Vigilant

The Vigilant order was an organization that served as the police force of Tarmalune, one of the Windrise Ports.

Background
Before the founding of the Vigilant, the city was an unruly place dominated by corrupt traders and criminal gangs. Because of this, while the Vigilant order was positively accepted by the good people of Tarmalune, who wanted to live in a secure and law-abiding city, those who profited from illegal activities, as well as the mercenaries who once profited by selling their services to those who needed security (such as the Battle Hound mercenary company led by Rathgar Malynd) openly criticized and ridiculed the Vigilant, saying that they were oppressive and incompetent.

Despite those claims, the Vigilant was a highly competent organization, to the point that they became the model for similar city watch forces in the other Windrise Ports.

Organization
Members of the Vigilant were divided in two groups: the "sternhelms", who were veteran officials and numbered about six dozen in 1479 DR; and the trainees, who were newly appointed officials and vastly outnumbered the veterans.

The "sternhelms" were divided in the following ranks:

Ultimately, all members of the Vigilant were under the direct command of the Lord Speaker of the Council of Tarmalune, who in 1479 DR, was the founder of the order, Hamminas Dorn.

Headquarters
The headquarters of the Vigilant was a fortress named Tarmkeep, located in the southwestern side of the city. Tarmkeep also doubled as the city's jail and the Vigilant's armory.

However, since they were too few and had to patrol all the city, officers usually rented offices that also doubled as temporary cells in all districts of Tarmalune.

Activities
The main duty of the Vigilant was to patrol Tarmalune and make sure the city remained safe. They usually patrolled the city in groups of twelve members, except in the Fishstink and dockside areas, where the groups were of eighteen members instead. A typical patrol was composed by a senior watcher, who acted as the leader, a junior watcher, while the rest of the group was composed by trustswords and trainees.

The trainees were heavily tested for a period of a year, to see if they were corrupt or were able to keep the secrets of other members of the Vigilant. If they passed their probationary year, they were promoted to trustswords, the rank-and-file members of the Vigilant. Trustswords who were well liked by their companions and proved to be honest and trustworthy could advance to the rank of watcher when a vacancy became available.

As the councilors of Tarmalune disliked dealing with criminals and other legal cases, members of the Vigilant had the authority to deal with criminal cases as they saw fit. Usually, when they truly believed ignorance of the law played a part in an incident, individual Vigilants tried to solve problems by talking with the involved individuals whenever possible. As such, the Vigilant only arrested people when either they caught them actually committing a crime or when there was solid proof of their involvement in one.

Investigators outranked the watchers, and they seldom patrolled the city. Their job was to command individual watchers and trustswords to spy on criminals, investigate murders and mysteries, and report matters to their superiors, the wardswords.

The wardswords oversaw each one of the city neighborhoods, and usually four wardswords were assigned to each district at all times. They were tasked to watch out for citizens and visitors engaged in shady pursuits, the whereabouts of all mercenary and adventurer bands as well as their current activities, and the links—actual or potential—between businesses, gangs, and individual criminals.

The shields were the high-ranking officers among the Vigilant, who acted as military commanders. They also spoke and dealt on behalf of the Vigilant with the Council of Tarmalune and prominent citizens, and also hired adventurers when they needed to bolster Tarmalune's defenses or spy on other Vigilant officers.

Possessions
Members of the Vigilant, regardless of rank, typically wore black leather armor and boots with black metal helms, gorgets, breastplates, and backplates, emblazoned with their emblem. They also wore cloaks in rainy days and quilted cloaks in winter.

As for weapons, they usually used short swords, belt and boot daggers—some used small knives as well—and cudgels, and some of them used long wooden poles for crowd control.

History
The Vigilant was founded by Lord Hamminas Dorn after he became the Lord Speaker of the Council of Tarmalune.

A few years before 1479 DR, agents of Gauwervyndhal were sent to Tarmalune to kidnap Halagothra the Healer. Gauwervyndhal's plot was disrupted, however, when Halagothra was rescued thanks to the efforts of the Vigilant order.