The Seekers are an order within an order—a supremely
secretive, ultra zealous and very well-funded clandestine branch of the Witch
Hunters. This relatively new organisation prides itself in their utter
dedication to the job at hand. Although not officially recognised by the
Imperial Court, they are covertly funded from the office of the new Grand
Theogonist, Esmer. If he fully realises the excessive zeal or the merciless
efficiency with which the work of the Seekers is undertaken, he must either not
care or secretly encourages it.
The Seekers' Lair
The offices of the Seekers are in a grim, anonymous building
relatively close to the Imperial Palace in Altdorf, marked only by a small
brass plaque bearing the symbol of the Twin-Tailed comet and Ghal-Maraz. The building
is never open to the public and the door is locked at most times. Knocking
rarely gets any response, since the members of the Seekers all have their own
key. Many of the members of the Seekers have cover jobs as minor functionaries
in the Imperial bureaucracy and within the Cult of Sigmar; particularly within
the Witch Hunters and any organisation that has even partially regular contact
with one or more of the Colleges of Magic.
The building’s external asceticism belies its well-appointed
interior. The walls are wood-panelled, the chairs are comfortable and a servant
is always on hand to bring a glass of fine wine or a well-prepared four-course
meal. The building also houses bedrooms for visiting members from other cities.
The Seekers try to have an agent in every major city of the Empire at all
times, and have recently recruited members to stay in the cities of other
countries such as Tilea, Estalia, and Kislev.
In the basement beneath the fine rooms upstairs, the hidden
face of the Seekers is revealed. It is there that they keep the cells and
interrogation rooms of their victims. These cells are far bleaker and more
unpleasant than such than similar places in other Witch Hunter chapterhouses.
There is also a court here, where magic users are tried before a panel of three
self-appointed judges. Defendants are not permitted lawyers or witnesses who
might cloud or hinder the process of justice. Trials usually begin with a
simple question, often along the lines of, “How long have you consorted with the
Dark Powers?”
If the gentle approach of the trial does not extract a
confession (which is all the court is really after, regardless of the guilt or
innocence of those they capture), the magic user is taken into the
interrogation room, where more forceful methods, such as thumbscrews, branding
irons, scourging, and worse are used. After they extract a confession, a show
trial may be arranged so the broken victim may confess again in a properly
recognised court of law before being sent to the stake. Alternatively, if it is
deemed more expedient, the magic user may just disappear, or be found floating
face down in the Reik. Very few magic users have ever successfully escaped from
this travesty of justice.
Persecuting the
Powerful
What makes the Seekers so particularly abhorrent to the
Colleges of Magic is they target first and foremost those magic users that the
Witch Hunters do not, and those generally are Imperial Magisters and their
Apprentices. It seems unlikely the Seekers have managed to apprehend and kill
any full Magisters, but Journeymen and other Apprentices allowed to travel
abroad for whatever reason have started to disappear alarmingly frequently
since the Seekers were formed, and it seems likely they are being deliberately
targeted by the Seekers. There are suspicions Esmer is using the Seekers in an
attempt to destabilise the Colleges of Magic somehow, or perhaps push them into
doing something rash.
The Grey Order has turned its attentions to the Seekers’
activities, and the Bright Order has also spoke openly of its utter contempt
for the Seekers, though such is the Seekers’ secrecy and facility for
deniability that no formal charges have yet been brought against them. It won’t
be long before there will be a direct confrontation between the Seekers and one
or more of these groups. No one yet knows the Seekers are being funded by
Esmer. When word of this finally reaches the offices of the Supreme Patriarch,
the backlash almost certainly won’t be pretty.
But then, that may be what Esmer is hoping for.
Members and Armaments
The head of the Seekers is Detlef Johannson. He is a
cruel-eyed, grey-haired man in his mid-fifties, who always dresses in white and
black. He is a close friend of Theogonist Esmer, having helped him by tracking
down several Chaos Magi in his thirty-year career as a Templar (although he
only has Esmer’s word they were Magi—but he doesn’t seem to care). He is a
bitter, paranoid, and hateful man, and he utterly despises all Elves, regarding
each one of them as Witches at best.
It is rumoured both he and his elite Witch Hunters have
gathered all sorts of protective amulets that negate spells and even a few
power-destroying weapons in the course of their holy crusade. Despite the
Orders’ best attempts to keep the fact secret, it seems someone has leaked to
the Seekers that certain metals and stones dampen, and even swallow, magic.
In addition, the Seekers have a wealth of mundane but
effective devices that guarantee suspects cannot cast any spells. These include
a range of drugs, manacles, tongue restraints, gags, and even small pouches
containing irritating insects whose constant stings and nips can break even the
most steely concentration—especially when the magic user in question has been
deprived of sleep, food, and water. With such devices and techniques, together
with their Cult-funded resources and years of rabble-rousing and political
experience, these Seekers after Truth and Justice have thus far been able to
act on their suspicions with virtual impunity.
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