Nightwatchers

The **Nightwatchers** are one of the Three Great Guardian Clans, along with the Untitled Sages and Gravekeepers. They were reputed to be the strongest Guardian clan before the invention of lightbulbs severely weakened their power, causing them to forfeit that title to the Gravekeepers.

## Background

Before the invention of artificial lighting, humans feared the darkness and chose to shut themselves within their houses when night falls and escape from reality through sleeping. When night falls, monsters roam the world freely. The Nightwatchers, who were the only humans that remained active during the night, were responsible for keeping these monsters under control under the ruse of "watching the night". Being capable of monitoring all the monsters within thousands of miles, the Nightwatchers were crowned as "Night Conquerors" due to their immense power and dominance over monsters and demons alike.

At some point in time, the Nightwatcher clan separated into multiple families and scattered across China, with the members who had the purest heritages splitting into two main families and residing in the North and the South. The other families who did not possess bloodlines as pure as the main families were labelled branch families and deemed inferior. According to Bao Huajuan, this prejudice once caused conflicts between the main and branch families that almost wiped out the branch families entirely. As a result, main family Nightwatchers act modest and humble when interacting with branch family Nightwatchers to avoid being mistaken for being discriminatory.

Before the invention of lightbulbs, the Nightwatchers considered themselves the strongest guardians, as a result they were egotistical and couldn't care less about the other two Guardian clans. After the invention of lightbulbs, the Nightwatchers were significantly weakened since there was no more absolute darkness after the widespread usage of artificial lighting, and resulted in them forfeiting the title of "the strongest Guardian clan" to the Gravekeepers.

Thirty years ago, a certain Nightwatcher defected from the Nightwatcher clan, leading to them being labelled as a traitor. They possessed the ability to transform into a Night Conqueror.

## Overview

### Structure

The Nightwatcher clan is composed of two **main families** (宗支 *Zōng Zhī*): the Northern Family (北方家族 *Běi Fāng Jiā Zú*) and the Southern Family (南方家族 *Nán Fāng Jiā Zú*), and numerous **branch families** (分支 *Fēn Zhī*). The main families are responsible for selecting and sending the strongest Nightwatcher from one of the two families to the Department of Night as a representative of the clan, while the branch families may have their Nightwatchers recruited to governmental agencies, such as police departments to take care of sudden supernatural incidents that the Department of Night is unavailable for.

### Traditions

The two main families concurrently host an annual **Demon Flag Awakening Test** (煌妖幡的觉醒测试 *Huáng Yāo Fān De Jué Xǐng Cè Shì*) that examines the new generation of Nightwatchers' potential. During the test, participants, who are generally eight to ten years old which is the optimal age for Nightwatchers to awaken the power to control Demon Flags take a normally forbidden steroid that will awaken their latent powers and allow them to control the maximum amount of Demon Flags possible for them. However, the steroid is stated to dangerous for those who are physically weak, and even might cause the consumer to become physically disabled. Those who fail to control a Demon Flag during the test are allowed to participate again until they reach the age of ten. If they still fail to meet the one flag requirement, they will permanently lose their chance to become a Nightwatcher and will end up as a lackey in the family. Master Lan stated that only those who possess a pure enough bloodline can control Demon Flags, though the amount can increase through painstaking training. He also stated that being able to control one flag is enough to meet the requirement for being a Nightwatcher, and those who can control more than three Demon Flags are considered "doted by the heavens" since it is extremely difficult to control more Demon Flags afterwards.

**Ancestral edicts** (祖训 *Zǔ Xùn*) are considered the supreme laws of the Nightwatcher clan. They dictate the training methods for Nightwatchers, the representative selection process, as well as the countermeasures for Darkened Nightwatchers. The following are the specified edicts mentioned throughout the series:

* When selecting the Nightwatcher who will represent the clan and join the Department of Night, the Nightwatcher who can wield the most Demon Flags between the Northern and Southern families' candidates chosen from the Demon Flag Awakening Test is selected as the representative.
* Before the representative Nightwatcher leaves for the Department of Night, they must pay respects to their ancestors before the Ye Family genealogy register. Unlike traditional genealogy registers, the Ye Family genealogy chart records the names of female members, whether born in the family or married into.
* Nightwatchers are encouraged to have an enjoyable hobby that can kill time, such as the arts or any other entertainment method. As long as the hobby is not immoral or illegal, elders are advised against intervening even if it can be considered indecent. This edict is enforced due to the fact that Nightwatchers are prone to developing depression among other mental illnesses since they are subjected to extreme loneliness while patrolling the night, and thus need a hobby as spiritual sustenance to prevent them from succumbing to isolation and taking their own lives.
* A Nightwatcher trainee must complete a total of two years worth of training with another trainee as partners in order to qualify as a standard Nightwatcher and patrol the night alone. Either trainee are allowed to switch partners if they can not tolerate the other's behavior.
* If a Nightwatcher trainee wishes to awaken their dark persona through the use of the dark incenses, their partner must participate as well.
* Every Nightwatcher in the family is responsible for completely subduing a Darkened Nightwatcher while their powers are suppressed. The utmost priority is to impair the darkened one's mobility, since once they regain their powers and are still mobile, they could overpower everyone and cause the loss of more innocent lives. If one were to accidentally kill the darkened one while attempting to subdue them, they are not held accountable for the death after the incident is resolved.
* If a Darkened Nightwatcher were to go berserk while being treated, if they are alive after being subdued, the lowest punishment they receive is the crippling their powers.

According to Sui Fenger, cousins in the two main families were allowed to marry each other, usually with the marriage overseen by elders. This tradition was abandoned after incest was made illegal.

### Morals

Nightwatchers are widely feared by monsters for their ability to enslave them for eternity using Demon Flags, as Flag Demons are forced to serve under their master and are no longer able to reincarnate if they die. Nightwatchers are fairly lenient, as they prefer to capture monsters if they didn't committed any crimes involving deaths of humans, and are even supportive of peaceful relationships between humans and monsters. But if a monster were to commit murder, Nightwatchers will not hesitate to execute them.

According to Ye Yan, Nightwatchers are not allowed to order Flag Demons to attack ordinary humans, as it is against the rules of the clan.

The most derogatory term to call a Nightwatcher is a "Gong Player" (敲锣的 *Qiāo Luó De*).

## Abilities

**Summoning Beast** (召唤兽 *Zhào Huàn Shòu*): A few Nightwatchers throughout history have searched for and formed contracts with creatures to serve as their summoning beast. Once the contract is formed, the Nightwatcher can summon the creature by saying their name or shouting "Summon" (召唤 *Zhào Huàn*). Once summoned, the summoning beast's existence is maintained by expending the summoner's stamina. If it were to sustain damage or exert its power, the depletion rate will be increased. Once the user's stamina is completely depleted, the summoning beast will disappear. If the user wishes to continue maintaining the summoning beast even after they have no more stamina, they must sacrifice their vitality in exchange.
**Spirit Shock** (元气震 *Yuán Qì Zhèn*): After accumulating enough negative emotions from experiencing grievances, a Nightwatcher can release the stored energy into their vicinity, indiscriminately knocking creatures around them unconscious before falling unconscious themselves shortly afterwards, though they will usually wake up before the others due to a temporary boost in fainting resistance. While using this technique and before fainting, the Nightwatcher's eyes will glow.The time a person is rendered unconscious depends on the degree of their strength in comparison to the user's and their stamina: people established to be powerful and strong-willed fall unconscious for considerably less time than the weak-willed, but may faint for longer if they were exhausted beforehand. This technique cannot affect creatures that were unconscious before it was used, on creatures that were alertly focused on the user, or Flag Demons that are inside Demon Flags.
**Darkening** (黑化 *Hēi Huà*): A form achievable by a Nightwatcher who has invoked their **dark persona** (黑暗人格 *Hēi Àn Rén Gé*), born from their negative emotions. By succumbing to their inner darkness and forfeiting their body's control to the dark persona, a Nightwatcher can assume this special state, which is indicated physically with the blackening of their sclerae. A Darkened Nightwatcher exhibits complete apathy to everything around them and focuses only on killing other creatures.
While Darkened, the Nightwatcher gains a significant boost in strength and speed, as well as various supernatural abilities. However, extreme emotional outbursts from their normal personality, such as embarrassment could force a Nightwatcher out of this form, indicated by their eyes returning to normal one after another. By learning to accept and live with their inner darkness instead of resisting it, a Nightwatcher attains the ability to transform into a Night Conqueror.

**Night Conqueror** (黑夜主宰 *Hēi Àn Zhǔ Zǎi*): The ultimate form only achievable by a Nightwatcher after conquering their inner darkness. Entering this form allows a Nightwatcher to access various abilities in addition to the powers granted by Darkening that vastly increases their strength. The power of a Nightwatcher while in this form largely depends on the power of their bloodline, which is directly proportional to the number of Demon Flags they can wield.Due to the disruption of natural energy brought about by artificial lighting, the Night Conqueror transformation is incredibly unstable in modern times, requiring true darkness as a catalyst for the transformation. Even if transformed, the form is short-lived, and the Nightwatcher will lose consciousness afterwards as well as have no recollection of their actions while transformed.

## Equipment

**Soul Gong** (镇魂锣 *Zhèn Hún Luó*): A main family Nightwatcher exclusive magical tool. If struck by the Soul Mallet, it produces a sound that renders anyone within close proximity to the gong unconscious, or temporarily immobilizes anyone who heard the sound other than Nightwatchers, who have certain levels of immunity to its effects. However, if repeatedly struck within a short timeframe, the immunity will start to weaken and eventually the Nightwatcher themselves will be affected by the sound, showing signs such as extreme fatigue and nose bleeding. Even if they are shattered, Soul Gongs can still produce the immobilizing sound if the pieces are taped back together and can be repaired through unknown methods. The immobilizing effect only works on the receivers' bodies, therefore it can not stop someone from mentally controlling or summoning a weapon.
**Soul Mallet** (镇魂锤 *Zhèn Hún Chuí*): A main family Nightwatcher exclusive magical tool. It can be used to strike the Soul Gong to create an immobilizing sound or for physical attacks. When a Nightwatcher assumes the Night Conqueror form, the Soul Mallet's power increases drastically, becoming capable of producing large explosions upon impact when thrown and destroying a monster's soul along with its body in one direct hit.
**Demon Flag** (煌妖幡 *Huáng Yāo Fān*): A Nightwatcher exclusive magic tool. It is used to capture monsters by atomizing their bodies into green fog along with their soul and enslave them as Flag Demons for eternity, courtesy of the numerous magic formulae programmed into them. Flag Demons are capable of making themselves invisible and intangible by turning themselves into green smoke, or solidify themselves to physically attack. Nightwatchers are also able to telepathically communicate with their Flag Demons within a few hundred meters. Nightwatchers can also telekinetically moving Demon Flags within a few dozen meters of themselves, which allows them to hide their flags around the battlefield for sneak attacks with their Flag Demons. Main family Nightwatchers possess purer bloodlines and are thus usually able to control multiple Demon Flags.The Nightwatcher clan falsely claims that a Nightwatcher who can control four or more Demon Flags is able to store at most three Flag Demons in one flag. In reality, the number of Flag Demons a Nightwatcher can have exponentially increases depending on the number of Demon Flags they control. A four-Flag Nightwatcher can have eight Flag Demons, five can have sixteen, etc..

## Members

* Northern Family
* Southern Family
* Unknown
* Branch Family

## Trivia

Nightwatchers and their weapons are based off ancient Chinese night watchmen. They were responsible for reminding the time for the people who were still awake at night by sounding a gong they carry around at night with a mallet while yelling out the time. They were also responsible for catching thieves and warning of a fire if they happen to spot one.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 321 (p. 13).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 321 (p. 8-12).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 147 (p. 4).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 589 (p. 16).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 148 (p. 9).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 346 (p. 15).
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 346 (p. 9).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 346 (p. 13).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 347 (p. 3).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 347 (p. 1).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 348 (p. 2).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 423 (p. 12-13).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 534 (p. 12-14).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 535 (p. 2).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 542 (p. 16).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 546 (p. 8).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 546 (p. 9).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 333 (p. 5).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 91 (p. 9).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 14 (p. 3).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 598 (p. 5).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 598 (p. 8).
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 *Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 255 (p. 2).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 159 (p. 6-9).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 351 (p. 2).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 159 (p. 7).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 256 (p. 1).
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 *Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 255 (p. 9).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 356 (p. 3-4).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 176 (p. 5-6).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 255 (p. 6).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 435 (p. 2).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 176 (p. 8).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 222 (p. 5).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 245 (p. 6).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 355 (p. 13).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 459 (p. 4-5).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 521 (p. 14).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 344 (p. 3).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 542 (p. 20).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 543 (p. 1-4).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 526 (p. 10).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 525 (p. 19-20).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 526 (p. 13).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 543 (p. 13).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 548 (p. 1).
47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 *Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 458 (p. 6).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 548 (p. 15).
49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 *Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 322 (p. 9-12).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 459 (p. 12).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 436 (p. 15-17).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 320 (p. 13).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 322 (p. 6).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 595 (p. 8).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 676 (p. 10).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 549 (p. 2).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 595 (p. 3-5).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 595 (p. 9-10).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 597 (p. 15-16).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 504 (p. 7).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 504 (p. 11).
62. ↑ 62.0 62.1 *Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 589 (p. 1).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 588 (p. 15).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 594 (p. 6).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapters 593-594 (p. 18, 1).
66. ↑ 66.0 66.1 66.2 *Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 596 (p. 5).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 594 (p. 8-10).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 596 (p. 9).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 12 (p. 8).
70. ↑ 70.0 70.1 *Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 351 (p. 7).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 28 (p. 8-9).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 24 (p. 7).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 4 (p. 4).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 189 (p. 9).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 352 (p. 2).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 355 (p. 1).
*Guardians of Night* Manhua — Chapter 596 (p. 11).