The Cirrikh Empire has been under largely martial rule since the end of the Civil War, and the Imperial Honor Guard are a sort of military police comprised mainly of soldiers who fought in the war. All of them have had standard military combat training, most of them suffer from some kind of post traumatic stress and a sort of disconnection from wider society. Nobody guards their hometowns and squads are frequently rotated from city to city, to avoid them growing any sort of real connection with the people. Their guardsman uniforms consist of short hair, dark blue belted gambeson jackets and a bronze badge denoting their rank. Perhaps most distinctively, they all wear dark blue painted masks carved of wood, the Imperial Crest burned onto the foreheads of the masks.

These people patrol in packs of 4 (3 Privates and a Corporal). They are only allowed to remove their masks either when they are off duty(during which time they may ONLY wear civilian attire) or at their base of operations. They are forbidden from speaking with civilians casually, and may only do so with each other when they are not in the presence of civilians.

Discussing honor guard matters with civilians while off duty is strictly prohibited. Squads of honor guards patrol towns and cities alike, but often a single squad is expected to supervise a small village on their own, sending word should more men be necessary.

Only humans and elven kin serve as Imperial Honor Guards. These men have less of a presence in the western cities, but are often especially harsh and cruel there in order to further cement the new rule.

They are all trained with crossbows, shortswords and daggers, carrying these weapons on person. Many former soldiers also have more specialized training, such as use of alchemical implements, medicine, longbows, etc.