Second Inquisition

The first Roman numeral represents the unit, the second represents a unique ID within that unit.

The Second Inquisition (often shortened to SI) is a union of various secret services with the Witch-hunters of the old Inquisition that has begun to systematically hunt vampires all around the globe. The "Second Inquisition" isn't an organization by itself, per se, nor a term used by the hunters involved (they tend to refer to it as "The Coalition" or the "Five Torches"). It's an umbrella term used by Kindred to represent the various hunter associations which have arisen in recent nights. Some conflate the broader definition of 'Second Inquisition', meaning the general increased global resistance against vampires, with the Hunters' own Reckoning.

Overview

In the early years of the 21st century, the Intellegence agencies of the United States managed to gain access to SchreckNet and gained firsthand knowledge of the existence of a race of undead bloodsuckers that were spread in all corners of the world. Sharing their knowledge with other intelligence agencies, the united secret services contacted the Vatican, whom they knew to have experience fighting the undead. The Church accepted, granting them access to its resources as well as the experienced witch-hunters of the Society of Leopold.

After years of careful research, the Second Inquisition had targeted Vienna as the "capital of vampires" and prepared a strike against their headquarters. In 2008, a united USSOCOM and Vatican ESOG force augmented with experienced Brazilian hunter-killer teams stormed the Vienna Chantry of Clan Tremere and destroyed it, blaming it to an ISIS terror attack to the public. London, Las Vegas, Paris, and Marseilles were largely cleared of vampiric activity, with numerous captured vampires being placed in black sites and experimented upon to discover their weaknesses.

The united might of these forces overwhelmed the undead. Domains weakened by the disappearance of elders that were called to the East by the Beckoning fell, with dozens of their number dying. The Anarchs blamed the Camarilla for failing them at a critical moment and a global revolt took place against them, further weakening the sect. Communications between domains has become a dangerous affair, with most vampire domains becoming isolated islands that fall back to using complicated codes to send each other messages. While the Camarilla has banned any form of electronic communication, the Anarchs flout this rule, skirting dangerously close to violating the Masquerade and bringing the Inquisition on their heads, but are better connected with each other as a result. The Sabbat has lost many of their strongholds and has to resort to clandestine terror attacks in other domains. The ones who fare best in this climate are, ironically, the Thin-bloods, who are human enough to throw their hunters off the hook.

Organization

The existence of the Second Inquisition is a clandestine secret even among the various secret services they draw from. Most of the common personnel only know of coordinated strikes against "terrorists" and similar acceptable targets.

Local political pressures or turmoil keep the Inquisition from full cooperation for now in Turkey, Thailand, India, Nigeria, and Mexico, although all of the countries and their own independent organizations (Such as the DAAE) nevertheless appear on FIRSTLIGHT and IAO briefing books for the rest of the 2020s.

Founding Members

• In North America, a joint NSA/CIA Special Access Program called FIRSTLIGHT that strives to keep their activities hidden from the public and even their superiors. This has much to do with paranoia; FIRSTLIGHT believes that any government official could be compromised and be a secret slave to a vampire. The Special Affairs Division and Information Awareness Office operate more locally.
• In Brazil, the Batalhão de Operações Especiais Secretas (BOES), wages war against Kindred in the major cities of the country. Infiltrated inside the usual police forces they clean cities by police raids in Kindred businesses and havens, block by block if needed.
• The British unit SO13 has systematically cleared London of vampires.
• In Russia, the GRU's Eighth Direction is known for hunting Brujah.
• The Vatican's secret service, the Entity, now incorporates the newly re-canonized Society of Leopold.

Minor Members

• Egypt's Homeland Special Program (HSP) infiltrates blankbody cults and support networks to gather intelligence.
• France's Calcédoine has slowly been clearing Marseille.
• Israel's Unit 8211 has been tracking elders.
• Japan's Third Intelligence Department (TID) monitor the influx of vampires into Japan’s population centers.
• Poland's Bureau IX mainly use the Coalition as an excuse to integrate into NATO security against Russia.
• Sweden's G-Kontoret use their old occult archives to pursue a potential cure to vampirism, to minor success.

The word "vampire" is not used in official briefings. Instead, the agents speak of "blank bodies", referring to the low body temperature of the undead that marks them as inhuman.

Gallery

Second Inquisition in V5-Corebook

Second Inquisition

References

• VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, p. 39, 56, 360-366
• VTM: Camarilla
• VTM: Second Inquisition (book)