The Londerhome Guard was an elite regiment of the Ochebanian Imperial Army. It was based in Londerhome and historically policed the capital's outskirts.

History

Founding

The emperor of the young Ochebana Empire lacked authority, and an emerging nobility class profited from this to increase their own personal power. The Londyr family in Londerhome, who ruled the emperor's own capital, had a sizeable militia loyal to them policing the city. During the Jonesdays reforms, Emperor Jonas reformed the state to centralize power; as part of this policy, he limited nobles' access to private militias. Londyr's guard was restructured into a regiment of the Imperial Army, the Londerhome Guard, and removed from the immediate center of power by making it responsible for policing outside the walls.

The new regiment was politically extremely relevant. The emperor could not strip the Londyr family from its rights to control the city guard; accordingly, he relied on the Palace and Londerhome guards for loyal manpower. These two regiments were in high favor, receiving top-tier equipment and soldiers. Unsurprisingly, the Londerhome Guard took very well to its new role, becoming an exemplary unit in Jonas's reformed military.

Republic of Ochebana

In 394 b. OW, Emperor Jonathan Morgan was murdered by nobility, and there was bloody fighting between power-hungry factions within the capital. In the utter chaos, the Londerhome Guard did not know on whose side to intervene, and decided to stay out of the conflict. The city's law enforcement institutions failed to stop the civil war, and during the short-lived repana rule afterwards, there was much uncertainty as to who was supposed to enforce civil order in the capital: the Londerhome Guard was the only large and well-equipped unit around, but was also supposed to stay outside the walls.

Emperor Brimstone finally took the throne in 393 b. OW, ruling the empire with the iron fist of martial law. In order to better protect the capital, he formed several city guards and considerably enlarged the Londerhome Guard regiment to 2'000 riders. Its base in Kaerporte Luk was however no longer adequate: the gatehouse was much too small and located in the middle of a sprawling city, rather than in the countryside where the Guard operated. Accordingly, it was moved to the disused Kaer Taek fortress on Fork Lake, which had been the barracks of a now-defunct infantry regiment. The fortress was restored and several new buildings, including stables, were built around it; this made it able to host the thousands of soldiers and support staff of the regiment, and their assorted equipment. The fortress's position on the key bottleneck of the Nagaroute was also very useful.

A Londerhome Guard squad patrolling the moors south of Kaer Taek.

The Spring War

Ochebana's elite was unhappy with Brimstone due to the loss of Colupan; accordingly, two separate generals marched on Londerhome in 376 b. OW. Loyal Londerhome Guard officers helped the emperor flee to the Londerwood; during the ensuing battle between the two factions, the leaderless Guard remained neutral. The new Emperor Frederick Marston, seeing no point in antagonizing the regiment, appointed a new Captain and increased its personnel to 3'800 riders.

Freemen's Revolution

In 296 b. OW, the Freemen's Revolution set the empire aflame. The Imperial legions were in disarray, and a host of 100'000 revolutionaries bore down on Londerhome. Heroically, the Guard's mounted units fought a retreating defense as the enemy approached, and then fought side by side with levies and the militia garrison on the capital's walls. But there was no hope and the defenders were vastly outnumbered; the Londerhome Guard lost nearly the entirety of its personnel in the fighting.

In the chaos of the provisional Free State government, no one intended to reform the regiment; and when Emperor Sean Rumbler finally took power, he founded the Londerhome Division, whose 4th Regiment replaced the late Londerhome Guard.

Heraldry

The Londerhome Guard adopted the imperial color scheme: red on gold. Their crest consisted of a cavalry sword superimposed on a pattern of straps; the uppermost strap was laid out in the shape of Tempus. Interestingly, the crest was recursive: it was depicted on the rain guard of the sword. As a Londerhomian unit, both the square cavalry battle banners of the regiment and cohorts, as well as the parade banner, had the Londerhome pattern at the hoist.

The regimental crest; this was often pinned to riders tabards.

The battle flag of the 18th Dolmen Cohort.

The regimental banner alongside Londerhomes war banner.

Sphere of Operations

The Londerhome Guard had a clear sphere of operations: defend Londerhome outside the city walls. Its main responsibilities were to police the roads around the capital, enforce imperial law in the surrounding villages, and escort imperial officials.

The regiment was laid out accordingly. It was stationed in the Kaerporte Luk, the Lake Gatehouse of Londerhome's walls. It was relocated to Kaer Taek, an old disused fortress on Fork Lake, in 393 b. OW.

Mounted guardsmen were highly mobile, and often carefully patrolled the greater Londerhome area, often moving off trails or visiting isolated farms to accomplish their duty as completely as possible.