Gendarmes!

Gendarmes! An alarm you would hear echoing along the narrow alleyways of Travaille, warning the protestors to scatter or suffer arrest and incarceration in the lightless cells of the constabulary. The Gendarmes are the police force that is under the control of the City Fathers. Once, an institution that was trusted to protect all the citizens of Travaille, of late, they have been politicized, and there is a rot hidden in its ranks. Men who seek only the power and authority that being a gendarme gives them. Some, a few, are worse still, hiding in the uniform of protection and authority while committing crimes.

The technology they use has been carefully metered by the immortal Shepherds who have ruled here for hundreds of years. Some of these clever devices are officially sanctioned, and some have been distributed by the city fathers for use in dark alleys and the poorest sections of the state. Not all who serve are undeserving, but the institution is badly in need of someone who can let light into the secret places that have grown so very dark.