Hunter

Hunters are an everyday occurrence in the world of RWBY and vary from Military Specialists to cut-throat mercenaries or Ragged Rebels. The Ancient profession heralds from the Post-apocalyptic days of the Pre Great War Period, where Dust was a precious gem, Clean drinking water was a precious commodity and social and technological process was going the pace of a snail. In Those dark days, there was one only one ray of hope, the Silver-Eyed Warriors.
Ancient Warriors wielding Silver Flame and magical weapons that were Humanity's only hope of surviving the Grimm. After the Great War, Warriors and Soldiers needed targets to destroy and without them, a new war would've been inevitable, So King Arthur Lionheart (Ozma/Ozpin), King of Vale established the Hunter academies to train new warriors and give soldiers new omission, To Protect and not to Destroy.
While the Ideals are still very much alive these days, the Modern Era tends to be highly complicated and as a result, Hunters aren't as honourable and good as the Academies would have you believe.

Academies

Academies are the main educational institutions for Hunters, but they do more than just education. They're representatives within the government representing National Security and Civilian Security Welfare matters. When a Hunter gets arrested, the Academy provides manpower to do so and also relevant information for the investigation to Police / Military personnel.  In a lot of ways, the Academies are the only forum these people have for addressing the government and changing their pay.

Symbols

All Hunters have some kind of Symbol that identifies them, this is called the Signature, it's a legal symbol designed to easily identify people if names are too bland or common to do so. These symbols can be self-designed but are often designed by use of computers and software. People create the images they desire, it is not often that they change their symbol but it does sometimes happen.

Career

Qualifications

Every Hunter is trained, but not every hunter is qualified, it actuality about 67% of Known Hunters don't own official licences and were trained by other Rogue Hunters or were trained in unrecognised schools such as Snowfall Academy in Whitecliffe, Solitas. When a Hunter does have a licence they're seen as much more trustworthy and often aren't linked to criminal enterprises. 
Another thing that qualifies you is Monster Contracts, you can start by picking up your father's sword and killing enough Grimm to either get recognised by a Hunter Mentor or be recruited by a school.

Career Progression

Every Hunter starts as an Underling or Student, both learning and training their skills. Often designing their own weapons,  developing their skills and flare and deciding which type of Hunter they wish to be. There are two types of Hunters, Specialists and Operators. Operators are hunters who use a wide variety of weapons, often normal ones. Snipers are a common example of Operators though some Snipers blur the lines by specialising in a particular weapon and turning it into a speciality weapon, which is the ones that transform into and out of guns.
After deciding their path they normally spend about 3-5 years training under a mentor or at an academy where they go through grades eventually maturing into a well-seasoned and experienced fighters after a long list of on-field training and engagements. If the Hunter is a student at an Academy they often get normal schooling during this period as well. It's also important to note that most Hunters get started at 17-18, Ruby was an odd and illegal case of starting at the age of 15.
Meaning when she technically graduated she had 3 years of training as opposed to the two many in her party had.

An Example of a Hunter Licence, The Full Licence also provides information for when you were trained and where, as well as the date you signed up on and the Date you received the licence, as well as any other likely, expired Hunter Licences you had and why they are no longer valid. However, most digital licences have a stream lined version so Authorities can see relevant information quickly.

Payment & Reimbursement

Payment and Reimbursement changes based on which Kingdom you're from, Vale, Atlas and Whitecliffe all provide a Universal Basic Income of about 10,000 a Month which a lot of that will be taken up by living expenses and Profession Expenses such as new Ammo, gear, and extra training. In Vacuo or Mistral, it is entirely dependent on Contracting Profits, meaning the average Hunter from those kingdoms is about 30% more expensive for about the same quality of training.
Contracts aren't only single monster jobs, Every Hunter can sign onto a wide variety of Companies or up to the Atlas Military (Even if from a different Kingdom or Country like Menagerie). These contracts agree to pay Hunters for their services which can vary greatly depending on their skill set. Neopolitan and Roman Torchwick were both Rogue Hunters in contract with Lil Miss Malachite and Cinder Fall. 
This means that as a Hunter you can get paid for a good number of things. One consistently good contract is Prospecting, Prospecting Corporations are al about retrieving scrap and goods from dangerous or lost locations. So Hunters often scavenge for goods after a hunt in order to collect payment from their Contracted Prospector Corp.

Other Benefits

While benefits vary, most Hunters exist as a Semi Protected Class, No Country wants to go without them but not every country can afford them. So Hunters often get Fame and Job Cred as well as Connections which set them up with better jobs and pay. Hunters also enjoy a Union, which regularly manages and protects their pay and fights for their rights. While in Vale a Hunter is revered as a Hero, in Mistral they're often seen as good-for-nothing mercenaries who'll betray you to the highest bidder.
Even actual Mercenaries tend to dislike Hunters because of how fickle they can be in Mistral.

Perception

Purpose

Hunters play a vital role in society, without them people would be living in fear during their day-to-day lives. This is why Hunters are militaristic in Atlas, as they provide a service for people, one that does get paid. On top of killing Monsters they prospect (Scavanage) they can (if given a licence) Deal out justice (within reason) and fight in conflicts on the side of their contractors, even if Hunters aren't meant to be bound to factions or anything like that, there is nothing more untrue then the statement that Hunters don't have loyalites.

Social Status

As discussed before, hunters are a Semi Protected Class, In Vale, they benefit from UBI, permanent employment Status and cushy luxurious lives to raise families whose kids will go on to become hunters as well. They also benefit from Free Universal Healthcare so that way they can get back into the fight sooner. This obviously puts licensed Hunters in some kingdoms like Vale on a high rung in the social ladder, benefiting form extreme privilege.
However, there are many, many more who live pay check to pay check, barely scratching by and abandoning any lofty and frankly luxurious virtues. It should be noted that even licensed Hunters who happen to beFaunus get a severe downgrade to their Social status and Benefits, just simply because they are Faunus.

Demographics

You may remember that I said about 67% of Known Hunters are rogue, about 58% of that percentage is Faunus with about 8% Being Combat Bots who realised sentience and choose the profession and didn't have Snowfall Academy to go to. The Vast majority of licensed Hunters are Humans with any sort of diversity mostly stemming from Vale, and if Snowfall was recognised, it'd be the number 1 in diversity.
Most humans who are Rogue are either rogue for a variety of reasons but most are Rogue because of their Social Class and lack of prestige in order to get into Academies. While Vale accepts just about Everyone, same as Atlas, Mistral is extremely Elitist and Shade is extremely distrusting. For instance, Cinder is a Rogue Huntress who contracted both Emerald and Mercury along with her mission.
Even if she had of lived a different life, it's likely Atlas Academy would've pushed her out because of her Staunch Anti Authoritarian Views and haven would've ejected her for her Social Class alone. people with disabilities also tend to get it rough such as Neo with her mutism and heterochromia pretty much destined her to be a rogue Huntress.

The Grimm Reaper was the single most famous Hunter to ever live, having a confirmed kill count of 1.5 Million Grimm and also being a rare Silver-Eyed Warrior made her the modern Icon of everything it means to be a Hunter. Despite her disappearance in the Kingdom of Mistral, she is widely referenced in textbooks and her revolutionary tactics and equipment lives on. From the transforming weapons, to the Paladin-like attitude and finally the sophisticated use of dust in her weapons.

Alternative Names

Huntsmen / Huntress

Type

Military

Demand

Extremely High

Legality

In terms of Legality, it really depends on the Country, Countries like Atlas prevent the hiring of Non-Academy Hunter Personnel, even if it doesn't really work.  Most Kingdoms thanks to the SDC have really bad or loose contracting laws so whatever is written on the country is what flies and is thus legal.

Famous in the Field

• Cinder Fall
• General James Ironwood
• Professor Ozpin
• Ruby Rose
• Weiss Schnee

Used By

• Anima Civil Militia
• Artificial Rights Now!
• Atlas Council
• Beacon Academy
• Church of Noric
• Civil Rights League
• Faunus Liberation Army
• Human Purity League
• Menagerie
• Schnee Dust Company
• Solitas Historical Society
• The Egalitarian Society
• The Illumina Foundation
• The Kingdom of Mistral
• The Kingdom of Vacuo
• The Kingdom of Vale
• The Republic of Mantle
• The Republic of Whitecliffe

Related Technologies

• Dustology

Whitecliffe and Atlas tend to push the limits of what is a Hunter to its limits, with Atlas they have a Specialist Programme that is pretty much a Pipeline of turning Hunters into Military Personel where as Whitecliffe outfits their soldiers like Hunters, giving them Semi speciality weapons, and equipment and helps their soldiers develop their Aura and semblance, even though they might be common footmen.

Some Combat Bots become Sentient and some of them choose to be Hunters, the vast majority of Synthetic Hunters are from Whitecliffe. These Bots don't have use of Aura (Normally) but they can carry a lot of Dust and tend to make exert use of it. Their Mechanical brains are able to preform complicated calculations on the fly and through the use of devices that can use Aura, they can make terrifying use of Raw Reactions with Dust.

Some Teams part ways after school but most tend to stick together, with other teams (often Friends or lovers) attaching themselves. Huge groups of teams like this are Called Hunter Parties or more legally recognised groups that tend to be called Hunter Companies. Argus Limited has a Hunter Branch named Argus Blades which are Hunters contracted to the company directly. Dee and Dudley were an example of Desperate Hires after the Corporation lost most of its fighting force trying to take out Tyrian Callows.

Throughout the Post War Period and the Post Faunus Liberation War period, Hunters have enjoyed relative dominance, especially after the Grimm Reaper Revolutionised the Profession and the Art of Killing Grimm. However, after the Fall of Beacon, things have gotten considerably harder. By the Time Ruby Reaches Atlas in 81 AGW, 1.1 Million Hunters have lost their lives, which is two-thirds of the Licensed Hunter Population and a third of the Rogue Hunter population.

Post 79 AGW, the Number of Humanoid Grimm being spotted went from 1-10 every few years to thousands and more every few days. Humanoid Grimm is Faster, tougher and smarter. They strategize, talk and are capable of using complicated combat techniques. The day Humanoid Grimm began spreading from the Fallen Kingdom of Astora, Hunter Casualties rates raised by a nearly unsustainable level.
In prior Ages Hunters largely worried about increasingly smart but still bestial opponents who acted on instinct largely, only worrying about Elder Grimm who had learned from all of their experiences.

Grimm Spawning Rates and the spread of Grimm Blood Pools have been increasing but only after the Fall of Beacon has this become unsustainable. In the Modern Era, Grimm is no longer Region locked, now Grimm of all types spread everywhere, completely changing the game and getting many more hunters killed. The average cohesion of Grimm Units has also vastly increased due to the spread of Far Seer Grimm, which control Psinoic networks and coordinate Grimm attacks, meaning they can now attack infrastructure and actually strategize against their targets.

After The situation worsened for Atlas, Atlas Academy under the order of General ironwood completely fired and removed all Human Supremacist Staffers and immediately broke down Classical hierarchies, replacing it with an entirely Military Administration that oversee the training of 3211 Students before Ruby reached Atlas with 6788 more in the pipeline. Many of the new students were Faunus rapidly increasing the diversity in the Military.