Praetorian Guard

The Praetorian Guard was an elite bodyguard group formed by Scorpix while he led the Scorpions and co-led the Crawler Empire. They were fully loyal to Supreme Leader Scorpix, and willing to give their lives for him.

## Known Members

* Sirius
* Scarabus

## History

The Praetorian Guard was formed by Scorpix sometime soon after the Crawler Empire annexed Eagle Spire and the surrounding land into its territory. The group consisted of ten basic scorpion guards who were selected by the Supreme Leader to be his personal bodyguards. They wore unknown armor, and carried chi-powered staffs that lit up on both ends with sparking, lightning-like bolts. After the formation of the Praetorian Guards, however, they were all easily defeated by Lycor in Eagle Spire, after Scorpix instructed them to defend him against the lion.

### Rise and Fall

After their first embarrassing defeat, Scorpix put the Praetorian Guards through intense physical training, which utilized the Eagles' gyms and technology. The guards vastly improved their skills and collective strength, becoming the Elite Praetorian Guard, and were given better suits of armor and more practical weapons after completing their training.

The Elite Praetorian Guards went with Supreme Leader Scorpix to defend the Imperial-claimed Bear Cave from the attacking Bears soon after. There, they defended Scorpix against bears who'd invaded the Imperial towns, such as Bismarck, and later assisted Scorpix in defeating Baldemar, after the bear warrior had injured him. After Scorpix negotiated with the Bear Tribe to return their former territory, the Praetorian Guards went with their Supreme Leader as he attacked the New Talon Industries outposts in The Iron Mountains. There, the guards fought alongside Scorpix on the ground after his personal Stinger Tank was destroyed by raven bombers. When the Brotherhood of Vultures charged into the battling Ravens and Scorpions from the north, the Praetorian Guards defended Scorpix from Vamprah as the Vultures froze ravens and scorpions alike. Four of the Praetorian Guards were frozen with their Supreme Leader, while the other six escaped the Iron Mountains.

### The Uprising

With 70% of the Royal Scorpion Army now frozen, the remaining Praetorian Guards and many of the remaining Scorpion soldiers

returned to Scorpion Cavern Castle, only to find that the late King's brother had taken over the HQ with his half of the Black Overwatch force. The remaining Praetorian Guards and Imperial scorpions in the caverns regrouped under the command of Scorponok, forming Team Stinger, and battled the Combine traitors. The remaining Imperial scorpions formed a surprising alliance with The Forgotten to combat their common enemy, and even fought alongside Lycor, when the lion arrived in his Mech-Tank to destroy the Spider-Striders and cover the evacuation of Forgotten and Imperial civilians. The allied arachnid forces then broke into the main castle itself, continuing to fight the Combine as Scordon Freeman, Scorponok, and Scorpius infiltrated the Citadel tower. However, when the caverns started to collapse under the Bear Tribe's bombardment, two of the Praetorian Guards, Sirius and Scarabus, fled the Outlands. The other four guards escaped with Scorponok and the other members of Team Stinger as the Citadel and caverns were destroyed.

### Crawler—Ice Hunter War

After stopping in Corvidholme and being betrayed to the Vultures by Mayor Braxin and the Braxinites, three out of the four Praetorian Guards in Team Stinger escaped being frozen, and -now among the twenty remaining members of Team Stinger- flew with Scorponok in Stinger-Copters to the Phoenix Islands, where the Phoenix gave them fire chi, since it had been Scorponok's "destiny" to fight the Ice Hunters. When the three Praetorian Guards plugged the fire chi, their armor was transformed into Phoenix armor (but with their helmets staying the same, save for a few gold highlights being added), identical to that of the other scorpions. Like the rest of Team Fire-Stinger, the Praetorian Guards returned to the mainland of Chima, battling the Brotherhood of Vultures in the Outland Mountains and The Great Desert. However, as they attacked The Four Talon Towers in the Great Desert, the scorpions found that the vultures had transferred all of their frozen prisoners to Icestrike's Ultimate Glacier. For revenge, the Team Fire-Stinger scorpions secretly placed fire chi bombs on the underside of the Outland Gate Bridge, in order to send the Vulture HQ into The Gorge of Eternal Depth. While fighting the vultures in the Great Desert again, the three Praetorian Guards and the other scorpions declared themselves the "Stinger Brotherhood", and temporarily harnessed lingering Great Illumination energies through a combination of inner chi motivation and fire chi power; the resulting burst of energy scattered the vultures and melted free all the frozen Imperial cities in the southern Great Desert.

#### Duty Fulfilled

Immediately afterward, the Stinger Brotherhood went north, to assist the lions and Leopards in Lycor's attack on the Icebears' glacier HQ. The three guards helped Scorponok and the newly recruited Prince Scorpio free Scorpix and their fellow Praetorian Guards from Icestrike's Ultimate Glacier, but the sheer amount of fire chi power in the mobile HQ caused the glacier to melt, scattering fire and ice forces alike throughout the Iron Mountains. The eight regrouped Praetorian Guards saw Scorpix climbing a mountain, and followed their Supreme Leader. However, by the time they reached the peak, they found that Scorpix had been killed by Lycor. The Praetorian Guards surrounded Lycor and Lyrix, declaring that they'd avenge their Supreme Leader. Though they fought valiantly, the eight Praetorian Guards were all killed in self defense by Lycor and Lyrix, the latter of whom had used one of Scorpix's royal scorpion swords for the fight.

### Legacy

The Praetorian Guards would be remembered as honored war heroes by the Stinger Brotherhood/Empire for centuries, and some of their armor was recovered (since five of the eight deceased guards hadn't plugged fire chi), and placed in an exhibit in Scorpix City. Meanwhile, the two surviving former members of the guard, Sirius and Scarabus, joined the Republic of the Claw after escaping Scorpion Cavern Castle, and they became the esteemed Praetors (2ics) of the "new" tribe, holding the positions possibly for life.

## Trivia

### Behind-the-scenes

* "The **Praetorian Guard** (Latin: *cohortes praetorianae*) was an elite unit of the Imperial Roman army whose members served as personal bodyguards to the Roman emperors." -From Wikipedia.
* In the Roleplay, the Praetorian Guards were, thematically, the spiritual predecessors of the Imperial Knights.