Up until the era in which their intergalactic empires began to splinter, hunting had long been a recreational activity among humans. With incredibly advanced hydroponics, sophisticated terraforming technology that made agricultural development possible on a number of previously inhospitable worlds, and a reliable shipping and trade network, the need for a human to hunt his or her food in order to survive was simply nonexistent.
However, following the collapse of the human empires, countless Survivors throughout the Novus Æterno universe once again found themselves in a position where hunting was no longer an elective sport, but a grave necessity. On scores of worlds teeming with an incredible array of edible lifeforms, many remote human outposts quickly discovered that the most practical way to procure a sustainable food supply would be to stalk and kill large game on a regular basis.
Given the prolonged, grueling nature of many of the hunts humans were now forced to engage in, which typically involved tracking large populations of migrating game, and could sometimes entail days, or even weeks, of isolation in remote regions far from the relative haven of the nearest human compound, a special class of Survivor soon arose to meet the challenges of this harsh new reality.
Contemporary Hunters are not only concerned with killing animals in order to provide sustenance for the other members of their outpost: they must also hunt to control the population size of various species with which they cohabitate, as humans often find themselves in direct competition with other sapient creatures over food. Many times this means taking action against a tribe of Savage Verunasi, since similarities in that species’ physiology to the physiology of Earth mammals and marine life allows them to consume many of the same plants and animals as humans.
The Hunter makes use of millennia of human knowledge with regard to his or her chosen profession, and typically ventures into the field armed with the most sophisticated technology Survivor Mechanics are able to provide. Hunters are usually solitary by nature, preferring to spend their time alone in the wilderness as opposed to in the company of other humans, yet they are almost unanimously revered among their fellow colonists, and their vocation is seen as uniquely heroic.
For many Survivor compounds wrestling with scant reserves of rations and sporadic contact with outsiders, the cunning and experienced Hunter is not just an integral member of society: he or she is a lifesaving god.
