The Keepers monitor all travel through the wormhole and create the rules of society. Only they can grant someone citizenship on the rings. The Trading Council, elected by the First Families after the War of Ten thousand Rotations and approved by the Keepers, controls all the economy on the rings. They must also provide for the Keepers. In return the Keepers do not seek economic power or exert control over the Citizens’ business dealings. Their only concern is the well being of Orbis and to protect the sanctity of the rings in hope that the Ancients' may one day return. They’re still waiting.

The Keepers worship the Ancients but their teachings are actually protected by incomprehensible creatures called Nagools. The Keepers only become "two-headed" after mating and are always of the male gender once they pass through their chrysalis period.