The Watchers

The Path of the Watcher is a solitary road. To live a life in shadow away from the light of the world is not for the faint hearted. In truth, few are marked for such a path, for there are few who can resist the temptations of the light. Shadows grow longer with time, the darkness more oppressive, and people grow weak. Many succumb, and many fail. Those who resist are marked for great things. It is said that a Watcher can take comfort in knowing that they are never truly alone, for in the umbra all around are their kinfolk, ready to unite in the direst of times and reveal themselves to the world once more. Until that time arrives, they continue their vigil in secrecy and shadow, and watching. Ever watching.

"You live in a world that you do not understand and will never truly see. But we see everything.."

*~ Anna, of ‘The Sighted*

## The Shadows That Hide

Watchers are creatures of the shadow. Intelligent, cautious, they know much about the world and yet they appear to stand apart from it. A Watcher is not someone who will garner the attention of those around, but instead be content in their own self and their own solitude. The silence and the darkness offers them a place of reflection, to look, and to learn. That is not to say that they live their lives entirely alone. There is a palpable sense of community amongst these withdrawn souls, great hidden networks that operate away from the eyes of the masses where the Watchers might share their secrets. You might never know that they are there, but they see you.

## Watchers in The City

 File:Watch Tower.png
The Watcher district lies to the south of the city near the Old Municipal Quarter, in an area known as ‘The Sight’. Although it appears to be prosperous, little is known of the region beyond what hearsay and rumour filters through to the bars and drinking halls in the city streets. The Watchers are very wary of what they consider to be ‘outside interference’, and as such much of what happens in the district is pure speculation. What is known, however, is that when called upon, the Watchers are a formidable faction, able to use their superior observation and infiltration skills to great effect. At the heart of the Watcher district is ‘The Tower’, the information hub where the best of the faction ply their trade, and it is the aspiration of many a Watcher to be allowed entry to the most secretive of Watcher guilds that holds court in that hallowed steeple.

**Houses and Governance**

It is known that the Watchers have a governing guild called ‘The Sighted’ who operate from the confines of the grand tower. Senior Watchers of considerable skill are inducted into this guild, and from their council would handle most, if not all of the laws and governance affecting the Faction and their supporting district. Outside of this, Watchers are mostly independent, and often will disappear without word or reason, retreating into the shadows for undisclosed periods. What they do in their time in the shadows is known only to them, or perhaps the guild for whom they may operate.

## Military Use

**‘custodes in tenebris’**

**Selection Report for Resistance Fighters (Approved Documentation)**

Selection based on applicant’s intelligence and disposition. Watcher Ranks are filled with highly intelligent individuals who can operate in the shadows for extended periods, often without support or extraction procedures in place. Extremely patient, ideal Watcher candidates excel in observation and subterfuge. Watcher regiments will engage targets long before other factions commit to the fray, and their reports can determine the success or failure of a mission.’

Watchers play a vital role in the Resistance, primarily as intelligence operatives who have the ability to infiltrate and sabotage should the need arise. The solitary nature of a Watcher means that the faction can be deployed across multiple theatres, gathering evidence and intel from a hundred different fronts. This allows the other Factions to have the best information possible when going into conflicts, and gives the Resistance the greatest chance of success. Watchers make excellent propagandists, whose knowledge of the enemy allows them to influence and corrupt to the Resistance’s advantage. They are capable of setting delicate traps, or inspiring the masses’ actions befitting their own agenda.

**Weapons and Armour**

Watchers need to be prepared for any eventuality. Long weeks spent in the field alone means they have to have everything they might need to survive. Their armour is equipped to sustain them should their supplies run low, recycling water and administering nutrients to ensure the Watcher is able to perform his duty. Cloaking devices are used to ensure they stay hidden and unobserved should they leave the sanctuary of the shadows, and a series of cyber augments to enhance strength, vision and hearing allows the Faction to utilise their skills to the best of their ability. Cold steel is carried by every Watcher should they be discovered, and they are very efficient in its application. Perhaps the greatest weapon the Watchers have is their intelligence network, the quality of information and the quantity that moves through the wire is vital to the Resistance and its endeavours.

## Battles

Below is a list of famous battles that The Watchers have been involved in:

* ***The Belmarsh Conspiracy*** - the noble house of Belmarsh was discovered to be arming the outcastes of the southern wastes in order to start insurgency with a private army. A lone Watcher made the discovery after a long period of observation, and Belmarsh was destroyed in the ensuing battles.
* ***The Last Stand of the Forgotten Five*** - Watchers managed to track and locate this famous band of mercenaries and hold them in the Eastern district until a Wayward squad could engage and eradicate.
* ***The Winter Coup*** - a Watcher unit successfully infiltrated and subdued a guerrilla group who were planning to release mind-altering toxins into the Slums in order to disrupt the industrial supply chain, during the year of the lasting winter.
* ***The Awakening*** (Active Campaign)

## **Ways and Culture**

Private, solitary but with a strong community, albeit one hidden away from the outside world. Watchers are intelligent and thoughtful, but are as capable a warrior as any member of the Resistance. They view the world differently to the majority of the city. They hold value to what is seen and what is said. They trust their sight to see the truth. Comments are not thrown away by a Watcher as easily as they might be by a Wayward, nor would they boast as a Guardian does. They shy away from the light and exist in the shadows, they operate unseen, but nothing can hide from their gaze. Be careful what you say, be careful who you might offend - the Watcher vault holds many secrets.

## **Famous Watchers**

***Kira of the Keyhole*** - Kira grew up in the footings of the vast Watcher Tower that stands proud in the Southern Districts of New Central, an area called ‘The Sight’. Kira didn’t have a stable home, her parents were distant, their minds long since lost to the opiate sticks that many of the city populace smoked into addiction, and they did not have much time for the girl. Kira longed to grow older and take her place amongst the Watcher ranks in that grand Tower. She worked hard everyday to improve her observation skills so that she too might be a famous member of the Faction. Nobody really noticed Kira, an ashen-faced teen of surprising insignificance, until she became known to the youths in the town as the ‘keeper of secrets’. Kira was a girl who saw secrets through a keyhole, for whom every nook and cranny was a chance to escape from the world and dive into that of another’s. She was not one for blackmail, no, but there was a healthy demand for information on the Watcher black market, and she sold the secrets from her vault for a handsome price. Many a scandal was ended, or caused, from what Kira saw through those keyholes, private worlds exposed for all to see and hear. When one such victim of Kira’s deeds sent men to find her and ‘bring her in’, like all good Watchers Kira slipped into the shadows, never to be found again - a Watcher hero if ever there was one, doing her duty for society and her Faction. It is known she is out there still, watching, always watching. You would be wise to draw your curtains close, keep your key in the door, for you never know who else watches from the shadows.