Maleus Maleficarum

The idea of the Inquisitor, the Catholic witch-hunter of the Middle Ages, is potent: the grim-faced man with brands and scourges, thumbscrews and chains, who burns and drowns innocent and guilty alike to find the truth. It might be easy to sigh in relief: these things don't happen anymore do they?
Of course they do. There are still witch-hunters, still empowered secretly by the Church. The Inquisition has become the somewhat more benevolent Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The witch-hunters remain, in the form of the Malleus Maleficarum, the Hammer of the Witches, the Shadow Congregation.
The Holy Catholic Church has a secret order of "warriors of God". These warrior priests and monks are able to call upon the Holy Saints for great blessings which even the odds in the fight against the creatures of the dark. Striking down demons and the like with the righteous fury of Heaven's wrath.

History

In the 15th century, Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Sprenger published a book, a guide to witch-hunting, bearing the name Malleus Maleficarum. It proved influential enough to bring about the painful deaths of thousands. Within a few years, the Pope had condemned it as heretical. It didn't stop people using it, but even so, it seemed a little strange that only 80 years later, Pope Paul III gave a group with the same name as the book the power to hunt the manifestations of Satan. Although not a secret, this Malleus Maleficarum's foundation wasn't really public, either, slipped in as it was on the end of the same regimini militantis Ecclesiae that empowered the Society of Jesus, a wholly different organization with it's own uneven reputation.
Why did Pope Paul found an organization based on a heretical book? Conspiracy theories abound about practically every major and not-so-major event in Catholic history, and this is no exception. Some theories say Paul was following some private agenda of his own; others reckon that the organization was founded as a dummy in order to make some kind of point, directed at the Pope's enemies.
That larger things were at work seems fairly apparent, but possibly only three people alive today know that the true founder of the Malleus Maleficarum was a man named Ambrogio Bauldolino. Bauldolino was exceptional in many ways. He was clever enough to gain the ear of his Holiness, despite not being anything more than a provincial bishop. He was talented enough to convince the Pope to set up the Malleus Maleficarum and think it was his own idea. And most of all, he knew about vampires. He had, in fact, been the slave of a vampire for many years, and-more evidence of his extraordinary character-had managed to break free and destroy the creature that had controlled him. Baudolino's dearest wish was that no one would ever have to suffer what he had, ever again. Baudolino gained quiet control of the organization from it's very first night. He fed the newly minted witch-hunters enough information for them to find another vampire practically every time they went out.
Although the vampires learned to hide when they see witch-hunters coming, the Malleus Maleficarum's war continued, and still continues, right up to the present day. Originally, the Shadow Congregation's members were monks and nuns, but during the 20th century, this restriction relaxed as monks became rarer. Now they even accept lay members, and have high ranking contacts within many world governments and police forces, meaning that even though they don't technically have any jurisdiction, often police officers and medical professionals find themselves seconded to groups of Malleus Maleficarum witch-hunters.
Even so, methods haven't changed much. The Malleus's witch-hunters live hard, ascetic lifestyles and devote themselves to prayer and meditation. There really isn't anything else in their lives apart from the hunt, although they make a point of supplementing their ranks with other hunters from other organizations, particularly if these companions are Catholics.
Grim-faced, they set themselves against the horrors of the world, and use the most vicious methods they know of to defeat them. If, now and then, an innocent suffers or dies while a witch-hunter is about his business, it's regrettable, but the greater good must be served.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost

Type

Religious, Holy Order

Alternative Names

The Shadow Congregation, Hammer of the Witches, The Inquisition