The Watchers

"In war, victory.

In peace, vigilance.

In death, sacrifice."
—Oath of the Watcher

Divine Origins

During the Age of the Torn Vale when the world was suddenly flooded with demons and other extra dimensional beasts, the incarnation of Datura at the time gathered every follower she had who could lift a weapon or a hammer and marched to the center of Ashweald.

While the paladins fought the deluge of monsters that came from the tear in the sky, the masons constructed the grandest citadel that ever was. Though it sat upon the earth in Ashweald it ascended into the sky—into the Vale itself. It took 100 years to build but it gave the Watchers and Datura the foothold that was needed to push the monsters back and mend the fabric of reality. The citadel, which came to be called Stalwart, stood at 3000 feet in the Here and another 200 in the Vale.

Though the Torn Vale crisis had been resolved, the world was still filled with demons who killed indiscriminately across the whole world. It would take many centuries before the Watchers would eliminate this threat as well as to hunt the other interlopers from the Pale. Demons now reside almost exclusively within Od Pholix and don't resemble their former selves, having adapted to the local way of life. Vampires appear to be extinct everywhere excepting Karstland, same for vampyrs.

Granted Divine Powers

Watchers who swear the oath are granted silver eyes. These eyes imbue them with the power to see the true nature of vampyres, demons, and other creatures from beyond the Vale. No matter what shape these creatures take, Watchers can always see their true form.

Sects

In the wake of the moonfall and the destruction of Skyspear, the Watchers lost their citadel and the majority of their leadership. Over the course of the twenty years after the disaster the order began to fracture into varying beliefs and practices that had much to do with the region in which they served the order's interests. Local politics, religious views, and culture always have an impact on groups as large as the Watchers but without a center authority, the fragmentation has continued even further. Before long there will likely be child organizations as the original purpose of the Watchers begins to fade.
In Karstland, the Watchers have become extremists devoted to eradicating vampires, demons, and now the undead. This is in no small part to the sheer prevalence of vampires in Karstland where they run rampant and routinely slaughter entire settlements but more importantly this radicalization is at least partially attributable to the belief of Watchers serving under Ser Rosea the Wolf (the "She-Wolf of the Karsts") who propagated the belief that the Marrow Church was behind the moonfall and in fact did it explicitly to destroy Skyspear and weaken the order.
By way of contrast one can look at Tuared's chapter, lead by Dowd the Younger. The Watchers of Tuared concern themselves with protecting the settlers of Mythyard from the strange and unexplored land. Sometimes called "roadwardens" these Watchers have begun the project of building forward camps and keeps so that more of the continent can be explored or settled with greater safety.

"Vigilance, loyalty, discipline."

Founding Date

Circa 540 T.V.

Type

Religious, Holy Order

Alternative Names

Knights of the Vale

Deities

• Datura

Location

Skyspear

Cold War

The Watchers

-100

The Marrow Church

-70