Unreviewed Thyrsian Veterans

[Credit Wizard]

T H Y R S I A N - V E T E R A N S

• Intent: To introduce an elite veteran regiment within the Tarkin Initiative made up of Loyalist Sun Guard
• Image Credit: Sun Guard Picture modified by ChatGPT Image Creation
• Role: The Thyrsian Veterans function as an elite Tarkin Initiative regiment composed of former Sun Guards who refused to fade into mercenary bands or regional warlords after the fragmentation of the New Imperial Order. They serve as shock troops, ceremonial enforcers, and ideological symbols meant to project the idea that the Imperial legacy endures within the Initiative.
• Permissions: HAMWAGON Permission
• Links: Tarkin Initiative | Ailon Nova Guard | Mandalorians | Sun Guard

• Unit Name: Thyrsian Veterans - 3rd Regiment
• Affiliation: Tarkin Initiative
• Classification: Elite Heavy Infantry / Expeditionary Shock Troops
• Description:
  • The Thyrsian Veterans are the elite of the elite. Each soldier once served within the Sun Guard formations of the fragmented New Imperial Order, drawn from protector cadres, palace detachments, and expeditionary guard cohorts that survived the Order's political collapse. Rather than disperse, several companies regrouped under Initiative authority, bringing with them their traditions of martial discipline, solar iconography, and relentless loyalty to Imperial hierarchy.
    
    Their armor still bears the visual lineage of Sun Guard warplate burnished crimson panels, crested helms, and stylized solar motifs but many suits show signs of repair, refitting, and personalization accumulated across years of war. They move with the confidence of troops who were once trusted to stand beside emperors, governors, and warlords, and who now see themselves as custodians of a legacy rather than servants of a temporary regime.

• Unit Size: Small
• Unit Availability: Rare
• Unit Experience: Veteran
• Equipment:
  • Imperial Man Portable ATGM
  • Imperial Particle Beam Service Rifle
  • Imperial Particle Beam Blaster
  • Imperial Slugthrower Sniper Rifle
  • Imperial Particle Beam Rifle
  • Imperial Indomitable-pattern Vambraces
  • Imperial ABDG-01x 'Null' Grenade
  • Imperial Heavy Particle Beam Repeater
  • Imperial YHC-01x Ysalamiri Cradle
  • Imperial DSP-61x Hybrid Pistol
  • Imperial Bodyglove
  • Force Pikes - Solar Pike - Vibroblades - Echani Double-Brand - Echani Vibroblade
  • Flamethrowers and Dart Launchers under their Arms - Imperial Echani Shielding
• Combat Function:
  • The Thyrsian Veterans are deployed where symbolism and lethality must coincide. They excel at assaulting fortified command posts, securing high-value personnel, and boarding hostile vessels. Their tactics emphasize steady pressure, disciplined formation movement, and the use of shock intimidation as much as firepower.
    
    Unlike standard Initiative units, they do not simply seize ground they establish dominance over it. Commanders often use them as the visible face of Initiative authority in contested regions, trusting that their reputation as former Sun Guards will have as much psychological effect as their battlefield performance.

• Predictive Martial Prowess: Much like the Echani from whom their traditions are derived, the Thyrsian Veterans are masters of reading body language. They can anticipate an opponent's strike before it is fully committed, making them nearly untouchable in close-quarters duels and personal combat due to their intense understanding of Echani Martial Arts
• Urban Domination: They are experts in high-stakes room-clearing and block-by-block urban pacification. Their tactical discipline allows them to sweep fortified structures with a level of efficiency that minimizes collateral damage to the infrastructure while maximizing enemy lethality.
• Versatility: Beyond standard infantry tactics, these veterans are conditioned to face the elite of the elite. They are proficient with a massive array of exotic weaponry from Solar Pikes to Echani Double-Brands allowing them to adapt their combat style to counter any specific melee threat, including Jedi or Mandalorians.

• Predictive Limitations: Their reliance on reading organic body language and combat flow is significantly less effective against droids, heavy mechanical constructs, or erratic, drug-fueled berserkers whose movements do not follow standard biological markers or tactical logic.
• Elite Attrition: Because they are a remnant of a collapsed Order, their numbers are finite. They possess no recruitment pipeline or training academies; once a Thyrsian Veteran falls, their decades of experience and specialized training are lost forever to the Initiative.

The Thyrsian Veterans were formed in the aftermath of the New Imperial Order's fragmentation, when many Sun Guard units found themselves leaderless, scattered across distant garrisons and protectorates. Some dissolved into private security forces, others sold their loyalty to regional governors, and a few attempted to preserve the Guard's traditions independently.

A coalition of surviving officers eventually negotiated entry into the Tarkin Initiative, offering their service in exchange for recognition of their lineage and the right to retain their martial identity. The Initiative, eager to acquire trained elite troops with built-in prestige value, accepted.

The 3rd Regiment designation was adopted after their first major operation under Initiative command on Thyrsia, where the reunited Sun Guard companies spearheaded the assault on a fortified insurgent complex. Their success cemented their reputation as more than relics of a fallen order, they became proof that the Imperial past could still produce soldiers capable of shaping the present.

Since then, the Thyrsian Veterans have remained few in number but heavily relied upon, appearing wherever the Initiative wishes to demonstrate that the Imperial tradition did not die with the Order that birthed it.

​