In general, The World of Darkness is like our world, but slightly worse, with a higher crime rate and actual horrors lurking in the shadows.  Its very subtly twisted and wrong, and most people simply put their heads down and try and ignore the way they think the world "should" be.  In general, corruption and injustice are everywhere.  Political elections are less honest, churches have more dark secrets, and people seem to flip out and commit murder sprees far more regularly.<br/><br/>The supernatural monsters of the World of Darkness are not the cause of this nastiness, but the symptom.  Some hunters might even recognize this.  As a hunter, you've decided to shine a light on those shadows lurking in the darkness, decided to dedicate your life to fighting a hopeless battle against the corruption around you.  Nobody even remembers why they think human nature should be better than it is, but perhaps by facing down these shadows in the night, the hunter can find peace within himself.<br/><br/>Of course, its a trap.  The more the hunter tries to chase away the darkness, the deeper he sinks into it, eventually screwing up the world just as much as the monsters do.  The number of horrors in the world aren't comprehensible, or circumscribed.  There isn't one source of all evil, one master vampire that can be killed, or some portal to hell that can be closed to end the nightmare.  There are no safe places either.  Your next door neighbor in suburbia is just as likely to be a servant of a vampire as he is a loving father and devoted husband.  But just as likely, behind closed doors, he beats his children, and slowly abandons his wife in a spiral of alcoholism.  The only hope, in a dark world, is just to hope, and light the darkness where it is found, hoping that someday, there will be a dawn.<br/><br/><br/>Ashwood Abbey takes a pragmatic approach to the concept of being a hunter, simply paying attention to the fact that its a great rush, rather than trying to pursue some higher goal.  Why bother, if God made the world so nasty and evil?  Clearly, in His divine wisdom, he meant for man to be just as mean right back.  After all, why would a merciful God condemn man to suffer at the hands of unnatural beasts?  Clearly such things were created for man to have dominion over, to act as a source of delight for him.<br/><br/>This warped spirituality isn't a large part of the modern Abbey, but still underlies a fair amount of their philosophy.  They consider what they do at the very least cool and glamorous, if not noble.  Still, few members of the Seattle chapter of the Abbey have much perspective on what the long term purpose of their hunt is.  The concept is simply... too depressing.