Escape Medal

The Escape Medal was a military decoration of the Armada of the Golden Empire.

Initially proposed to honor prisoners of war captured by the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob during the Great Liberation, the award swiftly came under fire from Tariun Sakaros, Zogryth, and a number of senior Iscali commanders, who argued that there was nothing honorable about being captured. When Rin Sakaros pointed out that Tariun himself had been captured during the, Tariun was quick to reply that he had escaped. The two came to the realization that perhaps that was something to honor, and the renamed Escape Medal was created in 100 ABY.

The Medal was awarded to "a prisoner of war who escaped from captivity by the enemy without being rescued". The last criterion was added in light of the fact that only the most abysmally cowardly prisoner would not try to escape given clear opportunity; the award was designed to honor those who, through only ingenuity and devotion to duty, demonstrated the ability to create that opportunity themselves.

The Escape Medal featured black and light blue stripes on its ribbon, and a circular medal with an embossed image of a broken pair of.

Behind the scenes
User Sakaros initially intended for the Escape Medal to be the Prisoner of War Medal, modeled after the United States's. In researching it, however, he discovered that the POW Medal is unique among the militaries of the world, and furthermore, the had objected to the creation of the medal for much the same reasons as Tariun Sakaros.

In light of these facts, the Escape Medal was created instead, and was inspired by the French.