Haven City Watch
The Haven City Watch is equivalent to a modern police force in actions though they do not fully investigate any but the most serious or notorious crimes. They are charged with keeping the general peace in the city and ensuring the safety of the inhabitants. There are approximately 1,100 men in the Watch, with 13 stations (seven of them at the city’s gates), the prison, and the training facility.
The Citadel Guard, stationed on Trade Island, is not considered part of the City Watch, even though the city pays the salaries of the guardsmen stationed there. Adrielle’s Watch is definitely not part of the City Watch and is tolerated only because they patrol the The Outlands where the Watch is thin on the ground.
Approximately one-quarter of the Watch is on duty at any given time. The men tend to work 3 weeks of five 8-hour shifts each, and one week of 6 shifts. Some of the Watch are married, or have semi-permanent arrangements, and maintain separate living quarters. About half the Watch prefers to live at various barracks buildings to which they are assigned.
Halfway between the Judgment Gate and the Horse Gate can be found The Academy, where training is provided for the city watchmen once they have joined the force. The academy is made up of three main areas:
- Academy Barracks (headquarters for attachments south of the river)
- Academy Armory
- Academy Training Field
The combat training given the recruits concentrates on peacekeeping rather than soldierly combat, since their normal duty is within the city walls. However, the thousand men of the Watch are the second closest thing Haven has to a standing army since the Citadel Guard in The Citadel on Trade Island receives more actual field training in military combat techniques.
On the grassy training field across a narrow alley from the Barracks, many of Haven’s citizenry parade and countermarch for their monthly militia training duty. It is unlikely that these citizen soldiers, armed with spears and clad in light leather armor, could do much against veteran troops, but they can at least man the walls in case of attack.
Each Watchman has a group of ten men under him, and is responsible for their training one day a month. On this day, he meets them at the field, escorts them (usually in whatever semblance of military formation he can shout and bully them into) to the Armory, arms and armors them. He then takes them back to the field and, as one militia trainee put it, “drills the bluidy buitts off ‘em!”. Training lasts from mid-morning until dusk, and is required; citizens failing to show up for their assigned day of training will be hauled before a magistrate and fined with repeat offenders possibly drawing duty as targets for fledgling archers.
[anchor|Ducal_Guard]
The Ducal Guard
The City Watch contingent in The Heights is referred to as the Ducal Guard despite being under the command of the city, not the Duke. The unit name descend from the part when they used to be the protectors of the Duke’s household.
The Ducal Guard patrols in irregular, but roughly hourly intervals during daylight hours; roughly half-hourly after sunset. There are 60 men in the contingent, based in a fine, stone block, two-story building near Shield Gate. Most are trained cavalrymen and mounted on blood-bay mares supplied by Varrasch and Family.
Their leader is Mikyl Swiftsword, a renowned campaigner and overall Commander of the Watch.
Ranks
Commander of the Watch: This individual is also the Borough Commander for the The Heights. Less formally they are called Watch Commander
Borough Commander: Responsible for their station and all other stations in their borough; reports to the Commander of the Watch
Station Captain: Responsible for a station and its compelement of guard; reports to their Borough Commander
Station Officer: Reports to and assists the station captain including scheduling partols; acts as an intermediary between the men and senior command; larger stations may have multiple Station Officers
Sergeant of the Watch: Leads a squad of up to 15 guards; reports to the Station Officer
Watchman: basic rank and file, reports to a Sergeant of the Watch
Trainee: Junior member still undergoing training
| Borough | Stations3 | Captain | Complement Total (Officers-Sergeants-Watchmen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[settlement/heights | Heights]] | Shield Gate1,2 | [[person/mikyl-swiftsword |
| [[settlement/north-corridor | North Corridor]] | Nobles Way North Gate Caravan Gate [[landmark/the-mint | The Mint]]2 |
| [[settlement/commons | Commons]] | Copper Gate2 | [[person/tikkan-maltby |
| [[settlement/labyrinth | Labyrinth]] | Southbridge Market2 | [[person/methri-starbelly |
| [[settlement/south-corridor | South Corridor]] | Judgement Gate [[landmark/grey-halls | Grey Halls]] Corridor2 Horse Gate [[landmark/the-academy |
| [[settlement/outlands | Outlands]] | Iron Gate The Tower2 | [[person/drobur-arn-fegli |
1 Captain of this station is the Commander of the Watch
2 Captain of these stations are also Borough Commanders
3 The door to a station is traditionally lit by a lamp with a greenish-yellow flame ( Continual Flame spell).
Joining the Watch
The Watch does recruit and looks for men with strength, agility, and leadership capability. The pay is not spectacular but the hours and the work are relatively easy. A trainee makes 7gp a week, a watchman 12gp, a sergeant 20gp, a station officer 30gp, and a station captain 50gp (60gp if he is the overall commander for a borough). A watchman may live at his barracks if he wishes and two meals a day are provided in the barracks mess hall. After a year of service the Watch will permit a one-month leave of absence per year.
If a player-character wishes to join the watch, there are many different possibilities. Joining the watch does require certain physical minimums, a total of 40 points in STR, DEX, CON, and CHA. Recognizing the utility of magic, casters are also welcome with the requisite stats being DEX, CON, INT, CHA. The sum of the four requisites represents the character’s base percentage chance of acceptance - add 5% for each level greater than 1st. A martial class character may also apply for a rank higher than trainee:
- Intermediates may apply to start as watchman without undergoing training.
- Veterans may start as sergeants, roughly patrol leader.
- Elites may start at station officers
When applying for advanced positions, acceptance is strictly on stat point total percentage - no bonus for level.
While involved in normal duties, a Watch member has a 2% chance of becoming engaged in a potentially fatal engagement.
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