WesWorld

The Chosen and the Strongmen

There are, as of 1921, two elite groups of Indian soldiers serving the Raj: the Chosen and the Strongmen. These are outside the regular Army and Naval Infantry units based across the empire.

The Chosen

The Chosen are a brigade-level unit of four infantry battalions, headquartered in Hyderabad. Formed in 1768 by the Raj of the time, Ashoka II, the Chosen exist to protect key government infrastructure and personnel - but not the Raj or his family.

The Chosen are selected for service from the ranks of the Imperial Army and the Naval Infantry. In order to qualify for service, their unit commander must submit a nomination to the Chosen’s staffing officers. A staffing officer reviews the individual’s records and accepts for field trials those men who:

-Have demonstrated a strong work ethic

-Have demonstrated loyalty to the Raj

-Have above-average armed and unarmed combat skills

-Have at least six years in uniform (meaning that the Chosen’s youngest officers are usually captains).

Courage and competence under fire can be a factor, but only if the staffing officer is confident that the candidate’s own actions were the cause of his success, rather than pure luck or enemy errors.

Twice per year, the candidates are assigned to the Chosen’s Fourth Battalion, which serves as a training cadre for the brigade’s remaining three battalions. The several hundred candidates undergo a gruelling seven week trial, informally known as “Shiva’s Vacation”, that includes mountain climbing in the Himalayas and forced marches through the Burmese jungle. The top two hundred candidates are accepted for formal service. The remaining soldiers who survive (a few usually do not) are returned to their unit, and suffer no stigma as a result of this.

Training with the Fourth Battalion’s A and B Companies lasts ten months, during which the Chosen learn some of the following skills: psychology, foreign culture and languages, diplomatic protocol, demolitions, crowd control, urban combat, and body and building search techniques. The Chosen also receive regular training in unarmed combat and with weapons ranging from standard Indian and foreign guns and blades to ad hoc weapons such as sticks or rocks.

Upon completion of the training, the Chosen are assigned to one of three battalions for a two year deployment, followed by another year of training, and then a second deployment.

The three battalions have different missions, but are alike only in that their command structures are very decentralized. Officers and non-commissioned officers of all ranks are expected to exercise strong initiative at all times. The individual detachments consist of four squads, commanded by a captain and three sergeants. The squads operate on an eight day week, with each squad having two days off-duty after six days of eight-hour shifts.

Typically, Third Battalion is assigned to key facilities such as the Imperial Treasury. Their responsibilities in this case are to serve as a reserve force backing up the Imperial Constabulary personnel normally assigned to the location. Third Battalion’s on-the-job training assumes that the most likely threats are rioting mobs or small gangs of armed criminals; large-scale military assaults are considered unlikely.

Second Battalion’s role is to ensure the safety and availability (to the Raj) of key loyal government personnel such as the Ministers and Board Chairmen; should any of these worthies prove disloyal, the detachment assigned to him generally gets the initial order to arrest him. They will travel with the assigned individual at all times, including overseas if necessary. Typically, the expected threats are trained assassins or disgruntled civilians. Since there have been several cases of the Battalion arresting treasonous individuals, the men being protected tend to be at least slightly mistrusting of the Chosen assigned to him, and may have handpicked bodyguards in addition to them. Relations between Chosen and bodyguards are generally strained.

The First Battalion is deployed to key overseas locations, usually embassies. There they may be assigned to site security, or they may be assigned to assist embassy staff such as intelligence officers or military attaches. Most of the men in this battalion are on their second deployment, as they need time to learn multiple languages and understand the culture of the country they will be based in. Similarly, the range of potential threats is much wider, from disgruntled civilians to mobs of protestors to the host country’s military.

After six years of successful service with the Chosen, soldiers generally return to regular service, although a large minority find themselves assigned to a training facility of one sort or another.

The Strongmen

The Imperial Family rarely face the threat of physical harm. The vast majority of the populace is loyal to the Raj and would not think of threatening him or his family. Government-sanctioned assassinations have not yet proven to be a serious threat either; India’s neighbours have thus far been loath to engage in such dishonorable behaviour.

However, individuals may have their own personal reasons to strike out at the Raj - blind anger, greed, or a dislike of the monarchy are a few possible motivations. After a pro-Republican minister fatally wounded Brashkar I in a coup attempt in 1865, the Strongmen were founded - by Brashkar's grieving but furious wife Zainab. Zainab’s actions were at first intended to avenge her husband and protect her son Ashoka until he was old enough to formally rule, but the Strongmen remained after Ashoka III took the scepter and have served since.

Simply put, the Strongmen exist to ensure the physical well-being of the Imperial Family. They are also tasked with administering the punishment for the capital charges of attempted regicide and regicide.

There are supposed to be two hundred Strongmen, but the number is usually off by ten or twenty either way. Strongmen are typically selected from the ranks of India’s crack military formations - the Naval Infantry, the Imperial Corps of Commandoes, and the Jungle and Alpine Corps. Initial selection criteria is similar to that of the Chosen; indeed, candidates for the Strongmen also endure “Shiva’s Vacation”, and those who pass are actually trained by the Chosen’s Company C, Fourth Battalion. In addition to the skills learned by the Chosen, Strongmen also learn a variety of intimidation techniques, animal handling (riding animals and tigers), and become adept at interpreting body language. A great deal of time is spent honing their initiative and reaction times, until certain defensive actions become instinctive and unconscious. In more than one instance, a Strongman has physically reacted to a threat before genuinely understanding that there is one.

After the training is completed - two years, in this case, with failures returned to their regular units - comes the final test. The man spends a day in the company of the Rana.

The Rana commands the Strongmen - not the Raj - and she inflicts whatever tests she considers necessary upon the candidate (under the watchful eye of other Strongmen); these could be moral, spiritual, or physical in nature. One day the Rana may test a man’s character by asking question after question about his behaviour. The next candidate may find himself ordered to hold bricks in the air for twelve hours, or be assigned to entertain children for the day. On rare occasions, the Rana will bring in her predecessor, the Raj’s mother, to assist her. Those who pass such a test can consider this a monumental success, as even the Raj finds these encounters to be trying.

If the Rana accepts the candidate, he is immediately pressed into service. He is shaved of all body hair and is issued his uniform - orange silk pajama trousers, a pistol, and a talwar (sword). Additional clothing - shirts, shoes or hats - are only issued if the environment is particularly harsh. While on duty, the Strongman is expected to keep his upper body oiled, to make it difficult for would-be attackers to grapple him. He speaks only in response to a question or to discuss any situation of concern to him.

The Strongmen react to any potential threat with as much force as is necessary to ensure the well-being of the Imperial Family. It is preferred that would-be attackers are captured alive, but only if this does not add further risk to the Imperial Family; most wind up dead or seriously injured. Those who survive to be captured are judged by the Rana at her convenience. Sentences may be modest if the Rana judges that there was no actual intent of committing regicide, or they may be quite unpleasant forms of capital punishment, sometimes in public venues, if the Rana believes an example must be made. Such was the case with Brashkar’s assassin: Zainab had him tossed into a twelve foot deep pit in the midst of an arena, with several hundred senior government officials and military officers made to watch. Once the man seemed to overcome his initial fears, Zainab had two tigers brought into the arena and, after a suitable waiting period, had them released into the pit.

A Strongman typically serves the Imperial Family until the Rana determines that he is no longer able to fulfill his duties (due to age, fitness, or other factors) or until he requests to be re-assigned. The latter situation is rare, as guarding the Imperial Family is considered an honor, but it does happen; in this case, the Strongman returns to regular military service. Otherwise, the Rana determines the man’s outcome - discharge from the military, return to regular military service, or continued service to the family in a different role. Those Strongmen who have served loyally for many years usually find themselves in comfortable positions for the remainder of their lives.

Every few years there are rumors that active and retired Strongmen have access to funds and equipment to be used to retaliate against anybody who actually succeeded in eliminating the Imperial Family. Most of the rumors can be traced back to the Rana of the time.

J

(Edits, June '04: Changed some names and dates to conform with Indian "history")