Information about the Guild

While adding a new thread and thinking about things to add to others, I realized I hadn't added any information on the Hunters rules or guidelines that the guild follows. I will fix that here, but this post might change as the story comes across new issues that I haven't thought up.

Internal workings:

The Hunters do have a hierarchy of sorts. There is one "Master" at the head of the guild, with "Elders" leading from each branch office. The current master is Yorin. Other than the Namina Elder, I have not named the others so if someone introduces those characters before me, then feel free to name them whatever you wish.

Other than the Elders, Guild ranking mostly depends upon either seniority or prowess in the guild. An example for Namina's branch would be the five best: Ace, Jillia, Vazard, Venus, and Moseph. If the Elder died, it would most likely be from this group that Yorin picks a successor for Namina's Elder, unless he had someone else better for the job. Because Moseph has been with the guild longer, he would be a more likely choice than Venus.

When the Master dies, the Elders gather together to elect the next Master from their ranks. There are more Elders than just the ones in the major cities, but few villages are big enough to have their own branch office. There is also at least one branch located in an Elven forest.

Non-Humans and Monsters in the Guild:

Elves are common in the Hunters, but they are a minority. Most hunters are humans simply because few Elves leave their glades.

Dwarves are almost extinct. The few remaining live on the surface and refuse to speak of why they left their homes under the earth. These short stocky people are mostly seen as craftsmen, but some have joined the Hunters.

On occasion, some monsters have even worked for the guild. Many of the monsters are sentient beings that can choose good or evil, so although it is rare, there have been cases of monsters joining. The most famous to date was the Vampire Van Helsing. Helsing was a priest and a doctor long before the Hunters were founded. He led a small group of warrior priests in a crusade to rid the country of vampires. He lost most of his group and was later turned by the first and most powerful Vampire, Dracula. The two continued to fight even after Helsing was turned, and Dracula's fate is unknown, but he is believed to be dead. Helsing has currently disappeared.

Hunts:

Although most jobs that are posted for Hunters involve killing monsters, some are simply gathering items, or protecting trade routes. There are limits to killing monsters though. Hunters are only supposed to kill monsters that are dangerous. Although it is hard to prove a wrongful killing, there are consequences for doing so. Because so many monsters are sentient (Minotaurs, Centaurs, Kelpie, some were-beings) there is always the possibility of negotiations instead of killing. Some branches ignore this rule and prefer to kill.

Because some monsters can be dealt with through other means than killing, some towns and cities do trade with certain monster tribes. The Hunters try to avoid targeting these tribes for political reasons.

Killing Humans:

It is always asked that no humans, "Innocent" are killed during hunts. Sometimes this can't be avoided. Bandits can attack anyone on the roads and Hunters are allowed to defend themselves. If is possible, Hunters are asked to subdue an enemy without killing, and allow the law to handle the punishment. For those times that killing has to be done, Hunters are generally protected from unfair punishments.

Venus has met a Ghost possessing an inn keeper and it is trying to **** her. Although it would be best to spare the man, she is being threatened enough that the guild would overlook her killing the host to protect herself.

More to come if anything else comes up.