A person skilled in the use of arms and dedicated to the protection of Eiden Myr from attack and invasion. The shield was developed by Verlein n'Tekla from the horde of fighters with which she stormed the old Ennead's Holding to end that Ennead's reign of corruption. For 15 years, in the absence of the invasion expected when Galandra's warding was broken, it functioned as a ring of sentries, dwindling to a bare minimum of weary, lonely watchers along the shore. Then a growing incidence of apparent mirages escalated into a deadly attack on the entire coast, and the shield rallied to defend the shores they had guarded. Because killing for any reason is culturally taboo, the shield has become a place of exile. Shielders wear no particular colors; they are distinguished by their blades and other weaponry, and also reputedly by the stain of killing.

a person who cares for persons or property