Arcturan Guards

The Arcturan Guards were the first Lyran national unit mustered to defend the nascent Lyran Commonwealth.

History

Founding

Known originally by the simple name of the Capitol Guards, the Arcturan Guards were the first federal troops of the newly-formed Lyran Commonwealth when originally founded in 2341 as an infantry and armour force. Initially nine regiments strong when founded, each regiment was named for a muse from ancient mythology; this naming convention continued when the first expansion regiments were subsequently founded.

When the Lyran government moved from Arcturus to Tharkad in 2407 the Capitol Guards changed names, becoming the Arcturan Guards.

Star League Era

The Arcturan Guards brigade increased in size after its founding, and like other brigades in the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces the Guards expanded again after the repeal of the Star League Council Edict of 2650, although the convention of naming new regiments after muses didn't continue. The Guards were well-supported during the Star League era, in part because of how closely tied the brigade was to the economic might of the Tamar Pact. The main problems the Guards had to deal with as the Amaris Civil War approached were boredom and ennui; the Guards still had political intrigues and the occasional raid to deal with, but the Star League Defense Force acted as enough of a deterrent that there were few large-scale military deployments or operations for the Guard to engage in, limiting much of the brigade's activities to training or garrison duty.

By 2786 the Arcturan Guards had increased in strength to twenty-five regiments, in part due to having received three former SLDF regiments that had been recruited by the LCAF and redesignated as the Sixth, Seventh and Seventeenth Arcturan Guards. In addition to founding the Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Arcturan Guards during the twenty years of the Amaris Civil War the Arcturan Guards also reactivated the Twelfth and Fifteenth Arcturan Guards.

Succession Wars

For centuries an agreement was in place that ensured that the Guards recruited at least a quarter of its personnel from Arcturus, even as it became a ghost world. An order issued by Archon Katherine Steiner attempted to strip away this provision from the Guards prior to the FedCom Civil War, but was met with entrenched opposition from the soldiers and officers of the Guards - including those not born on Arcturus - and although the Archon was eventually forced to acquiesce it cost the Guards their commanding officer, who was promoted out of the brigade into a general staff post and replaced with one of the Archon's supporters.

Dark Age

Several of the Arcturan Guards regiments were heavily damaged or destroyed by Clan Jade Falcon forces when the Falcons assaulted the Commonwealth in 3142.

Units of the Arcturan Guards

• First Arcturan Guards
• Second Arcturan Guards
• Third Arcturan Guards
• Fourth Arcturan Guards
• Fifth Arcturan Guards
• Sixth Arcturan Guards
• Seventh Arcturan Guards
• Eighth Arcturan Guards - (Destroyed during Operation Revival)
• Ninth Arcturan Guards - (Destroyed on Hesperus II between the 6th, 7th and 8th battles)
• Tenth Arcturan Guards
• Eleventh Arcturan Guards - (Destroyed during the Blakist attack on Tharkad)
• Twelfth Arcturan Guards
• Thirteenth Arcturan Guards
• Fourteenth Arcturan Guards
• Fifteenth Arcturan Guards
• Sixteenth Arcturan Guards
• Seventeenth Arcturan Guards
• Eighteenth Arcturan Guards
• Nineteenth Arcturan Guards - (Regimental command staff killed in Jihad; survivors folded into Stone's Revenants).
• Twentieth Arcturan Guards - (Destroyed by Blakist forces on Gabriel; survivors rolled into 23rd Arcturan)
• Twenty-first Arcturan Guards
• Twenty-second Arcturan Guards
• Twenty-third Arcturan Guards
• Twenty-fourth Arcturan Guards - (Destroyed during Operation Revival)
• Twenty-fifth Arcturan Guards - (Destroyed by Clan Jade Falcon in 3069; Rebuilt and stopped Falcon's Delta Galaxy in 3071.
• Twenty-sixth Arcturan Guards

Color Scheme and Unit Insignia

The parade color for the unit is flat white.

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  Thunder Hawk in Arcturan Guards colors

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  Griffin in Arcturan Guards colors

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  Zeus in Arcturan Guards colors

• Arcturan Guards Insignia.png

  Insignia of the Arcturan Guards Brigade

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  11th Arcturan Guards Insignia

• Arturanguards15th.png

  15th Arcturan Guards Insignia

• Arturanguards17th.png

  17th Arcturan Guards Insignia

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  19th Arcturan Guards Insignia

• Arturanguards20th.png

  20th Arcturan Guards Insignia

• Arturanguards23rd.png

  23rd Arcturan Guards Insignia

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  24th Arcturan Guards Insignia

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  25th Arcturan Guards Insignia

Notes

• Based upon the detail available on the first nine regiments of the Arcturan Guards in Field Report: Lyran Commonwealth 2765 the two regiments from the first founding of the Guards that had been destroyed or disbanded by 2765, the Sixth and Seventh Arcturan Guards, would most likely have been named for the Greek Muses Polyhymnia and Urania, although it is uncertain which regiment was named for which muse. Polyhymnia was the Muse associatd with sacred poetry, sacred hymn, dance, and eloquence as well as agriculture and pantomime while Urania was the Muse associated with astronomy.
• Based upon the detail available on the "second wave" of Arcturan Guards units being named for the Muses of Plutarch, the destroyed or disbanded Twelfth Arcturan Guard would have been named for the Muse Aoide, the Muse of song.

Bibliography

• Field Manual: Lyran Alliance
• Field Report: LAAF
• Field Report 2765: LCAF
• First Succession War
• Handbook: House Steiner
• House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)
• Jihad Turning Points: Tharkad