Week 24: New Parlay's Guard Corps!

Hey all! Happy Thursday! It's been a weird week this week, with my birthday right in the middle. I have another sweet lore post planned this week, with the New Parlay guard!

There is actually quite a bit of work going into this group of people. Facing the populace, the organization seems quite simple and very corrupt- however, there is quite a bit going on behind the scenes...

Getting their outfits down was the first hurdle for these characters. I wanted an outfit that was functional, but I also wanted to ensure they had a different aesthetic than what New Parlay already has going on for its citizens and other workers. The end result was what we have now. Their outfit makes sense for patrolling the city during the frigid nights and has light enough materials that they can wear it for protection from the sun without overheating.

As you can see, there are a few key pieces to the outfit of the average guard. The first and most important piece is their skirts. When they first join the city guard students are tested with an intense hazing ritual that involves different kinds of hardships and abuse. They have no formal education for the role and follow mandates imposed upon them by the ruling party of the city. Upon completion of their rite of passage, they are awarded the first rank item as a guard: their skirts! (Joining the city guard is referred to as ‘getting your skirts’.) The second rank item is a shoulder cape, covering the left arm (traditionally the shooting arm) all the way down to the knee. The third rank item is a bandana. Guards holding all 3 of these items can generally expect to oversee a patrol or in some districts even the local station.

Their mission statement maintains that they will always serve the group that is in power and are impersonal about affairs. This view is well-established among the higher officers of the guard, however for your average patrolling guard, it is about nonexistent. They are simply trying to get through their day-to-day like most people, and unfortunately the authority granted along with the skirts has attracted many people seeking to abuse that authority, leading to a merciless guard force, although only few are brazened enough to act out in broad daylight.

A guard’s bandana is their final badge of learning- to lose it is effectively to lose the rank. These are often kept by notorious criminals as a trophy for defeating high-ranking guards. A guard must re-earn another one if they lose it, which is costly because they are earned for service actions, not time in, which leads to an interesting social pressure within the ranks to move up and contribute. After earning their bandana, their next promotion is one of two routes: to become an officer or to continue to Special Service Actions (internally I refer to them as SSA guards).

Officers cease field work and become advocates, planners, and administrators for the city guard. They are given a new white bandana along with their original skirts and cape.

SSA agents begin covert work in New Parlay, doing various secret tasks and projects as well as infiltrating gangs and potential dissenter groups as needed. They are also the ones in charge of hunting down heads wanted by the guard.

They are pretty much unheard of by the local populace and vaunted among the guards. They are given a tan bandana matching the desert hue and their original skirts and cape are traded in for new black ones. They are trained with snipers -extremely rare weapons because most scopes and sights are extremely inaccurate after 200 years- which use newer scopes crafted by an earlier ruling family. They are legendary, precise, and few in number.

Unfortunately, the SSA guards have no concept art to depict what they would look like, but until I rectify that hopefully the original concept with the guards can give you a mental picture of their appearance! They are some cool cats.

As far as work updates go for this week, work on the artwork continues dutifully and we're still on schedule- nothing to add besides this.

Thanks so much for sticking with me all this time and tuning in. I appreciate you! Have a great weekend and see you next Thursday!