Deadman’s Chair

A deadman’s chair is a device associated with the watchtowers of the Guarded Land—each tower generally having four chairs: one facing up the road and the leftway, another down; two more looking out across the land—one in each direction

A deadman’s chair insures that the lookout sitting on it remains awake by threatening his life should he fall asleep: the seat itself is a freely rotating drum astride which the lookout sits; to stop himself falling off, the lookout must keep a grip on a bracing hoop. This hoop is a fixed structure surrounding the ‘chair’

A dragon towers also has a deadman’s chair up its mast