The Hapan Royal Guard

Selflessly devoted to the preservation of the Hapan monarchy, the Royal Guard, or Chume'doro in hapan, protect the Royal Family against threats both foreign and domestic. Selected from the most skilled and loyal of the Consortium's citizens, sometimes at an early age among those willing to dedicate their youth to the cause, these warriors receive special and preferential training, the most advanced weaponry, and enjoy a unique position within Hapan society.

As a unique unit answerable only to the Rai`ix Chume, the Chume'doro are tasked with the safety and security of the Sovereign in all environments and circumstances. Their versatile abilities as warriors and leaders means they have been seen deployed alongside the Royal Hapan Armed Forces in combat operations or as an advance deployment force, as well as carrying out special operations missions, and enforcing the monarch's will across the Hapes Cluster. Their dedication to the Sovereign is an honourable calling, one they are greatly respected for.

From King James' Phoenix Guard lead by Phoenix High Guard Steve "Falcon" Rainey, to the King Alexander's Chume'doro lead by Tara "White Angel" Tylger, the Hapan Royal Guard has partaken in many campaigns far from home in the name of their King, always striving to maintain their reputation as fierce combatants and unyielding defenders of the Crown. Today, the Royal Guard answers to Lionola Ayun.

When a new Sovereign is crowned, they begin their reign by bringing some of their most trusted house guards of their noble houses with them to the Fountain Palace, during the transition of power. While some of those will return home in time, others will be sworn into their new duties, continuing to train and becoming deployed on missions as part of regular Chume'doro units, becoming fused into their hierarchy.

The Commander of the Chume'doro serves at the pleasure of the Sovereign, who is free to appoint and dismiss them without the same consultations and considerations which govern the Royal Council nominations. It is not uncommon that alongside the crowning of a new Sovereign, so a new Commander of the Chume'doro is soon announced too. Those chosen for the responsibility, are expected to be known for their unwavering commitment to the hapan ideals, enjoy the absolute trust of the Sovereign, and at least as importantly, highly respected for both their prowess in their chosen form of combat, as well their leadership abilities.

The present day Royal Guard is divided into three distinctive contingents, with an active rotation between all three;

Of those three, what is called the Palatial Guard by the public in an effort to distinguish its functions, is the most easily recognized. It is responsible for maintaining order and security around and within the Royal palaces and residences, act as close protection teams to the Royal Family members and command the small fleet of warships that accompany the King on his travels. The main contingent of their troops is garrisoned at the Fountain Palace, on the Sovereign Flagship, as well as at the Chume'doro Citadel, situated somewhere further away from the capital. As such their overriding purpose is to ensure the safety of the Sovereign, and thus to act as guarantors of the functioning of the monarchy and the hapan state itself.

Chume'doro Commandos, in turn, serve as both the main fighting arm and training force of the Royal Guard, and is the largest contingent of the three, considered widely to be the most elite and effective fighting force at the disposal of the Hapes Consortium. While there are some units maintained in constant combat readiness in sufficient proximity of the Sovereign's location - so as to be able to reinforce the Palatial Guard units and help thwart any attempts on the Sovereign's life with the ruthless efficiency they are known for - most of the units at any given time are kept off-world on training missions or military deployments.

The smallest and least public element of the Royal Guard is its Investigative branch, deploying forward surveillance teams to prepare for the visits of the Royal Family to destinations beyond their usual, closely monitored and controlled environments, whilst maintaining a vigilance over the rest of the Chume'doro and segments of the hapan society at large, for the faintest signs of treason.

While Chume'doro is not responsible for the security of past monarchs and their immediate families, who instead will be able to rely on the protections of the local security forces in their designated jurisdictions, in addition to the standing house guard, as part of the transition of power, the abdicating monarch will often be accompanied back to their noble estates by a few individuals or even whole units of the standing Chume'doro. Often those who had once served within the previous monarch's house guard, or who had become especially close to the Royal Family close during their years of service, are given the choice to retire from the Chume'doro, but to continue to serve their former liege as valued retainers of their noble houses, or as commanders of their house guards, informally known as the Honour Guards. For those opting to do so, it is a chance to retire from the Chume'doro with honour and pride, after a long and distinguished career, before time itself renders them unable to serve at their prior level of absolute commitment.

For millennia, the Hapes Consortium - an isolated cluster of stars cut off from the galaxy and rumoured to house beautiful women and uncountable riches - fuelled the imaginations of envious spacers. Even today, its all-powerful monarchy continues to captivate public interest, and it is the Hapan Royal Guard that prevents the collapse of this charmed society by standing in the way of regicide.

Hapan culture traces its origins back approximately four millennia, when the Jedi Knights annihilated the Lorell Raiders who had been harassing Republic shipping from hideouts in the near-impassable Transitory Mists. The pirates' captives - most of them strikingly beautiful women - overthrow the remainder of the raiders, and retreated to the 63 worlds within the Mists to form a female dominated and, eventually, a very wealthy society. With all governmental power vested in the hereditary office of Queen Mother, the Hapans built a powerful navy and eventually sealed the cluster's borders in 2051, during the Second Antiquity Era.

Although the galaxy couldn't see it, the Hapes Consortium entered a golden age. The Queen Mother's power was absolute, but that didn't prevent rivals from trying to manoeuvre other family members onto the throne. The Hapan Royal Guard, or the Chume'doro, first appeared during the Antiquity Era and reign of House Tini'duran to protect the Queen Mother.

This bodyguard unit consisted of 100 women selected from the elite members of the Hapan Navy and tasked with accompanying the Queen Mother on trips outside the Royal Hapan Palace, screening visitors to her throne room, and tasting her food. Over time, the Royal Guard's ranks increased as they expanded their protection to include the other members of the royal family. When scheming heirs corrupted the Royal Guard's bodyguard details and enlisted their help in coup attempts, the Chume'doro established the Investigative Branch to ferret out plots against the Queen Mother and to perform internal-affairs surveillance against its own members.

With the onset of the Hapan Civil War in 3946, the Chume'doro was splintered into two factions. The guards who felt a personal loyalty and devotion to the conservative Princess Da'tan Pal'durath were reorganized into the Draconian Guard. The remaining guards who favoured the ascension of Princess Ta'lan Pal'durath became known as the Sword Guard. With no Queen Mother reigning over the Hapes Cluster and no unified Hapes Consortium for the following fifty years, the Chume'doro essentially ceased to exist.

With the end of the Hapan Civil War at the turn of the millennium, Andrew Starfyre was crowned as the new King. He instituted a new Hapan Royal Guard, which became known as the Phoenix Guard - named after the Phoenix Movement, victor of the conflict - and was originally headed by Ta`me Wes. They remained a small, yet potent force through the reign of King Andrew.

With King James' ascension to the throne in 4027, the Phoenix Guard was renamed to Phoenix and came under the command of Lord Steve Rainey. The duties of the Phoenix were expanded to include a small fleet of warships as well as larger ground based units to protect the monarch from threats both foreign and domestic. However, as years went by, the Phoenix fell slowly into disarray, sped by the retirement of Rainey without a successor named, which lead to an increased emphasis to be placed on regular Royal Hapan Armed Forces' responsibility as the defenders of the Crown, with a rotating guard unit formed to take charge of palace and enjoy security.

A decade later, Alexander Tylger became the new King of the Hapes Consortium. As a descendant of Da'tan's branch of House Pal'durath, he combined the Draconian Guard - who had still been serving as the guardians of the remaining conservative noble houses - with the remnants of the Phoenix. Seeking to rekindle pre-civil war traditions and culture, the new royal guard was renamed to the old name of Chume'doro. The old responsibilities of the unit were reinstated, to some extent expanded upon, and in some instances - particularly those related to the Favored's authority - limited. The Special Commandos were deployed alongside with the normal Royal Hapan Armed Forces in numerous operations in foreign space, proving their value as an independent division of the Crown and ushering in a new era of Royal dominion. King Alexander entrusted the command over the Chume'doro to his formidable daughter, Pelin`a Tara Tylger.

After the abdication of Alexander Tylger and the ascension of Zayth Kadrim onto the Hapan Throne, the new King - like his predecessors before him - took to shaping the group to his image. As the era of more frequent overt foreign military deployments came to an end, the Royal Guard and its commanding officers begun to shrink from the public spotlight, even while some of its domestic operations were consolidated or shifted to various government security institutions, though its mandate to operate and the means at its disposal were left untouched.