Maman Boumba is a hunter of the Martyr Creed.
Overview[]
If there's one person among the tested who rivals Dictatrix11 as a paragon of the creed, it's a 63-year-old woman from Zaire who calls herself simply Maman Boumba. Boumba is a widow with a large extended family who has worked for the Red Cross in Brazzaville for 15 years, providing aid to any and all who need it. According to a legend spreading among some hunters, she was imbued the night the local soldiers raided the shelter for medical supplies. Boumba faced down the Kalashnikov-armed troops with a broom and a forbidding glare, and suddenly she saw that the leader of the troops was, as she put it, "a soul in need of dying again." The officer, apparently a member of the ruling government's secret police, threatened to arrest her and "teach her respect for the law." Boumba looked him in the eye, seeming to pierce into his very soul, and told him that he was wasting his time if he thought that bullying an old woman would earn him respect from his master. Whatever the comment meant, it had the desired effect. The officer was so rattled that he gathered his troops, left immediately, and didn't trouble the shelter again.
Although Boumba herself eschews computers and the Internet, another imbued in Brazaville writes about Boumba and her exploits, describing the calm and self-assurance that guides the woman through repeated confrontations with spirits, shapechangers and bloodsuckers. In each case, Boumba tries to treat the monsters with compassion and even respect, and she uses uncanny empathy and insight to alleviate the being's hostility. She has had notable success in laying spirits to rest without conflict, and has apparently negotiated an understanding of sorts with the local man-beasts that guarantees the safety of Brazzaville's residents. Her reputed encounters with local bloodsuckers and warlocks have been much more contentious.
Even in these cases, Boumba refuses to resort to violence, relying instead on her wits to gain the upper hand. So far, every creature that has lashed out at her has met its end, not through retaliation, but through outside influences, particularly rival monsters.
Boumba and her years of hard-earned wisdom have made her something of an icon among those devoted who have heard of her. Once has even traveled to Zaire to meet her, only to find a stout, middle-aged woman who steadfastly denies any notions of divine insight or importance. Lately, she has become much more reclusive, even to the extent of limiting ties with local hunters. Evidently, she has become uncomfortable with her notoriety. That elusiveness is perhaps for the best; some fear that if her renown makes her enough of a threat to Brazzaville's monsters, none of Maman Boumba's wiles will save her.
References[]
- HTR: Hunter Book: Martyr, p. 92
- VTES: Nights of Reckoning