While the various regional police forces of the Protestant union vary greatly depending on the state in which they serve they are generally divided into three distinct departments; the City Watch, the Dragoon Peacekeepers and the Imperial Guard. As opposed to most nations’ police forces they are not a branch of the military but operate separately from the Union Army.
The City Watch
City Watch officers perform a number of duties including but not limited to law enforcement, firefighting, and riot control. They are armed with Rukh Salzburg Mk XII Revolvers and lead weighted hardwood truncheons. The average street watchman is not exceptionally well trained, but will have a lot of experience in close quarter combat from the Watch’s regular run-ins with the many street gangs that plague the Union cities; never -ever- assume that a watchman won’t fight dirty.
The Dragoon Peacekeepers
Peacekeepers are mounted police units who patrol the Union’s roads and borders as well as its smaller towns and villages. Their weapon loadouts are typically more varied than the urban police officers’ but they usually include a Rukh Salzburg Mk IX Revolver and a sabre. Peacekeepers ordinarily ride horses but in some regions they prefer the use of more exotic mounts like camels or reindeer, with rare units even using Emerged creatures such as Unicorns, Mares of Diomedes or Alpine Drakes. While the Peacekeepers are well trained and effective law enforcers they are also infamous for being easily corrupted; it’s easier to get away with taking a bribe when you’re out in the wilderness than in a crowded city.
The Imperial Guard
The last Emperor of the Union was deposed in the Coup of 1762 but the Imperial Guard that he instated remains to this day, mainly because it was one of the few good ideas he ever had. Imperial Guardsmen are recruited from the veterans of the Union Army and so are highly skilled and well trained units. Their main task is to watch over official buildings and high-ranking civil servants, but they are also occasionally called in to handle situations that the City Watch is unable to deal with such as city wide riots or the odd paramilitary group. The common advice given to those who run the risk of being confronted by the Guard is to leg it at the first sight of a blue coat.
