Guardian Defense Force
The GDF is Guardia's land-based military force. After the Restoration, the Guardian Army was restructured by Doan and the Knights of the Square Table. Doan's restructuring streamlined the forces of Guardia: where once the Guardian Army was comprised of the Guardian Royal Army (GRA), the Guardian Royal Navy (GRN), the Guardian Royal Airfleet (GRAF) and the Guardian Coastal Defenders (GCD), only the GDF (Guardian Defense Force, comprising Guardia's ground forces) and the GRN (Guardian Royal Navy, comprising Guardia's combined sea and airforces) survived the culling. From that restructuring, only the GDF remains to this day (The GRN having been disbanded with the creation of the GSF).
The GDF, as a broadly-mixed force, has several sub-divisions: the Knights of the Crown, the Royal Infantry, the Armored Division, and the Order of Thunder.
Contents
Knights of the Crown
At the top of the GDF hierarchy are the Five Orders of Guardian Military Knighthood, the Knights of the Crown, or the King's Knights. These are the Knights who directly serve the King before any Noble lord, and the crux of this service is military in nature.
The Knights of the Crown belong to five Orders: the Order of the Frog, the Order of the Shield ("Protectors"), the Order of the Sword, the Order of the Dragon ("Slayers"), and the Order of the Wind. They hold to their own ranking system, apart from the rank-and-file GDF soldiers, as follows:
- Knights of the Square Table (the Five Patrons of the Five Orders of Knighthood)
- Knight of the Crown (rank indicated by the type of medal worn by the Knight, as below)
- Gold
- Silver
- Bronze
- Copper
- Tin
- Squire of the Crown
A Squire of the Crown begins as an apprentice to a ranking Knight, typically of Bronze Medal rank (Copper and Tin Medal Knights are considered to not have enough seniority to sponsor a Squire, and Silver and Gold Medal Knights often would prefer not to be burdened with the responsibility of teaching an aspirant). When the Knight believes his or her Squire is ready, the Squire endures the Trials.
The Trials are different for each Order, but they usually involve a test that has something to do with the Order's main specialty -- strategy, command, survival, streetsmarts, combat, speed, whatever. Failures are turned away and may never attempt the Trials again. Those who pass the Trials matriculate into the Order of their teacher, with the rank of Tin Medal Knight.
At the top of the Knightly hierarchy are the Knights of the Square Table, the five Patrons of the Orders of the Knights of the Crown. They do, in fact, literally sit around what is called the Square Table (which has been used by Knights in Guardia for just such a purpose since the middle ages) and discuss matters concerning the defense of the Kingdom. Knights of the Square Table wear Dreamstone Medals, commonly called "Hero Medals." No more than five of these ornaments are known to exist, and each one is said to be highly magical in nature.
A Knight of the Crown is the penultimate Guardian warrior. He is stronger and more endurant than the normal man, he is a wielder of magic and enchanted arms, and his magical armor is thick and (to the Knight at least) apparently unencumbering. The difficulty of entrance, and obvious expense in training and armament, necessarily keeps their numbers quite thin.
Royal Infantry
- C/O: Grand General Dun Tangxiao
The heart and soul of the GDF, the Royal Infantry are Guardia's stalwart and steadfast grounded fighting men and women. At the top of their ranks are Generals, but since the Restoration GDF Generals have always been subordinate to Knights of the Crown of any rank. It should be noted that the Royal Infantry Grand General holds an advisory position at the Square Table.
- Grand General
- Infantry Officers
- General
- Major General
- Brigadier
- Colonel
- Lieutenant Colonel
- Major
- Captain
- Lieutenant
- Infantry Enlisted
- Corporal
- Sergeant
- Sergeant Minor
- Private
Enlistees may only advance as far as Corporal without supplementary Officer training. Officer training does require a tuition cost, but for new Enlistees beginning at the rank of Private, this can be paid for along the way through deferring a portion of a soldier's salary as he advances toward Corporal. Initial Enlistees may begin at Lieutenant rank if they can pay tuition for Officer training all at once, and this is usually the course taken by the sons of Noble families.
The standard issue armaments of the GDF include the WS75 Automatic Assault Rifle and the K-Series combat exosuit. The K-Series is a fully-enclosed humanoid robotic exosuit which serves both as armor and weapon at the same time. The WS75 is the premier energy-based rifle of the Guardian armed forces. It is notable as being the most advanced non-magitek energy smallarm in the Web of Worlds.
The Royal Infantry, in addition to standard K-series infantry, also fields Mauler assault units (the Mauler being the GDF's land battle suit, developed in partnership with the Tasnicans) and a JetBike cavalry. The Royal Infantry also fields several units of Robotic (primarily R-Series) Field Medics, who are enlisted and ranked just like any other soldier.
Armored Division
- C/O: Grand General Luccia Craig
The Armored Division is the GDF's tank and artillery corps. Their ranking scheme is exactly like that of the Royal Infantry. As with the Royal Infantry, the Division's Grand General is granted an advisory seat at the Square Table.
- Grand General
- Armor Officers
- General
- Major General
- Brigadier
- Colonel
- Lieutenant Colonel
- Major
- Captain
- Lieutenant
- Armor Enlisted
- Corporal
- Sergeant
- Sergeant Minor
- Private
The Armored Division fields units of Cyrus and Terrasaur JetTanks. The G-Series Mecha are also employed by the Armored Division, used to support and defend artillery emplacements on the field. The Armored Division is also soon to get the new NORN Mecha, whose capabilities are presently more hinted at than known.
The Order of Thunder
- C/O: Grand Knight Sylvia Tern
The Order of Thunder were billed as "modern knights" upon their inception. They were the first branch of Guardian military service to wear the K-series suits which are now so ubiquidous among the GDF's infantry ranks. That and their lack of pedigree earned them the scorn of the more traditional Orders of Knighthood.
Still, the OT exists today as an elite force within the GDF. They are the rapid-deployment JetBike cavalry, mounted on the Pegasus ("Peg") JetBikes -- to date the fastest low-altitude flying vehicles in the Web of Worlds.
Because their creation (which can be attributed to the eccentric military vision of Archbishop Meres) was meant to hearken to Guardia's chivalrous past, the OT's ranking system is very different from that of other branches. They do not divide themselves into enlisted and officer, but their ranks are considered parallel to more common ranks in the GDF. Below is listed the fanciful ranking system of the Order of Thunder, with parallel GDF ranks noted parenthetically.
- Grand Knight (Grand General)
- Knight (General)
- Knight Bachelor (Major General)
- Knight Errant (Brigadier)
- Esquire (Colonel/Lieutenant Colonel)
- Scutifer (Major)
- Armiger (Captain)
- Lancer (Lieutenant)
- Horseman (Corporal)
Combined Hierarchical Outline of GDF Ranks
- Knights of the Square Table (Patron Knights [with advisory Grand Generals])
- Knight of the Crown (rank indicated by the type of medal worn by the Knight, as below)
- Gold
- Silver
- Bronze
- Copper
- Tin
- Grand Generals/Grand Knight
- Armor/Infantry/OT Officers
- General (OT Knight)
- Major General (OT Knight Bachelor)
- Brigadier (OT Knight Errant)
- Colonel (OT Esquire)
- Lieutenant Colonel (OT Esquire)
- Major (OT Scutifer)
- Captain (OT Armiger)
- Lieutenant (OT Lancer)
- Armor/Infantry/OT Enlisted
- Corporal (OT Horseman)
- Sergeant
- Sergeant Minor
- Private
- Squire of the Crown
GDF Regimental Strength
The combined GDF fields 39 regiments of its three main branches: 20 Royal Infantry, 15 Armored Division, and 4 Order of Thunder. The numbers of Knights of the Crown, all told, do not quite equal a single regiment.
GDF RI-1
The Wall
The First Regiment, Royal Infantry, is the personal command of the Grand General. It is stationed in Guardia Proper, and is generally regarded as the Last Line of Defense. As such, it frequently has combat veterans from other regiments rotated into its ranks to mortar-in the gaps in the wall. RI-1 has participated in every major conflict in the Gate Dimension since Doan's Restoration: notably the KMT War, the Hivan War and the Cleansing Wars. They have never been deployed outside of Gate.
GDF RI-6
Model's Angels
This regiment was actually formed around a contingent of combat vets broken off the First Regiment, Royal Infantry and merged with the remnants of the annihilated Twelfth Regiment and the existing Sixth Regiment. This was done as a sort of tribute to Model Steinmetz, who commanded the GA Sixth Army during the Hivan War. The Sixth Regiment is slated to be one of the leading components in the re-conquest of Bal.
GDF RI-12
Take That, Twelfth Regiment
Stationed near Dorino, the Tweflth Royal Infantry Regiment was very nearly destroyed in the early stages of the Hivan War. Its remnants were re-formed into the Sixth Regiment, and then later a new Twelfth was re-formed.
GDF AD-1
The Hammer
The command of the Armored Division's Grand General, the First Regiment, Armored Division, has the rare distinction among Guardian armed forces of fielding the most mecha in its ranks. The bulk of G-Series robots currently in-service with the GDF are part of this regiment. Stationed in Guardia Proper, the First Armored is designed to work cooperatively with the First Infantry if home province should ever come under attack. The G-Series are integral to this, as they are employed as rapid-deployment facilitators for the various JetTanks of the First Armored -- there are enough mecha in the Regiment for each to carry a single tank and fly with it over considerable distance (with a few mecha to spare to cover the carriers).
GDF OT-1 and OT-2
The First Regiment, Order of Thunder, is the official command of the Order of Thunder's Grand Knight -- though in practice, the Grand Knight's actual command covers both the First and Second OT Regiments. Together these two regiments are stationed in Guardia Proper -- a change in defensive design brought about as part of post-Cleansing War reforms. In the event of an attack, the OTs of these regiments are to instigate counter-offensives against oncoming attackers, and coordinate with other defending regiments as deemed necessary by the Knights of the Square Table.
GDF OT-4
The Fourth Regiment, Order of Thunder, earned distinction during the Cleansing Wars by re-taking Zenan Bridge from the Defilers and staking out a stronghold in Northern Zenan for the defense of non-human refugees fleeing the Xenos' genocide. They have been tapped to participate in the reconquest of Bal.
