~Affiliations~

The Collective
The Collective is a group who've existed quietly behind the scenes for centuries--no one's actually clear how long, there are historians in place with them, but none of them are even sure exactly when it came into being--either that or they just aren't saying. Either way, it maintains the feel of an ageless organization, one with a lot of history, and most certainly a lot of power. There are offices for The Collective everywhere, spanning the globe, usually located near supernatural 'hotspots' (though it should be noted that they are never in said hotspots).

The Collective act as a group to police the supernatural world. While they don't have recognized authority, they consider themselves above any government. They are on a mission of their own design, and no one's going to be stopping them. They are highly secretive, very well funded, and while they have members in key levels of government whenever they've been able to do it--they operate on their own agenda.

Their mission statement is basically this: they mean to make sure that the supernatural world doesn't rear up and consume the human one. They do this by any means necessary. They've been known to be absolutely ruthless, but then they've also been known to be saviors. People's opinions on The Collective vary greatly. For instance, many people (besides demons) could really get behind the idea of wiping out the demonic. However, those same people might pause over the idea of taking out an angel, nevermind the goal would be to take out a Wrather before they up and blow a gasket and wipe out thousands of people in a negligent little snit.

The Collective make it their business to know everything there is to know about the supernatural and have been collecting that information since they began. As an organisation, they are the world's foremost authority on all things supernatural--they're just not handing that information out on street corners. It's theirs, and they plan to keep it.

The Collective have many different branches inside the system. Broken down, they are as follows:

Archive: This is the information flow. This branch is where the historians are. This is basically The Collective's private library on the supernatural world, and everything about it. People working in this branch are analysts, and librarians. They're there to get the rest of The Collective the information they need when they need it. While not an exciting, action packed job, they're widely considered to be the most important part of the whole. Most Archive members have a specific area of expertise, but generally it's only one area. If they have more than one, they will be much less well versed in a single area.

Research: This group is generally comprised of scientists and analysts. This is where research on the supernatural and everything to do with it is done. For instance, this is where they would find out just how low a silver content a bullet can have to still be effective. This is where they would learn just how effective Deadzones are, and how useful they can be and in what ways. Their goal is to find out new things about the supernatural they might not know yet, to find more efficient ways of dealing with them, or exterminating them (when necessary). They often are put out into the field to collect data, even if it's by interacting with targets and never doing anything engaging or the like.

Containment: When things get out of hand, these guys get the call. They're the ones that go in to take out groups of rampaging vampires. They're the ones who show up to try and take down an infestation of cursed werewolves so they don't ravage the population. In short, they're hunters. They're just hunters that aren't taking things job by job hired by whatever yahoo has the money--they've got orders from people who are paying much more attention to the big picture.

The branches are separate, and while they work together, and occasionally 'units' are formed with members from each, they all have their own agendas and are most effective when they stick to it. Units are becoming more commonplace since everything started to spiral. They're formed by higher personnel in Management (a group that's really never actually seen, but operates behind the scenes, within governments, and hands out orders and the like) though recommendations are welcome. For instance if people like working together, they can put in to continue to do so. If unit members aren't working out personality wise and clash, they can put in for transfers.

ARC Units
Units operate inside hotspots, though can fall back to nearby offices if they need to be resupplied or require medical attention. Working units generally live and work 'normal' jobs inside hotspots. They often have cover stories and jobs, and when one member of the unit needs to be recalled for any reason, or needs to be replaced, The Collective usually takes care of that and tries to work with already in place covers. They're never there just hanging out letting people know they're there to chew bubblegum and kick ass. Collective members are also generally expected to maintain their cover at all times, not revealing their true nature unless absolutely necessary.

Archive members of units are issued a company laptop that has access to the archives (at least what's available electronically). All laptops are mystically 'dedicated' to their specific user. So no one but them can use it, period. They can't be hacked in any manner. Unfortunately, due to the hotspot 'bubble' that Marquette exists in, the archives cannot be accessed from within the town. Any members of the Collective wishing to access the archives at the moment have to take a drive to the city limits, where they can pick up the connection again. The Collective's researchers are looking into ways of getting their connection through the bubble, but so far they have been unable to do so.

General Information: The Collective have dogtags that every member is issued. (Name, bloodtype, ID number) They are also branded in some fashion, though it's different depending on what branch the person works in. The Archive members all have tattoos on the inside of their left wrist. The Researchers all have tattoos on the inside of their right wrist. The Containment all have tattoos on the back of their neck. The tattoos are not the same. They aren't even specific. They're the choice of the person, it's merely the location that's important, that helps identify them to each other. In more recent times, newer members are given the option to have said tattoo inked in ink that isn't visible to the naked eye, and only shows up in blacklight.

Collective members are not all human. They know full well that the supernatural world can't be outright wiped out. They're useful, and not all of them are detrimental to humanity either. So, Collective members are not all strictly human--they just will be taken out with extreme prejudice if they fall afoul of it's rules.

The Collective prides themselves on having an available source of information and information flow throughout their network. Whilst no one member of the Collective knows everything, their Archive members give ARC groups remote access to the Archives and to the host of information stored there. The Collective was, therefore, really not impressed when the communication and travel problems occurred with Marquette. Ever since the first days of the issue, The Collective has had teams working to ‘solve’ the problem.

So far, they have not discovered a way to best the travel issues – Collective members still face the same possibilities of getting ‘lost’ as everyone else if they leave Marquette. However, since the beginning of spring, there has been some headway in getting information flowing again.

This hasn’t been easy, and there are several expert teams working from outside Marquette, together with one dedicated ARC team within Marquette, but the Collective has now been able to establish a connection from inside Marquette to the main Archive. Unfortunately, this is not yet entirely stable, but it does mean that Archive members of Arc groups within Marquette can sometimes access the Archive database (though it can take anywhere from an hour to upwards of a day to get a full response and the longer you need to stay connected to find the information you seek, the less likely it is that you’ll be able to stay connected long enough to find it in one sitting). The Collective is still actively working on improving this and also solving the issues of access to Marquette entirely.

Midnight Sun Church
A new church that's popped up since everything's gone a little awry, it's congregation is specifically geared towards spirits, vampires and lycanthropes. While by far, not all it's members are any of those, they're set up mostly as a group that caters to them, reveres them. It's setting them as firmly above humanity, with the belief that humanity has to 'earn' the right to become one of them, and that they're there to cater to those who have been 'blessed'.

Purist Nation
Members of the organization calling themselves the Purist Nation are more or less updated nazi, klan types. They believe that anything that isn't strictly human needs to be put down, with extreme prejudice. Their ranks are made up of vicious hunter types, or the running scared, people who cannot deal with the way the world has changed and can't accept the differences in those around them. Generally they are militant, and live in communities of their own devising, whether it's out on their own land, or in certain blocks of towns.

The Mortal Coil
A cult comprised of people who are obsessed with vampires and all things vampiric, The Mortal Coil members all are volunteers to feed vampires, and all plan to be inducted into the vampiric ranks one day. They are actually looking to make their own Bloodline, even if the vampire world (quietly) scoffs at such a notion. Either way, they live and breathe vampires, and all that goes with them.

Church of Harmony
This is a church that got it's start as an offshoot of Christianity, and still holds true to most of it, it has just broadened it's spectrum to include the supernatural. It's still in the process of being recognized by Christianity in general. Basically it promotes tolerance and acceptance of all things supernatural, with special attention paid to respect differences and not condemn others for them.

Pretenders and Wannabes
With all of this change happening in the world it's awakened a great number of people who desperately want to be special, or feel they need to pretend to be in order to survive. Pretenders do just that. They fake it. It's a dangerous game, and often times if they mess up, they don't make it. At first, there were a lot of Pretenders. They got weeded out pretty damn quickly, however. Now? The ones who have survived that first wave, they know better. And they've very likely gone to lengths to get things that help them keep up the ruse, or spells that enable them to keep on Pretending.

Wannabes are the hangers on to supernatural cultures, who want to be accepted into the fold, or, when possible, embraced within by being 'turned'. A hell of a lot of people got swallowed into the dreaming in this manner, never to be seen again. Vampires deal with these people the best, often adopting them as pets or blood sources. Vampires often have a few around to feed from, to avoid having to do anything that'll get them arrested and possibly killed, depending what area they're in and what laws there are. Other cultures despise them, and do their best to discourage them, or scare them off. Some are used to their fullest extent, then discarded.

Possessed Human
These are people from all walks of life(though who have no supernatural inclination to start with) who have been possessed by spirits. They are not in control of their actions or anything in their lives after the possession takes place.

Hunters
Hunters are those who choose to live their lives taking active part in the battle between good and evil. They can be nearly anything. Normal, run of the mill humans to supernatural creatures of almost every variety. There are a few different sorts, but it's not necessarily factions. It's more different types of mentalities common in hunters. This of course doesn't cover the full spectrum of hunters or why they hunt, they are merely examples.

Of all these examples, some fight on the side of 'good', some on the side of 'evil' - it works both ways. For example, some True Believers may spend their entire lives hunting down angels. Being a Believer, after all, doesn't specify what you ahve to believe in...

The Vengeful Hunter
I'll get you, and your little dog, too! Or something like that, only a lot more intimidating. This type of hunter is the kind who probably got into this business because they were at the wrong end of something that went down that involved the supernatural. Whether it was because you and your family were in the path of a roving sadistic vampire pack, or some crazed werewolf ate your parents, you're not fucking around now. And you plan to take down who or whatever wronged you, and everything in between you and it along the way.

Kill Em All
This type of hunter doesn't really bother differentiating between good and evil supernatural beings. They are nearly universally human, but there have been a few cases of utterly insane supernaturally inclined folks that take this route. For whatever reason, they see anything supernatural as being unnatural, and therefore an affront against them and everyone else in the world. If they had a motto, it might be 'fuck you and everything you stand for'.

The Merc
They're in it for the money, and that's more or less it. Werewolf pelts fetch a pretty penny and demon parts on the black market is excellent money. They're not especially bothered by what they could be taking down. Good, evil, whatever. If there's a steady paycheck involved, they'll take down whatever's on the hit list.

True Believer
These types of hunters are the ones who really believe in what they're doing. They're the ones who make a career out of it, dedicate their entire lives to the fight. It's because they believe they have a responsibility, they need to be helping with the fight between good and evil, etc. Like any zealots, they're hard to take down. They're on a mission, after all. They've also been known to form their own loose groups of similarly minded people, making small networks of people to call in case of emergency or 'I cannot possibly kill this thing on my own' monsters in their path.

The Martyr
Often a subset of True Believer, these are the hunters that seem absolutely fearless. This is because they don't especially give a damn if they're brutally killed in the line of duty. They'll die for the cause (and often do).

Bloodline
This is a pretty standard one. It runs in the family. It could go back generations, or have started in more recent ones, but it's just what your family does. The reasons behind it depend on the family - some are mercs, some true believers, some just do it because it's What Was Done.