Seekers¶
Seekers are the licensed Hollow-hunters of the Sancturi Imperium in the Sancturi Age. "Seekers are licensed to operate inside the Imperium's boundaries, including on the frontier. A Seeking license is granted to a group and the group must consist of at least one Sancturi Cleric and one accredited Runecaster. There are specific seeking rules which if not followed can result in the revocation of the group's license" (S325). They are not one order but a trade: Hollow-Seekers, "commonly just 'Seekers'", are "(usually licensed) mercenaries that deal with minor Hollows" (S202).
Also called: Hollow-Seekers (S202).
The law of seeking¶
The licence is the whole of the Seeker's standing. In the Imperium "it is a capitol offense for individuals not in possession of a seeking license to knowingly enter a Hollow" (S325). The required cleric ties every licensed group to the Sancturi Clergy.
Seekers handle the small Hollows. The large ones belong to the Dae'Venari, "an order of Sancturi Clerics devoted to Devil & Hollow destruction", who "are called in as the last resort, due to their numbers being few, their scorched earth tactics and expense" (S325).
Bounties and quiet work¶
Town officials post Hollow-bounties, and an unusually large one draws Seekers from far around (S202). The campaign notes show the trade's temptations: a town officer hoping to hide a resurgent Hollow from an incoming noble house hires "unlicensed Seekers for a quiet task"; a Sancturi cleric who fears the investigation that calling in the priesthood would bring pays unlicensed Seekers, then more, until one of them, "a powerful Hollowlock", falls to the Hollow and "it absorbed his magic and expanded rapidly" (S202).
Witch Slayers¶
"A general term used to describe those who kill Witches and Devils and destroy Hollows. Unlicensed Witch Slayers are frequently used due to price, availability and discretion. Witch Slayers are operating outside the law in the Imperium" (S325). Beyond the Imperium's borders the name carries no stigma: Gabriel Benardin of the Brotherhood of the Sun is a "renowned relic hunter and witch slayer" in the kingdoms (S319), and the Keepers of Abaddon and Knights of Ex-Malefica sell the same service there.
Knights of the Broken Star¶
"An apolitical Hollow Crusader group which enjoyed support from the Empire, though their influence is greatly diminished since their disgrace resulting from their defeat and subsequent retreat from Acadia. They have their own certified Runecasters, both Namakan and Khardic" (S132). "They often take recruits from criminals slated for execution" (S132).
Gap
The one note on the Knights of the Broken Star marks the name with question marks, and no later document names them. The Sanctuary Age timeline records a Keepers of Abaddon crusade against the Acadian Hollow that ended in retreat in 679 SM (S326); the sources do not say whether the two accounts describe the same defeat.
Earlier accounts¶
The older internal draft of the Hollows notes gives the same entries for Witch Slayers, Seekers and the Dae'Venari, speaking of "the empire's boundaries" where the later version says "the Imperium's" (S146).