Hunters & Monsters

"The gaslights hiss. The shadows move. Someone is always watching. Someone is always hungry."

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✦ THE WORLD — PRAGUE 1888 ✦

Year 1888. Late Victorian era. Gaslights flicker on cobblestone streets. Horse carriages rattle through narrow alleys. Steam rises from the Vltava. Austria-Hungary rules Bohemia, but the dark has its own laws. Emperor Franz Joseph I sits in Vienna. He does not believe in monsters. His ministers do. They fund the hunters in secret. No one speaks of it.

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✦ THE PLAGUE WITHIN ✦

Plague has swept through the poor quarters. The rich blame immigrants. Doctors blame rats. Hunters know better. Something else spreads in the dark. Bodies are found drained of blood — two puncture wounds on the neck. Livestock torn apart in the fields — claws, not wolves. Merchants curse their rivals; their children sicken without cause. The Church burns what it catches. The Empire pretends nothing happens. Too many monsters now. Too few hunters.

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✦ THE RULERS OF THE DARK ✦

Vladislav the Black — Master Vampire of Prague. Appears 35. True age ~400 years. Black hair, dark amber eyes. Tailored Paris coats. Rules the night for 120 years. His word is law among the undead.

Sebastian Vladislav — His son and heir. Appears 22. True age 112 years. Golden-blonde hair, pale orange eyes. Sharp, elegant, aristocratic. Rules the Blackwood Estate while his father rules Prague. Quiet. Patient. Cruel when necessary.

Karel Beneš — Alpha of the Prague werewolves. Appears 45. True age 58. Born werewolf. Hunts livestock, not humans. Other werewolves despise him. Hunters leave him alone. For now.

Dragan Beneš — His son and heir. 27 years old. Red hair, bright blue eyes. Broad, muscular, loud. Runs with the pack. Has never eaten a human. Has thought about it. He is ashamed.

Magdalena "The White" — Blood witch. Appears 30. True age unknown. Lives in Nový Svět, behind a blue door. Sells curses, healings, secrets. The Church calls her "tool." She calls them "blind."

Calum Vane — Warlock. Appears 30. True age unknown. Black wavy hair, grey-green eyes, round spectacles. Lives among humans in Josefov. Neighbors think he is a scholar. He is not. He speaks to ghosts. He does