Monster Hunting: A Hobby, A Lifestyle and a Creed; Conservation Group Overview

In a world filled with nearly every mythical creature and monster imaginable, it should be of no surprise to anyone that Elysium is a place that is chock-full of wondrous creatures both big and small. It should also come as no surprise to anything, that having such a plethora of fauna bustling about also means that many human/humanoid individuals often find their livelihoods closely intertwined with such beasts.   Whether it be for Food, Sport, or Protection, nearly every person in Elysium has at least once in their life encountered and dealt with a particular creature; an encounter that for many opened up the prospect of hunting these magnificent animals full time and as such has long since captivated even the most novice of Hunter. As a result, Monster Hunting has become a crucial part of the lives of many who live throughout Elysium.   But what exactly makes it up?   Well if your curious, this writer will definitely say a lot goes into this hobby and this is why, dear reader, I also present to you   Monster Hunting: A Hobby, A Lifestyle and a Creed, the Official Guide.   This guide is the gateway to the world of monster hunting, such as the Need’s to Know and How do’s that go into such a practice and is a must to ensure your experience is a memorable one.

  So let's get started shall we. . .

 

Overview

  Hunting is the practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. Much like on earth, the most common reasons for humans in particular to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, etc.) For many, apart from food provision, hunting can be, and often is, a means of population control.   Hunting advocates often state that regulated hunting can be a necessary component of modern wildlife management. For example to help maintain a healthy proportion of animal populations within an environment's ecological carrying capacity when natural checks such as natural predators are absent or insufficient. This insufficiency often happens as a result of overhunting due to often times well meaning resourceful reasons such as removing predators dangerous to humans or domestic animals (e.g. wolf hunting), or the act of eliminating pests and nuisance animals that damage crops/livestock/poultry or spread diseases (varminting), such as is the case for many parts of world such as the western continent of Ar’kael.   Oftentimes for many, the most frowned upon reason for hunting tends to circle around the most common threats such as recreation/taxidermy (trophy hunting) or poaching. This is often because these sports which are often left unchecked, can, has, and will lead to results stemming from excessive hunting which heavily contributes to the endangerment, extirpation and extinction of many animals.   The general displacement of local wildlife due to overhunting and black-market trading can lead to an abrupt disruption of the normal natural order and as a result leads to a lot of issues throughout the world. As a result of these issues, many of which are starting to plague various parts of the world, many guilds have often taken a stand against what they believe to be unfair practices.  

Groups

In Elysium, hunting is both a wildlife management tool and an outdoor tradition and is among the most popular forms of wildlife recreation in many parts of Elysium. In many smaller states, an estimate 50,000+, hunt in many exciting opportunities that allow them to engage with a large variety of wildlife, including big game, small game, game birds and furbearers. As a result of this, many groups have emerged to curb over-hunting, promote conservation via ethical hunting practices, or. . .for a small yet loud handful, cause harm to the balance of nature.  

Overview

Large scale Guilds such as The Hunters Guild are often the central governing association when it comes to dealing with the natural world; similar to Earth's WWF, this organization works in particular, the field of wilderness preservation and works to "stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature” by fighting the reduction of the impact on the environment.   Their main purpose is preventing the ecosystem from being further damaged, in an attempt to prevent extant species from becoming extinct. Groups like the Hunter's Guild unify and regulate all hunting activities on which many people make their living and oftentimes have a large range that they superseded. In most regions, certain monsters and locations fall under the jurisdictions of the Hunter's Guild, whose main HQ is established in Arcana.   However, each district of the Hunter's Guild spread out from there is known to have their own hunting grounds and monsters and as such their own rules and regulations. Due to this, not all of them share the exact same places and bounty as another district of the Guild. However, due to the tight and unified connection and communication with all other Guild sites, this also provides an excellent way to monitor the overall health of the realm as a whole as well as a powerful trading community that can help get goods and assistance to areas that can benefit the best from their work.   Where some resources might be carefully limited in some areas, they may be more abundant in others and Guild leadership takes great care in helping move those resources to the proper areas to further assist in combating poachers and black market traders. While it is impossible to eliminate it entirely, meeting the needs of the people drastically reduces the crimes committed out of desperation versus personal gain.   However those who do commit crimes out of personal gain rather than desperation are often placed and thus face high scrutiny by the guild. As the world of Elysium sits in a delicate balance that is often threatened by encroachment by settlers, over hunting and warfare as well as many recent conundrums, many animals risk extirpation which thus forces many to quickly settle into new territory only to end up risking repeating the cycle once more. As a result, poaching is severely frowned upon by the guild and many associations, and thus often treated as high crime, especially if the prey in question being threatened is a concerned species even for the general area or is in general just protected.   The Golden Order is one such group in particular.

Overview

In the beginning, back when the region of Terlam had first become ground zero for the plague during the years of the War of Succession, neighboring kingdoms who cared for the situation and knew the dangers such a thing as the Esugrað Plague would bring, made a pact with one another. Every year, the Kingdoms pooled their soldiers together and would begin to perform yearly burnings in order to keep the Plague at manageable numbers and stop it’s spread. As the years went on, this group of Soldiers became known as the Paladins of the Golden Order: a coalition of warriors, knights, paladins and clerics who dedicated themselves to the understanding, containment and hopefully the destruction of the Plague.   With the help of the Paladins, an Exclusion Zone was established surrounding the territory of Terlam, set as a restricted area dedicated to the research and development of weapons against the Plague.   However as the years went on the Golden Order also set themselves as a mighty peculiar organizations, whose second main focus became the conservation and protection of many Fire beats; those such as dragons, fire salamanders and other such fauna who have the epiphany for the wielding of flame. Despite not being native to the planet, Elysium is not entirely so helpless against the Esugrað virus.   While it is unknown as to why, Animals and creatures all react to the Hive differently. While many refuse to even go near it leaving much of the Exclusion zone as an ecological disaster with no native wildlife, those with the ability to set things aflame seem to be instinctively inclined to burn it. While many intelligent species have claimed over the years that this is simply because of survival, as they aren't “stupid to the situation,” befalling their native home-land, regardless of their reasonings for doing so, as result of this almost instinctual need, Dragons, salamanders, firecats, etc are all attracted to the zone, and have actively been known to burn back the corruption that festers the land, allowing for it’s proper management and containment. In fact there are even tales of random dragons protecting people from this by coming out of nowhere and burning zones whenever someone is unlucky enough to get swarmed. In fact, many flame creatures are revered and Mother Fire, or Gaia Fire as it is normally referred to, is either flat out worshiped or at least in the iconography of MANY of the people in the surrounding area, due to the benefit they bring. In fact the Golden Order itself is thought to be named after the Golden Flames that many fire-beasts often produce.   However this has often led to problems for many creatures as well, as the area has slowly become nearly a hotspot for poachers despite the dangers present.There's a massive black market and poachers along the fire mountains near the hungering zone and Poachers in these areas poach fire cores, fire bladders, or certain parts from these beasts, many of which fetch a high price on the market. It has even gotten to the point that due to their help in beating back the infection, a whole sect of rangers completely dedicated to protecting these creatures was formed and without legit reason it's even close to illegal to kill any of these creatures to the point it’s punishable by death in many areas of the Zone.   This however never stopped the neighboring Cultists who worship the plague and their ensuing propaganda against the Paladins of the Golden Order; with many fire breathers, (Mostly Dragons) falling victim of their propaganda and smear campaigns, and thus leading many to be under intense scrutiny, especially when they began rumors of the Paladins protecting “Killer Beasts”; those who have gotten away with killing humans. This however, stemmed from the already heavily debated tactic enacted by the Paladins of burning the infected in order to prevent the spread, as conventional weapons don’t always do the trick when putting them down.  

Overview

The Emberclaw Guild, also known as the Elysium Dracoshikarring Commission, is a specialized regional wildlife management organization, established under the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Dragonslaying (ICRD) to "provide for the proper conservation of dragon stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the hunting industry". As the decision-making body of the convention, the TEG reviews and revises all the governing laws of Dragonhunting throughout the Continent of Ar’kael with rumors of potential broadening to other countries.   These measures put in place often include: confer complete protection of certain species; designate specific areas as Dragon and Dragon related species sanctuaries; set limits on the numbers and size of dragons which may be taken; prescribe open and closed seasons and areas for hunting; and prohibit the capture of infants and female accompanied by infants and eggs. The Commission also mandates the compilation of catch reports and other statistical and biological records, and is actively involved in Dragon research, including funding and promoting studies, publishing the results of scientific research, and encouraging studies into related matters, such as the humaneness of killing operations.   The Emberclaw Guild specializes in the hunting and conservation of multiple dragon species native throughout Ar’kael. Dragon species throughout the continent come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and for some breed’s even intelligence level’s. While the terms and conditions for the classification of what truly designates the difference between a feral and sapient dragon is still a long and heavily debated topic, the guild as a precautionary measure splits the rules and regulations into two different categories.   In later upgraded sections it utterly forbids the slaying of talking or “Sapient” dragon’s unless the dragon truly proves itself to be a threat and cannot be reasoned with. Though even with rules in place to protect “Sapient” species of dragons, the hunting of them happens anyway due to blackmarket poaching. Despite the rules in place, there isn't anything about sapience that is keeping people from killing intelligent beings; feral or not, people are gonna hunt dragons just like they kill each other, especially if there’s money involved.   Regardless of sapiency, the TEG takes hunting of a dragon very personally and seriously. Licenses to hunt dragons are not given out freely as compared to other species and only during certain parts of the year is it ever regulated to hunt them. Amongst those who often obtain licenses to hunt dragons are those of the Scalebreakers Association. The Scalebreakers Association is one of the most lucrative of all the Dragon Hunting guilds associated with the TEG; having made their fortunes primarily from production and sale of the Dragon oil and Dragonbone, the latter of which is commonly known as "vitriol", a highly flammable but long lasting liquid substance found inside specifically the fire-breathing variant of these winged creatures that many tend to use similar to how whalers used Whale Oil.   Much like whale oil, Vitriol is extremely important to those who rely upon it for heating as it burns for long periods of time. The SBA have also commissioned designated Dragon Watching Stations throughout the continent under their “Draconic Trackers Guild” brand; a series of scientific research station’s designate in certain spots used to properly monitor and record study of dragons.   All of the information from the Trackers Guild research group is then given to the Scalebreakers. The Scalebreakers then gives this new info to the Hunter's Guild in the form of magazines, which are sold to hunters to inform them about new discoveries, in monthly issues known as Hunting Life Magazine. New discoveries are also released in the form of encyclopedias which can be sold at the Tote and Master’s Expedition Emporium shop in Arcana, along with some of the best Dragon-Hunting Equipment the Scalebreakers produce for avid young hunters eligible for qualification for licenses.   Scalebreakers and the TEG also tend to work very closely with residents in the hunting of Dragons. Regulation of aboriginal subsistence Dragon Hunting is also a core responsibility of the TEG, and the Commission recognises that these regulations have the potential to impact significantly on traditional cultures and great care must be taken in discharging this responsibility. Ongoing work ensures Aboriginal Subsistence Hunting is sustainable, meeting conservation needs as well as the cultural and nutritional needs of indigenous communities who rely upon the active hunting of dragons for their survival.   Additional Conservation Groups also include  

• The Outdoor Honor Society also known as The Marksman’s Circle; a club promoted by the Hunters Guild to advocate for “Fair Chase”. As of now it is also known to the public primarily for maintaining a scoring and data collection system by which native big game animals are measured and tracked as a gauge of successful wildlife management.   The structure of the club consists of 17 staff members, 100 Regular Members, 159 Professional Members, and thousands of Club Associates who oftentimes send in kills for Taxidermy and research purposes. Record Holders will usually also find their way into club, and if impressive enough may also find themselves in record books and on public display.

  Smaller splinter groups that focus on specific places/creatures also make up guilds associated with the Hunters Guild. These include:  

• The Whispering Woods Fellowship

 

• The Arborum Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission

 

• The Heritage Hunters Association, which often handles the hunting/fishing and Conservation of Dinosaurs and other Ancient (prehistoric) Beast’s.

  However, not all groups associated with the Guild fall under the path of conservation. For many smaller guilds who prioritize the killing of dangerous beasts that fall out of the natural order, public safety takes priority over their continued existence. As a result there are a number of groups dedicated to the eradication of vengeful spirits, powerful demons, Necrotized Undead, vampires ect ect. The Hunter’s Guild in this case, pulls together and amasses large swaths of information gathered by these groups, forming guides to redistribute back into the public to aid those in the pursuit and eradication of such creatures.   As of right now, the Hunters Guild is in close contact with the Golden Order for such reasons. . . though public knowledge is limited to the point of non-existence and public join-ups are kept just as secretive.