Seekers of Truth and Justice

The Seekers are an order within an order—a supremely secretive, ultra zealous and very well funded clandestine branch of the Witch Hunters. This relatively new organisation prides itself in their utter dedication to the job at hand. Although not officially recognised by the Imperial Court, they are covertly funded from the office of the new Grand Theogonist, Esmer. If he fully realises the excessive zeal or the merciless efficiency with which the work of the Seekers is undertaken, he must either not care or secretly encourages it.

The Seekers' Lair
The offices of the Seekers are in a grim, anonymous building relatively close to the Imperial Palace in Altdorf, marked only by a small brass plaque bearing the symbol of the Twin-Tailed comet and Ghal-Maraz. The building is never open to the public and the door is locked at most times. Knocking rarely gets any response, since the members of the Seekers all have their own key. Many of the members of the Seekers have cover jobs as minor functionaries in the Imperial bureaucracy and within the Cult of Sigmar; particularly within the Witch Hunters and any organisation that has even partially regular contact with one or more of the Colleges of Magic.

The building’s external asceticism belies its well-appointed interior. The walls are wood-panelled, the chairs are comfortable and a servant is always on hand to bring a glass of fine wine or a well-prepared four-course meal. The building also houses bedrooms for visiting members from other cities. The Seekers try to have an agent in every major city of the Empire at all times, and have recently recruited members to stay in the cities of other countries such as Tilea, Estalia, and Kislev.

In the basement beneath the fine rooms upstairs, the hidden face of the Seekers is revealed. It is there that they keep the cells and interrogation rooms of their victims. These cells are far bleaker and more unpleasant than such than similar places in other Witch Hunter chapterhouses. There is also a court here, where magic users are tried before a panel of three self-appointed judges. Defendants are not permitted lawyers or witnesses who might cloud or hinder the process of justice. Trials usually begin with a simple question, often along the lines of, “How long have you consorted with the Dark Powers?”

If the gentle approach of the trial does not extract a confession (which is all the court is really after, regardless of the guilt or innocence of those they capture), the magic user is taken into the interrogation room, where more forceful methods, such as thumbscrews, branding irons, scourging, and worse are used. After they extract a confession, a show trial may be arranged so the broken victim may confess again in a properly recognised court of law before being sent to the stake. Alternatively, if it is deemed more expedient, the magic user may just disappear, or be found floating facedown in the Reik. Very few magic users have ever successfully escaped from this travesty of justice.

Persecuting the Powerful
What makes the Seekers so particularly abhorrent to the Colleges of Magic is they target first and foremost those magic users that the Witch Hunters do not, and those generally are Imperial Magisters and their Apprentices. It seems unlikely the Seekers have managed to apprehend and kill any full Magisters, but Journeymen and other Apprentices allowed to travel abroad for whatever reason have started to disappear alarmingly frequently since the Seekers were formed, and it seems likely they are being deliberately targeted by the Seekers. There are suspicions Esmer is using the Seekers in an attempt to destabilise the Colleges of Magic somehow, or perhaps push them into doing something rash.

The Grey Order has turned its attentions to the Seekers’ activities, and the Bright Order has also spoken openly of its utter contempt for the Seekers, though such is the Seekers’ secrecy and facility for deniability that no formal charges have yet been brought against them. It won’t be long before there will be a direct confrontation between the Seekers and one or more of these groups. No one yet knows the Seekers are being funded by Esmer. When word of this finally reaches the offices of the Supreme Patriarch, the backlash almost certainly won’t be pretty.

But then, that may be what Esmer is hoping for.

Members and Armaments
The head of the Seekers is Detlef Johannson. He is a cruel-eyed, grey-haired man in his mid-fifties, who always dresses in white and black. He is a close friend of Theogonist Esmer, having helped him by tracking down several Chaos Magi in his thirty-year career as a Templar (although he only has Esmer’s word they were Magi—but he doesn’t seem to care). He is a bitter, paranoid, and hateful man, and he utterly despises all Elves, regarding each one of them as Witches at best.

It is rumoured both he and his elite Witch Hunters have gathered all sorts of protective amulets that negate spells and even a few power-destroying weapons in the course of their holy crusade. Despite the Orders’ best attempts to keep the fact secret, it seems someone has leaked to the Seekers that certain metals and stones dampen, and even swallow, magic.

In addition, the Seekers have a wealth of mundane but effective devices that guarantee suspects cannot cast any spells. These include a range of drugs, manacles, tongue restraints, gags, and even small pouches containing irritating insects whose constant stings and nips can break even the most steely concentration—especially when the magic user in question has been deprived of sleep, food, and water. With such devices and techniques, together with their Cult-funded resources and years of rabble-rousing and political experience, these Seekers after Truth and Justice have thus far been able to act on their suspicions with virtual impunity.

Source

 * Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Realms of Sorcery
 * pg. 133
 * pg. 134
 * pg. 135

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