prophets; Hellseher