Black Sentinels

The Black Sentinels do not exist. They cannot be contracted, and they are not trained. Each spring, White Sentinel initiates march into camp, and each winter they march back out wearing bright white cloaks. A black hood is never seen among them.
Yet, sometimes, people die unexpectedly. Armouries are found empty and raided. Secret bands of Blutviks die with no resistance. These rumours are what sustain the Black Sentinels. Every year, the Sentinel Selectors assign some people to the White who would make poor palace guards. They seem to end up in groups of their own during the long year of training, and they march to Calthor along with the bulk of new Sentinels awaiting assignment. 
Here - the whispers claim - they are among the first of the Sentinels to find the pubs. But they don't boast about their beautiful cloaks, instead they hide them, and are secretly taken out of the city for up to three years more training. Such a force, if it existed, would be highly deadly, effective, and basically untraceable. Most of the rumours agree that the Black Sentinels rarely turn up clad in impressive black armour - they travel and act completely incognito.
The history of the Black Sentinels, such as it is, records that they are fearsomely effective, and (uniquely for the Sentinel Order, fearsomely loyal to the Weldic crown. No full list of their covert actions in favour of the crown and its allies could possibly be complied, but all agree that no monarch yet has had cause to criticise their services.

Public Agenda

The Black Sentinels have no public presence, never mind agenda, but this does not stop some among the public fascinating over what they might or might not be responsible for. In general, it is accepted that their members are skilled in some or all of:

• Assassination - both covert and overt
• Interrogation, manipulation, and torture
• Tracking and hunting the most skilled fugitives
• Light raiding and small-scale military attacks on outposts/garrisons
• Sabotage of buildings, roads, and infrastructure

Part of the legend of the Black Sentinels is that they are the most elite within the Order - and skilled in every other Discipline. Some sources claim that they spend a month as part of their training beyond Conrad's Gate, hunting and killing the Empty more effectively than the Blue Sentinels.
This wide range of rumour makes it doubly hard to know what the Weldic crown might use them for. Any action against their enemies (or perceived enemies) could be an attack by the Black Sentinels, or could be misfortune. The only incidents which are clearly not related to the Black Sentinels are where the aggrieved organisation claims to have found shreds of black cloth at the scene as 'proof' that Weldmere is acting against them - no one in Sammerden is foolish enough to believe the Black Sentinels actually wear black!

Founding Date

Unknown

Type

Secret, Military

Alternative Names

The Shadows

Training Level

Elite

Veterancy Level

Veteran

Leader Title

Commander of the Black Sentinels

Parent Organization

The Sentinel Order

Location

Firstfort

Related Ranks & Titles

• Commander of the Black Sentinels