Warcallers

The Warcallers are the intelligence and executive branch of the Selkie Circle of Elders, the part of the Hanahai bureaucracy dedicated to gathering information on threats to the community and advising the government on the appropriate response. They have a minor presence in every fleet; it is not uncommon to find a Warcallers agent working to coordinate priority postage or gathering fleet reports. Many ships even have auxiliary informants, chroniclers who write regularly on major acts of violence or political change for the fleet reports - a call back to the original Warcallers, who were a warrior society aboard nearly every vessel. Many consider the militarism of the Warcallers to be vestigial and ancient, a trace of ancient barbarity in what is now more of a postal service. Such a perspective misses recent trends - as Clan Danohel has accumulated power in the Selkie Circle of Elders, they have recently been promoting more and more spies in the Warcaller's illicit segments into leadership positions. The result has been a growing Warcaller agency with more violent tendencies in recent years. 
This is a group associated with the ancient Cult of Kiasan, Goddess of storms, predators, hunting, and forests in traditional selkie religion . The Warcallers are not very explicitly religious in matters of belief, but they do expect all members to perform rituals and sacrifices in dedication of Kiasan. In cities of particular Warcaller influence, they tend to manage the celebrations of Kyaya, a festival of Kiasan in January, with their robust militarism and pomp.

Structure

The Headmaster of the Khilaian Warcallers is called the Ainoyoko, or Eagle-Advisor, for their role as the birds-eye-view advisor to the Khilaian government. They are appointed by the Selkie Circle of Elders, and manage most of the day-to-day leadership responsibilities within the Warcallers.
The current Ainoyoko is Karalu Arnohel, a master spymaster who styles herself as "just a protective mom" and a proud matriarch - over both her family and the Khilaia. The family bit is mostly smoke and mirrors (even if it is legitimately part of her personality), distracting from her history as a former spy and spy wrangler - quite the unusual and militaristic pick for Ainoyoko by the Elders. She has a collection of Zeshem masks taken as trophies during her internally legendary infiltration of the royal palace. Quite the ruthless character. 
Beneath the Ainoyoko are the three Wingleaders, each of whom manages one of the major departments of the Warcallers.

• The Intelligence Wing handles threat advisement, emissary deployment, reports on attacks on selkie fleets, and espionage
• The Communications Wing handles long-distance communication -  courier coordination, postage, and magical priority communication
• The Martial Wing handles overt violent response management - pirate bounty management and raid response advisement, mostly

Each of these three Wingleaders has substantial rank and authority within the Warcallers, and stands as a potential heir if the Ainoyoko dies or is fired.

Intelligence Wing

The Intelligence Wing of the Warcallers is perhaps the largest arm of the Order. They contract out hundreds to thousands of auxiliary informants (also called Rakkovas)- selkies who basically act as chroniclers, reporting what they consider important to the Warcallers in exchange for a small stipend. This is a minor, largely inoffensive side gig for many selkies, and a greatly desired position; while the pay is small, auxiliary informants can often have their crew's postage covered for free by other selkies, and there is minimal effort to it. The big challenge is getting one's reputation as a trustworthy and capable chronicler; many selkie send in their writing for free to try and prove their worth, though only a few manage to get chosen this way. Pod recommendations tend to be more important, though these often favor wealthier and more established crews. Auxiliaries are the number one way for the Warcallers to actually detect enemy raids far from the Khilaian core. Sometimes, they fail entirely, and local Fleets need to send letters to their Pods alerting the Warcallers manually. In distant waters, only very prolific pirates might end up on the Warcaller paperwork. This is not a fast, hyper-efficient system, but rather a broad tool for detecting treaty-breaking or large trends of increased violence in various parts of the community. It can serve other purposes than just violence-detection, though: It also detects major political changes or market changes in distant lands, serving as a general alert system if a treaty needs to be re-affirmed with a new empire or if there is a market shift to be considered by the big merchant clans or stock exchange.
In areas of concern, the Intelligence Wing has two real responses: sending a spy or sending an emissary. Sending an emissary is the more common response, but needs to be cleared with the Motosui Assembly or Selkie Circle of Elders first. Sending a spy is reserved for areas of particular interest or concern, and is not an acknowledged or formal role of the Warcallers. Warcaller leaders acting as spymasters is a historical commonality but not a formally legal one. 

Comms and Martial Wings

The Communications Wing is less sexy than the Intelligence wing, but it is in many ways just as broad. Managing the postage of the Khilaia is a mighty task, and not one that the Wing actually really accomplishes; much work is passed on to the fleet hierarchies. The Comms Wing handles disputes, establishes and funds mail depots in selkie ports, and creates lines of priority postage with more accountability and security. It also works with the Selkie Loremasters to handle Important Communications via magic - particularly the use of Sending spells to transfer vital information around the world in an instant. 
The Martial Wing is a traditional wing, not as relevant in current Warcaller operations as it has been historically. In the ancient past, these warcallers handled mercenary contracts, counter-raids, loot, and rallying the ships of the Khilaia together in vengeance wars. Now, they mostly handle pirate hunting, bounties, and military advisement and coordination for fleets. They also do work for the Intelligence Wing, mostly in spy management.

History

To be a Warcaller is an ancient role, traditionally ship-by-ship; the keeper of the ship's grudges and the organizer of their warriors. Warcallers would form cross-ship alliances and elect leaders for their groups, acting as a cross-cultural warrior lodge that could organize many disparate sailing bands into a unified fighting force. Those days are long gone (though somewhat remain in the auxiliary informant system), but the title remains culturally relevant. Starting in the 900s, each new Khilaian government would found their own Warcallers, representing their own relationship to militarism and intelligence gathering. The most recent iteration, therefore, dates back to the 1590, when the government reorganized following ten years of post-coup chaos. 
The Warcallers of 1590 were designed to be reactive advisement and information gathering; a less-violent intelligence agency that could advise and aid with communication for the Khilaia. The Warcallers fundamentally shifted towards espionage, however, during the panicked year of 1811, when Imperial Zeshema, known for their hatred of selkies, shifted out of their "closed period"  and towards open empire. While there was an attempt to de-escalate the potential conflict and de-militarize the Warcallers in 1865, the shift has been more or less permanent- and now that there are militarized spies, the foundations are set for re-militarization. Which, by some metrics, is currently starting back up.

Founding Date

1590

Type

Religious, Holy Order

Ruling Organization

Selkie Circle of Elders

Parent Organization

The Khilaia