Treaties of the Last Vigil

In the uneasy peace following the Great Riftspawn War, rulers of surface realms and leaders of surviving subterranean states gathered at Fort Vigil, now transformed from desperate bulwark into a symbol of improbable defiance. They arrived with mixed feelings: gratitude, fear, and a keen awareness that an independent order of Rift specialists had just outperformed every imperial and royal army on the continent.   The result of their negotiations was a web of treaties remembered collectively as the Accords of the Last Vigil. These accords did not simply recognize the Rift Wardens; they rewrote the balance between kingdoms, churches, and extra-national forces for centuries to come.   Key provisions included:

• Recognition of the Rift Wardens as a sovereign martial and mystical order, outside any single nation’s chain of command.
• Designation of their major strongholds—beginning with the newly renamed Citadel of the Rift—as neutral ground, not subject to local law.
• Granting of Right of Passage, allowing Warden forces to cross borders and operate against Rift threats within signatory realms.
• Enshrinement of the controversial Right of Calling, empowering regional Warden leaders to demand candidates for the Rite of Tempering—volunteers, condemned criminals, and disgraced soldiers—from those same realms during declared Rift Emergencies.

Later amendments, especially after the creation of the Order of Magi and the codification of the Edicts Arcanum, exempted Magi who joined the Wardens from certain arcane restrictions and obligations, further entangling civil, religious, and Warden law.   For the continent, the Accords created a paradoxical institution: a force trusted enough to cross borders with armed Hunts, yet feared enough that every sovereign understood the risk of inviting them in. For the Wardens, the Accords put the sword on a leash—legalizing their existence, but ensuring it would always be watched with wary eyes.