Bloodhunt

Whena Hunter of the Stag commits a great crime, and refuses to repent or pay penance, there are two options: either exile the Hunter, or kill them. The first option is much preferred. This rite is reserved for when a Hunter is too dangerous to simply exile.

Infrequently, a Hunter's connection to the Earth-Mother is damaged or becomes garbled. When this happens a Hunter becomes depraved, dangerous, and potentially a threat to everything the Hunters stand for. In this instance alone is a Bloodhunt called without question. Only the High Priest, the Aurajinrale, and the First are the only three who can call a Bloodhunt, and two out of the three have to call a Bloodhunt before the rite itself is performed.

The rite involves a gathering of all the Hunters in the Temple. Each brings a symbol of the hunted, representing their good memories of the hunted. These symbols are placed in a brass sconce and burnt. The fire is extinguished with the ash-water of fallen Hunters. Once this is complete, the Hunters as a whole are charged with the destruction of the Lost Hunter.

Historically, a Lost Hunter has not survived for longer than six weeks after a Bloodhunt has been called.

Not every Hunter participates actively; in fact, very few of the Hunters actually actively hunt the Lost Hunter. Typically, the First and four chosen associates find and destroy the Lost Hunter, much as Sagittarius and his four allies hunted the first Lost Hunter, Diva.