The royal guard is made up of eighty-eight of the best of all the tir’a warriors. Think of them as the Swiss Guard of the Vatican. They protect the Emperor and his family. The Eighty-eight are divided into a group of eighty that monitor and guard the palace itself (called non’on Va’annu — Warriors of Va’annu), and the Thrones (or Eddo) who are the personal guards to the Emperor. At court, the Thrones stand four on each side of the Emperor, one on each step leading up to the imperial throne, and one on each side of the throne itself. To become a Throne is to give up one’s life to the protection of the emperor. They have no life apart from his service. They eat with him, follow him everywhere and sleep in the emperor’s chambers.
The Thrones in particular are expert in all forms of hand-to-hand combat. By law, weapons with a range greater than the length of the distance from the wrist to the shoulder are forbidden at court. While the 80 Palace Guards are often armed with modern weapons, this means that the Thrones are armed with the ceremonial tir’a knives, as well as a short wide-bladed sword with a single razor sharp edge known as the god’s fangs (va’ an got). These swords are unique to the Thrones. However, the ceremonial robes worn by the Thrones are lined with impact resistant high-strength polymers with a light ablative coating that is resistant to both kinetic and directed energy weapons. The emperor’s own robes are similarly lined.
Selection: Every two years each clan holds games (basically contest of combat) in which eight of that clan’s greatest warriors are chosen. Then forty-four of the Eighty-eight most face the ninety-six. While these contests are not to the death, there are a number of cripplings and deaths during the bouts. It is considered a great honor just be chosen as one of the ninety-six. There is considerable gambling on the outcomes of these contests and they are broadcast widely in a manner similar to profesional sporting events on earth.
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