Imperial Guard

**Key Features** | »40mm automatic grenade launcher»Silver-plated bayonet/knife»Solid gold cavorite armour (ceremonial)»Sigil of the noble they serve (branded on skin)»Explosive collar (badge of office)

## Tactical Analysis

* **Swords of the nobility**: War orphans and abducted children groomed and abused into weapons. The Imperial Guards serve as the protectors of the kings, queens, and emperors within the flying cities. And on the battlefield, they lead the charge in cracking the hardest defenses with their all-purpose automatic grenade launcher.

* **Affix bayonets!**: To ensure they strike first the Imperial Guards can pull out their bayonets, activate their kinetic shield, and charge, fatally cutting down the first infantry they see, though they'll need to wait for their shielding to recharge afterward. They can also charge into garrisons, where inside they'll cut down the soldier within.

* **Still a disposable tool**: While impressively fast for their armour and weapons thanks to their cavorite equipment, they are rather frail as their ceremonial armour is completely made of gold (a padded shirt provides more protection) and their weapons range are on the short end. And unlike the other infantry forces of the Guards, they are equipped with advance equipment that costs more than the soldier wielding them, making rather expensive.

* **Immortal Servitude**: Imperial Guards who have proven their loyalty to their masters, to the point of fanaticism, are worthy enough to be given an Amoeba injection, not only increasing their durability, healing, and other factors but also making them as immortal as their masters, to forever serve them like the mindless lapdogs they are.

## Background

*We are the master's swords, respect them or die.*

-Motto of the Imperial Guards.
To say that the Guards don't care about the lives of the serfs that serve their every whim would be an understatement.

The tubemen who serves them hand and foot are considered as gears and tools for the nobility, and thinking beyond that is alien. It does its job quietly and efficiently, and if it squeaks or stutters, it gets replaced. The tubemen themselves are, tragically, indoctrinated to see such flagrant abuse and control as the nobilities god given right, and that getting “replaced” (AKA killed and recycled) is just punishment for their failings. And in battle, they fight with zealous fury, in the hopes that dying for the Guard's goal will make their masters notice them and their dedication, maybe even remember their name. They'll be lucky to be in a footnote of a battle report.

Of course without the tubemen to support the nobilities infrastructure and request the Guards society would collapse, so they can't lose too many lest their flying city crashes back to the sodom below. And after report came about the loss of a million Guard forces in their failed assault on an Atomic Kingdom stronghold they realise that their military needed another revamp.

After months of gathering data from previous battles the Guards realised, much to their horror, that they need to create an elite force of soldiers who are far smarter then the serfs. Someone who is actually competent at their job but would have independent thoughts, potentially rebelling for "equality". And despite mounting casualties the nobility refused to change, as none of them wanted another French revolution. But it took the near eradication of a flying city serf population, who tried in vain to break through entrenched Pangaean forces, and the city crashing soon after (since none of the noble know how, or wanted, to fix the engine), that the nobility reluctantly agreed. But many still refuse to actually educate any of the tubemen, fearing that they could incite a revolt. When Naofumi Iwatani, a noble and former Empire soldier infamous for his victim complex, repugnant (even by Guard standards) treatment of his subjects that’s no different from a bratty bully, and frankly obscene misogyny (again, even by most the Guards standards), giving him the nickname "Indignant Celibate" or Incel, and frankly childish/bratty temper tantrums that’s barely tolerated because of his status (frankly the reason why no one throw that stain on humanity off the floating city is because of his uncanny skill to capture underage boys/girls to sell to the nobles “sickness), proposed a solution, which the Guard only accepted because there was no other solution, even if it meant serving that pigs over-inflated ego.

Drawing inspiration from the Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire. The Guards would abduct any orphans/children (preferably four to six) in the aftermath of any Guard battles/raids, or simply buy child slaves in the black market (the Syndicate and Zharraks being popular suppliers). These children, once examined to meet the standards, are then sent to Shieldbearer Academy, made by Iwatani to train them (those who don't meet the standard are anonymously sent to various orphanages). Here the children have their names erased, replaced with numbers and letters, fitted with shock collars that painfully (but not lethally) electrocute them if they refuse orders, and are put through a hellish training regiment consisting of combat training, following orders, humiliation (to break their will and sense of self), and having any thoughts not serving or helping their "masters" beaten out of them (often literally), for the next fourteen years, and those who fail to meet even a single standard are often shot by those those who passed as the final test (and failing that both recruits, considered failures, are publicly shot by the trainer to show students what they do to failures). The only truly "good" thing given to them, and only those who show potential, are high-grade medication and decent meals, it should be stressed that this is not out of kindness but to ensure that their soldiers are in tip-top shape, a sword is only good if it’s edge is keen and sharpened after all.

Often the Guards who progressed through this abuse would develop an unhealthy "love" for the masters they serve and would follow their orders with glee like mindless attack dogs (which has given them the derogatory nickname of "bitch" by both the Guards and their enemies) and would feast on the scraps of "kindness" they give (which are often done to keep them loyal rather than genuine love). The most infamous of which is "Ratalia" the first Imperial Guard/concubine (if you consider domestic abuse, verbal abuse, gaslighting, torture, and degradation of self as love) of Naofumi (though she is better known as the "Mindless Bitch of the Incel Lord", "Lapdog of the Squealing Pig", "Iwantani's bootlicking yandere" and other unsavory insults by both the nobility and those who fights the Guards).

Their final test is either to execute an "undesirable" (whether a peasant revolt or failed Guardsmen) or lead an attack and capture the next generation of Imperial Guards. With their initiation donning a new collar, one filled with explosives that would detonate if they try to remove it or refuse an order, and obtaining the seal of the noble they will serve (often by having the sigil branded on their body), graduating as "**Imperial Guards**".

Armed with the best equipment the nobility has to offer. The Imperial Guards are considered the pride of the Reactionary Guards, often the lynchpin in ensuring victory for their masters. Leading the charge with grenade launcher and bayonet in hand, all but willing to fight, bleed, and die for their masters. But the sad reality is that their "masters" don't give a single iota of care about who they are, barely remembering the numbers assigned to them. From beginning to end the Imperial Guards are their master's "swords", and like a sword they can be easily replaced once broken, with any care towards the Guards only extending to keeping them in shape (a sick guard can't protect them after all). Even those who grow fond of a Guard, such as Naofumi and his guard Ratalia, will not hesitate to detonate their collar if they refuse an order, after all, they can simply buy another. They'll be lucky to be mentioned by name within the casualty of an after-battle report.

Even those who, miraculously, realised just how awful their life is can't do anything but follow, as a single sign of sedition will have their "masters" detonate the collar they wear without hesitation, though for some dying is much better than their living hell. Their only worth to the nobility is their suicidal devotion and equipment, which is considered more expensive compared to the life of the Guard who wields it since they can be easily replaced by another buckbroken child. And those who know of the Imperial Guards' origin look to these soldiers, nothing more than children broken and groomed to serve the uncaring nobilities and take their abuse and demeaning as kindness, are often looked at with pity and disgust rather than hate.

And to further rub salt in the wound, any Imperial Guards the Reactionaries can't save when retreating from a losing battle would have their collars detonated, denying the enemy the chance to capture their weapons (or more likely give them the help they desperately need), though most Imperial Guards would simply kill themselves for their "failures".