The Greywatch
The Greywatch stands as the principal force of order and protection across the Viscounty of Breckheim—a larger and more capable body than its counterparts in market towns like Culcheth, yet still far from a true military force. Based in the stone-walled precincts beneath Breckheim’s towering cliffs, they are well-equipped, decently trained, and experienced in the kind of threats that come not from battlefields, but from backwoods, border trails, and the shadows beneath old trees.
Clad in scale or reinforced mail and bearing black-and-silver livery, the guards carry sturdy spears, longswords, and crossbows—tools meant less for pageantry and more for grim function. Helmets are standardized, their boots well-made. They are paid regularly, housed properly, and expected to handle themselves with at least a semblance of discipline. Most do. The rest don’t last long.
Drawn from towns and villages throughout the viscounty, The Greywatch serves not just Breckheim proper, but the surrounding lowlands, forests, and roads. Their duties are wide-ranging: escorting tax caravans, investigating disappearances, settling land disputes, rooting out cults, and repelling minor Faerie incursions along the outer vales. They are the sword and shield of the region's noble houses—and sometimes the cudgel.
Yet for all their steel and bearing, the guard knows its limits. The deeper horrors—those found in Borslev fen, Darklight Swamp, or the blackened edges of the Wrathwood—are left to The Borderguard, not out of deference, but because those men and women are expendable. The Greywatch is not trained to face banshees or shapeless things, nor are they expected to. They are meant to hold ground, maintain order, and last.
Above them looms the shadow of Oakhaven, where the Ember Vow and the realm’s true hammer waits—called upon only when no other force will suffice. The Greywatch knows this, and they work within that space: measured, cautious, and alert, ever aware that their task is not to defeat the dark, but to keep it at bay long enough for someone more terrible to answer the call.
Type
Military, Paramilitary/Militia
Capital
Training Level
Semi-professional
Veterancy Level
Experienced
Leader
Ruling Organization
