Emberizine Guard

The Emberizine Guard is a quasi-religious faction of 'warrior clowns' operating largely out of a large, hollowed-out canyon in the Sahara Desert. They are comprised of four Quarters - Admiratio, Medela, Gaudium and Pertineo, named for four of the guard's five founders.
== Purpose ==
=== Protection of Happiness ===
The Emberizine Guard are highly equipped to fight sadness, loneliness and bitterness wherever it lurks. Each quarter is trained differently in combating these and preserving happiness, humour and joy. This is because of their ideology that joy is or will be humanity's protector and saviour.
=== Protection of the Planet ===
As well as being skilled gloom-banishers, the Emberizine Guard are skilled in physical combat. Although much of their methods and equipment are somewhat archaic, they are extremely skilful fighters, each quarter using a different approach. They mostly fight supernatural or extraterrestrial threats to Earth, but man-made threats aren't out of their scope.
== History ==
The Emberizine Guard was founded by Admiratio, Medela, Gaudium, Pertineo and Satira. These five founders laid the foundations for the modern (or, rather, current) Emberizine Guard, but for unexplained reasons, Satira was exiled and their quarter either disbanded or filtered into the other four, mostly Gaudium's.
It is unknown for how long they have existed, but they have been mentioned in at least two of Tobias Wingmercy's plays - A Little Knowledge and The Comete Folk, as well as a brief mention in The Leopard.
== Membership ==
There is no particular demographic for the Emberizine Guard, only brave folk with some sense of humour or great kindness. As such, the body of the guard is very diverse. As well as the basic soldiers, there are:
=== Quartermasters ===
The four Quartermaster represent the four Quarters and founders. Currently, they are:
* Quartermaster Inxua and Quartermaster Ynzey, of Admiratio
* Quartermaster Unxue, of Medela
* Quartermaster Ulteo, of Gaudium
* Quartermaster Ulkhua, of Pertineo
They supervise, organise and train their respective quarters, and represent them in discussions or debates.
=== Trainees ===
Trainees are generally not grouped into quarters until their training is complete. Their training is a sort of test to ensure that they are best suited for the quarter they are eventually grouped into, in combat and in humour.
=== Plain-Clothes ===
Although the guards at base mostly wear cool uniforms, Emberizine Guardspeople actually reside all over the world, reporting back to base and keeping tabs on their areas. They can look like any person, but usually wear some sign of either their guardship or their quarter, such as a badge or patch on their coat, or a piece of jewellery.
=== Non-Soldiers ===
Non-soldier members, such as architects, cleaners, farmers and cooks, also exist, but can be unaffiliated with a quarter if they choose.
== Quarters ==
=== Admiratio ===
Lead by Inxua and Ynzey, this is a stealth and quick-paced combat oriented group of ninja types. They are very fast and agile, using mostly pun, prop and quick-change comedy. Trained to be bright, unpredictable and quick, they train as an army but work largely in pairs.
=== Medela ===
Lead by Unxue, this is the healing faction, and they mostly focus on spreading joy through kindness rather than comedy. They are trained to be sturdy, effective battle medics. They also run the base's infirmary, Unxue being the High Healer.
=== Gaudium ===
Lead by Ulteo, the key form of comedy here is slapstick and gentle parody. Gaudium is the quarter that mostly absorbed Satira's upon disbandment, and it shows in their use of satire, but slapstick is their modus operandi - the warriors of Gaudium are relentless and extremely strong, more focused on brawn than brain.
=== Pertineo ===
Lead by Ulkhua, Pertineo are mostly guards, scouts and lookouts. Their comedy is mostly observational, drawn from their surroundings, and they are trained to be extremely vigilant and quiet, as well as dilligent, capable of stalking a foe for miles
== Trivia ==
* 'I'm going to join the Emberizine Guard' is a popular joke, almost meme-worthy, as a sarcastic answer to 'where are you going'. The guard wholly encourages this.
* It is unknown to which degree the guard is paranormal - it is rumored that quartermasters can balance their whole bodies on a feather without even bending it, heal by power of will alone, recover from injury at an accelerated rate and envision events happening miles away, respectively.
* The guard considers the angel Ix to be their patron guardian, as there are legends that Ix created the canyon they reside in with an earth-splitting chord. Ix does not feel strongly about this one way or the other.
Category:Factions
Category:Vigilante Factions