Avendar

Watcher

The modern watcher is the culmination of a tri-racial effort to record, track, and sell. Unlike most professions, the watcher's roots are atypically unclear. The ancient aelin, with their need to discreetly monitor the "undesirable", have prided themselves at the contribution of calm confidentiality to the creed. Meanwhile, the nefortu, Avendar's consummate merchants, brought to the watcher the power of the coin. Through it, the watcher guild has developed a shockingly immense network of spies, suppliers, and contacts. Finally, but not insubstantially, the shuddeni brought with them their love for oppression, penchant for bureaucracy, and disregard for the truth. Together, these forces have created one of Avendar's most powerful mercenary guilds.

A watcher's chosen weapon is the staff, and his mastery of its use is beyond all others. While wielding his staff, a watcher is adept at rapid strikes, stunning twirls, and superior deflection. He is also a tracker, able to follow the trail of those who have fled and delay or weaken those he has caught up to. However, the most powerful weapon in a watcher's arsenal is his affiliation with the monolithic Office of Records, which grants access to information on items, locations, people, and history. When of sufficient rank, a watcher may choose to add to the Office's collective knowledge, or employ it against those who have earned his disfavor.

The watcher guild is bound by order, as well as confidentiality; therefore, those of chaotic ethoi cannot study within it. Watchers often venerate lawful deities because of their guild's bias in that direction, and have many have sought the Guardians of Law. However, with the coming of Rveyelhi, Tyrant of the Black Staff, the watcher guild has taken on a less upstanding cast, giving its machinations a crueler bent. In the end, a watcher's allegiance is for sale... To those willing to pay.