The Order of the Just is one wing of a larger organization: The Guardians of Aleasana. This group was the kingdom's peacekeepers and police force, and still do so, albeit in a capacity limited by the fragmention. Nevertheless, the continue, and their exploits are one of the reasons for the continuing nostalgia for a united nation.
The Guardians are split into two groups; the Order of the Just, the public footsoldiers and keepers of the peace and serve as the face of the society, and the Watchful Eye, the less public investigative and analytic half.
The Guardians overall commander is Daerill Marders, a grizzled old veteran whose heroic deeds in the Order of the Just are still sung about. Under him are the half-Shay Sarai Flyssa, a ranger who heads the Order of the Just, and the leader of The Watchful Eye, a brilliant if rather dull lich known only as the Mouser.
While the Order pursues its goals in the light of day, the men and women of the Eye keep to the shadows. Members of the just like to joke that it's a difficult job "As they're constantly dealing with cunning rat-bastards with scorpion minds....and that's not even dealing with the opposition they and their coworkers face." They excel in investigation, espionage, and data analysis. They are part detective group, part spy organization, and part secret police, though operating in a much lessened capacity.
Most specialize in one area. Some are spies, working to deal with other nations or the various secret groups. Others are investigators, tracking down particularly hard to catch criminals, often called out to hunt down crimelords and slavers, as well as rapists or serial killers. They are unforunatley short-handed, partly due to having to deal with so many groups exploiting the chaos, and also because the chaos means more rescources are devoted to the Order of the Just.
The head of The Watchful Eyes was formerly known as [Insert Monarch Name Here]'s Mouser, now shortened just to the Mouser. His real name has been lost to the past. Not even the Shay remember his predecessor. Hell, not even the Shay remeber that this is a trick question. The Mouser had no predacessor, having been appointed the his position upon the formation of the Watchful eye, and has remained ever since.
Magic users seek lichdom for many reasons. Some seek power, some wish to escape death, and some to continue their search for knowledge. But the Mouser's seeking of lichdom due to sheer anal retentive devotion to duty is likely unique. As he grew older, and none of his potential successors proved as capable as him, he simply took steps to ensure he was able to continue his job.
The Mouser is known as a rather dull individual, with little ambition (terribly uncommon with liches) beyond carrying out his duty. He is brilliant, cunning, and devoted to duty. He is also without mercy or pity for those who jeapordise the peace, and absolutely ruthless in ensuring the same. Though he's been less efficient since the last king's death. He regards it as a personal failure in his duty and has been in a depressive malaise.
He possesses a keen understanding of the human mind, with a talent for investigation and analysis. He serves as both spymaster and chief detective. Though he usually sits in his headquarters analyzing data gathered by his underlings, or figuring out how to topple threats to the peace, he will also not hesitate to leave his tower to solve particularly tough or grisly criminal cases, particularly when children are involved.
Extremely thorough, he prefers to build a rocksolid case until he knows everything about a group, purging it in one fell swoop, though the proliferation of bushfires he now has to stomp out has forced him to be less patient, reacting rather the being proactive.
He has been becoming more like his old self since the Petha incident reenergized his sense of purpose. The Revolutionist Concordant had seized control of the city of Pertha in a coup while he was still investigating the group. They seized several members of the Order of the Just, and executed them as oppressive servants of the aristocracy. The rendering of all those members of the Concordant in Petha into object lessons by the Mouser was particularly grisly and public, regarded as vicious even for him. The heads of the Concordant have been meeting to figure out a stance on the Guardians of Alasnea. They are debating whether to go on an all out war or to back of...er, pursue more immediate goals, threats, and more malevolant tools of the aristocracy. They have been swinging towards the latter after the strongest proponent of all out war was found dead in his bed. Well, some of him. And it's assumed that the debris was probabally his bed.
The leader of the Order of the Just, Sarai Flyssa, was born to a human member of the order hunting a bandit group, and a Shay ranger who served as his guide in their territory. Brought up by her mother as a ranger in the wilderness, she was chosen by the Grey Seers to infilitrate the Order by trading on her father's good name. She managed to get in the upper levels of the Order until seeing their worth, she defected.
A fiery proponent of freedom and justice rather than law, and a capable warrior with a love for the natural world, Sarai is a great contrast to her counterpart, the coldly cunning wizard known as the Mouser. Seeming to prefer being hands on to paperwork, she tries to spend more time in the field as opposed to the day to day running of operations. Upon her promotion, she began sparring with the Mouser. He seemed to ignore her, deeming the personal rivalry a pointless obstacle to the Guardians' mandate. Eventually realizing the pettiness of her actions as the Mouser gave her full cooperation and access to information, she's since developed a better working relationship. Though they still detest one another personally, they cooperate well.
The leader of the Guardians is the holy warrior Daerill Marders. Born to a noble family, he joined the Order of the Just, and made a name for himself as a bringer of justice. A renowned hero, he is intelligent, just, wise, personable, humble, and skilled. As he grew older, he was sidelined from frontline field work to a leadership and training position. Upon his predecessor's retirement, he was unanimously selected by the Guardians to serve as their new leader.
He has proved adept at bureacracy and administrative duties, serving as the wise head or the Guardians for a decade. Putting on a brave face of uncompromising leadership, he lets few see his frustration with the chaos and anarchy born of the current situation. Though he feels unable to surmount events, he continues his tireless devotion to justice. He has laid down a policy of neutrality, refusing to allow his men to be drawn into the conflict or choose sides. His attitude and capability have allowed the Guardians to make some headway in chaotic times.
He is however, growing older, and it is widely believed the his like will never be seen again upon his death. Because the Mouser seems as uninterested in overall leadership as the head council of the Guardians of Alasnea seems unintrested in giving it to him, and Sarai Flyssa seems to be too headstrong and disgusted with paperwork or diplomacy to be likewise be chosen, he has no clear successor. The closest runners are Lyalla Sylla, a mage on the coucil, and Rorke Barree, a hero himself, who learned his martial skills at Daerill's hand and has been serving as Sarai Flyssa's aide-de-campe, and who has done much of the bulk of the day to day running of the Order of the Just during her many field excursions.
Umm...Sorry for the infodump. I got the original idea just before losing internet access, and it kind of evolved constantly and accreted more stuff in the meantime. When I got back here, I tied my ideas into a group serving much the same purpose that had shown up in the meantime. Though they had to be cut back. Originally meant as knight errants with access to griffins to get around the mountainous areas of Alasnea, The Order of the Just introduced in the meantime seemed much more down to earth.
