2nd Calderon Guard

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Second Calderon Guard insignia Dak.png
Second Calderon Guard
Formed 3072[1]
Nickname The Perfectionists[2]
Affiliation Calderon Protectorate
Parent Command Calderon Guard


History[edit]

Founding[edit]

The Second Calderon Guard was founded in 3072 along with its two sister regiments, the First and Third Calderon Guards. Officially, the Calderon Guard was a brigade, but each regiment started with humble beginnings and grew at the same rate. The avowed purpose of the Calderon Guard was to curtail the increase in pirate raids against the Calderon Protectorate since the beginning of the Jihad.[1]

The Jihad[edit]

By 3075 the Second had reached only a single mixed, reinforced company in strength; much of the equipment being supplied to the Second and her sister regiments had been acquired outside the Calderon Protectorate and smuggled in via various routes. Some of the equipment even originated as far away as the Federated Suns and the Magistracy of Canopus; speculation was that while the Federated Suns industries supplying the matériel were intending for the Protectorate forces to counterbalance the push into Federated Suns space by the Taurian Concordat, the matériel being supplied through the Magistracy actually originated with various Free Worlds League companies. It was also considered likely that sympathetic elements within the Concordat had been providing supplies, up until the combination of the asteroid strikes at the heart of the Concordat and a devastating campaign by FedSuns mercenaries that targeted the Taurian industrial base choked off the supply.[1]

The largest problem facing the Second by the middle of the Jihad was a singular lack of manpower; each regiment within the Guard needed a supply of skilled, vetted recruits, but the Protectorate lacked any formal military training establishment, and much of the Protectorate consisted of either mining outposts or agrarian settlements. The bulk of the manpower for the Second actually consisted of Concordat expatriates, and the number of expatriates dwindled sharply as the Jihad went on. This situation was unlikely to improve until after the construction of the New Hope Military University, which wasn't predicted to begin training its first class until 3079.[1]

One of those involved in assisting with the expansion of the various Guard regiments was Talia Martens, Captain of the "Second" Prey's Divisionals and mother of the Protector-designate, Erik Martens-Calderon.[3] Despite the troubles the Second and the other regiments of the Guard were experiencing in reaching full strength the Calderon Protectorate Military made a great deal of noise about their rising strength - a measure apparently intended to dissuade both pirates and the Taurian leadership from attacking the Protectorate. Pirate attacks on the Protectorate actually dropped in the wake of the asteroid bombardment of Taurus, but Baron Cham Kithrong continued to direct resources into allowing the Guard to expand.[1]

By 3079 the Second had reached approximately one-fifth of full size - still far from their intended strength, but a notable achievement given the reduction in size of their Taurian counterparts. It was still considered likely to be years before the Second reached full strength, but the CPM was diligent in ensuring that the Second and its sister regiments grew at an equal pace, ensuring that there could be no charges of favoritism in how the various regiments were treated.[4]

Dark Age[edit]

The Second continued to grow during the Dark Age; initially given the quietest posting of any of the Guard regiments, the commanding officer of the Second, Colonel Mervyn Fernandes, deliberately enforced a high tempo regimen of combat drills to try and keep the Second sharp. Fernandes' preference was to maintain a boot camp style environment marked by measures such as random drills in the middle of the night. Fernandes was determined that the Second would be the best of the three Guard regiments, a determination that earned the Second the nickname "The Perfectionists". Fernandes standards were such that all of the regiment had to wear their formal dark brown dress uniforms for dinner, regardless of the current environment - with Colonel Fernandes inspecting the troops before any were allowed to eat. Fernandes' insistence on his strict standards was based on the knowledge that in the aftermath of the Jihad the Taurian Pride regiments were likely to begin raiding the Concordat again, leaving the defense of the Protectorate to the Guard, and while the First and Third Calderon Guards had faced pirate raids and gained combat experience, the Second hadn't seen combat since early 3042.[2]

By the mid-thirty-second century the First Calderon Guard were widely acknowledged as being the most skilled of the Guard regiments; however, despite the First's reputation, it was the Second Calderon Guard that had a reputation for being the most tenacious of the three regiments. In 3145 the Second were split across three worlds, two of which had been colonized less than eighty years previously and each of which presented a completely different environment to the other two. As a result, the commanding officer of the Second made a point of rotating each battalion of the Second through all three worlds, to give each a chance to gain experience of operating in the varying conditions.[5]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 2nd Calderon Guard
Colonel Mervyn Fernandes 3084[2]
Colonel Temperance McGill 3145[5]

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

3079[edit]

Second Calderon Guard (Green/Reliable)[4]
At this point the Second Calderon Guard were deployed to Marknick and were operating at just one-fifth of full strength, as were the Second's two sister regiments. The Second also had no access to advanced technology.

3085[edit]

Second Calderon Guard (Regular/Reliable)[6]

  • CO: Colonel Mervyn Fernandes

At this point the Second Calderon Guard were still stationed on Marknick and were operating at fifty percent of full strength, although they still had no access to advanced technology.[6]

3145[edit]

Second Calderon Guard (Veteran/Fanatical)[7]

  • CO: Colonel Temperance McGill

At this point in time the Second Calderon Guard were stationed across the worlds of Franmalin, Fylovar and Tyrrhenia and were operating at eighty-five percent of full strength.[5]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, p. 193: "Calderon Guard"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Field Manual: 3085, p. 145: "Second Calderon Guard
  3. Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, p. 188: "Talia Martens"
  4. 4.0 4.1 Field Report: Periphery, p. 13: "Calderon Protectorate"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Field Manual: 3145, p. 198: "Calderon Protectorate"
  6. 6.0 6.1 Field Manual: 3085, p. 151: "Calderon Protectorate
  7. Field Manual: 3145, p. 203: "Calderon Guard"

Bibliography[edit]