A squad of Arabyan Guards (Warmaster)
The Arabyan Guards, known in their own tongue as janissaries[2a], are the household troops of the rulers of Araby.
Role
Each sultan, caliph and many lesser nobles and Arabyan Magicians have their own core of guards. So loyal are they that they would die by their own hands if their master so commanded.[1a]
Similarly dedicated are those troops drawn from some of the outlandish communities of the south, including the Dread Daughters of Tariq from the Land of Assassins and the Silent Guard of Eunuch Mountain. They are all lavishly equipped with steel plate armour, keen tulwars and scimitars of the finest quality, gleaming helmets, and brightly coloured clothes of silk brocade.[1a]
Arabyan bodyguards who bear no weapons are seen as both prestigious and skilled, the latter being because it is considered a boast of one's combat prowess that mere blades are deemed unnecessary. Depending on their city of origin, they wear customary turbans, as well as colored jackets, wide trousers, and soft slippers which, in Araby, are to be worn when indoors.[3a]
Notable Regiments
- Black Scimitar Guard - The Black Scimitar Guard was the personal guard of Emir Wazar the Cruel, the infamous Arabyan commander who besieged the Estalian city of Magritta during the Great Crusade Against Araby and was killed with all his guard by the unexpected fall of a great statue of Myrmidia, the goddess of war and strategy.
Trivia
The janissaries, historically, where slave-soldiers of the Ottoman Empire drawn from Greek, Balkan and Russian Christian populations, and served as the personal guards of the sultan. They had a noted rivalry with the sipahis, the land-owning aristocracy and elite cavalry of Turkish society.