Citizen's Militia

The secret police of Tohl, known as the Citizen’s Militia, or more commonly as the Hidden Guard, officially do not exist. But the citizens of Tohl are well aware of their presence. They move around at night in their heavy-hooded shadow-suits watching and ready. Their fortified outposts remain closed to the public, unmarked stone towers or tall houses that everyone stays clear of by some unspoken understanding. Mostly they prefer to move about in plain clothes rather than their dark uniforms, the infamous and legendary hooded tunics, with scarves wrapped around the face. They rely more on reputation and fear than actual action, and on a broad network of informants. When the Citizen’s Militia do strike is is the beggar on the street or the old pedlar who pulls hood and scarf from some hidden recess of his clothing and leaps upon his victim, wielding hidden cudgels or blades. When a cutpurse runs from his shouting victim it might be the heavy-set man with the bushy moustache who grabs the offender in a neck lock and drags him off the street or into a militia outpost. Afterwards few people remember exactly what the agent looked like, and no one in the district ever sees the militiaman, or his arrest again.

While almost unanimous rumour links command of the Citizen’s Militia to the Lord Mayor his office states that such a group does not exist, and if it did would be considered criminal and treated with extreme prejudice. The Lord Provost himself denounces any such group as criminal. Still, in the districts where the guard will not walk and in the places where armoured guards cannot navigate he crowd the citizens of Tohl know that the Hidden Guard are waiting to punish any wrongdoing with characteristic mysteriousness and efficient brutality. It is the citizen’s guard who were the victors of the bandit wars only a few short decades ago, and not the men of the Lord High Provost.