eh, i guess mage hunter definition in gd is strictly limited to luminari agents who police around gildam arcanum and also investigate any mages suspected to be heretics to be executed on the spot. but in wider general terms, mage hunter had many definitions other than what is defined by gd. still, due to the close connection between luminari and gildam arcanum, it can also be said that every luminari inquisitor is a mage hunter, to simplify the terms. because their job is basically to be mage hunters (hunters of heretical mages).
i still thought of most people in gd are subconsciously becoming mage hunters themselves. mimicking the luminari inquisitors. we got war between cults here in cairn, trying to do inquisition execution on each other. black legion+luminari remnants, bloodsworn, aetherials, rhowari, ravagers’, 3 witch gods, korvaaks’, yugols’ etc. each cults declares their own gods as the only legal one, and other gods are illegal. magic is in the air, and its like a brawl between paladins (warriors of the cults) and mage hunters (rogues & mages of the cults). thats just how i see the relevance between mage hunters-luminari-heretics-paladins and current state of affair in cairn. hence the theme of mage and hunter.
my train wreck of paladin logic is just a side thought about war between paladins/templars who swear allegiance to different gods. i guess their job is more open & straightforward than gd’s mage hunters who are basically inquisition agents. but that’ll derail the thread, so this is the end of the line.
If you job is to hunt mages, it helps to have magic abilities yourself. Magic it’s very specific trait. So Mage Hunters will know the strengths/weaknesses of their enemies, which will help them tracking them down and stop them.
Paladins are completely different. They are noble knights sort of speak, fighting for a cause.
paladins can swear allegiance to lawful evil gods too. and become their ‘holy’ templars. paladins are like templars, or knights, but more devoted to their gods.
and in certain scenarios, their job can also tread over mage hunter/inquisition territory. just search about evil paladins or anti paladins. people like to make similar stuff but with different names for spicy life i guess.
Grammar lesson: Mage in mage hunter is a noun modifier (aka adjectival noun) meaning it’s a hunter that hunts mages (as in deer hunter). If it was a mage who is also a hunter, a typical structure would include a hyphen as in mage-hunter.
GD lore lesson: it’s an inquisitor trained in the ways of Gildam Arcanum so that they can track and kill Gildam mages who went rogue. As opposed to regular inquisitors who mostly hunt occultists or necros.
this reminds me, the luminari must have had several branches specializing in different training and different targets, like how warhammer 40k inquisition have many different departments (official & unofficial).
gildam arcanum is the only mentioned aether-related mage institution in erulan empire, so its most likely that mage hunter inquisitor are recruited from gildam mages, or luminari request that gildam trained some of its inquisitors in the way of the aether magic.
based on many inquisitor items founded out there, it seems necro (apostate) and chaos (deceiver) affiliated branches of luminari are considered to be treading the line into heresy. but the luminari reluctantly accepts them, because they needed the knowledge of dark magics to fight back against cults associated with them. other than those two, it seems other departments like the one that work with erulan army (tactician, purifier), shamans (vindicator), and empyrion/menhir ecclesiarchy (paladins) are more tolerable and safe for public eyes. obviously, the department that work with nightblade groups are hidden from public eye.
all this talks about luminari inquisition makes me wish we could have just go to erulan capital already and liberate the luminari main base. but gd2 is the only proper theater for the reveal of erulan capital’s majestic green sight (aetherials are not eco lovers btw).
spellbreaker’s job according to moira in fort ikon is pretty similar to mage hunter.
but spellbreaker is arcanist+nightblade, so their method might involve more assassination techniques with some magic to augment their power.
also, their job seems to be more open (for war, used as anti mage flankers), due to them being a division in black legion, compared to the more secretive mage hunter which is a combined effort from luminari & gildam arcanum to purge hidden heretical cults.
