H U N T E R : T H E R E C KO N I N G

The Arcanum
Academic Org

T
he Arcanum is perhaps the best-known and even most successful of the Aca-
demic orgs. With a pedigree stretching back to Victorian times and an extensive
network of chapterhouses across multiple continents, the Arcanum is argu-
ably the pre-eminent supernatural discovery agency in the world today, or at least in
the West. Indeed, the Arcanum as an organization is the very model of the scholarly
occultist society, its agents genteel, well established in their locales, and, in some cases,
compromised by the very entities the organization purports to observe.
And that observation is at the core of the Arcanum’s mission. Operating (more or
less) in accordance with its self-imposed code of conduct known as the Syllabus, the
Arcanum devotes itself to discovery, learning, and the accumulation of knowledge. Its
members — generally well-bred individuals of means, with the occasional remarkable
but “disadvantaged” individual elevated via patronage — are watchers and students in
the foremost, with an insatiable desire to know more.
As with much of the Arcanum’s efforts, the org has an informal hierarchy of where
its interests lie, which usually skews toward the practice of magic and the presence of
the spirits of the departed. This hierarchy changes, but not often, generally after a
grand assembly of high-ranking members and esteemed chapterhouse leaders
deem it so after much debate and discussion over a decade’s findings. The
wheels of occult academia turn slowly.
At the foundation of the Arcanum’s classification as an org is how it func-
tions in the practical sense. Set aside for a moment its internal struggles
about what to do with its vast annals of information. Ulti-
mately, it’s a secret society funded by individuals of extreme
wealth, walling off their discoveries from the world’s bet-
terment (and even each other), for the sake of nothing
other than basking in the accumulation of knowl-
edge. This is key to many Hunters’ frustration with
the Arcanum: Imagine the good the org might do
if it used its discoveries (not to mention its wealth)
to push back the veil of night rather than pat itself
on the back for how daring and clever it is.

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Key Personnel
● Morag Holmscroft, Grand Chancellor and in-
heritor of the Holmscroft estates, with an unclear
relationship to Benjamen Holmscroft (deceased)
● Sandeep D’Souza, Chancellor of the New Delhi
chapterhouse, who was passed over for the Grand
Chancellor’s role when Morag Holmscroft claimed
it
● Claude Murray, Emeritus of Thaumatology and
descendant of original Arcanum member Win-
throp Murray
● Anat Osman, Journey-fellow database administra-
tor, conducting an unsanctioned digitization of the
Cairo chapterhouse archives
● Agent Unknown, investigator into the collapse of
the Boston chapterhouse after its infiltration by
vampires
Operation
Structured as a matrix organization, the Arcanum con-
sists of geographic- or personnel-based groups, as well
as fields of particular study. For example, a chapter-
house exists in a certain location and consists of specific
individuals, while the overall fields of Hermetic Stud-
ies, Archaeology, or Parapsychology include members
from around the world. The Arcanum itself isn’t what
would be traditionally considered a “secret society,” but
rather exists in the open, even if individual members
choose to hide their own participation. A university
might have a chapter, for example, or a specific city
might be home to a greater chapterhouse.
Geographically, chapterhouses are the most prom-
inent and prestigious facilities in the org’s purview.
Beneath these are colonies, which are effectively
less-permanent chapterhouses or chapterhouses that
haven’t yet attained their own autonomy and answer up
the chain. An individual group of Arcanum scholars
is known as a lodge; scholar-members themselves are
called Arcanists.
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C H A P T E R S E V E N : R I V A L O R G A N I Z AT I O N S
Befitting an occult society, the organization’s ranks
consist of a number of mysterious and often conflicting
hierarchies and internal factions. Levels of advance-
ment mark each Arcanist’s “Journey,” from Neophyte
through Elder and on up to the Grand Chancellor. The
Grand Chancellor’s estate is headquartered in England,
at Vannevar Hall, the ancestral abode of founding
member Benjamen Holmscroft.
As one can see, the Arcanum greatly appreciates
structures, titles, and order.
Chapterhouses exist wherever a preponderance
of consistent, significant, and observable supernatu-
ral phenomena merit them, including such places as
Vienna, New Delhi, Washington, D.C., Berlin, and an
exceptionally secure chapterhouse in Cairo. A colony
might spring up wherever such phenomena have yet to
demonstrate longevity, and a lodge might visit any-
where something strange happens, for further investi-
gation.
In terms of actual ops, the Arcanum employs a
variety of nontraditional methods, or at least methods
in stark contrast to the more direct tactics of other orgs.
Arcanists glean much from observation and poster-
ity, researching primary and secondary sources, and
sometimes even breaking and entering to collect and
research oddments from a creature’s lair. Where they
can risk getting close to occult creatures, conversation-
ally savvy members of the Arcanum prefer social engi-
neering. Supernatural individuals may be vain or even
lonely, and often don’t realize how much they reveal
to (in their minds) prey, especially if they don’t know
that prey is actually observing them. “Let me buy you
a drink,” says the vampire, and proceeds to bind their
“prey” in a veil of mystery — all while the Arcanist
makes mental notes and assiduously avoids eye contact.
H U N T E R : T H E R E C KO N I N G
The Syllabus of the Arcanum
1. The Arcanum is an organization dedicated to the pursuit of knowl-
edge for its own sake. We, the members of the Arcanum, seek our own
enlightenment and the enlightenment of our Brothers and Sisters, and
ultimately wish to aid in the enlightenment of all humanity.
2. The Arcanum posits that there exists another world, one in which the
supernatural and mythological world conjoins with our own, and that
it is our duty to understand its secrets. We shall seek this knowledge in
the places of mystery, through the pages of history, and in the lore of all
people. As the Ancients understood, so, one day, shall we.
3- The Arcanum believes that only through scholarship and learning can
one separate fact from fiction, and can mere superstition be shorn from
supernatural truth. Myths and folklore speak of higher truths, and it is
through diligent study and investigation that these higher truths may be
revealed.
4. The Arcanum exists to learn, not to manipulate. We are objective
observers, and not judges. The Arcanum does not evaluate the “morality”
of the supernatural simply in light of the fact of its existence, nor does it
take any action against the supernatural based upon any predetermined
system of ethics.
5- What the Arcanum studies and learns, it does so for its own benefit.
The resources of the Arcanum are not to be shared with anyone outside
the Arcanum, nor shall the precious knowledge earned by our studies be
spread without the consent of the Executive Committee. When it is time,
we shall teach others; for now, it is our duty to safeguard this knowledge,
to protect it from a humanity that is not yet ready to receive it.
Complications
Rooted in an anachronistic and elitist regard for aca-
demia as a privilege, the Arcanum elicits a feeling of an
“old-guard” org whose time has passed. This isn’t quite
In Stories:
true in practice: If anything, its time is in the process of
passing rather than being as now a fait accompli. Still,
Interactions with Hunters
the org’s wood-paneled libraries, generational mem-
bership, and inflexible customs make the org feel like a
secret society from a century past. It struggles with this
nightly, as a handful of visionary young members favor-
ing modern technologies and methods quietly clashes
with superannuated members for whom tradition is the
basis of the Syllabus. While it may seem preposterous
240
that progress against strange sorceries is
held back by a handful of gray-bearded
old sirs with ivory tobacco pipes and satin
smoking jackets, nothing moves forward
without the smoking-jacket contingent’s
funding.
A great and overweening pride char-
acterizes many of the ranking members
of the Arcanum, to the point where the
individual desire for knowledge skirts the
realm of interference. In fact, the history
of the Arcanum is rife with Arcanists who
proved susceptible to the temptations of
the supernatural, and themselves took up
practices of sorcery, vampiric blood de-
coction, and even pacts with those strange
glamour-seeking entities at the edges of re-
ality. To be fair, Arcanists very rarely want
to be the creatures into whose worlds they
voyeuristically peer — rather, they want
the power without the costs, knowledge
itself being an unquenchable thirst.
The Arcanum has a number of
long-standing rivalries with other orgs,
and one with the Society of St. Leopold in
particular. It’s not above using rival orgs to
advance its information-gathering efforts,
but to date hasn’t yet performed anything
so dire as plundering their databases,
which young members attribute to the
possible fact that the old guard has no idea
what a database is, as opposed to any moral
high ground. Similarly, the Arcanum is willing to use
individual Hunter cells to advance its information
archives, albeit with less framing as a rivalry. Cells are
little more than “the help,” after all, when they’re not
active obstacles.
EYES ON THE PRIZE
A worried individual approaches the Hunters’ cell with
some strange artifact, which the players’ characters
recognize as being supernatural in origin. In truth, the

artifact seems to be a locus for ghosts, but the supposed
victim is a member of the Arcanum, and a potent
haunt had learned that the Arcanum was in possession
of it. The plan is to dump off the mysterious trinket on
the Hunters and watch how the ghosts divine its loca-
tion — and what they do to the Hunters who retrieve
it. When the dust has settled, the ghosts are mollified,
and/ or the Hunters are dead, the Arcanist intends to
retrieve the artifact.
FRIEND OR FOE
One of the Hunters’ Touchstones receives an invitation
to join the Arcanum (including a stipend, if they’re of
limited means). The invitation seems like an excellent
opportunity, but threatens to drive a wedge between
them, as the relationship with the Touchstone changes,
the latter seeking more and more information from the
Hunter about their various quarry and Hunts. How
does the Hunter react to obviously being used, espe-
cially when other facets of the Touchstone’s personality
remain the same? How does the rest of the cell deal
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C H A P T E R S E V E N : R I V A L O R G A N I Z AT I O N S
with the individual who may well be a future rival in
training, and the Hunter who’s potentially positioning
them to be a threat down the road?
ANGEL INVESTMENT
While investigating especially puissant quarry, the
Hunters gain intel from an anonymous benefactor,
no strings (seemingly) attached. It happens again on
their next Hunt, and the benefactor reveals herself to
be Anat, operating out of the Cairo chapterhouse, and
she’s looking for confirmation of the archive material
she’s sending to the cell. It seems like a fruitful relation-
ship until Anat’s superiors learn what she’s doing, and
demand that the Hunters relinquish all information
and any physical “evidence” they’ve gained from every
quarry they’ve hunted, regardless of whether or not
Anat’s information applied to those Hunts. Not acced-
ing would align a very wealthy rival against the cell, and
there’s very little to be lost by kicking back that infor-
mation, right? And just how did Anat know what the
cell was up to in the first place, come to think of it?