According to “Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus” written by Olaus Magnus in 1555, werewolves were a real plague of Lithuania, Prussia and Livonia (nowadays Latvia and Estonia).

Gerard considers very funny a legend that monster hunters carry two sword on their back : “It’s hard to imagine a less convenient way of carrying a weapon! How can it be? Unless someone has arms as long as these orangutans from distant East India. Silver sword? Seriously? A silver blade is suited only for cutting butter. Silver is bad material for weapons – heavy, low hardness and elasticity compared to steel. Imagine changing your swords continuously, when in one moment you fight with some vampire, and in the other with his human servant, whose poor iron weapon is going to chip your expensive silver blade! You really have to swap your head with a donkey to invent something like that! Every sword blade has two edges. It is enough to make silver inlays or silver plating on one of them. When fighting mortals, You use steel edge, and when some monster attacks You just need to cut him with the other edge. That’s all!”

Maximilian is in his forties and comes from Switzerland, from an old family of Basilean patricians. Among his relatives there were city councilors, printmakers, painters and publishers. Maximilian took a different path. He joined the military in his youth. As a professional soldier and a devout Catholic he soon joined the Papal Swiss Guard.

One day he was severely wounded on duty fighting, as he thought at the time, a madman trying to assassinate the Pope. The madman had amazing strength and spoke a strange language. Maximilian realized he was possessed. Once he recovered from his wounds, he left the Guard and joined the Jesuit Order and, after a few years, became an exorcist. Since then he has learned a lot about the possessed and the demons.