Coalition Megawardens

A **Megawarden** is an operative within the Galactic Police of the Coalition of Intelligent Organisms that ranks directly below the Galactic Police Commissioner, making them the second-in-command of the entire Galactic Police. Like many military personnel of the Coalition, Megawardens are both administrators and soldiers, managing the troops under their command just as much as they fight alongside them.

All Megawardens are hand-picked by the Commissioner out of the GP’s current pool of Wardens. If a Warden shows significant integrity and strength, the Commissioner may choose to promote them to Megawarden to replace an opening in the GP’s current pool of Megawardens. Each Megawarden is given a certain sector of Coalition space to preside over, managing all GP operations in that sector. Coalition Dyson Spheres are treated as individual sectors due to their immense size, meaning each of the 16 Coalition Dyson Spheres has a Megawarden presiding over it. The shifting nature of Coalition territory has caused the amount of Megawardens to fluctuate over time, though, at the height of Coalition civilization (during the Second Coalition Golden Age), there were over 400 Megawardens in service to the GP.

As administrators, Megawardens control the operation of the GP at the galactic scale, coordinating the actions of all Wardens under their command and identifying important targets that should be dealt with by their troops. As is typical in the GP, Megawardens are completely responsible for all operatives directly below them in the chain of command, meaning they hire and manage all of the Wardens under their control. Their high rank also gives Megawardens limited control over the finances of the GP. In addition to their regular salaries, they are entitled to a portion of the GP’s yearly funding that they can use exclusively for the purchasing of new equipment for their Wardens and themselves, or the improvement of GP infrastructure across an entire sector. The control Megawardens have over the operation of the GP was further expanded by the Helburg Reformation to include prison management/construction and sector taxation.

In addition to their managerial duties, Megawardens are also expected to be involved in combat alongside their soldiers, and this is a duty many of them are happy to fulfill. Instead of having their Wardens oversee raids and other militarized operations, Megawardens will often lead the troops involved in these operations personally, fighting the internal enemies of the Coalition on the front lines. All Megawardens are issued GI-25 battlesuits upon achieving their rank, giving them almost as much durability and firepower as a tank. Likewise, many criminal organizations in the Coalition are careful to not cause too much trouble in the presence of the GP, as professionally-trained and professionally-equipped Megawardens can easily dispatch most criminal elements.

Unfortunately, their high status and military-grade equipment has given many Megawardens a sort of superiority complex, which has often led to some overzealous actions on their behalf. Many Megawardens have been known to be too violent at times, harassing innocent civilians and causing excessive collateral damage during their operations. Their existence has been greatly protested by numerous people across the Coalition, as they are considered emblems of the rampant over-militarization of the Coalition Galactic Police that began around the end of the First Coalition Golden Age. The excessive violence witnessed by most Megawardens on a day-to-day basis has caused many of them to develop psychopathic tendencies, as well, including a mental affliction known as Warden’s Madness that seems to be unique to high-level operatives of the GP. With the additional privileges given to them by the Helburg Reformation, however, the notion of Megawardens as being vicious, battle-crazed law enforcement operatives was only further solidified within the minds of the entire Coalition populace.