Before Duke Aidan handed over the sovereignty of the Duchy of Ravenwood to the Southern Republic, he formed an independent organization known as The Republic’s Watchers or, more commonly, The Watchers.

Aidan borrowed this idea from earlier organizations formed by the People of the Three Rivers and the University of Khartras to protect societies against the predations of rogue mages. Aidan, Speaker Gaius, and the Assembly simply expanded the tasks of such an organization to also protect the Republic from rogue politicians or external threats.

The Watchers number no more than 200, with up to twenty commanders leading a small group of nine agents each (i.e., twenty groups of ten). Agents, in turn, often hire more local people to help them to discharge their responsibilities or deal with specific problems.

The council of commanders acts by majority vote on serious issues, but a smaller handful of commanders, an operational council whose members rotate annually, also possess a high degree of freedom to approve lesser actions against specific threats (e.g., the Watchers might act to stop an imperial spy or a newly discovered coup attempt and only later deliver a full report to the assembled council).