CHRISTOTÉ


The Christotan National Guards

The Christotan army and police force are one and the same, the Christotan National Guards, though the largely peaceful history of the country has meant their military function has always been minimum.  Officially paid for by taxation, though actually often relying on local lords privately funding them, the Guards are fairly tightly controlled, answerable to the local Emissaries or Councils and tried in civilian courts where necessary.  The central body, known simply as the Guards Central Command (nick-name The Shufflers) is based at the Tukas Halls of Justice in Yaleth.  The Christotan Guards are divided into a series of Regiments, of various sizes; formally no Regiment has no fixed area of control, deployed where needed, but expediency makes them fairly static except in times of crisis.  The Cities have long been patrolled by the XI Regiment - headquarters also at the Thoj.

The Guards are theoretically a Federal resource which is loaned to the Barons to protect their lands and keep the peace.  In practice Guards wages are paid for out of the budgets of each province (and also by imformal donations from patrons) and it is only the right to carry arms which is loaned.  The deposition of the Guards across the country is decided at a Barons Estates - each Baron deciding (after consultation with his Emisarries) how many they need and how many they can afford, and a compromise is thrashed out.  Units, or even whole regiments, have been transferred across the federation at the bequest of the Estates, though on the whole the deposition remains fairly stable.  The deposition of the Guards within a province itself tends to be solely the responsibility of the Baron & his Emissaries.  Where regiments are split between several different provinces the regiment itself tends to be divided up, each having it's own commander who works with the relevant baron.

The two special regiments, the Navy and the Huwdone Guards, are exceptions.  The Huwdone Guards are controlled directly by Chancellor's Office, with the appointment of their Captain (the highest rank in this regiment) made personally by the Chancellor.  Under a long-standing arrangement, protection of Huwdone House is run by the Chancellor's own staff, whilst the Guards' duties in protecting foreign embassies is supervised by Ambassador's Office in partnership with the XI Regiment command.  The Navy, based in Schall but operating in three other Provinces, is controlled directly by Central Command and the security council thing.  In practice it has long been a lore unto itself.

In the regiments operating on Christoté's more turbulent fronteirs - the II, IV & VII particularly - the split between their police force and army duties is more pronounced.  The response, increased since the Labbish invasion, has been the creation of units within each regiment who are trained primarily for warfare.  Used only in the more violent of peace-keeping duties, they are generally kept in readiness should Christoté be threatened again, or feel fit to wade into somebody else's war.

As well as the regular command others are sometimes imposed on the Guards by the political machine.  One example of this is the tribune, who is appointed by the local Emissary (though sometimes the praetor, sometimes the Baron)for especially serious or sensational crimes - gnerally those carrying the death penalty.  A tribune is an unpaid post (though they receive expenses and wage-loss compensations), an official expected to supervise the Guards' activity, make sure no miscarridges are been carried out and check the Guards themselves are free to carry out investigations.  Theoretically the tribune may add their own input into the crime investigation, though this rarely happens.  At the trial the tribune gives their own independent statement to verify whether everything is in order - and if no trial results they should tell the emissary why not.  The tribune, to avoid vested interests, is supposed to be free both of any criminal record and have no connection with the local Guards, ideally having no connection with any Guards anywhere, ever.  The downside to this is often an ill-imoffmed amateur meddling in Guards affairs and getting on everybody's nerves, sometimes even capsising prosecutions.  The Emissarial appointment also gives rises to accusations of croneyism from the political body.  Often this is well-founded; tribunes are disproportionatly wealthy men with links with the Emissary.

 

National Deposition

Regiment	Areas	Headquarters
I	Central & southern Kratz	Ellakan
II	Dydsan shore (Elsey)	Dydesbury
III	North Kratz, south Schall	Sharsaw
IV	Dydsan shore (Elsey)	Dydesbury
V	Central & south-west Elsey, north Notruf	Yarislow
VI	Gesund	Orthankton
VII	North & central Schall, Occupied Labland	Praeton
VIII	Eastern Elsey, west/south west Dorlaf, west Notruf	Graiston
IX	East Zabrial, Zabrial Desert, Karlstadt Island	East Zabrial
X	Notruf (except west)	Eren
XI	Triple Cities & environs	Yaleth
XII	South & central Dorlaf	Elrich
XIII	Coastal/east Dorlaf, northern Zabrial	Port Crabal
XIV	Occupied Labland	Rifton
The Huwdone Guards	Huwdone House & figures attached thereof including foreign ambassadors	Jalkin
The Christotan Navy	Protection of Christotan water and vessels	Salbair

 

Chain of Command of XI Regiment

Chairman of Combined Councils (Elak Griegson)
Chairman of Jalkin (Elak Griegson)	Chairman of Yaleth (Myers Rulloco)		Chairman of Forgar (Margat Weason)
Commander & Deputy Commander of XIth - Rodan Strace & Sebsen Velder
Jalkin Unit	Yaleth Unit		Forgar Unit
Captain Tomas Stutton	Captain Lars Verstanel		Captain Helden Smithson
Dep. Capt. Jerich Olst	Dept. Capt.			Dept Capt.
Assorted Patrols & commanding Sergeants inc. West Vellers, Dockside, Central, Brightwell (sub-unit), Swans & Southmarket,	Court and Prison Guards	Yaleth Patrols	Environs Patrols (inc. Rykes Gardens, Gates & Tolls)	Various Patrols inc. Mayering Guards, East Bank