Newcomen is an orderly city. The chief official, analogous to a mayor, a duke or a dictator in other cities, is the Magistrate. This position is currently held by "Ironsides" Fairfax, a man known to be scrupulously honest and incorruptible. He has been Magistrate for some years now, having worked his way up through the court system beginning as a simple Pleader, and having taken stints as Judge and Greater Judge. He lets it be known that he does not tolerate association between criminals in what he regards as his city.
The maintenance of law and order in Newcomen is entrusted to a strange organisation known as the Dead Man's Shilling. This secretive organisation, thought by some to predate the city, consists of four hundred men, all utterly dedicated to the Shilling, and is widely known to deal with any attempts at bribery by punishing the bribe-offerer with death, for a first offence. The four hundred Coppers, as they are known, do not speak of the inner mysteries of the Shilling, even with the many apprentices who act as their auxiliaries; they merely assess whether a man has the capacity for loyalty needed to become a Copper. Once a man has taken the Shilling, as the term goes, his sole exit from the brotherhood is by death. It is the proud boast of the Dead Man's Shilling that in all their history, no man has ever deserted. The current leader of the Shilling is their colonel, one "Stoneface" Cromwell, who is held to be humourless and dour, even for a Copper. The Shilling investigates any reports of crime in the city of Newcomen, keeps public order when necessary, and fulfils other functions of a police force. A stipend to the Shilling is paid from the city's coffers, but they are by their own demand independent of the city and free to leave whenever they wish, forfeiting only the payment of their stipend. Even the Magistrate is afraid of the secretive Shilling, but is able to work with them to keep the city orderly.
