The Devaki
Vigilante Law
The Crusaders are not just rag-tag posses of bloodthirsty murderers. They have rules they obey for the sake of their own conscience as well as upholding the finest qualities of duty to mankind.
1. No Crusader will allow any knowledge of the existence or purpose of the Devaki to be learned by any uninitiated member of society. This includes one's own family members as well as the police or vampire enemies. It is advised that a Crusader formulate an excuse to his family during his weekly scheduled patrol and training nights. Violation of this policy will result in the harshest discipline.
2. Crusaders will initiate offensive action against recognizable vampires only. Vampires can be recognized only be definitive vampiric behavior, such as drinking blood or the demonstration of supernatural powers, or by prior disclosure from Devaki agents (such as Provocateurs). Crusaders may defend themselves appropriately from any hostile actions taken against them. Careless actions taken by the Devaki will be censured and possibly result in the offenders' termination from the corps. This is not the Inquisition.
3. Crusaders will not attack vampires in the bounds of the Little Asia district for any reason. They may defend themselves against vampires within the district, however. Due to the Crusader headquarters being located in the district, this policy accords the old axiom: do not shit where you eat and sleep!
4. Remains of vampire victims will be cremated and other enemies' corpses disposed of in designated locations only. This is by standing order the empty fairgrounds north of the city. When the fairgrounds are in public use, bodies will be cremated in a basement furnance below the main warehouse.
5. Recruiting new Crusaders is left solely to the creator of the Devaki, Nekoko. By observing Rule #1, no Crusader should be trying to recruit anyway.
6. All Crusaders will subject themselves to all training and conditioning practices of the Devaki. During missions and training sessions outside of enclosed Devaki sites, Crusaders will don all standard uniforms, including a face mask to preserve personal anonymity.
7. Rank determines authority and the chain of command. The Devaki is a militia organization. It is a volunteer force and all members are free to quit at any time. However, while one is a member, one will heed all orders. Disobedience will result in censure or discharge. In the middle of a combat situation, disobedience may result in far harsher discipline!
8. Complaints are to be brought up with one's immediate commanding officer. If the complaint regards that officer, the plaintiff should speak to the officer's commander.
9. No munitions, weapons, or tactics besides those that the Devaki pre-approve are to be used in standard mission application. Emergency improvisations are acceptable. In other words, don't bring your great-great-grandfather's Colt .45 Peacemaker along a mission -- it might blow up in your hand and injure you and/or your comrades. On the other hand, if you're all out of ammo, it's okay to make a quick Molotov cocktail and toss it at your enemies.
10. There are other supernatural creatures out there besides vampires. Most of them do not pose the same threat to humanity as vampires do. The Devaki must concern themselves with only vampires. The Crusaders may find they have allies in other "creatures of the night" against vampires. It is strongly recommended that no Crusader pursue knowledge of these strange creatures. A lack of focus on the task at hand -- hunting vampires -- will be noted and censured.
It should be noted that the Commander of the Devaki is ultimately responsible for enforcing these policies and exacting discipline upon violators. Extreme punishments are left up to Nekoko, however. This has never yet gone beyond termination from service to the Devaki. Interestingly, those discharged from the organization (whether fired or quit) have never broken Policy #1. No Crusader has ever been executed, and only the most extreme cases of cowardice or treachery would result in such a brash punishment. Recruitment into the Devaki takes a certain kind of willpower to begin with, and the training Crusaders undergo tends to expunge any leery feelings of uncertainty. Of course, it isn't until the hunter's first hunt that he or she knows for sure she has what it takes to be a Crusader…
Fighting the Good Fight
Recruitment
Recruitment once involved a dozen new members every month. Now it's about one new member a month. Since that first major offensive against the undead was so successful, the Devaki do not feel the need to replenish their original number (nearly 250). Nekoko handles all the recruiting and always has. She normally seems to find potential Crusaders through her role as Hinodi Kimi, instructor at SABRA and influential businesswoman. In fact, this alias is how the Crusaders know her.
Through her powerful Mind magicks, Nekoko observes potential Crusaders through whatever medium she encounters them. She gages their mental strength and stability as well as their physical capabilities. Too young and too old are rejected obviously, unless circumstances dictate that they would make functional Stewards. Nekoko also tests their aggressiveness and fighting spirit. Even a strong-willed person may not have the guts to punch someone in the nose. Sometimes too much conscience is a weakness! If a person can't even hit someone, Nekoko doubts they can summon the will to stab a stake into a vampire's heart, or even pull the trigger of a firearm. Such tests often involve Nekoko herself luring or provoking the individual into a situation that invites aggressive behavior. The "fight club" she established prior to the Crusaders was aimed at just this purpose. Though that was since disbanded, she often utilizes methods similar to it with individuals.
Once she ascertains that the individual is worthy of becoming a Crusader, she "opens the eyes". The potential vampire hunter is taken into the basement of SABRA. There a captive vampire is systematically tortured so it reveals its supernatural nature to the Crusader. (Yes, the same vampire has been held there in a state of magick-induced torpor for two years now, and allowed only the slightest consciousness when Nekoko tortures it for display. The unfortunate vampire is a mindless wreck at this point. No, this is not a very humane thing to do to a vampire. Of course, knowing Nekoko's vicious sense of justice, it probably deserves this fate.)
While shock is expected, if the potential Crusader demonstrates irrational fright and/or disgust (at Nekoko's torture of the vampire, not the vampire itself), the individual is rejected. Nekoko erases the person's memory of the event through potent Mind magicks and sends him home. But if the Crusader reacts positively, Nekoko lays out the facts about vampires and the purpose, methods, and policies of the Devaki. The person is required to take a two week paid (by Nekoko) vacation from whatever job he has to undergo initial training.
Conditioning
The initial two-week training period involves less tactical training and more conditioning. Although the conditioning is both physical and psychological, it's all designed to make the individual a more effective and better protected member of the Devaki. There appear to be no "evil, ulterior conspiracies" involved with any of the conditioning. Nekoko oversees all of the conditioning practices -- and that's usually one of the last times a Crusader sees much of Nekoko at all. Afterwards, standard training is left to Commander Zannin Choki and the other officers.
Physical
The following regimen is obeyed for the first two weeks.
1) The Crusader will imbibe one bottle of Smith-Hidaka spring water a day. This results in the individual gaining the equivalent 3-point Merit of Poisonous Blood (c.f., Hunters Hunted).
2) The Crusader will participate in one hour of low impact stretching exercise and two hours of high impact calisthenics daily.
3) The Crusader will spar, full contact and without protective padding, with Nekoko herself everyday. Through this fighting, the individual will grow accustomed to hitting someone with one's bare hands. One will also get used to being hit (and hard).
4) After every sparring match, the Crusader will undergo holistic medical treatment that Nekoko herself will also provide. This involves simple herbal ingredients and acupuncture.
Mental
The following regimen is obeyed for the first two weeks.
1) The Crusader will memorize all Devaki policies and learn to recite the organization and chain of command everyday.
2) The Crusader will recite the factual strengths and weaknesses of vampires everyday.
3) The Crusader will pledge complete loyalty to the Devaki and obedience to its policies and reaffirm it seven times in a row.
4) During the course of #3, the Crusader will subject himself to Nekoko's hypnotic suggestions. Through Mind magick, Nekoko mentally conditions the Crusader to uphold his pledge. This also makes the Crusader more resistant to supernatural powers of persuasion, including Dominate and Presence, but only in regards to loyalty to the Devaki and upholding his pledge. In other words, this grants the Crusader the equivelent of the 1-point Merit, Loyalty (c.f., World of Darkness: Sorcerer).
Training
Once the first two weeks passes, the Crusader can return to his mundane career. Training takes place on Saturday evenings at the Little Asia warehouse base. The first three months are considered vital, and a Crusader can be terminated for missing even one session without good cause. (Not that a Crusader should miss training sessions after the first 3 months, but it's not as frowned upon.) After the first three months, the Crusader is considered ready for standard patrolling routes and hunting missions, and promoted to the first rank in the Devaki, Private. There have been a number of cases where the new Crusader demonstrated a great deal of skill (from prior training or otherwise). Such individuals can graduate from the basic training early, and may also be promoted immediately to Corporal. No one ever begins as Sergeant, although some Crusaders are immediately drawn into one of the specialists corps.
Even after the first three months, Crusaders are required to attend Saturday evening training sessions every week. All Crusaders are to attend. Officers oversee the training sessions in groups (they get their own training at different times -- they are full-time, after all). This drills in basic tactics and techniques. Only good cause (family emergency or whatever), or participation in a patrol or mission during that time, excuses a Crusader from missing training. Training sessions typically last 5 hours, and they're quite intense. Just because the Crusaders only have one training day a week doesn't mean they're "weekend warriors". They have to be tough and determined. The Devaki is not for the half-hearted!
As far as limited training goes, Nekoko invites all Crusaders to join her SABRA martial arts studio if they haven't already. That way, they can fit in training in martial arts and melee weapons more than once a week. Furthermore, the Devaki training sessions do not include much weaponless combat techniques, only a few basics. To really get good at fighting when you're disarmed, studying the martial arts properly (such as at SABRA) is mandatory. Furthermore, when practicing one's melee or weaponless techniques at home, the Crusader can easily mask the source of those techniques from his family ("When did you start learning karate, honey?!" "Dear, I'm going to SABRA now, remember? Why don't you and the kids join, too? There's a special family offer we should take advantage of!")
Every training session involves some of the same basic regimen, although it circulates by company so everyone is training in one different segment at the same time. Specific techniques and tactics vary from session to session, however. The training includes the care and assembly of firearms and marksmanship with firearms at an underground range beneath the warehouse. Firearms training includes sidearms, shotguns, rifles, and assault rifles. A brief demonstration (without the actual use) of some of the heavy weapons the Devaki can employ, such as grenade launchers and anti-tank missiles (LAWs), is given once every few months. Such weapons are almost never used, however. Two full hours are devoted to firearms training.
Training also includes the melee skills of fighting with a club, knife, or spear. Accuracy tests are vital here, too, since stabbing a vampire in the arm is much less effective than in the head! Also, accuracy is vital for staking vampires in the heart. One hour is devoted to this training, and it's emphasized that practice should continue at home.
The next hour combines the first two training segments. The Crusaders learn how to fight together and use group tactics to their advantage. The Devaki know that vampires are physically superior to human beings, not to mention their supernatural powers. Thus, they rely on squad tactics to overwhelm their enemies, and organized Platoon and Company strategies to destroy multiple vampires.
The last hour involves three segments devoted to different areas: driving, weaponless combat, and general calisthenics.
