The Reed Wardens

After the Flood of Eight Lanterns, Breton's people learned that the river did not simply rise and fall. It listened. The earliest Wardens formed to keep watch over the reed-choked banks, initially to stop thieves and drifting corpses from entering the village. Within a decade they became indispensable during flood season, then useful during smuggling disputes, then necessary whenever livestock vanished from low fields. Their reputation changed after the Gray Fen Winter, when a rash of unexplained drownings forced the Wardens to burn half a marsh bridge and accuse three respected families of hiding river offerings in their barns. The accusation was never resolved, but the missing bodies stopped appearing for nearly a year. That success made them bolder and more feared. The watershed moment came fifteen years ago during the Night of Three Knocks, when the Wardens found the reeve meeting someone at the river shrine after midnight. The next morning the south sluice had been opened by an unknown hand and Breton nearly flooded again. Since then the faction has been convinced the old bargain is still active, though they disagree on whether it is protective, predatory, or both. Their present form is a compromise between village watch, rumor engine, and emergency cult.