King's Citadel

Part spy, part inquisitive, and part soldier, the agents of the King’s Citadel serve crown and country as the ultimate agency for dispensing the king’s justice in Breland. Local watches and constabularies can call on its agents when a crime or situation poses a threat that spreads beyond their jurisdiction.

More paramilitary than military, the King’s Citadel takes direct orders from Boranel himself. Furthermore, while the King’s Swords and Wands are not covert organizations like the King’s Dark Lanterns, they still conduct missions abroad on behalf of Boranel. As such, they can make excellent allies or antagonists in any kind of adventure. Inside the borders of Breland the King’s Citadel primarily serves as law enforcemnt, handling issues that the local constabulary is unable or unwilling to.

Source: Politics of Breland

The personal army of Boranel, the King's Citadel is responsible for all sorts of domestic and foreign operations on behalf of the crown.

Hierarchy

Lord Kor ir'Wynarn leads the King's Citadel at the direction of his brother, King Boranel. The Citadel is structured like a military unit, with authority flowing down from the King Boranel to Lord Kor ir'Wynarn to each of the captains of the branches. Each captain maintains the long-established order of the Citadel, which has existed since the very outbreak of the war. Depending on the exact nature of each branch, they will have a number of captains underneath them either in charge of specific regional branches or functional departments like logistics.

Each branch's captain prepares daily reports for Lord Kor, who picks out the most important pieces of information to relay to King Boranel. The King's Citadel is heavily bureacratized compared to many other agencies, reflecting both its age and its size. While the Citadel foregoes explicit military ranks, there is a clear structure and hierarchy where as agents move up in prestige they spend less and less time in the field and more and more time in the office.

Recruiting

The King's Citadel is a prestigious, public-facing organization with many divisions. As such, recruiting is handled holistically, pulling from the Brelish military, local government, and academic institutions. Recruits are brought to Citadel headquarters in Wroat for extensive training to develop their skills and to divide them up into which division they will be joining. While spellcasters almost always train with the King's Wands, the other branches do have small reserves of spellcasters dedicated solely to their mission.

Missions and Methods

Each branch of the Citadel is tasked with different objectives. The Swords are a paramilitary organization that exist both as a national law enforcement and counterintelligence agency but also a paramilitary organization that answers directly to Boranel. The Shields are tasked with the protection of people and places of importance to Breland. The Wands provide magical support to the other branches both directly through loaning out spellcasters and indirectly by conducting research. Finally, the Dark Lanterns handle covert operations that require a more delicate touch (The Dark Lanterns are elaborated upon later).

The King’s Swords are charged with many functions within Breland. As the highest law enforcement agency within the nation, the Swords handle major cases of banditry and terrorism that would overwhelm local law enforcement. As a counterintelligence organization, the Swords suss out agents of other countries. As Boranel’s personal army, the Swords execute on whatever missions he deems of national importance, from treasure hunting to international rescue missions. This last group of activities is the most likely to cause trouble, as the tension between an organization charged with upholding the rule of law internally frequently conflicts with what amount to following Boranel’s adventurous whims.

The King’s Shields are almost always the victim of another organization’s operation rather than executing their own. While many nobles rely on the King’s Shields and their personal guard exclusively, some of the wealthier and more notorious ones bolster their defenses with contracts out to Deneith and Kundarak.

The King’s Wands bolster other groups rather than conduct missions on their own. Constantly researching and innovating in many fields of magic, the King’s Wands are much more than spellcasting services.

Resources

The King’s Swords can commandeer any local law enforcement resources and are well funded and staffed inside the Citadel. Abroad, Boranel has worked hard to establish safe houses the Swords can operate from and restock through. The King’s Wands supplement this with spellcasters and magic items as required by the mission.

The King’s Shields are also well manned and supplied, with the level of course dependent on who or what they are protecting. The Shields have some spellcasters internally, but major abjuration magic is provided by the Wands.

Despite being the smallest branch, the King’s Wands have equal room inside Citadel Headquarters to facilitate their research.

Source: Homebrew

The City Council and the Lord Mayor represent the interests of Sharn; they are not direct servants of the king. The King’s Citadel looks after the interests of the crown, and can assert jurisdiction over any criminal matter or issue concerning espionage or national security.

Source: Sharn - City of Towers Ch. 3

The members of the King’s Citadel are the direct agents of the Brelish Crown. As such, the King’s Citadel stands above the Sharn Watch. Its members have the authority to take control of any investigation and to command the service of any guard or sentinel. Typically the Citadel leaves the daily chores of law enforcement (including the conflicts between the criminal organizations of the lower towers) in the hands of the Sharn Watch. The Citadel is concerned with forces that threaten the entire city, or even the kingdom. Foreign spies, mad necromancers, and ancient fiends—these are the foes of the King’s Citadel, rather than pickpockets and burglars.

Of course, many of these greater threats might be beyond the capabilities of the typical Citadel agents. Much as the Blackened Book does, the Citadel keeps a close eye on unusual and talented individuals, and a party of adventurers might be called upon to assist the Citadel in a dangerous mission. Unlike the Sharn Watch, the Citadel doesn’t ask for help: it demands it. The knights of the Citadel are the representatives of the King of Breland, and any Brelish citizen who refuses to help them is committing an act of treason. The Citadel isn’t required to provide compensation for the services it demands, but an adventurer who wins the respect of the Citadel can certainly benefit from the relationship.

The Sharn headquarters of The Citadel is in the Ambassador Towers district of Middle Central, in Andith Tower. That structure also holds the city jail

Prominent NPCs

The local commander of the Citadel is Knight-Marshal Banarak Tithon, renowned as one of the deadliest swordsmen in the kingdom. Tithon’s wife and children were killed by an Aundairian mystical assault near the end of the Last War, and his service to the Crown is all that he has left. Banarak has a good heart, but he is increasingly distant and distracted, and leaves more and more of the daily work in the hands of his subordinates.

Most of the members of the Citadel in Sharn are part of the King's Dark Lanterns, the intelligence division of the Citadel. While Tithon oversees all Citadel operations in Sharn, the Dark Lanterns are under the direct command of Captain Talleon Haliar Tonan (LE male gnome rogue 3/master inquisitive 5). Talleon is devoted to the preservation of Breland and to the King, but he is utterly ruthless, and authorizes torture, theft, and assassination if a mission requires it. He has built up a network of Lower City contacts, and has engaged in “friendly deals” with the Tyrants, the Boromar Clan, and even House Tarkanan. Talleon doesn’t care about crime; he wants to expose and eliminate foreign spies, saboteurs, or other threats to the kingdom. He is also interested in increasing his own personal authority; the more power he has, the more effectively he can do his job. If Talleon ever gets a chance to take command from Knight-Marshal Banarak, he will seize it. Until then, he continues to form strategic alliances with guilds and power groups throughout the city. Talleon may approach the party for assistance with a problem, but in typical gnome fashion he is more likely to use blackmail to control the PCs instead of offering a reward—assuming that they won’t simply cooperate with the Citadel to serve the needs of the kingdom. The Dark Lanterns in Sharn include 4 5th-level rogues, 1 4th-level bard, 6 3rd-level rogues, and 12 4th-level experts. For the most part, the Lanterns are specialists in observation and investigation, focusing on skills such as Appraise, Disguise, Gather Information, Knowledge (local), Search, and Sense Motive.

A single squad of the King's Swords occupies Sharn, commanded by Lieutenant Eld ir’Zarna (LN human fighter 6). Eld’s family has served in the Citadel for generations, and for the most part he is simply following tradition; he has little ambition and usually waits for Banarak or Talleon to provide him with orders. He has eight soldiers under his command—two 5th-level fi ghters, one 4th-level ranger, and fi ve 4th-level fi ghters.

Finally, Lieutenant Zaira Dane (LG female half-elf paladin 1/enchanter 5) is in charge of the local branch of the King's Wands. A devout follower of Dol Arrah, Zaira believes that you cannot have justice without honor. Zaira despises Captain Talleon and believes that his amoral actions are a blemish on the honor of the Citadel, but she lacks the authority to do anything about it. Technically the King’s Wands of Sharn are only supposed to support the actions of the Dark Lanterns, but Zaira often acts on her own in an attempt to battle injustices that Talleon refuses to deal with. For his part, Talleon believes that Zaira is a naïve idealist who wastes time chasing after “evil”—the true work of the Citadel is protecting the crown, and good and evil are luxuries in this line of work. There are six additional members of the King’s Wands—a 6th-level adept, a 5th-level evoker, a 5th-level diviner, a 4th-level cleric of Aureon, and two 4th-level sorcerers.

Source: Sharn - City of Towers Ch. 4

Hierarchy

Recruiting

Missions and Methods

Resources

Sharn

Prominent NPCs

Members