Hoplon Guard
From Storing Don
The secret guard of the Lequallian National Guard is the Hoplon Guard. Hoplon, in this case, refers not to the typical FE usage, but Hoplon as in connection to Hoplite. The HG, or just the Hoplon Guard, is as a close-knit, small group about the size of a platoon of handpicked assassins, bodyguards and other men with various skills for personal use by the highest ranking Marshals, and, of course, the current Grand Marshal.
The Hoplon Guard numbers no more than 100 men, and is the most elite fighting force in Lequall, their men matched only by the Marshals themselves. No member of the Hoplon Guard is allowed to have any ties to a Marshal House; as such, any who come from Marshal Houses must forfeit all ties, connections and claims to their House in order to join.
The uniform color of the Hoplon Guard is a light purple, always mixed with large amounts of gold, the Lequallian heraldic color.
The Hoplon Guard is by itself, separate from the rest of the National Guard. They have no ranks—their rank is officially listed as Hoplon Guard, and all members of the HG technically outrank all Lequallian soldiers from Ephor down, inferior only to the Marshals. There are four branches of the Guard, each containing twelve men on average: Intelligence, Silencing, Enforcement, and Processing. The Enforcement Branch usually records the most members, as all Enforcers are either melee units or infantry used to combat. The Silencing Branch consists of Lequall's best assassins and is usually the smallest in numbers, a single group of those who are experts at killing. The Intelligence Branch is served by the best thieves and spies in the Guard, who relay all information to the Processing Branch. Processing handles all information brought in by Intelligence, is in charge of planning and tactics for battles, and serves as a back-up unit to the Enforcers.
The Hoplon Guard is headed by the Four Ores, four distinguished members of the military who each lead one of the four branches. They work under the single commander of the Hoplon Guard, who more often than not serves as the Grand Marshal's personal bodyguard. As a rule, all of the Hoplon Guards report to the Commander, who in turn reports to Marshal Helasas, who is trusted to report what he deems necessary to the Grand Marshal in turn. On a large scale, Marshal Helasas, Everard Helasas, acts as de facto overseer of the Hoplon Guard, although the official title of leader goes to the Commander. Regardless, all members of the HG obey the orders of the Marshals unless the Commander challenges their direct authority, in which case it will be taken up amongst that Marshal, Marshal Helasas, the Commander and the Grand Marshal.
Contents |
[edit] HG Numbers
20 Rogues (Intelligence Branch)
5 Assassins
5 Snipers
5 Immortals (All Silencing Branch)
20 Hoplites
6 Heroes
6 Swordmasters
7 Generals (All Enforcement Branch)
10 War Mages (6 Enforcement Branch, 4 Processing Branch)
8 Virtuosos
8 Sages (Both Processing Branch)
TOTAL: 100 Men
[edit] Intelligence Branch
The Intelligence Branch of the Hoplon Guard is the informative head of the Lequallian military. They stand in charge of all operations involving espionage, rescue and covert matters. Almost all of the reports handed to the Processing Branch are detailed by those in Intelligence. The branch handles prisoners until Processing decides what to do with them, is involved in all foreign affairs, and consists mainly of spies. They are sometimes referred to as LIA, a shortened name for Lequallian Intelligence Agency.
Ore: Chromite - Vynir Naraskedal
— Title: Head Spy
Known For: Spies, Thieves
Rank Among the Branches: 3
Jobs: Informants, Shadows, Espionage
Consists Of: Rogues, Thieves
Members: 20
-Lydaias Yelahnacia* - Thief Level 18
[edit] Silencing Branch
The Silencing Branch of the Hoplon Guard is the shadiest—the most concealed, behind-the-scenes—of the four divisions. It operates on an informal basis by which, a large majority of the time, its members work independent of each other and only report to its head in matters of necessity or to inform of a job's completion. Otherwise, they receive their orders through each other and often from members of Processing, depart to dispatch their target, then return. The singular purpose of the Silencing Branch is assassination, be it taking out a well-known opposer of Lequall, an escaped criminal, or performing executions. The Branch's members are the most disciplined and competent assassins in all of Lequall.
Ore: Barite - Gideon Saldares
— Title: Head Assassin
Known For: Assassins, Executioners
Rank Among the Branches: 4
Jobs: Assassinations
Consists Of: Assassins, Snipers/Archers, Immortals
Members: 15
[edit] Enforcement Branch
The Enforcement Branch is the muscle of the Hoplon Guard, the head of power within the military. HG Enforcers exist outside of the hierarchy of the soldiers of the Lequallian National Guard and serve a number of purposes that nearly always require shows of force. Often, a member of the Enforcement Branch will be sent to head up a company sent to the front lines; in addition, most members of the branch serve roles as peacekeepers, those who track down the ones Lequall has marked (not for assassination) and return them, bodyguards, and errand-runners. One could say that they are the physical representation of the Hoplon Guard, since Silencing works in the shadows and Intelligence/Processing behind the scenes.
Ore: Pyrolusite - Ryphocles Slatos
— Title: Head Enforcer
Known For: Strong, hard-willed infantry, Bodyguards, Bounty Hunters, Peacekeepers
Rank Among the Branches: 2
Jobs: Law Enforcement, Military Assistance, Bodyguarding
Consists Of: Hoplites, War Mages, Heroes, Generals, Swordmasters
Members: 45
-Dimitrios Matavastros - Level 1 Hoplite
[edit] Processing Branch
The Processing Branch is the functioning core and brain of the Hoplon Guard. It runs the operations of the other three branches, delegates missions and serves other purposes vital to the functioning of the HG. The Processing Branch will accept, read and file the reports from Intelligence, delegate missions to the head of Silencing for the whole branch to follow, organize Lequallian processions and delegations to any foreign country, file and keep note of domestic affairs, assist the committee compiling the national/governmental budget from time to time, and note which affairs and disputes require the involvement of Enforcement. Whenever there is a new addition to the ranks of the Hoplon Guard, any new member, those in Processing will screen their background, test their abilities and decide which branch to place them in. It was Processing that decided the hierarchy of each branch and chose the current heads of each. More often than not, the members of the Processing Branch are also more or less adept at battle, and can serve backup purposes to the Enforcement Branch when necessary. Most of their fighters are magically inclined.
Ore: Hematite - Fhocin Amaunros
— Title: Head Controller
Known For: Knowledge of all goings-on in HG, magic-users
Rank Among the Branches: 1
Jobs: Filing all intelligence, providing jobs to branches, helping governmental committees, assisting in battle
Consists Of: Virtuosos, Bards, War Mages, Mages/Sages
Members: 20
[edit] History
Here is a history of the Hoplon Guard:
The Hoplon Guard, a group of 100 men. They are the most important men in Lequall, they protect the Grand Marshal and protect Illovendial, the root of Lequall. Even though they are a well known group throughout Maris, they are not shaken by this. Everyone in the Hoplon guard does not show their emotion, the only thing they do is their job and that is it. But why do they do their job? How was this Hoplon Guard created? How is it that the four branches are created?
Tyler Hitori was the first Grand Marshal was the man who created the Hoplon Guard. At that time Tyler only wanted a few men in the Hoplon Guard for the first few years. The group was first created for the protection of the Grand Marshal. How they were recruited was a mystery for many years. Until the Grand Marshal wrote a small book of his creation. It was written that he was in search of the most exceptional men at fighting and thinking on the spot.
Tyler Hitori at first was only looking at Marshals, the deadliest warriors he knew. In the end only 3 Marshals were chosen into the Hoplon Guard. Although when they were asked by men what would happen to their Marshal House. They were silent for a few months. But finally they said to the men to spoke to them that they were never Marshal. As the years past people figured that Tyler Hitori convinced them that they had no ties to the Marshal Houses.
Suddenly the Hoplon Guard grew larger, seeing that Marshals and Ephors and a few very skilled Tagmatarkhis were also in the Hoplon Guard. The most skilled and experienced men guarded the Grand Marshal. The rest were to keep watch on Illovendial and guard the other Marshals. Tyler Hitori then sadly died; the new Grand Marshal kept the Hoplon Guard and had many different views on what the group should do. This is how two of the four branches were created, the Silencing Branch and the Intelligence Branch.
The Silencing Branch operates on an informal basis by which, a large majority of the time, its members work independent of each other and only report to its head in matters of necessity or to inform of a job's completion. Otherwise, they receive their orders through each other and often from members of Processing, depart to dispatch their target, then return. These members were made to go off on mission and assassinate men who have betrayed Lequall or have done something unforgivable. A few missions have been to eliminate men from other countries, but these are few. At this time of the Hoplon Guard the Grand Marshal had the ability to assassinate men.
The next branch is the Enforcement Branch. The Enforcers exist outside of the hierarchy of the soldiers of the Lequallian National Guard and serve a number of purposes that nearly always require shows of force. Often, a member of the Enforcement Branch will be sent to head up a company sent to the front lines; in addition, most members of the branch serve roles as peacekeepers, those who track down the ones Lequall has marked (not for assassination) and return them, bodyguards, and errand-runners. The Enforcement Branch was created to keep peace through civil wars and be commanding officers in battle, so the Marshals could discuss thing that were happening in Lequall. Throughout the Hoplon Guard history these this branch has had the most members in a branch. The same Grand Marshal then appeared and showed a new uniform that would represent the Hoplon Guard. They were given gold and purple armor that would make the Hoplon Guard stand out. Also the Grand Marshal had given them a rank. They were under the Marshals and above the Ephors, and they were given the power to control everyone who was under them.
Again sadly, the Grand Marshal died and a new Grand Marshal was decided, his name was Salevran Naraskedal. He created the last two branches of the Hoplon and gave them an Ore name. The last two branches were the Intelligence Branch and the Processing Branch. These two branches were always their but was not officially a branch.
The Intelligence Branch is charge of all operations involving espionage, rescue and covert matters. Almost all of the reports handed to the Processing Branch are detailed by those in Intelligence. The branch handles prisoners until Processing decides what to do with them, is involved in all foreign affairs, and consists mainly of spies. These are the men who spy on other countries and give information of their developments of weapons and other such things.
The Processing Branch accept, read and file the reports from Intelligence, delegate missions to the head of Silencing for the whole branch to follow, organize Lequallian processions and delegations to any foreign country, file and keep note of domestic affairs, assist the committee compiling the national/governmental budget from time to time, and note which affairs and disputes require the involvement of Enforcement. Whenever there is a new addition to the ranks of the Hoplon Guard, any new member, those in Processing will screen their background, test their abilities and decide which branch to place them in. These are the men who are the heart of Lequall, if these members are not in working order. The Lequall’s army falls apart, this is how the Hoplon Guard grew to 100 men.
As Grand Marshal Salevran was head of Lequall he created the ores, the ores were the Hematite Ore, the Pyrolusite Ore, the Barite Ore, the Chromite Ore, and finally the Golden Ore. Each Ore was created to lead each branch, however only four branches were created, but five ores were made. The Golden Ore was a separate Ore. He is the Commander of the Ores and the soul protector of the Grand Marshal. Grand Marshal Salevran knew that he was only in need of one protector, and he was Asvaen Dastient. The Hematite Ore, the Pyrolusite Ore, the Barite Ore, and the Chromite Ore are leaders of their respected branches, the Processing Branch, the Enforcement Branch, the Silencing Branch, and the Intelligence Branch.
Throughout the years of Grand Marshal Salevran and the Grand Marshal Alphaios Amaunros the Hoplon Guard did not change. They figured that the Hoplon Guard was perfectly fine and their was no need for change. So the Hoplon Guard has not change for the past few years and it seems that it will not change for a long time.
