The Silverhearts, as the common folk call them, are a region-wide militia that defends the population of the ungoverned [[Argent Wildlands]] and the [[The Veil Coast]]. Without a government to unify the region, the independent military is funded by the established cities of the region with significant contributions from wealthy individuals and merchants whose businesses profit from safe roads, protected trade routes, and a growing population. ![[elizabeth-peiro-0012-cine-sharpen-your-steel-s 1.jpg]] *Artist: Elizabeth Peiró* The Alliance began, not as a response to external threat or invasion, but to the threats from within the hierarchy of the established cities themselves. A group of wealthy individuals, among which were various nobles and merchant lords, drafted and signed a pledge to each other to build a military force that would provide protection from greedy leaders and would-be tyrants who were ignoring the problems faced by these individuals and the gentry below them in an effort to grow their own power and wealth. The pledge and the force itself took the name “The Silverheart Alliance”, and since the ink dried on that pledge in 1703 AE, has expanded to include 10,000 individuals from nearly all cities and townships in the[[ Argent Wildlands]]. Now, over a century after its forefathers have passed, it’s main functions are to serve as a peacekeeping body between the independent cities and to dispose of non-politically-oriented threats to the lands. Any capable individual is welcome to join the Silverhearts – there’s a place for all types, whether arcane casters or brutish fighters. The typical Silverheart spends months on end patrolling sections of road, establishing fortified outposts, and clearing monstrous threats from “civilized” areas.