City Policing

Ghavus is the senior military commander responsible for Rochpont, Geldfray Keep and much of the rugged country surrounding the Geldfray Mountains. Although his rank could comfortably keep him behind stone walls and a desk piled with reports, he has never developed much talent for remaining indoors when there is work to be done elsewhere. He looks considerably older than he is. Years spent in the cold winds around the keep, riding mountain roads and accompanying patrols through rain, snow and hard winters have weathered his face far more thoroughly than

Meldwin is one of the senior handlers of Swallows and Ravens employed by the Zephyr Battalion, overseeing a web of informants, social operatives and quiet observers whose reports eventually find their way across his desk. He is an unlikely figure to wield such influence: painfully thin, physically weak and possessed of an awkward manner that can make even ordinary conversation feel faintly uncomfortable. He was abandoned shortly after birth and discovered close to death by a travelling cleric, who carried him back to Aranthaes and placed him in the care

Vavyin Galpris commands the Crescent Moon Battalion, one of Aranthaes’ most capable Merchant Police forces and the private security arm of Khamsa Oudasi’s extensive commercial interests. She is efficient, intelligent and has a reputation for discovering problems long before they become visible to anyone else. Vavyin was raised in the Aranthaes Wynds and learned early that survival depended as much upon noticing things as doing them. She became adept at remembering faces, recognising danger, overhearing conversations and understanding which people mattered in a street long before anyone bothered to explain

Raistum Magus is Head of the Zephyr Battalion of the Aranthaes Merchant Police, and one of the city’s most experienced specialists in magical crime. Born into a prosperous merchant family in Aranthaes, he developed an early fascination with the arcane and spent much of his life studying magic long before entering public service. By the time the Zephyrs recruited him in his sixties, Raistum had already accumulated decades of knowledge, private research and contacts among the city’s scholars, collectors and magical trades. His rise within the battalion was unusually rapid.

Taygor Saraius was born in one of the small hidden settlements deep within the Derkwuds, and has spent most of his long life learning the moods, paths and warnings of the ancient forest. He belongs to the Circle of the Derkwuds Guardian, a secretive druidic tradition whose members watch over the mist-bound woods, guide those who enter with respect, and protect places they believe should never be disturbed. Taygor grew up among people for whom the Derkwuds were neither wilderness nor legend, but home. From childhood he learned that silence

Akzir was born to famed gold merchant Aurto Aerum and his tiefling mistress in the same year as half-sister Alus, but was kept secret from the public eye, living with his mother. When Akzir was 14 years old, his mother was killed in a raid by the Red Cloaks, leaving him with nothing but his father’s name and the hatred of all bandits. In his late teenage years, Akzir was taken under the wing of the City Guard and trained to become a paladin. He quickly rose through the ranks,

Ossian Harewood was born and raised in Aranthaes. His parents were both merchants, killed by bandits when Ossian was just a child. The attack left him permanently blind in one eye. His grandfather, Commander Godwin Harewood, took him and his younger brother Galhert in and raised them as his own. Despite his partial blindness, Ossian was determined to become a fighter and wished to follow his grandfather by joining the City Guard as soon as he was able. His proud grandfather trained him in swordplay and combat tactics, and Ossian