Royal Homeland Constabulary (RHC)

RHC constables are law enforcement officers tasked with protecting Risur from serious threats — foreign plots, magically equipped criminals, and supernatural foes ordinary police can't handle. The Flint directorate stays busy thwarting arms smuggling, industrial espionage, and magical or monstrous threats.

Authority and the Law

Constables carry the authority of the king and are granted broad leeway in pursuing justice — unlike regular police, they don't need warrants before searching a building. In exchange, they're required to file proper paperwork and give testimony justifying their actions. Abusing that authority for personal gain, or to harass someone of political standing without good reason, means penalties, demotion, or worse.

Suspects should be taken alive whenever possible. Every constable carries binding ropes and handcuffs, most reinforced with gold wire or thread to prevent teleportation. Flint's RHC headquarters has specially warded holding cells for dangerous prisoners, and more exotic gear — chains that hold incorporeal creatures, hoods that block gaze attacks, sigils that nullify elemental threats — can be requisitioned for unusual cases.

This isn't a gentle, by-the-book police force. Enlightened, less-violent approaches to interrogation work fine when they work, but threats and outright roughness are common tools for making suspects talk, and superiors won't blink as long as no one ends up seriously hurt or dead.

Joining the RHC

Recruits come from police, military, universities, and other sources of talent — occasionally even foreign applicants. Beyond a background check, every candidate undergoes a magical inquisition: the local director opens the candidate's mind to sense their true intentions. This has kept the RHC free of confirmed traitors in the thirty years it's been active.

Hierarchy and Constable Teams

Roughly 20 constables are active in the Flint directorate, backed by close to a hundred researchers, office assistants, lab technicians, security guards, and carriage drivers.

Leadership (Flint Branch)

Lady Inspectress Margaret Saxby — Director of the Flint branch. A former star investigator who cracked a string of famous cases, became a public darling, and earned a knighthood. Married into aristocratic circles during the Fourth Yerasol War. Leads with sharp intelligence and good instincts for matching constables to threats, though some whisper her confidence borders on megalomania — underlings who get a little too popular for her liking have a habit of finding themselves transferred to less prestigious postings. There's exactly one comfortable chair in her office, and it's hers.

Assistant Chief Inspector Stover Delft — Your direct superior. Oversees four units of constables and coordinates day-to-day investigations while Saxby handles bureaucrats and nobles. A local Flinter in his early 40s, gets squinty and condescending when his authority is questioned, but recognizes talent and good work when he sees it. Proud of three former underlings who went on to head spy cells overseas. Chews tobacco, walks with a cane after a mimic took a chunk out of his leg fifteen years back, and has a habit of poking suspicious objects with that cane — then spitting on them for good measure — before he'll get any closer.

Fellow Constables

A few other constables you'd know by reputation or from around the directorate:

• Carlao — Human veteran of the Fourth Yerasol War, proudly still wears his plate armor around the city. Something of a director's pet, acts as Saxby's trusted aide.
• Serena — Human tinkerer who crafts gadgets for spying and rougher work, surprisingly cheery, treats every female constable like a sister.
• Kaea — Eladrin evoker, widely distrusted by local fey and druids after going undercover among the skyseers to expose a vekeshi murderer.
• Dima — Dwarf priest with an unhealthy fondness for paperwork.
• Josiah — Human sniper, always fiddling with his rifle when he's not off seducing a person of interest.
• Gaethan — Half-elf ranger whose ability to speak with the dead has left him a bit addled — he carries a notebook just to remind himself of his own daily affairs.

Notes

Add what the party learns firsthand about the RHC here — assignments, reputation with other constables, internal politics you've observed.