Massassi Guard

The Massassi Guard was one of two special units comprised solely of Massassi warriors in the Golden Empire (the other was the Keltrayu's Tomb Guard). Members of the Guard provided personal protection for important persons, including the Royal Family of the Golden Empire.

History
At the beginning of the Golden Empire, the Armada was comprised entirely of Massassi, and various soldiers served as Queen Rin Sakaros's personal guards. Massassi also served as battle guards and elite reserves for Tariun Sakaros and Keltrayu as needed. When the Massassi were formally organized into cohorts, Rin continued to draw guards from different cohorts as needed.

After the Order of Keltrayu began to flourish and the first Royal Guards were appointed in 105 ABY, Rin drew less on Massassi as regular bodyguards and only called on them as needed. However, eventually Tariun persuaded her to develop a dedicated guard unit, rather than drawing randomly from whatever cohorts happened to be on hand and thus leaving cohorts shorthanded. Rin created a formal guard unit in 111 ABY.

The Guard continued to exist over the following decades, acquiring additional protectees (both other royals and Consuls whom Rin felt needed extra protection). The Guard experienced a measure of disgrace in 143 ABY, when the guard Wyrrk attempted to assassinate Rin Sakaros; Wyrrk was killed by his brother Assht, also assigned to the Guard, and Rin killed her detail's captain, Khazan, for failing to detect the plot. Years later, the Guard received more positive fame when Zyffrylek and Nrrghalan died defending the Citadel during the Battle of the Sith Star.

When plans were confirmed for the Household Guard, some Massassi and senior Royal Army officers wondered whether the Massassi Guard would continue to be necessary once the Household Guard activated.

Service
Like the Tomb Guards, members of the Massassi Guard were selected for physical fitness, proficiency in arms, and exemplary service and combat records. After Wyrrk's attempted assassination of Rin, potential guards were psychologically screened as well. The Guard's commanding officer, a Massassi major, reviewed applications and forwarded final recommendations to the Sovereign, who had final approval for new members. Guards served tours of at least one year.

In the regular practice of the Empire, Massassi guards were dispatched as needed for various protection assignments. Guard detachments protected members of the Royal Family, acting as supplemental forces for those who had their own Royal Guards; Breek Zagrev had a dozen Massassi Guards aboard the Valkyrie in addition to her pair of Royal Guards. Massassi often accompanied Tillandra Moraes when she was in the field, and were occasionally loaned out to Consuls, Tribunes, Procurators, and Advocates Rin felt were in some particular danger. Two Massassi guards watched over the entrance to the Citadel day and night.

"The Tyras assignment"
After moving to the Golden Empire in 146 ABY, Princess Jasmine Auroras had an entire company of Massassi assigned to her estate on Tyras to protect her, her daughter Katie, and her granddaughters Sovi and Taia Turgachia. Unused to being treated as royalty and firmly dismissive as being treated like a demigod because of her, Jasmine's laid-back attitude, tendency to wander off, and apparent ignorance of concerns for her own safety led eighteen captains of her guard to resign in the first decade she was in the Empire. Some Massassi eventually took to warily speaking of service in Jasmine's guard detail as "the Tyras assignment".

Equipment and training
Massassi in the Guard carried double-bladed vibroglaives as their primary weapons, though in hostile territory or combat situations they also wielded typical Massassi blaster rifles, vibroknives, grenades, and other weapons. They trained for both melee and ranged combat daily, and underwent specific training for protecting others from harm. Many Guard soldiers cross-trained with Royal Guards.

Behind the scenes
Sakaros, Fermata13, and Jade-Starrz have referred to "Massassi guards" for years in RP, but it only recently occurred to Sakaros that either Rin or Tariun Sakaros would have seen the military error in drawing guards from standing cohorts and random and leaving those units shorthanded.

Referring to Jasmine's Guard detail as "the Tyras assignment" was inspired by the real-world practice of actors who refer to  as "", for fear that using its real name will bring bad luck.