The Road Watch
"What'll happen to him?"
The Patrol Leader glanced over at our sullen faces at the question. Shaking his head, he finished locking the wagon shut first, then walked over to look us in the eye.
"He'll travel with us until we get to a settlement with a magistrate," he said. His tone was carefully matter-of-fact, his face understanding. "After that, it'll be up to that township to decide." Hesitating, he added, "We're headed to Beremen for the moment. They don't take infractions very seriously if it doesn't impact tourism. I suspect he'll be given a fine or flogging and let go, but I can't promise that; you understand?"
The Road Watch is the main force keeping the roads between towns of the Spirited Lands passable. A volunteer organization, Road Patrols are the defacto law enforcement for the area, but they don't keep a specific set of laws. Instead, those who disturb the peace or are declared as criminals in some regard by the townships the Patrols pass through are picked up and carted to whatever nearest settlement has something akin to a judge or other law process available.
Structure
The Road Watch is led by a Watch General, nominated and voted on at the previous General's retirement by the upper ranks of the organization. Under the acting General, several Watch Captains coordinate and direct efforts across the region in areas ranging from three to seven towns in size. There are anywhere from three to seven Watch Captains at a time; the initial captains were obvious choices voted into position, while modern members are simply appointed to the position by an existing Captain or General.
Below the Captains, as many as twenty Patrol Leaders in a given area provide direct oversight of groups that can vary in size from four to thirty Roadmen and Roadwomen, depending on the state of recruiting and the needs of their section of the roads.
Public Agenda
The Road Watch's agenda is a simple one; they keep the roads safe to travel. While the complications of a situation might call for members to venture into less-familiar situations like politics or urban investigations, one can be assured that a Roadman on duty is pursuing something to keep a roadway secure in some way.
Assets
The Road Watch is primarily a volunteer organization, and most of its assets come from donations in one form or another. Some donations are more impressive than others: Beremen deeded its easternmost garrison building within the city over to the Road Watch in 782 MT, a move calculated to guarantee a regular presence of the organization on the region, which could only help trade. Nonetheless, even the meanest village either keeps up a small building for the Roadmen or willingly hosts members in guest rooms and inns without payment.
Most villages also provide donations of whatever funding they can provide to passing patrols, which are passed along for the Captains to divvy out for meager salaries and purchases of necessary supplies. "No one joins the Watch to get rich," is common wisdom in the Spirited Lands.
History
In the chaos following Talia Carte's disappearance, the Spirited Lands suffered perhaps more than other locations. The vanished empire had claimed and kept safe most of the area between the Spider Spires and Stormsurge Mountains; without the Clubs and the ability to use the Roadways to travel from settlement to settlement, the trolls, orcs, drakes, and wilds of the Spirited Lands quickly began pressing civilization on all fronts. The ruler of Beremen at the time made a token attempt to officially claim some of the surrounding towns, but quickly gave up the effort when it became clear a pirate captain's crew was ill-equipped to form a wider style of government.
The answer to region-wide safety came in the form of small militia groups that began coordinating with one another. Towns and villages took to setting aside what buildings and supplies they could spare for the groups as the volunteers fought their way repeatedly between settlements, clearing long-forgotten roads and paths. In 545 MT, the first Watch General was officially declared, separate groups having been communicating extensively with each other enough to agree that their common purpose of protecting those who could not was a cause worth uniting under.
Watch the Road, Because the Road Needs Watching
Maps
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Beremen
Founding Date
545 MT
Type
Military, Paramilitary/Militia
Training Level
Professional
Veterancy Level
Experienced
Demonym
Roadman/men, Roadwoman/women
Location
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