Order of the Succubus

An all-female Blood Hunter order, seated at Castle Sylla — a Gothic castle surrounded by gardens of poisonous plants. Dissolved gradually as members left, died, or retired.

Overview

The Succubus combined the Crimson Rite with poisoned weapons, and were entirely Profane Soul hunters — unafraid of demons or working with them, but wary of becoming dependent on them and losing control. Accepting of outsiders and masters of stealth, they were nonetheless known to be very private and fiercely loyal to one another, with elaborate initiation rituals for both novices and full hunters. Their sigil was a winged woman holding a bleeding rose. The Grandmistress title was chosen by election, unusually among the orders.

Ethelvin, who rescued young Quinon from execution and delivered him to the Order of the Diamondback, was a Succubus recruiter.

History

The Succubus joined the Order of the Dragon's new-school reforms during the Schism. They did not fall to any single catastrophe — they simply dissolved over time as sisters left to become wandering monster hunters, mercenaries, or instructors for other orders, or retired outright, until there weren't enough left to sustain the order.

A persistent rumor held that the Succubus found a cure for the Hunter's Bane — a way to unmake a Blood Hunter — around the time they disappeared. This rumor is explicitly false, per Additional Materials/Blood_Hunter_Lore.md, correcting an earlier unverified claim repeated by Farrow in Older Trout Stories.md ("Fairy tale most like," even Trout doubted it at the time). See Contradictions and Open Questions.

Sources

• Additional Materials/Blood_Hunter_Lore.md
• Quinon backstory.docx (Ethelvin)
• Older Trout Stories.md (the now-debunked "cure" rumor)