Akritai

The Akritai are an order of Orthodox Christian Hunters, largely active in Eastern Europe.

Overview

Their name comes from the Greek word for border, and originally referred to a special border guard of the Byzantine Empire, charged with protecting the people from various infidels. In modern nights, the Akritai are composed mostly of Orthodox priests and nuns who feel called to fight vampires, shape-shifters, and other monsters. They lead an ascetic existence, and while they are not unfriendly towards other hunter organizations, they also don't collaborate or collude with them.

The Akritai are organized on a regional basis with little concrete hierarchy. The majority operate in Eastern Europe, although a few small chapter houses exist in America. In Egypt, they maintain a chapter house in St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, and regularly (if reluctantly) come to the aid of the Society of Leopold's Cairo cenaculum.

V20 Timeline

In 2011, nearly the entire order assembled in the Czech Republic to take on the Malkavian methuselah Tryphosa when she emerged from torpor. They eventually destroyed her, but took heavy losses, and have started to recruit laypeople to restore their number. From Tryphosa's haven they took a copy of the Book of Nod and a volume of her prophesies, The Apostate Auguries. Both texts are currently being analyzed.

V5 Timeline

After their international influence was substantially curtailed by the manpower loss caused by the attack on Tryphosa, the Akritai approached the young Coalition, particularly its Russian branch, for aid against vampires worldwide.

Although it continues to present itself as an independent organization of Witch-hunters, it now operates essentially as an extension of the Russian security state and of GRU-N58. Many of the order’s foot soldiers remain unaware of this subversion and N58 uses the Akritai to gain access to Coalition member nations that might be more wary of their direct involvement in an operation. The Akritai’s reputation proves especially useful for the GRU’s espionage within the Vatican itself, as the church is convinced that the witch hunters possess several relics from Constantinople. While Unit 242 covertly confiscated all of the Akritai’s artifacts over a decade ago, the negotiations with the Vatican are allowed to continue in case an opportunity to turn a high-ranking church official into a spy presents itself.

Most of the Akrtai’s esoteric training has been lost to time and purges; the order now places a greater emphasis on standard combat drills. The GRU keeps the few sorcerers that still practice within the order under heavy surveillance and only allows them to travel outside Russian territory if the operational and political rewards are very high. (Some Akritai sorcerers have been allowed into Georgia and Syria to excavate powerful artifacts under cover of the wars in those nations). While the ruse of using the Akritai as a cut out is dangerous and complex, it has paid dividends in the past. At least one plot to destabilize a critical oil refinery was rolled up when Akritai priests were approached for support by supernatural terrorists who believed they had some ancient alliance in place.

References

• VTM: The Inquisition, p. 40