The Watch

The Watch is This. it's The Watch. Page Under Construction Duh.

## History

The Watch was founded in May 1599, ten days after the Second Attempt on King Sean's Life by The Enemy. In his speech, the king described The Watch as a group of soldiers, tradesmen, and anyone else willing to stand watch against the next coming of The Enemy. Each lord would send a contingency of volunteers and resources to be bravely employed by The Watch as they see fit.

The next three years would be spent making preparations for The Watch's official implementation.

During this time, thousands of citizens signed up to “Keep The Watch” against The Enemy. It is HERE and only here when The Enemy begins to include the citizens of Duilintinn in his wrath. Especially when members of The Watch begin to popularize the nickname “Anti” in mockery of The Enemy’s former identity…

During this time, the Year of the Hero Lord came and went. The Watch was still young at this point, and since they were only a small collection of people waiting for further orders (rather than the autonomous group they would eventually evolve into); they didn’t investigate or verify any of these rumors of Lord Jackie. Similarly, Lord Jameson's Titling occurred before The Watch's official implementation; as a result, the true significance of the day's events was not fully recognized by The Watch until a few months later.

Finally, in January 1603, The Watch, now fully implemented and with its ranks bolstered by the volunteers of House Jameson, moved into its new garrisons and outposts and began its vigilant wait for The Enemy’s return. After months of aggressively searching for any signs of The Enemy, even winning border skirmishes against puppets that roamed too close to the forest edge, The Watch seemed enormously successful.

In Fall 1603, The Watch began to discover startling traces of The Enemy’s magic in large quantities all over the kingdom. All Watch outposts and garrisons were put on high alert, but no one knew quite what to expect until, in December 1603, The Watch found itself facing its first real challenge in the form of the Overnight Defense.

While The Watch successfully repelled The Enemy's forces, The Overnight Defense was a harsh lesson for the fledgling organization. Watchers who expected a single, targeted attack upon the king found themselves fighting on a massive battlefield against hoards of puppets. During the battle, The Enemy seeded his influence in the minds of thousands of citizens and Watchers throughout the kingdom, cementing his power among Duilintinn’s people.

The Enemy didn't let up after The Overnight Defense, continuing to barrage Duilintinn with raids for nearly three years. These raids were relentless and merciless, destroying towns and slaughtering thousands. Unlike the raids of the Second War of The Watch, these attacks were bent on pure destruction, rather than the stealthier psychological warfare we expect from The Enemy today.

After three years of ceaseless raids, The Enemy backed off and changed tactics once again, starting the Second Great Famine. The Watch had already connected the dots between The Enemy and the First Great Famine and had prepared accordingly, but their supplies wouldn't last forever. The Watch attempted to adapt to this new form of warfare, inserting themselves into other socioeconomic fields across the kingdom. This stepped on a few toes, notably sparking the rising tensions between The Watch and The Guard Coalition.

These tensions came to a head during the Months of Mayhem in 1608, when both Lord Schneeplestein and Lord Brody momentarily resurfaced in the public eye. After over a year of uneasy inaction, The Watch, who had spent *years* looking for clues about the missing lords, erupted into chaos and elation. Unfortunately, this was short-lived. Lord Brody is accosted on the road by The Enemy mere months after his return, and Lord Schneeplestein’s triumphant reclamation of his duty has been overshadowed by his subsequent disappearance from the public eye once again. After scouring these events for any and all clues about The Enemy, The Watch found itself at a dead-end in a starving country once again.

Arguably, this was one of the most successful moves against The Watch made by The Enemy at the time. The young organization thrived upon information and action; depriving them of both shook The Watch from its pedestal, both from within and without.

And though the famine subsided in Fall 1610, The Enemy wasn’t done with this strategy yet. The period from Fall 1610 to the present (currently March 1615 as of writing this) has been tentatively called The Second War of The Watch, though raids are extremely intermittent, focusing on physiological warfare and continuing to take advantage of The Watch’s disarray during periods of fearful calm. In hindsight, these raids were probably intended to heighten internal tensions in The Watch, potentially seeding more of The Enemy’s influence among Watchers. This would prove largely successful, as late November 1613 saw The Watch at high alert, jumping at shadows and chasing dead ends. Many expected The Enemy to make a move during the holiday celebrations with another full-on attack on the ten-year anniversary of the Overnight Defense.

Instead, The Enemy begins a series of stealthy infiltration operations, completely blindsiding The Watch. The music in the capital, the messages to Watchers, the self-proclaimed spies, and, most recently, the successful infiltration across Agrona Bridge are all examples of this strategy.

Since then, his attacks have reached an all-time high. Civilian settlements are being attacked once again, this time coordinated from within Duilintinn’s borders for maximum devastation. Time will tell what the result of these raids will be, and, hopefully, hindsight will shed more light onto The Enemy’s motives.

## Location

> *See More: Watch Garrisons, Watch Outposts*
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The Watch operates out of two garrisons and eight outposts. A Watch garrison is one of two major settlements of The Watch in Duilintinn, known as Fort Stiofán and Fort Conchúr. They are the two primary hubs of activity and authority within The Watch.

A Watch outpost is a small settlement under the control of The Watch in Duilintinn. Comparable to a smaller version of a Watch Garrison, these outposts keep the watch against The Enemy threat in the furthest reaches of Duilintinn, connecting the two major garrisons to the entire kingdom with a network of patrols, messengers, researchers, representatives, etc. The outposts are: Domhainn Outlook, Iolla Beacon, Pa'Gille Caverns, Agrona Bastion, Rúnach Hold, Gáire Roosts, Guardian Spire, and Runners' Haven.

Watchers might request to be in a garrison or outpost further from home if they want to travel or see somewhere new, but most Watchers probably prefer to be decently close to home. After all, they picked their Noble House because they feel most comfortable in the culture there, so they'd probably want to stay nearby!

Some contingencies within The Watch are more mobile, while others are settled in one of the garrisons or outposts, depending on what they do within The Watch and where they are needed. For example, a group hunting for signs of The Enemy might be better off traveling somewhere new and pitching tents each day, while a group working on inventions or smithing might be better off staying in one spot.

### Similarites

Watch outposts and garrisons all feature the same dark brown wood in most of their furnishings and renovations.

In the three years of preparation between the Watch’s founding and official implementation, ten locations had to undergo various amounts of renovation in order to become garrisons and outposts of The Watch. That amount of construction required a *lot* of resources, and while Duilitinn has quite a few sources of metal and stone, the same cannot be said for wood.

In an effort to limit the cost of importing the significant amounts of lumber necessary to complete these projects, Duilintinn struck a trade deal with the lumber industry of Lantraeth, allowing Duilintinn to import the wood at a reduced price, on the condition that all of the wood they use for the Watch projects would be bought from that specific nation. This gave the other nation a consistent and significant source of revenue for three years, while Duilintinn benefited from the discount.

As a result, no matter what garrison or outpost you visit, you’ll see the same type of wood featured amidst the original architecture. For Watchers who transfer between different outposts and/or garrisons, seeing the instantly recognizable color of Lantraeth’s unique dark brown spruce wood makes the new location feel just as much like “home” as their previous post in The Watch.
Note that, irl, I’m pretty sure there’s no spruce wood that’s naturally a dark brown color. However, this is *my world,* so I say that there’s a special variety of spruce in northern Tirónar that has a color similar to walnut wood.

 Membership

There are “part-time” Watchers who spend part of the year with The Watch and part of the year at home. Watchers with families can bring their children and/or partners with them to their base or outpost at their digression (probably not the best idea if you’re in a more mobile group, however), can volunteer at an outpost close to home, or can decide to volunteer with The Watch for only part of the year.

Enlisted members of The Watch get paid based on how much time they serve. The income for a full-time Watcher is enough for a Watcher to afford anything they might need during their service to The Watch, including housing, with a bit extra to spare, kinda like a stipend. Depending on what you do in The Watch, they'll provide the things you need to do it. Saddles, bags, quills, armor, paints, whatever.

However, some people can’t or won’t join The Watch as an enlisted Watcher, but still want to help. These people will donate their time, energy, or resources to The Watch by visiting the various outposts with supplies, comfort items, and volunteers to help clean, cook, or make repairs. These volunteers offer a nice break from the monotony of keeping the watch in an isolated location, and many regulars are considered honorary Watchers by those they aid. Obviously, these Watchers aren’t paid.

Watchers are under no obligation to remain in The Watch forever. This is in direct contrast to the Guard Coalition, which looks down on people who leave to pursue other careers, considering it a direct insult to every knight in the coalition. On the other hand, The Watch won’t pressure anyone to stay within the organization. This is because The Watch was formed after Duilintinn’s founding, while the Guard predates the kingdom by centuries. Therefore, The Watch abides by Duilintinn’s cultural emphasis on finding one's place in the world, while the traditions of the Guard Coalition predate this shift in cultural values.

### Identification

Enlisted Watchers are easily identified by their green cloaks. However, these cloaks are fairly easy to reproduce, and Watchers are not obligated to wear them, so each Watcher also carries a letter of certification with a bunch of stamps and signatures that confirm their membership with The Watch and a magical record of the owner's face. The Watch keeps records of their members, so these letters can be replaced if lost, but it's a bit of a hassle. Basically, it's a fantasy driver's license.

Unfortunately, The Watch didn't have this identification system when it was first established, and, like most security measures, it was written in blood.

In the early days of The Watch, most people were far more worried about protecting the garrisons and outposts from agents of The Enemy than ordinary citizens. Somehow, in the midst of planning for constant patrols, guard towers, spells detecting The Enemy’s magic, and other such security measures, it didn’t occur to anyone that it was shockingly easy for an ordinary person to just wander into a garrison or outpost without being noticed.

In fact, this was encouraged. Both garrisons and many of the outposts were making extra revenue to sustain The Watch through passing non-Watchers who spent their coin in the workshops and taverns outside of the main building(s). Groups of citizens would regularly volunteer their time at an outpost or garrison for a day or two. Family visits to full-time Watchers were extremely common.

Moreover, it was incredibly difficult to tell the difference between a Watcher and a non-Watcher. The Watch provided its members with a green cloak, yes, but the design was easily copied and Watchers were not obligated to wear them. There are thousands of Watchers in Duilintinn, and thanks to the constant travel in and out of the garrisons and outposts, there’s no way to recognize whether that group of three heavily armed, angry-looking fighters arriving at 2 am was a threat, or simply one of the returning night patrols.

And one night (approx. 1604?), at Fort Conchúr, that is exactly what happened.

Unlike Fort Stiofán, the living quarters in Fort Conchúr are located outside of the central keep, featuring hostel-like rooms with several bunks that anyone could just fall into as needed. As a result, the doors to these rooms were unlocked. They were guarded, of course, but again, the living quarters in Fort Conchúr are not assigned; you just show up and find an empty bed. Assuming the group of strangers was fellow Watchers heading to bed, the guard on duty let them pass without a second glance.

The good news was that they didn’t get far. Fort Conchúr’s living quarters are set up like this to accommodate the constant activity of Watchers working at all hours of the day, so many of the Watchers inside were still wide awake. Some hadn’t even removed their armor yet. Five Watchers were severely injured before all three attackers were killed or incapacitated.

Thankfully, all five injured Watchers eventually recovered from their injuries. The two attackers who survived the initial response by the surprised Watchers both resisted medical care and died soon afterward, refusing to explain their actions.

An extremely in-depth investigation proved without a shadow of a doubt that the detection spells around Fort Conchúr had not failed, and that these people were not suffering from the Influence Curse or any other form of The Enemy’s magic. To this day, we don’t know for certain why the attack happened. One of the most common theories is that they sympathized with The Enemy out of hatred for or disillusionment over the kingdom, but for all we know, they could have been completely unrelated to the war.

In the aftermath, The Watch implemented a system of documentation that included a certificate of membership that Watchers carried with them at all times. The garrisons and outposts are still largely open to the public, but Watchers have to show this document to a guard at the doors before being allowed to enter areas exclusive to The Watch. It’s not a perfect system, but the certificates are complex enough that it would be a lot harder for someone to walk in unnoticed.

## Leadership

There are no official rankings in The Watch. It's one of the critical differences between the Guard Coalition and The Watch, and one of the reasons why the Coalition looks down upon The Watch so much. They see The Watch as a disorganized mess of civilians sticking their noses where they don't belong and getting involved in everyone's business in their attempt to play detective/hero.

Instead of formal ranks, there is a sort of unspoken seniority among Watchers. Upon joining The Watch, Watchers are expected to find their niche within the first few weeks by offering their services to the section of The Watch that handles such things.

For example, if a knight joins The Watch wanting to fight, they’d go up to the other soldiers in The Watch and ask if they can tag along and help. Often this "helping" involves very basic tasks and errands at first, giving the newbie time to get a sense of the culture of The Watch and the unspoken seniority ranks. After some time, people would start trusting them with more important tasks. Eventually, the requests from the older Watchers would sound more like "hey want to come with us on a patrol," rather than the "hey go run this errand for me" from earlier, indicating that the young knight has silently ranked up from a newbie to an equal among those Watchers.

### Recruits

A Watcher is considered a "recruit" until they find their niche in The Watch. Some people figure this out faster than others. For example, Bard Keyes spent nearly seven years puttering around The Watch before she finally found her niche and would be considered a full-fledged Watcher.

Most Watchers are over the age of 15, but The Watch will take in anyone who wants to help. However, no one is sending a child into a battle or scouting mission, especially considering what we’re up against here. Despite not being allowed to do anything incredibly dangerous until they hit 15, some teens will join The Watch at an earlier age because of the rigor and experience it supposedly would provide. The actual truth of that belief is up for debate, but many ambitious students will still do it anyway, often in the form of a houseless gap year. That is because there is an official legal exception allowing young adults to use Watch experience as a replacement for the mandatory education all children in Duilintinn are expected to receive up until age 15.

In these programs, teens stay with The Watch for a short time (in one of the safer places, like a garrison or coastal outpost) to get a sense of what it looks like when all the houses are working together under the same roof. This would be especially beneficial for those who know they want to join The Watch at some point, kinda like an ROTC program. This youth Watcher program has been adapted to aid houseless orphans and refugee children, though all acknowledge that placing vulnerable children in the middle of a war effort isn’t really the best solution to that particular problem. Again though, no Watcher under the age of 15 is being deployed to face The Enemy in any way; most will barely leave the garrison or outpost except to take trips to the local town or city.

Most young Watchers are automatically considered recruits until around the age of 18 to 20 since young, growing brains are unable to find their niche until they've matured into a better understanding of themselves.

### Seniority

The people with the most seniority and respect among The Watch are those who end up giving orders when the time calls for it. These Watchers command troops during battles, coordinate patrols on a daily basis, and give other Watchers assignments if need be. However, these "orders" are always structured more like requests. The Watch as a whole is made up of people who are passionate about their role as a Watcher (otherwise they wouldn't join; there's no obligation to stick around), so most "orders" and assignments go something like this:

> Respected Senior Member of The Watch: "Okay so we need someone to do this-"
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> Four or five different Watchers in the vicinity, simultaneously: "I'LL DO IT!"
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"Seniority" isn’t an indication of age or time in The Watch, but an indication of the respect one has earned from your peers. That's why people follow their orders/requests when the situation calls for it; not because they command authority over other watchers, but because other Watchers trust and respect their experience and reputation.

Occasionally, this "unspoken" ranking system will lead to miscommunications, where Watchers are unaware of the respect and authority that others have granted them.

## Duties

Unlike most guilds, jobs, or organizations, The Watch is not looking for one specific set of skill sets. The goal of the organization is to fight an enemy that threatens all of Duilintinn’s people by employing every one of the unique talents and experiences they possess. As a result, The Watch employs almost every type of person, from homemakers, to soldiers, to academics, to artists.

At its core, being a member of The Watch simply obligates you to intentionally invest time, labor, products, and/or resources to The Watch on a semi-regular basis with the purpose of aiding this mission. However, the ways in which Watchers perform this duty vary dramatically. One of the defining characteristics of The Watch is its acceptance of members from all walks of life. Whether your skills are based in academics, art, combat, or survival, The Watch will find a place for you.

Please note that this list is not all-inclusive and may be missing other potential roles or subtypes of such roles.

### Field Roles

Field roles are jobs within The Watch that deal directly with the tangible, immediate consequences of The Enemy threat. As the name implies, the brunt of their duties usually take place on the field, rather than working from a garrison or outpost; albeit with some exceptions.

These field roles are also the primary users of sign language in The Watch. Due to the widespread use of sign language throughout Duilintinn, The Watch uses sign language to communicate silently in the field. As a result, almost all Watchers know a little bit of sign language. Their vocabulary mostly consists of words like “go,” “fall back,” and other relevant military terms, but there are many opportunities in and out of The Watch to learn how to sign proficiently.

#### Scout Patrols and Mobile Teams

> *See More: Watch Patrols of Cordoire*
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Mobile Teams are groups of Watchers that consistently work in the field, usually as scouts, border patrols, research parties, or first responders. Just as each outpost reports to a specific garrison of The Watch, every Mobile Team is managed by a specific outpost. Unlike other individual expeditions launched by The Watch, each Mobile Team always consists of the same group of Watchers who have a significant amount of freedom to deploy themselves as they see fit within their assigned region.

The Watch keeps multiple parties of scouts patrolling the kingdom's borders at all times. Each party is assigned a specific outpost and section of the border nearby. Each outpost is carefully equipped to provide for the environments and challenges faced by their own section of the border, so while these parties can scout and patrol their section as they see fit, they are required to stay within their segments of the border and return to the same outpost for resupply.

In addition, scouting parties and mobile teams are not always able to contact their superiors about their movements. Since these groups are given tremendous leeway regarding what actions to take based on their discoveries along the borders, confining scouting parties to a specific area prevents anyone from accidentally leaving sections of the border unwatched and unprotected.

Similarly, the garrisons supply scouting parties that search *within* the kingdom's borders for signs of The Enemy and patrol important locations, such as the capital city of Cordoire and the king's castle within.

Exceptions to this rule are sometimes made on a case-by-case basis in emergency situations.

#### Soldiers

Soldiers, fighters, warriors; whatever you want to call them, these are among the most visible and high-risk duties a Watcher can take on. Many civilians primarily associate The Watch with these green-cloaked, heavily armed members who risk life and limb to defend Duilintinn from The Enemy’s monstrous allies. This role often overlaps with the role of Mobile Teams in the form of armed patrols, but also encompasses Watchers who are barracked in various outposts and garrisons of The Watch, training in preparation to leap into action at a moment’s notice.

The War(s) of The Watch have mainly consisted of two types of conflict: raids and skirmishes.  Raids are intentional attacks on a specific target(s), usually a location. Presumably, a raid is a calculated step in the grand scheme of The Enemy’s plan, so these attacks are studied and reported on individually. On the other hand, skirmishes are completely unplanned encounters between Watchers (usually border patrols) and groups of monsters and/or puppets. Since skirmishes are far more common than raids, they rarely warrant their own reports.

This latter form of conflict is why The Watch is not solely staffed with academics. Thanks to The Watch’s border patrols, these dangerous beings are contained outside the kingdom, rather than stalking the countryside to prey upon travelers. In addition, these skirmishes provide important data about The Enemy’s forces. If the academics of The Watch only had information from raids, well, forget the nature of The Enemy’s magic; we’d still be wondering what puppets were.

However, skirmishes rarely indicate anything about The Enemy’s plans; they’re simply far too commonplace and random. Even in hindsight, few raids have ever been meaningfully foreshadowed by the skirmishes that occurred beforehand. The only time skirmishes provide additional clues about The Enemy’s plans is through their sheer volume and intensity. The more skirmishes occur and/or the larger the hostile force, the more of The Enemy’s forces are congregated in an area closer to the border. However, most of the time, The Enemy is smart enough to lie in wait far enough from the border to prevent this from tipping us off to future raids, unless he intentionally seeks to wear out our forces with constant skirmishes.

#### Message Delivery

Since The Watch and its network of outposts, garrisons, and messengers between them were created, it has become common practice for citizens to leave messages at these outposts for delivery. These messages will then be delivered for free with other official messages of The Watch to whatever outpost or garrison is closest to the delivery location. This is the fastest and cheapest method of delivery, though The Watch only delivers letters (packages will slow down the messengers). However, they will only take the message as far as the nearest outpost. If a mobile party of Watchers is at the outpost to resupply, they will collect any messages addressed to towns along their route and drop them off at the tavern, but most of the time, the letters will be left at the nearest tavern for the final leg of their journey. As this method of message delivery becomes more common, many people have begun checking for any letters for them at the nearest outpost. As a result, The Watch has accidentally evolved into the kingdom’s closest thing to a post office.

This is yet another example of how The Watch has become a fundamental piece of infrastructure within the kingdom. That wasn’t the original intent when it was created, but now, the kingdom would likely fall apart if The Watch was suddenly dissolved, even if The Enemy was somehow defeated.

Many, if not most, Watchers are part-time messengers! Watchers often do something else and run messages on the side (that’s what I, Emily Keyes, do between writing announcements and cataloging our history!) while others are exclusively messengers and spend all day riding across the kingdom with really important Watch info. Message delivery is a form of hospitality that is integral to the culture of King Sean’s Kingdom (just like reblogs are integral to the culture of tumblr where many, many theorists and JSE fans interact with the rest of the community).

Like all supplies needed to perform ones' duty in The Watch, Messengers are provided with bags to carry these deliveries in. However, many messengers will get their bags enchanted with the bigger-on-the-inside enchantment. There's usually someone in an outpost/garrison who can do that since it's so useful, but it doesn't come on the bag by default since it's a pain to enchant a few hundred bags at once when they'll all wear off before they even get handed out anyway.

### Informational Roles

Informational Roles focus on collecting, analyzing, distributing, and preserving information and research that would aid the fight against The Enemy. While most of these roles are typically based within a specific outpost or garrison, exceptions do exist. While it is common for a group of Watchers in Informational Roles to take short-term trips into the field for various purposes, these expeditions are not considered to be Field Roles or Mobile Teams because these trips are infrequent, often spontaneous in nature, and are usually a single step in a larger process that mostly takes place in their home outpost or garrison, rather than the primary role of these Watchers.

#### Record-Keeping

The Watch keeps a mage with the ability to make magical records at every outpost, garrison, and (if possible) with every mobile party of Watchers as well. Thankfully, a wide variety of focuses will allow a mage to use this ability; anything related to truth, justice, messages, sharing, sending, entertainment, knowledge, safety, etc. would almost certainly allow for the record-making magical skill. Many magical skills (such as this one) are known to be so useful and common that experienced mages will teach them novices with applicable focuses early on.

There are also paper records, books, maps, and normal record-y stuff as well. Not only does all of that have to be gathered, but it also has to be stored, cared for, maintained, distributed to those who need them, and then GOTTEN BACK (or replaced).

#### Scribes

Scribes make copies of every major document in The Watch for distribution and safekeeping. In a way, they are the “publishers” of The Watch.

When a Watcher finishes writing something (a theory, report, whatever) that they wish to be accessible in the library or archives for future reference by other Watchers, they give it to these scribes, who generally have an office in these spaces of each garrison/outpost. The scribe(s) will then make copies of these documents before passing them along to messengers, who distribute the “published” copies to the rest of The Watch.

This process is slightly different if a document is time-sensitive (i.e. letters alerting The Watch to recent events). Generally, a Watcher writing a document that they want to send as soon as possible will make two copies: one for a messenger, and one for the scribes.

Thankfully, this process of making multiple copies of a document is a bit easier than it sounds. Various magical and mechanical tools exist that allow scribes to make multiple copies of a document simultaneously.

In addition, scribes will also use their skills to create detailed written descriptions of the audiovisual contents of a Magical Record. This transcription would then be copied and distributed like any other document. This allows the contents of magical records to be easily accessible and guards against their destruction, even if the mage who originally made the record is not available to create magical copies.

However, by far the largest task that scribes undertake is the annual compilation and publication of the large encyclopedic tomes that summarize every major development, theory, and action that took place in The Watch. Every outpost and garrison of The Watch has multiple copies of these tomes in their libraries, creating a streamlined database of information for Watchers who don’t want to spend hours trying to sort through the hundreds of similar reports submitted by their predecessors over the years.

#### Raven Masters

Raven Masters are important, long-term roles held by at least one Watcher at every outpost and garrison. Ravens are The Watch’s fastest form of communication. Much like the telegraph, messages carried by raven are short, sometimes encoded, but make up for their length with the speed at which they can be delivered. Each outpost and garrison keeps ravens for this exact purpose. However, someone needs to take care of those ravens! This is where the Raven Master(s) come into play.

Unlike Rookerers, who manage the ravens’ daily care, train new members of the flock, tend to injured individuals, and facilitate the coming and going of any messages the ravens carry  and are considered a Support Role, Raven Masters are actually positions of remarkable power and influence. They are effectively a bottleneck through which all urgent correspondence must pass to enter or leave the outpost. Given to the wrong person, this role could be abused with catastrophic consequences. As a result, this role is considered an Informational Role. Only very senior and universally trusted members of The Watch are given this task, with both garrisons and several outposts employing multiple Raven Masters to keep the others in check and share the intense workload.

In addition, unlike many other positions in The Watch, Raven Masters are permanently stationed at their post until their resignation, except under truly pressing circumstances. This means that they live at their outpost long-term, and cannot decide on a whim to deliver messages or attend to personal business elsewhere. The role is simply too important to go untended or risk a less-experienced substitute. For this reason, many Raven Masters are older, with no remaining obligations to their family (or another group) outside of the watch. It’s not uncommon for extended family members to visit an outpost for a short period to spend time with their permanently stationed relative.

#### Theorists

Theorists is a vague, all-encompassing term that is less of an occupational title and more of an occupational category within The Watch. Specifically, it refers to Watchers who work towards uncovering the many mysteries of this war, such as The Enemy’s plans, the status of the Missing Lords, and the exact nature of the Influence Curse and The Enemy’s dark puppetry.

Theorists have a unique workload that generally cycles between two categories.

The first is their average workload, which usually involves analyzing documentation of old Enemy movements, writing theories based on the patterns they observe and reviewing the theories of their peers. Occasionally, these theories will have implications that will prompt The Watch to take action, but most are unable to be proven nor acted upon without further information.

The second takes place during what members of The Watch affectionately call a “community fire,” which is the chaos of reactions and immediate consequences that results whenever The Enemy makes another move. For Theorists, these moves by The Enemy mean brand new information that brings them ever closer to discovering the truth- or so they hope. Indeed, with garrisons and outposts flooded with theorists who had faded into the background since the previous incident, the resulting avalanche of new theories and discoveries usually grants The Watch a huge advantage against The Enemy in the aftermath.

In return, The Enemy has turned towards psychological warfare against this theorist spirit of The Watch, claiming that our vigilance and attention towards him is what feeds his power and remaining out of sight for long stretches of time in what seems to be an attempt to demoralize those Watchers whose theories and motivation rely upon these cycles of excitement and new information.

Examples of Theorists include strategists, researchers, scholars, investigators, scientists, etc.

#### Bards

Bards have a variety of roles within The Watch. Some primarily create communications within The Watch for other Watchers, in order to tell the story of other garrisons, outposts, and fronts of The Watch to those who aren’t able to witness these events in person and summarize new discoveries and information to those Watchers who aren’t in the theorist circles of The Watch. However, other bards may create storytelling mediums targeting civilians outside of The Watch, perhaps to combat misinformation or to help citizens of Duilintinn understand what is going on. Still others may be attempting to preserve the story of The Watch for future generations, cataloguing the highs and lows so we can learn from these experiences and grow as an organization and a people.

#### Creatives

I could spend all day listing every sort of creative role within The Watch, from artisans to musicians to entertainers and more. However, all of these roles are generally focused on the production of some creative work through a chosen medium.

Within The Watch, these creatives serve two purposes. One, many creatives in The Watch use their skills to catalogue and record events and information for The Watch. Many work as cartographers, illustrators, or concept artists to help others visualize important information such as locations, monsters, theories, etc.

Two, creatives in The Watch are a vital source of morale and hope in these trying times, especially as The Enemy continues using psychological warfare as his weapon of choice against The Watch. Between the personal impact of the Influence Curse and puppets, long stretches of demoralizing silence, and an overwhelming sense of helplessness against a foe with magic that shouldn’t exist, the uplifting, inspiring, and hope-bringing nature of creative work is vital to preserve the spirit of The Watch.

### Support Roles

These people provide an internal service within The Watch itself. There are dozens of roles that keep The Watch running behind the scenes. These people cook, clean, and maintain a garrison/outpost for thousands of Watchers. Some of these Watchers also have other jobs (Nurse Dawn has been seen helping with the washing), but many do these thankless tasks full-time. These roles might not seem glorious or exciting, but regardless, they’re Watchers just like any fighter or thinker in The Watch. The roles below are only a snapshot of how many support roles are required to keep The Watch running.

#### Rookerers

Rookerers are people who work in the rookeries of Watch outposts and garrisons. They take orders from Raven Masters to help care for the ravens of The Watch. In addition, they tend to the hawks, which are kept in a separate corner of the rookery and used for hunting and scouting by some Watchers.

Mages who have abilities to speak with animals and gain their aid have discovered that ravens are extremely intelligent and are extremely willing to aid any cause that might hurt The Enemy or aid those who they consider a friend. Why ravens hate The Enemy so much is unknown, although some think it has something to do with The Enemy taking up residence within the Western Forest. If you can find a willing raven, they will fly a message for you, and The Watch has a TON of them. However, ravens can only carry very short, light messages, approximately the size of a quarter-page of parchment at the most. It’s the equivalent of a quick text or telegram for this kingdom. Ravens are kept at every garrison and outpost for this purpose, and you can often find someone just on a streetcorner with ravens who you can pay to send your message, like a roadside payphone or something.

Rookerers are people who work in the rookeries of Watch outposts and garrisons but have less responsibility than Raven Masters. They take orders from Raven Masters to help care for the ravens of The Watch. In addition, they tend to the hawks, which are kept in a separate corner of the rookery and used for hunting and scouting by some Watchers.

#### Farmers

The Watch grows its own crops and livestock in an attempt to be completely self-sustaining, though they can only grow one type of grain and one type of root vegetable each season due to space constraints. Much of what they grow is stored away in preparation for a siege or another famine. Both Fort Stiofán and Fort Conchúr distributed their accumulated resources throughout the kingdom during the Second Great Famine, softening the blow of the first year’s failed harvest. When the famine continued for multiple years, however, The Watch went hungry with the rest of the kingdom. Since then, both garrisons have worked to set aside even more resources to prepare against a third famine, though these supplies would also be used in the case of an enemy siege or some other emergency circumstances.

Farmers of The Watch tend to both the growth and preservation of these goods. Some are part-timers who donate their labor and produce from their own fields, while others work full-time on land adjacent to a garrison or outpost.

### Nurses

Nurses (also called doctors, medics, healers, etc.) are one of those roles that fits into all three categories. Many would consider their job to be  a Field Role due to the direct interaction they have with the tangible consequences of the war against The Enemy, namely in the form of wounds and injuries. Many Mobile Teams are deployed with at least one nurse, though the same is also true of enchanters. On the other hand, many nurses support the research work within The Watch in an attempt to discover better ways to avoid the medical consequences of The Enemy’s attacks and magic, which would classify them as an Informational Role.

However, these are all very specific roles a nurse of The Watch may take. At its essence, the role of a nurse is to take care of the medical needs of Watchers, regardless of whether those needs are a direct result of the war or something far simpler in nature. Watchers are just as susceptible to normal illness, injuries, and health issues as any other person, and nurses of The Watch ensure that these troubles do not prevent The Watch from fulfilling its mission.

### Stable Masters

The Watch keeps fast and strong Messenger Horses at every outpost and garrison. For a small yearly fee, Watchers have the right to grab a horse from the stables at an outpost or garrison whenever they need them. This fee pays for the work of the Stable Masters, who keep the horses fed, sheltered, and healthy. If the horse is killed or hurt during the ride, the Watcher has to pay the Stable Master for the damage.

The Stable Masters keep the horses of The Watch fed, sheltered, healthy, and in incredible shape. The small fee Watchers pay to use these steeds is what funds this work. Additionally, Watchers can pay a similar fee to board their own horses under the care of the Stable Masters.

### Craftsmen

The Watch hires several professional craftspeople to work full-time in the workshops and smithies of The Watch. These people produce the various goods that are needed to keep The Watch running, while also repairing and augmenting anything brought to them by a fellow Watcher.  Most of these supplies, such as bags, saddles, paints, quills, armor, etc., are produced in large batches. As a result, they usually look like someone spent a week making a TON of the exact same thing, and then later when The Watch needed more, another person made a batch. So they all have slightly different variations on the same really simple pattern. It’s not exactly artisanal work, yet despite this, these crafters usually take pride in the simple, unique touches that mark a batch of supplies as their own. In addition, these craftsmen will approve and oversee the usage of workshop spaces by other Watchers.

### Enchanters

In addition to the mages who use their magic to perform specific roles directly related to the pursuit of The Enemy, The Watch employs hundreds of mages who use their magic simply to keep the garrisons and outposts running. Specifically, mages who cast the enchantments used by The Watch on a daily basis.

Due to the nature of enchantments, these mages have to either remain near the enchanted object(s) or constantly re-cast these enchantments as they wear off faster due to distance. As a result, some of these mages will constantly be traveling with groups of other Watchers in order to keep wards and enchantments active for the group, while others will remain in a single location for extended periods of time.

In addition, these enchantments are in high demand and may be extremely taxing, so few mages who cast enchantments for The Watch will have magical energy left over for other magical duties. However, many of these mages also spend time doing non-magical tasks to aide The Watch (or other tasks in their life outside of the organization). As a result, while these mages are largely tied down to a single location/group, they have a surprising amount of free time besides casting and re-casting the enchantments they are responsible for.

Some of these enchantments are directly related to the hunt for The Enemy, i.e. enchantments that detect The Enemy's magic, protective wards on the garrisons and outposts, upkeep of enchanted library tools that allow for the production of records and reports, etc. However, others are far more mundane.

For example, every garrison and outpost of The Watch employs mages who cast stair accessibility enchantments for Watchers with mobility struggles. Watchers who need this accommodation can visit one of these mages at their station near the stairs, who will cast the enchantment on their shoes and/or other mobility aid. While the regular upkeep of an accessibility enchantment like this is an important and vital part of running The Watch, it does use a lot of magical energy, so it’s only available to people who would significantly benefit from it, not just because you don’t feel like taking the stairs.

### Cooks

The Watch employs several cooks at each outpost and garrison to provide three meals a day to the Watchers who are living on-site or passing through. While The Watch tries to be self-sustaining by keeping their own livestock and fields outside of the garrisons and outposts, they only grow one type of grain and one type of root vegetable due to space constraints. Therefore, ingredients are also purchased for cooks to produce three meals a day for Watchers at outposts and garrisons.

## Culture

### Food

The Watch tries to be self-sustaining by keeping their own livestock and fields outside of the garrisons and outposts, but they only grow one type of grain and one type of root vegetable due to space constraints. They also eat a lot of potatoes because they are very good for you and very easy to grow.

Standard fare in a Watch outpost is dense bread and a stew made of whatever food is available locally. Depending on the region, the stew could contain meat from the most recent hunt, fish from a nearby body of water, or even livestock if they’re lucky. Vegetables and starches would be extremely variable, but odds are, potatoes are somehow involved. The bread is very heavy, dry, and probably a bit stale, but you get used to it pretty quickly, especially because herbs make everything better. Now, if Watchers were in a situation where they had no more herbs to bake into the bread? I mean, they would eat it (they’re not stupid) but the complaining would probably be loud enough to hear from Haneul.

In order to cook enough food for an entire outpost or garrison, massive pots of stew are cooking on low heat in the kitchens at all times. Instead of set mealtimes, Watchers are expected to wander down to the kitchens when they get hungry, where they will be given a bowl of stew from one of these pots. Much like a modern crock-pot meal, these stews can be left largely unattended after the ingredients are cut up and put on the heat, allowing the cooks to focus on the far-more time-intensive process of baking bread and preparing dried rations for patrols. Hot water is almost always sitting over the fire for tea, and Watchers who want to cook something specific can use the kitchens if they don’t get underfoot.

Cooks in The Watch are also responsible for preparing the dried/preserved food for the Watchers who travel back and forth between the garrisons and outposts, such as patrols, scouts, messengers, researchers, etc. These rations usually include dried meats and a dense variant of herbed bread. Since traveling food usually has to be dehydrated in some way, cooks in The Watch usually have at least a few large batches of these rations slowly drying out in the ovens as they prepare other meals. While this is very similar to how daily meals are made for Watchers who aren’t traveling, traveling rations are in too high demand for cooks to simply allow Watchers to grab some when they feel like it. Instead, the Watcher will inform the cook of the length of their trip and receive a specific amount of rations based on that information. If the trip passes through another outpost or garrisons, the Watcher will only receive enough food to reach that location and will restock their rations there (unless the journey is time-sensitive).

When a big feast happens, or any other big events that require extra cooking, the cooks basically go “okay, if y'all want a party, y'all need to help cook” and get all the Watchers who normally don’t do cooking to pitch in and help. It’d be a big bonding thing and a much-needed reminder for some folks that The Watch isn’t just made of thinkers and fighters.

### Celebrations

Watch garrisons and outposts will host their own festivities for Duilintinn’s holidays, kinda like an office party or a school event! I dunno, I just found the idea kinda fun. In a way, I imagine the crowds in Cordoire to kinda be like the chat during charity streams, while the smaller celebrations among communities like The Watch are like chatting on tumblr during the stream.

When a big feast happens, or any other big events that require extra cooking, the cooks basically go "okay, if y'all want a party, y'all need to help cook" and get all the watchers who normally don't do cooking to pitch in and help. It'd be a big bonding thing and a much-needed reminder for some folks that The Watch isn't just made of thinkers and fighters.

### Guard Tensions

At best, The Watch and The Guard have a healthy respect for each other, even if they disagree about how to address the issue at hand. At worst, they can get caught up in their own pride and us-versus-them mentality, thinking that anyone in the guard is an insult to the watch or vice versa. In those situations, bar fights have occurred between Watchers and Knights in the same tavern.