The Silent Guard

The Silent Guard are some four-thousand million minds. Great warriors each and all, force-conscripted by the Vermilion Emperor.

Out of the millions of castles, satellites and moons that host a fragment of the Vermilion Emperor a host stands guard. Some rumor that each mind had the audacity to stand against the Emperor, others claim they were simply champions of their own worlds who asked for the highest honor. Some whisper that they are all the worst of criminals and as such suffer the worst of punishments.

No one knows for sure from who or how the Silent Guard are made. Only that they live doomed lives. For all they do is train to perfect their craft, stand vigil for thousands of tens of thousands of years without a visitor, but worse of all they fade. For a normal mind is not meant for eternal life, so with each passing moment they lose more and more of themselves until only a husk of instinct and training remains.

Some use this as a curse, the "Emperor's favor". For it is not enough for him to rob them of their lives, he has to rob them of their minds as well.