Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard

Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard
Active:	1623 - 1651
Motto:	Fjǫrleif Forever
Matron:	The White Orchid Lady
In use by:	Royal Family of Elwynn
Allegiance:	White Orchid Throne
Type:	Security Force
Size:	Statutory Maximum Manpower: 279,197 men or women at arms
Nicknames:	Fleurinots, Lyseni, Þrírkronar, Tveirsilfrs
Commander:	-
Allies	-
Opponents	-
Conflicts & Deployments	The River War The Anarchy of Angularis‎‎ The Journey to the West‎ The Year of the Four Kaisers

The Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard (FLG) was an armed force for the protection of the King of the Elwynnese Union. It was by law also charged with several additional duties and functions including, but not limited to, the policing of the Kingly City of Eliria, the Royal City of Avaldsnes, and the Royal City of Hyfrost. The FLG was held in strict subordination to the King of Elwynn and owed Him absolute obedience. After the Auspicious Occasion The Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard was disolved as an official entity under the King of Elwynn.

History

The Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard was founded in 1623 AN by the decree of the Steward of Elwynn, the Storjarl Hallbjörn Haraldsson of the Houses of Ayreon-Kalirion and of the Descendants of Freyja. Until the re-establishment of the Union Defence Force by the aforesaid Steward of Elwynn in 1629 AN, it was, aside from the Vanic Temple Guard which has from 1624 onwards operated under the Concordat of Avaldsnes, the sole officially sanctioned armed body in the Elwynnese Union. The FLG was for some time, until the re-establishment of the Cudgellers as well as the institution of City Watches by the White Orchid Throne in several major cities later in 1623, also the only police service in the Elwynn.

The FLG fought notably alongside the UDF in the River War, the Anarchy of Angularis and the Year of the Four Kaisers. In spite of this, the clear preference of the Froyalanish regime for the foreign troops of the FLG and VTG over the UDF led to an ongoing culture of resentment and rivalry. This proved to be fatal during the Auspicious Occasion when the ambivalence of the UDF, alongside the outright disloyalty of the Corps of the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels, doomed the efforts of the FLG and VTG to resist a surprise attack by the Imperial Forces.

In the aftermath of the Imperialist coup those FLG guardsmen of Alexandrian ancestry were permitted to depart for Natopia and there to rejoin their surviving kinsmen in Neridia (the Empire of the Alexandrians having collapsed in the year 1650 following a devastating pestilence which had exterminated the royal family and the majority of the population of the Cibolan continent). The Storrish and Froyalanish officers and guardsmen were disarmed, with senior personnel being interned at Dragonsfold Gaol, whilst the majority were loaded into cattlewagons and dispatched westwards to the Froyalanish National Reservation where their eventual fate was to undergo forced sterilisation and to slowly succumb to a regime of malnutrition, overwork and systematic brutality at the hands of Amokolian and Mishalanski camp guards, who would single them out from amongst the displaced millions for especially cruel attention.

Duties, Functions, and Responsibilities

The Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard was, aside from their most noble and honourable duty of protecting the King, also charged with the following duties, functions, and responsibilities:

• Providing protection to the members of the Royal Family of Elwynn;
• Providing security to the Steward of the Elwynnese Union during a period of Stewardship;
• Guarding the dwellings, residences and abodes of the members of the Royal Family;
• Performing and taking part in ceremonies and functions for the glory of the King;
• Policing the Kingly City of Eliria, the Royal City of Avaldsnes, and the Royal City of Hyfrost; and
• Carrying out such other tasks as the King may see fit to direct the FLG to.

Administration

The King of Elwynn is, by virtue of the consolidation of powers upon the sovereign under the Elwynnese Constitution and by the decree of 1623 founding the Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard, Commander-in-Chief (Prévôt des Maréchaux, PdM) of the force and every aspect of its organisation and administration lies within his gift. The King may choose to appoint a Stallari of the Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard to whom would be, at the sovereign's discretion, delegated some or all of the powers pertaining to the organisation, rank structure, training, discipline, efficiency, administration and good government of the FLG.

The position of Stallari is an office of state, in practice the Stallari would also be the most senior Maréchal (marshal) of the force.

Official Language

As the personnel of the Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard, both civil and (para-)military, are recruited from those who are eligible for service in or to the Storish Guard in Alexandria and the Alexandrian Guard in Stormark, communication within the ranks of such a heterogeneous force was an acute issue from the earliest days of the FLG's establishment. As a consequence the Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard adopted Norman Walsch - the dialect which is spoken in the Storish Jarldom which is known as the Duchy of Normandie - as its official language since it is a tongue which is, due to its similarities to and commonalities with Alexandrian Walsch and the Storish language, quite easy to master for both groups of recruits.

Culture

The Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard performs its duties with an iron fist gloved in velvet. They are staunchly royalist and anti-republican since they view that a republican form of government is a source of political instability and also renders the country vulnerable to usurpers and infiltrators.

The Storish and Alexandrian Fleurinots both worship the Lady Elwynn; the former as a Vanic Goddess, the latter as a Saintess. The FLG has also adopted the aforesaid White Orchid Lady as its Matron.

As a grave reminder of its first and foremost duty, the Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard each year solemnly observes, with due pomp and circumstance, the day of the death of The Lady Esther Maryam Amirdokhtar of the Houses of Ayreon-Kalirion and of the Descendants of Freyja.

The Lyseni are known to be excessively fond of pomp and circumstance and pageantery resulting in them performing as well as taking part in numerous ceremonies in the Jewel of Many Facets and abroad, the best known of those ceremonies is the changing of the guards at the Palace of Krull.

Ranks

The ranks of the Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard are chiefly derived from the ancient and rich knightly tradition of the Storish Jarldom which is known as the Duchy of Normandie.

Officer Ranks

• OF-10 (Prévôt des Maréchaux)
• OF-9 (Maréchal)
• OF-8 (Prévôt des Chevaliers en Chef)
• OF-7 (Chevalier en Chef)
• OF-6 (Chevalier de l'Hôtel du Roi)
• OF-5 (Chevalier du Guet)
• OF-4 (Chevalier d'Escadron)
• OF-3 (Chef d'Escadron)
• OF-2 (Capitaine)
• OF-1 (Lieutenant)

Ranks of Rank and File

• OR-6 (Adjudant-Chef)
• OR-5 (Adjudant)
• OR-4 (Maréchal des Logis/Connétable des Logis)
• OR-3 (Serjeant)
• OR-2 (Escuier-Chef)
• OR-1 (Escuier)

Manpower

FLG Manpower: [252,617 personnel]

Table of Organization

• Öryggisráð
  • École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Harald
  • Compagnies Royales de Sécurité
  • Connétablie
    • Compagnie de la Connétablie d'Avaldsnes
    • Compagnie de la Connétablie d'Eliria
    • Compagnie de la Connétablie d'Hyfrost
    • Compagnie de la Connétablie Mobile
  • Maréchaussée
  • Compagnie Royale des Cornemuses et des Tambours (Royal Pipe and Drum Band)
  • Garde de la Reine Sacrée/Beakyr Taarion Hyel (Joint Unit with the Vanic Temple Guard which serves at Mount Yaanek, the Tower of Araxion, the Vineta Temple, and Mount Yaanek Temple and Palace in Eliria.)
  • Troupes de Marine
  • Chevaliers du Ciel
  • Chevaliers de la Mer
  • Forces Spéciales
    • Agence Tous Risques
    • Escadron Parachutiste d'Intervention
    • Groupe d'intervention et Tireurs d'Elite
  • Services de Soutien
  • Corps de Renseignement

Notable Conflicts and Campaigns

• The River War
• The Anarchy of Angularis‎‎
• The Journey to the West‎
• The Year of the Four Kaisers

Trivia

• The Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard made several appearances in the Elwnet TV series called The Saint and Hertug Haraldsmál.