Sákbe Road
Guards
Sákbe Road
Guards are also part of the military, and in Pecháno they are also responsible
for patrolling and guarding the borders, especially the Salarvyáni border. The
borders with Ssuyál are guarded by the Pecháni army. Not surprisingly, the bulk
of Pecháno’s army is in the north of the country locked in almost perpetual
warfare with the Ssü. The exact number of troops is deployed on the northern
marches is unknown, and kept secret by the Pecháni, but may be as high 20,000
men. The Sákbe Road Guards in Pecháno are extremely well trained and
disciplined. Their overall commander has the rank of General (Pecháni: Sreddék),
and unlike Police Commandants he answers only to the Assembly of Lords and the
Chægósh. The Rekhmél and Beneshchán individually have no authority over him.
The Sákbe Road Guards are armed as Medium Infantry, although typically they
tend to patrol without armour, carrying a spear, sword and shield normally only
wearing armour when posted in more dangerous locations. Their armour tends to
be golden in colour, either made of brass or painted Chlén hide, trimmed in a
reddish brown, with a silver helmet, trimmed in gold for officers. Guardsmen wear
rusty orange kilts with blue and white tassels, and with rank-and-file guardsmen and NCO's wearing a dun coloured tunic under
their armour whereas, officers wear a brown kilt, trimmed in blue and white tassels, and a brown tunic. NCO's are identified by their sword belts which will have their ranks painted on them: a blue half-circle edged in white denotes a commander of 10, an Olmég, while the same pattern but with the addition of a yellow circle with a black dot in the centre denotes a commander of 20, a Grumég.
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| A typical Guard officer somewhere on the Salarvyáni border. |
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| A veteran Grumég posted near Teshkóa. |
Tomb Police
The Tomb
Police in Pecháno are exclusively drawn from the guards of the Temple of Su’úrkha and those clans that worship
him. In Mechanéno they are responsible for guarding the Royal Necropolis where
the kings of Pecháno are buried, and the Hall of Bones, where the heroes of the
realm are interred. They are typically liveried in browns, blacks and yellows,
and are poorly equipped, usually having to employ cast off arms and armour from
the Pecháni Army. Their duties during the day primarily consist of directing
mourners and sightseers. At night they patrol the City of the Dead, tramping
between monuments and pyramidal tombs in groups of 30, holding flaring torches
aloft in order to keep away those who would despoil the dead.
The Temple
of Su'úrkha in Ogréjja also has their own small, private detachment of Tomb
Police that guard the tombs of the leading clans, but these are not as
effective as their counter-parts in Mechanéno. In Teshkóa the tombs of the
Rekhmél are guarded by one of their vassal clans (the Kháru) who worship
Su’úrkha and Kazhérh.
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| Relief from the Hall of Bones, Mechanéno showing tomb robbers being apprehended. |
