Stepstones Guard

The Stepstones Guard is a military order based in the Stepstones tasked with keeping the islands and the Narrow Sea as a whole free of piracy and slavery. The order defers directly to the Small Council, and is almost entirely comprised of men from the Seven Kingdoms, although recruitment is technically open to anyone willing to join, man or woman. Members can generally come and go as they chose, although membership of the order for a fixed amount of time (including lifelong) can be imposed by Westerosi lords as punishment for crimes.

The Guard is spread across nine sea-side outposts, one on each of the major islands. The members of each outpost elect a Commander from among themselves. The Commanders in turn elect a Lord Commander, usually elevating one of their own but technically able to elect any member in the Guard. The Lord Commander, based in the primary outpost on Bloodstone, oversees the entire Guard and regularly reports back to the Master of Ships in King's Landing.

Founded in the immediate aftermath of the War of the Narrow Sea, it is widely considered the spiritual successor to the Night's Watch, which was formally dissolved around the time of the Guard's founding, to the point of often being called "The Night's Watch of the Sea" in it's early years.