A loose alliance of rangers, scholars, and exiles who study the magical corruption spreading through the land and the glitch-beasts it spawns, maintaining refuge points and believing the answer to Duskward's fall lies in the Sunken Spire.
The Rust Wardens emerged organically in the decades after the Fall, when it became clear that neither the Council nor the Cartels nor the Collective would take seriously the kingdom's structural decay. They began as scattered bands of researchers, wilderness guides, and magic-touched outcasts who recognized that understanding the Unravelling was survival.
Now they are a network without hierarchy: chapters maintain themselves in refuge points across the realm, coordinating loosely through the Heartwood Circle (a council of elder scholars who meet twice yearly in a hidden grove). They gather intelligence on glitch-zones, breed and train scouts, and share knowledge freely among themselves.
They are not soldiers, but they are not defenseless. They employ dangerous magic, ancient tactics, and hard-won understanding of the corrupted lands. They are respected and feared in equal measure because they have proven themselves willing to walk into the worst places in the kingdom and return with truth.
The Council wants to absorb them. The Cartels want to hire them. The Collective wants to partner with them. So far, the Wardens have mostly refused all three, believing their independence is the only thing that matters.