Agents of HMMR

From the initial handful of Wytches helping HMMR through his initiative at the start of 2015, Agent Jacob Wintersmith was soon able to expand his operation into what became known as the Integrated Magical Agent Taskforce - a Regulator-sponsored project to recruit Wytches into its ranks, in order to leverage their skills and expertise to help HMMR carry out its duties. At this stage, the IMAT acted as its own unit, with Wytches both trained and teaching within it, and qualified personnel being dispatched with the regular Inquisitorial and Hunting teams on missions.

Their initial recruitment drive was surprisingly successful, as enthusiastic Wytches young and old stepped forward to take advantage of their new-found rights and help to police themselves.

As the size of the programme grew, and its leaders became more sure of themselves, however, it became clear that something larger was needed. Under Jacob's direction, the IMAT was split into two tracks: one focussing on practical fieldwork skills, and the other on magical research. While personally more interested in the latter, he continued to oversee both parts from a distance. While a promising and productive setup, the project still wasn't a HMMR department in and of itself, and the activities of the two groups soon merged into those of the existing departments of Inquisitors, Hunters and Librarians. Still, this was in many ways better, as it paved the way for complete equality between Wytches and Norms within HMMR's ranks.

Agent Jacob Wintersmith, having set up IMAT and watched it grow over the years, eventually went on to become a member of the Department of Inquisitors. While overall happy with the progress his project was made, he made no secret of his reservations about the way it ended up being completely subsumed into the existing hierarchy, and so set about creating his own team within the Inquisitors, specialising in collating and analysing data from intelligence and mission reports. His 'Communications' team soon grew to become a not-insignificant portion of the Inquisitorial Bureau, and turned out to provide much in the way of valuable leads.

Agent Jane Palmer was one of the first members of IMAT. Leveraging her experience as the once-leader of the Soul Sisters, she was key to the project's early success in its first year, masterminding its training programmes and recruitment drives, as well as providing invaluable lessons on strategic planning to the new recruits. A strong advocate for the good HMMR could do in its current form augmented with Wytches, she forged strong links with Bedivere Hall and the institutions that followed it, as well as the Magic Sphere, ensuring a steady flow of applicants for the programme. In later years, as the programme was subsumed into the main HMMR structure, Agent Palmer continued to oversea the specific recruitment of Wytches, forming an 'Operations' team bridged between the Department of Hunters and the Department of Inquisitors, who oversaw all new magical applicants. Other pet projects of hers included the introduction of various 'services' to Wytches offer by HMMR, including a magical item joint licensing and insurance policy.

Agent John Rockwell took his job seriously, and tried to avoid attracting too much attention to himself upon joining HMMR and IMAT. Nonetheless, those who knew him personally and from Covens were well aware of his efforts there, with his introduction of courses to the programme teaching non-magical hand-to-hand combat to Wytches who had until then relied purely on their magical firepower in battle. The skills he passed on proved invaluable in later missions set around places touched by the Nether, and his reputation within HMMR soon earned Agent Rockwell a special promotion to the Department of Hunters. The elite Magical Weapons and Tactics group he would later go onto form as an offshoot from his earlier teaching was seen as one of the best demonstrations of the benefits of bringing Wytches into HMMR.

Agent Henwyn Lincoln entered the IMAT as both a teacher and an advisor. Under her tutelage, recruits learnt a great deal about Protective magics and how best to work them under unpredictable and dangerous conditions. Meanwhile, the programme was carefully shaped and grown with her help in an advisory capacity, ensuring that the fears held by some that the entire idea could backfire never came to pass. Agent Lincoln would later move to become a member of the Department of Librarians, where she became renowned for her in-depth research into Sanguimancy. The reports she produced were instrumental in persuading HMMR to introduce tougher controls on high-level practitioners of the school, on account of its particularly damaging high-level powers.

Agent Garth Hendrick's mastery of Aeromantic Illusion magics allowed not only for the training of a number of highly skilled infiltration agents, but also for the training and tactical planning of both Wytches and Norms employed by HMMR in dealing with those rogue Wytches who employed such techniques. His invention and subsequent refinement of the so-called 'Hendrick Manuevour' for isolating Wytches from their illusions using careful placement of protective fields was instrumental in the capture of the notorious Claww Brothers, and is probably for what he is best known.

Agent Candice Faraker, once Soul Spark, eventually came to join HMMR after sufficiently recovering from the trauma of the Soul Sisters. While it took her a while longer to really trust herself with combat situations again, with Agent Palmer's help she was able to find a place in the Department of Inquisitors, running reconnaissance missions. As she gradually regained her magic, her confidence grew, and her closest friends were always certain that the structure and purpose HMMR gave her were key to getting her back into a functioning lifestyle. Her most testing moment came when Agent Palmer opened and dedicated the Eriko Takahashi Memorial Relaxation Garden at a HMMR training camp, but that she got through it without regressing on the progress she had made was a true testament to the strength of her will by this point to carry on - her last chance to try and do good in the world.

Despite its complete change from the Hammer Wytches had once known, the new Magical Regulator was not for everyone. That being said, no-one is really quite sure how Sebastian Fyvie managed to end up quite so high up in MI6 quite so quickly. However he managed it, the extent of his exploits would not become fully declassified until years after his death, but would turn out to cover a wide range of key intelligence gathering operations over several decades. In the years before his retirement, he achieved the position of Spymaster, and was for some time one of the most vital parts of the nation's security. The reason why his official portrait shows a large slug perched on his shoulder is, however, a mystery that the passage of time never quite manages to solve…