So from what I gather researching medieval europe, most towns and cities had a handful of dedicated guards for the walls, plus some mercs for the local lords, but otherwise they had glorified brute squads that would get called up at a moment's notice for night watches, posses etc.
I'd like to do something like this for my homebrew city, Inderwick. I am looking for suggestions for cool sounding names for the elite guards that are permanently employed in the city.
Some examples (they sound trite to me but who knows - tell me what YOU think):
The Ironspire Guard - because there's a Pharasmin's saint's order in Inderwick called the Order of Ironspire.
The Gravehammers - hammer-wielding unit similarly inspired by Pharasmin influences.
The Shield Arcane - a unit potentially inspired by an academy in the city of arcane and alchemical arts.
The Wickwardens, each devoted to a specific ward or area within the city.
The Common Guard, known for being servants of and to the people of the city rather than in the employ of nobles or the wealthy elite - a separate unit from the standing army who's authority supercedes theirs within the city limits.
It would help if I knew a little more about your city - its history, its theme, its technology/arcane level, its feel... as well as what role you want these guard to play - city defenders from outside threats, a secret police monitoring the populace, strongarms who enforce the will and safety of the nobility but are corrupt otherwise... could be a lot of things.
Carved from the bedrock of a lone island at the mouth of the Yalmavonoz River and overlooking the Beldam Bogs stands Castle Inderwick. A series of walls and bridges connect the near banks to the desolate citadel forming the town which bears its name. Within the halls of Inderwick University alchemists and arcanists study the fearsome flora and fauna of the haunted wilds. Pharasmin clergy and their faithful tend the Eastspire Cemetery while a monastic sect of the church stands sentinel against the corruption of the dark forces in the nearby mire. Their vigilance inspires the Lantern Watch; an elite night-time mercenary guard of dubious reputation but indisputable results. The return of a malady of madness hearkens back to darker days and the gloom of the Bogs beckons once more.
Inderwick
LN small city
Corruption -1; Crime +0; Economy +2; Law +3; Lore +3; Society +1
Qualities academic, holy site, isolated, strategic location
Danger +5
Demographics
Government autocracy
Population 8,750 (5,200 humans; 1980 dwarves; 1570 other)
Notable NPCs
Lord Mayor Hrodwulf Gravusc (LG male human ranger (warden) 13)
Honorable Dean, Senior Professor Amaley Ipparadas (CG female ½ elf wizard 8/loremaster 10)
Captain of the Lantern Watch Malpreg “Flickereye” Zurn (NE male halfling fighter 5/Rogue 4)
Archbishop Durncrag Gravehammer (LN male dwarf cleric 15)
Marketplace
Base Value 4,400 gp; Purchase Limit 25,000 gp; Spellcasting 9th
Minor Items 4d4; Medium Items 3d4; Major Items 1d6
Built atop the heath of the outer bogs, the town of Inderwick is defined by its proximity to the Beldam. The town itself spans the Yalmavonoz River from a rocky prominence in the water down to the rugged moors along the banks over walls and bridges maintained dutifully by the townsfolk. Many of the resources needed to maintain the town is drawn from the bogs; from their iron and wood to many of the plants grown in their gardens and fields. Logs of peat are even used to heat homes and halls.
But the Beldam Bogs are vast, spanning hundreds of miles and encompassing woodlands, swamps, bogs and moors. These darkened interiors play host to some truly dark forces; pixies and satyrs who use the forests for their wicked revels, boggards and grindylow continuing their centuries-old wars with the grippli in the deeper reaches of the bogs and goblins and their kin with their own cruelties inflicted at their pleasure or at the command of the many hags scattered throughout the wilds. Still worse predators prowl the fetid expanse to menace the town and its hinterlands.
Evidence and local folklore holds that there was a settlement on this site ages ago. The Halflings in the hills upriver claim that some of their number inhabited the riverside where the lower town now stands, but the ground had soured when the Blood Tears came; a phenomena of rusty red streaks that seep into the placid Yalmavonoz from the surrounding bogs. The ground turned sour then and the blight continued season after season. Legend says that as the malady lingered and their town suffered the wee-folk made forays into the Beldam to make bargains with the creatures there and those who didn’t were cursed or consumed by the foul waters. According to the Halfling tale those who embraced the darkness of the swamp became the boggards while those who resisted were transformed into the grippli; the rest were dragged down, under the fetid bogs to be reborn as the wicked Grindylow.
Regardless of the veracity of the tale the fact remains that this place was abandoned for some time until it was reclaimed by a coven of hags known as the Beldam Knot. The scheming hags used their powers to visit curses upon the northern towns upriver and spreading the blight as far as Bauerstadt. When the knights mustered their forces and pursued the goblin minions of the sisters, they encountered a horde of undead fueled by a mist risen from the bogs; a greenish fog that literally consumed the living where they stood. A single knight, known as Sir Ivar the Ironspire, fought his way through the gauntlet and reached the Knot at the top of a hill where the hags were finally slain. Sir Ivar, with his last breaths, called to his patron Pharasma for a miracle and she answered his prayer in the form of a nova of divine energy so powerful it obliterated the unliving hordes.
The survivors interred the hallowed dead in a crypt carved from the hill where Sir Ivar had met his end. Many returned over the years from the northern towns; these pilgrims found that the ground had begun to recover, even thrive in the wake of the wars. A monastery was built and a Pharasmin sect of holy knights called the Order of Ironspire was born. But theirs was a humble order and with the threat of the Beldam Bogs ever looming they would need greater defenses than even their walls and the Mother of Souls could muster. After several encounters with goblins in the region the Ironspire order found salvation from an unlikely source; an aloof and erudite alchemist from the fallen aristocracy of Agonoszk named Caswyn Inderwick.
Through his money and influence the town was born. Stone and the dwarves to work it were hired from the north and their influence as well as the gothic style of the Old Provinces can be seen in the buttresses and crenelated spires of the town’s citadel in the river. Within these walls a university grew, attributed as much to Inderwick as to the scholarly monks who were its first professors. Today these walls extend down over a series of arches, across the river to the lower wards and towers pierce it at regular intervals. The most of the town is paved in cobblestone; half-timber houses crowd the lower wards while along the riverfront the gardens and fields of the town remain unspoiled by the bogs.
However the town endures its share of misery. Grindylow and other bog creatures have been a perpetual menace to the river quays, even infiltrating the town’s dwarven sewers. A fey incursion decades ago has left the town with recurring outbreaks of a madness-inducing disease known locally as the Grins. Some of the townsfolk once turned away from Pharasma to embrace a dark presence in the bogs thought to be an aspect of Gorum known as the Crawler in Rust and represented as a gargantuan rust monster. Often these challenges prove too daunting for the common guardsmen of Inderwick.
Because of these threats the town employs a mercenary guard known as the Lantern Watch. Agents of the Watch actively seek out unusual threats which the local constabulary is unfit to handle. They report directly to the Lord Mayor and are often unconventional in their methods. The Lantern Watch frequently employs adventurers in the course of their investigations.
There are seven laws, known as the Dictums, upon which Inderwick is founded. Being a generally lawful settlement these laws govern all aspects of daily life. They can be found on and in public buildings, hanging on the walls of the town hall and in chap books held by monks and barristers alike. The Dictums are:
• Peace first, but through will enforce conviction
• Honor thine elders, lest history repeat itself in future calamity
• Seek not to covet or steal from thy neighbors; earn all that you have or need
• Ridicule not the folly or misfortune of others
• Defend; never murder or maim
• Expect in negotiations only so much accord as you are willing to extend
• Respect the natural cycles of life and meet death as a waiting friend
So the idea of the Inderwick is that it was a center for trade and defense of the area against the horrors of the Beldam until the Wilding. The hinterlands and even much of the South Ward of the city are still overgrown and tangled in brambles, thickets and wild growth. Some trade has begun to flow back into the city but the land is still a shadow of what it once was.
Also the FEEL of the city is one of exploration but also fear. The Beldam has always been a vast unknown but now the Gnarl looms right on the very doorstep of the city; the grippli have begun inhabiting (some say INFESTING) the tree-lined outskirts and even interior of Inderwick and the stuffy old conservatives of the universtiy and pious occult hunters of Ironspire are giving way to a youthful adventurer's guild in the form of the Lantern Watch.
It should be noted: the Lantern Watch is a supplemental guild in the city, not it's inherent guard.
The feel of the campaign is one of Man vs Nature or Man vs the Wild. I also wanted to strike an eastern european mindset, with the ignorant or superstitious of Inderwick going about their lives with fairy tale like beliefs. The fey are well known to inhabit the wilds as well as the darkest shadows of the city. Inderwickens sometimes leave out food and ale to entreat Tinker Pixies into their shops to help with their labours; Grimstone Cemetery sometimes gives rise to Graveborn Pixies who menace the unwary; many in Inderwick who've not taken the proper precautions wake in the morning with their hair tanged in knots.
@ Eldon: the Ironspire is a cold iron spear driven into the ground on the spot St Ivar the Ironspire perished. The knights of the order carry spears as one of their primary weapons. This is one of the reasons I thought of the Ironspire Guard.
The inspiration for the Gravehammers came from the current Archbishop's last name. I thought that it sounded cool is all.
The Shield Arcane is just a combination of the fact that the magic academy is built into a walled citadel section of the city and that Inderwick stands as a defense against the horrors of the Beldam.
But then there's the rub: with the exception of the wrought-iron look of the spears of the Ironspire Guard, I can't seem to see ANY of this in my head.
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@ Eldon: the Ironspire is a cold iron spear driven into the ground on the spot St Ivar the Ironspire perished. The knights of the order carry spears as one of their primary weapons. This is one of the reasons I thought of the Ironspire Guard.
The inspiration for the Gravehammers came from the current Archbishop's last name. I thought that it sounded cool is all.
The Shield Arcane is just a combination of the fact that the magic academy is built into a walled citadel section of the city and that Inderwick stands as a defense against the horrors of the Beldam.
But then there's the rub: with the exception of the wrought-iron look of the spears of the Ironspire Guard, I can't seem to see ANY of this in my head.
LOL!
I get you. You were taking my advice before I gave it. I wasn't sure where those came from. :)
You don't talk about government, so I'll assume a feudal system with a Duke and assorted lesser nobles. Various merchant guilds. A squabbling council of the rich and noble, who appoint officials and the judiciary.
The Marsh Rangers, commonly known as the Bogtrotters, keep an eye on the various denizens of the Beldam, maintaining a few causeways and watchtowers a couple of miles into the swamp. Longbow, swords, axes. Warriors, fighters, rangers, experts, druids.
Silver Hawks: the Duke's personal guard regiment, predominantly concerned with protecting him and his palace. So called for their highly polished hawkshead helmets. Lots of bluster and swagger, but of little proven ability (mostly Warrior 1 or Aristocrat 1). Breastplate, heavy shield, longsword, spear.
Guild Proctors: Sponsored by the guilds. Concerned with crimes against trade, the guilds, etc. Police the markets and protect warehouses. Have powers of arrest. Will investigate crimes, but normally only bother if bribed or a merchant is affected. Moderately corrupt. Studded, light mace, net, light crossbow. Warrior 1-3, some experts, some others.
Judiciars: Concerned with those who have been arrested. Guard the prisons, courts, judges. Executioners. Breastplate, halberd, shortsword.
@ Muddy: thank you for these! I'm going to hold off on the Bogtrotters; their mission is rolled up into what I'm using the Lantern Watch for. The Silver Hawks however are a nice idea, except I have no duke. I'll modify them as follows:
The Argentian Guard - known to locals as the Silver Hawks, this is the unit that secures the Citadel Ward and the university of Inderwick. Though they answer to the Lord Mayor's office they are synonymous with the master scholars. They are bold, impressive, but not particularly battle tested. Most of the Argentian guard is for show (warriors or aristocrats) and serving among them is a way to advance oneself in Inderwicken society. However among them are a select few who show real promise (fighters, alchemists, magus); these elite men and women are often selected for special missions throughout the city and the hinterlands beyond.
Now the Guild Proctors are perfect. Vaguely corrupt I'd have these as the common guardsman seen about the city. Since Inderwick is divided into 5 wards and then further into districts the Guild Proctors would be everywhere the Argentian aren't.
One of the wards is referred to as the South Ward. It was this ward that was overrun by the Wilding and overgrown by the Gnarl. It's only been in the last 5 years that Inderwick has been able to reclaim any of the South Ward, and even then only a quarter of the land at that has been cleared and re-inhabited. Though there's a low market here and some few businesses the Guild Proctors have no presence here. They claim this is because the upstart Lantern Watch have headquartered themselves here but this is a thin veil to obscure the real truth: the area is high risk with low reward.
The Judicars: There is a prison and several towers along the ward walls with donjon towers for holding criminals, so these agents would be great for that. I'd make them tied into a deity, more than likely either Pharasma since that goddess already has a significance in Inderwick.
These are great ideas, but I wouldn't be opposed to others.
The 'shield could be the special Scotland Yard detective unit.
Bel Ashrati: The Ashrati are a somewhat osctracised group of foreigners (think gypsy Jews) who provide certain services that are otherwise frowned on. The Bel Ashrati are a semi-formal group who protect the Ashrati, or take revenge when an Ashra is robbed or attacked. Or (as others might allege) they are a band of thieves and thugs. Red headband. Kukri, lasso, sling. Warriors, rogues, monks.