City Watch of Newcastle

The **City Watch of Newcastle** is a law-enforcement and military institution responsible for the security of the capital city of the Kingdom of Aqoris. Men of the Watch are more colloquially known as "**White Cloaks**" because of the white-coloured capes and trimmed armour they wear. The Crown pays the City Watch salaries, but unlike other organizations in the Kingdom, these soldiers swear no allegiance, except to the monarch.

The City Watch was founded by King Kaegan III following the end of The War of The Bears, where the city had suffered under the reign of King Dannis "the Cruel " and his 'city-cleansings' committed by his personal detachment of the House Boyce Guard called the **Red Cloaks**. Throughout the war, Newcastle fell into anarchy and chaos so at the end of the war, there was a need for a strong, law-enforcement order that was separate from the House Boyce Guard who were previously policing the city.

The current Commander is Sir Arvin Knigh, the third son of Lord Lewin Knigh and heir to Seawatch.

## History

### Formation

During the 36 years of King Dannis "The Cruel" 's reign, there were hundreds of "city cleanisings" committed by members of the House Boyce Guard under orders from the King. The Red Cloaks, as they were called due to the blood stains on their blue cloaks, would march out into the city and massacre hundreds and sometimes thousands of commonfolk in an effort to clean the city from crime and as a show of force to the commonfolk that King Dannis was absolute. The Lord Commander of the Bronze Cloaks, Sir Gurhard Masterton, made a name for himself as "The Butcher of Newcastle" due to him leading the cleansings and being a tyrant.

Newcastle would fall deeper into squalor during The War of The Bears as King Dannis conscripted vast numbers of peasants to send off and fight the oncoming rebel armies. In the first year of the war, the commonfolk rioted against the conscription so King Dannis committed the Massacre of Newcastle where over 3,000 commonfolk were massacred by the King's Men. He then executed a number of Lords and their retainers for treason due to them condemning the massacre. Newcastle would continue to be gripped by commonfolk riots against the King up until the end of the Siege of Newcastle and death of King Dannis.

King Kaegan took the throne of his brother and was proclaimed as the rightful King. One of his first major acts as King was forming the City Watch. Newcastle was devastated by the brutal two years of war and needed to be rebuilt and the rampant crime to be stopped. However, he ran the risk of being seen as a tyrant if he sent House Boyce Guard to police the city as they had previously done so. The House Boyce Guard were seen as murderers until King Kaegan proved that House Boyce was a force for good during his reign but he saw the need for a dedicated institution for Law-Enforcement and keeping the peace. So he founded the City Watch of Newcastle and appointed Lord Godrick Knigh as it's first Lord Commander. He also saw it as a great opportunity for Newcastle to have a large and dedicated defence force at all times, while also providing the people with more jobs. The idea worked and the City Watch grew rapidly during his reign.

## Known Commanders

* **339 AF - 344 AF**: Godrick Knigh
* **344 AF - 362 AF**: Walyter Kell
* **362 AF - 370 AF**: Antorn Blacksword
* **370 AF - 391 AF**: Braedan Boyce
* **398 AF -** : Arvin Knigh