Redanian Secret Service is one of the finest intelligence agencies in the known world (next to the Nilfgaardian and Koviri intelligence agencies).
They lease quarters on the top floor above the vice-chancellor's offices at Oxenfurt's Academy, which Sigismund Dijkstra liked to call the "Faculty of Most Contemporary History", while Dandelion liked to call it the "Faculty of Comparative Spying and Applied Sabotage".[1]
Within Redania, the secret service was generally loathed and feared - mainly because of their reputation for frequent executions of those deemed to be traitors and spies, even though the vast majority of them indeed were spies and traitors.
History[]
Dijsktra's leadership[]
In 1266, Dijsktra enlisted Dandelion into the service, and asked for a report on the situation with King Ervyll in Verden. A year later, after returning to Oxenfurt, Dijsktra wanted information about Geralt of Rivia, whose location Dandelion protected with a lie.[1]
After King Vizimir II met with the other northern rulers at Hagge in early 1267, spies from the service heard news of the mage Rience tracking Ciri, the princess of Cintra who was orphaned in the capital's slaughter. Believing that Nilfgaard was attempting to capture the girl, they began a continent wide search to hunt down and kill the Princess, so Redania could partially decide Cintra's future. The Service later found out that there had been a betrayal, Emhyr var Emreis knew about the plans to begin a second war and moved a massive army under Menno Coehoorn to Dol Angra to counter Aedirnian and Lyrian troops stationed there. Alas, the warning reply from Dijsktra never reached Demavend III as the messenger was shot by Yaevinn in the woods of the Pontar Valley[2]
On the last night of June, the night of the Thanedd coup and the death of Vizimir, the head of the secret service became one the most powerful position in the country, making Dijkstra the real power in Redania. Information recovered from Vilgefortz's office revealed the Nilfgaardian traitors in their country, and while his primary base of operations was in Tretogor, Dijsktra ran another facility: Drakenborg castle, where these "enemies of Redania" were executed. Dijkstra was very crafty and the service had extensive knowledge of Nilfgaardian troop movements, as well a good deal of useful information on the rulers of both the North and South. An extensive communications network between agents greatly facilitated this.
The service also collaborated with some mages and were implicated in the coup on Thanedd Island, where they sided with the North.
Notable people[]
Notes[]
- The book Shadow People, or the story of His Majesty's Secret Service describes the history of the Redanian Secret Service. It is also featured as a book within The Witcher.
- In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a book titled "The Redanian Special Forces" also adds a bit of lore about the institution.
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