For the metaplot event in Mage: The Ascension, see Reckoning (MTAs))
The Reckoning is an idea shared among Hunters that describes the ongoing (or at the very least soon-to-begin) global event or series of events, with hunters and their work at the center, that will ultimately result in all supernatural beings either being destroyed or fundamentally changing their relationship with humanity to one more in humanity's favor. The term 'a reckoning', with a lowercase R, is also very frequently used on a more individual level to describe the proverbial 'message' that Hunters 'deliver' to their quarries, regarding their ability (or lack thereof) to harm human communities with impunity.
Overview[]
Although many of the specifics vary between individual Hunters, “the Reckoning” has entered Hunter parlance as of late as a shorthand that conveys the same sort of awareness as many modern social-justice movements. The phrase itself is vague enough that it doesn’t create any unnecessary difficulties when the Hunter isn’t ready to have them. In this sense, inquiring after a Reckoning works almost like a secret handshake or a code word intended to determine awareness of one another among Hunters. (This is not without risk, as it comes with the potential of being misunderstood as hysterical or conspiratorial.)
At the same time, the Reckoning is a term of immediacy, conveying an effort of resistance against the creatures of the night, in contrast with the human history of dwelling in their shadow and serving or sating their pernicious hungers. To a Hunter with a Faithful background, it may suggest a time of judgment, such as an era of Revelation or the loosing of Indra’s bolt. To a Hunter with a Martial background, it may suggest the escalation of operations intended to curtail supernatural influence. To a Hunter with a businesslike perspective, it might represent “balancing the books,” taking power away from the sinister inequality that has existed between humans and darker powers since time immemorial. Ultimately, the one common thread is that the Reckoning is the struggle against supernatural abuse and domination, and it is now.
The Reckoning as a concept may have sprouted among modern Hunters due to most supernatural beings themselves believing that they currently exist in the midst of an eschatological turning point for their kind, such as the Gehenna War, Evanescence, or Era of Apocalypse. Mages themselves even also describe this period as the Reckoning. It stands to reason, after all, that if Hunters were to learn that their quarries fear for their kind's very existence, they themselves would find this to be momentously positive news deserving of being shared among their comrades.
Gallery[]
References[]
- HTR: 5th Edition Core Book, p. 20