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The work contained on this page is the property and copyright of Jerry Davis under the OGL License v1.0a (included in Bibliography) and is used with permission. Contact the author with any comments you may have regarding his work.
The Military Forces of Cormyr
Version 1.2, Annotated
By Jerry Davis
[Comments in brackets ([]) are annotations that are not part of the document itself, but serve as asides to show general notes, reasoning or intent, or simply provide a quotation or canon reference for something. Later I may change these to numbered footnotes then collect them at the end of the document.]
The Royal Guard is a special elite unit whose mission is solely the protection of the Royal Family of Cormyr. The members of the Royal Guard are almost always drawn from the Purple Dragons and are appointed to the guard only by the King or the Royal Magician. The Guard maintains a rank structure like that of the Purple Dragons, but the Guard itself is a separate service. The entire Royal Guard is currently composed of 148 men led by an oversword.
[GTR,p.43 & C9410,p.55: The palace guard numbers some 150 trained elite warriors.]
The Royal Guards also organize themselves differently than do normal military units. There is a personal guard detail for each Royal Person, and a unit of palace guards for the palace itself. The personal guard details will generally follow their charges wherever they go when possible, while the Palace Guards generally do not leave the palace unless the personal guard details are traveling and circumstances require bolstering their strength. The Royal Guard wishes to keep constant guard over all Royal Persons, but many Obarskyrs often wish to travel quietly or incognito and their stubbornness often wins. Thus there is often a contest of wills between the Royal Guards sworn to protect their charges and willful Obarskyrs intent on fun, adventure, or simply seeing their country incognito. When the will of the Obarskyrs wins out, there may be a reduced complement of guards in their presence or the guards may even be incognito and at a discreet distance and War Wizards may be scrying to supplement the guards. Even when Royal Persons seem to be alone, do not assume that they are vulnerable or unguarded.
[GTR,p.55: King Azoun has a personal bodyguard of 6th-8th-level fighters, lending support to the concept of personal guard details.]
The personal guard details are under the overall command of a constal. Each Royal Person has a guard force twelve strong led by an ornrion that will normally keep a constant four-man watch that rotates every 8 hours. A Royal person is defined as the current reigning monarch and his or her spouse, each previous reigning monarch or spouse, a regent if one currently holds authority, and the children of a reigning monarch. Currently, there are only four Royal Persons: King Azoun IV, Queen Filfaeril, Princess Tanalasta and Princess Alusair Nacacia. This means that at the current time there are 48 Royal Guardsmen in all the personal guard details together, although historically this has increased or decreased with the number of Royal Persons.
The Palace Guard is the force of Royal Guards who concern themselves primarily with the security of the Palace. The Palace Guard a hundred-strong force led by a constal, and directly under him are four ornrions that lead four equal divisions. There are three guard shifts each day in the palace that is manned by one of the divisions. The guard shift rotates among the four divisions and the one division not having a guard shift during the day is the ready reserve that can be called on at a moment's notice if needed. In extreme emergency, of course, the entire palace guard can be called to duty to deal with major threats.
There are no Royal Guardsmen with the rank of blade. All have at least the rank of First Sword, although in the guards they are generally just called Swords. Royal Guards are frequently evaluated for physical fitness and combat skill and there is no hesitation in removing anyone who does not meet the stringent requirements. Royal Guards are required to submit to geas spells as well as swear loyalty oaths.