*Excerpted from Oriel Goatleap's Eldhan Liraredi.
(Translation from the Aril, as usual, has been carried out with great care. As usual, this does not mean there are not mistakes).
The Rowanian system of defense is split up into four major groupings: ground forces outside the city; ground forces within the city; bronklo-riders in the air; and passive systems that give warning but do not effectively attack.
Because these systems also have differences within them, this is only a vague and general description.
GROUND SYSTEMS: OUTSIDE THE CITY
Patrols. The patrols cover the borders of Rowan (especially its uneasy border with Shadows in the northeast), and try to take care of any problems they encounter in the forests and farms, be they marauding animals, marauding curalli, or mudslides in spring and heavy snowfall in winter. They may also be ordered to a specific task, such as defending a group of villages. Patrols are groups of between seven and ten land Elwens, with a single leader who may be male or female and reports to the justice master (though particularly important reports may also be heard by the Council). Though sometimes Elwens of mixed blood are allowed in the patrols, purebred curalli rarely are, even in this day of Rowan's relaxed acceptance of shadowed Elwens.
Gate Guards. The Gate Guards are drawn from the City Guards under the command of the Captain (see 'The Triumvirate of Rowan') and make sure that no one passes the Swan Gate unless the Guards are satisfied that he or she has legitimate business in the city. This may include anything from gentle questioning (if a story sounds legitimate at once) to harsh searches of the wagons (if someone has done something to arouse suspicion). The Guards report to the Captain at the change of their shifts, but also pass reports of those they are uneasy about but can find no way to detain on to the justice master.
GROUND SYSTEMS: INSIDE THE CITY
Inside the city, Rowan is even more heavily defended than without. Sometimes this defense is against its own people; but intruders have often learned, to their sorrow, just how well-trained the Rowanian people are, and how fast they can react, to threats in their midst.
City Guards. The inner brethren of the Gate Guards (see above), the City Guards patrol the streets and try to keep them at least marginally safe. They may have tasks as mild as stopping a merchant from shortchanging a customer one day, to breaking up a riot the next. They report, and are responsible, only to their Captain. This was instituted long ago to prevent the Councilmaster or the master torturer from trying to take control of all the organized military forces in the city.
Prison Guards. Prison guards, as their name implies, mostly guard the Prison and attempt to prevent breakouts. However, when criminals manage to escape (or if someone who has been released commits a crime again), the City Guards pull back, and let their counterparts do the work. Prison guards are trained in ferreting out hiding places and making contact with those who might be able to tell them where a fugitive is. They report to the justice master.
Council guards. The Council members are often targets of assassination attempts- unsurprising, as they make many of the laws of Rowan. Certain men and women, from personal loyalty or love of the Council, take it upon themselves to guard them. They usually surround the Council member in all places save the main Council Chamber and his or her private rooms (though in times of great danger they may accompany them even there). They report to the Council members they guard and their own chosen Commander, with two exceptions. In recent years, a small, special detachment of them has been designated to watch the gates of the Council building at all times, and another has formed around the Councilmaster Herran Turnlong, as his life is in danger every moment he breathes.
Glorla Partners. Glorlai are intelligent great cats who at times agree to serve with land Elwens a little while, as partners in fighting and guarding. Those Elwens trained to complement them serve mostly the Prison, but at times also with the City or Council Guards. They often stay by themselves in a small barracks on the Council grounds.
Sworn Defenders. Less common now than they used to be, these men and women serve out of loyalty to a particular high blood family (see The Great Lines of Rowan ) and often wear the colors of that family. Their primary task is to guard the Heir, and shepherd him or her out of trouble if he or she shows a talent for it. These days, Sworn Defenders remain mostly on the villages or farms of a line, permanently assigned to guard the people there.
Secret Police. Under the command of the justice master, these men and women probably number no more than a hundred, and rarely reveal their identities; even their existence is no more than a rumor. They are responsible for following those identified by the psychic assaulters (see below) as foreign spies, and keeping them from causing trouble. They may be mingled with the members of other forces, or form a force on their own. No one is truly sure, save the master torturer alone.
Psychic Assaulters. Psychic assaulters are Rowan's lightning-guard, trained to make decisions on their own and react quickly, for all that they are under the command of the justice master and must explain their choices to him. They keep a light touch on all the minds in Rowan, scanning for particular sorts of dangerous thoughts (for example, those aimed at fomenting rebellion or murdering someone important). Most of the time, they will alert the secret police or others better equipped to take care of the problem; but if they sense a plan just as it is going into motion, they will react, attacking and destroying the minds of those responsible. It is widely accepted that psychic assaulters cannot lie, and so their word is good enough for most; but they must answer for their actions, when they leave another Elwen drooling and mind-broken.
Individuals. All land Elwens are trained from the age of three or four to hold a sword, and most of the Free Ones of Rowan can use emotional magic. If all the systems of Rowan were engaged, or if invaders entered the city in great numbers, Rowan's people could be counted on to defend themselves.
AIR SYSTEMS
Bronklo-riders. Bronklo-riders form the city's sole means of air-guard (unless the wards are counted). Bronklos, smaller dragon-cousins that resemble winged crocodiles with long necks and leathery wings, choose one master, like dogs, and stay with them. These masters are then trained as riders. Bronklos in partnership with Elwens can read the hearts and minds of those under suspicion in a way that even psychic assaulters cannot, and can tell if they have been interfered with or harbor ill intent towards Rowan. This is not the only service that bronklos perform, however; they also eat garbage in large quantities, and their urine waters the fields of Rowan to keep them fertile.
PASSIVE WARNING SYSTEMS
Wards. Almost every building in Rowan- particularly those frequently attacked, such as the Prison or the Councilmaster Herran Turnlong's home- bears wards, lines of blue light that crawl on the windows, doors, or other means of entrance, or, sometimes, are invisible. They mostly give warning to the Elwen they are tuned to, whether through screams or silent pressure in the mind, but are sometimes made to do more spectacular things. The Lord Herran, for instance, has a ward hung about his home that consumes large groups of intruders in fiery blasts.
Emotional Magic. All land Elwens possess this, and even those not very good at throwing around fire or powerful healing magic can sense the intentions of those they pass in the street. Someone murderously angry at Rowan will alert everyone within a mile of him, and probably further away.
The Net. No one really knows what else to call the strange phenomenon that has prevailed in Rowan since the Lord Herran became its avatar. He is linked in a kind of web to all those that are born as citizens of Rowan, however, and he feels it when they die or they are hurt. Mostly, he has learned to ignore these pains, but if someone dies a violent death that is not expected, he will certainly investigate.
Place-Magic. Rowan has existed for more than five billion years, and the very metal of the city has grown used to land Elwens or learned to love them. For this reason, the rowan and hylea trees, and often the earth and the buildings themselves, will sometimes react when an unfriendly intruder who has escaped all other means of detection comes in. This is very rare, and understood mostly by the Councilmaster.
