Council of Tards

The Council of Tards is a stratocratic tyranny led by general Sulla. It emerged after a gruesome civil war which was ended by Sulla taking power and purging his political opponents.

History
The current council of Tards used to be a monarchy, yet not much is known about this time period. What is known is that the monarchy was brought to an end by a certain Sulla who seized power using the military. Initially successful, this would start a civil war that plagued Tard lands for 8 years. Gabianus then fled abroad with some followers and the crown juwels of the monarchy. Sulla being ever harsher and more ruthless than Gabianus purged all his political opponents and this brought an end to the civil war that had devastated the newly found Council of Tards. Ever since Sulla has ruled with an iron fist, bringing stability to the still heavily divided Tards. The threat of Gabianus and his followers still being alive and other enemies that could commence from outside made Sulla's position uneasy, even though his complete control.

Culture
Before the civil war the Tards used to be mostly agrarians. With the exception of a few towns and cities all Tards live in rural areas. The decade long civil war had completely destroyed who the Tards were as a people and as such they are still looking for the common Tard identity. As of yet Tards are defined as being militaristic, a side effect of years of brutal civil war. The devastation of the land also means low food outputs and reconstruction is the most important issue for the common people. Many inhabitants of the land have resorted to plundering neighboring countries, using the expertise gained through years of fighting to overwhelm other states who have just been thrown in a new period of warfare and are unprepared for such a shift.

The Silver Guard
When Sulla overthrew Gabianus he was not working alone. The coup could only work with the support of the palace guard of the old monarchy, those who stood closest to Gabianus allowed to carry arms. They were led by a certain Labienus, a friend of Sulla and not necessarily a staunch supporter of Gabianus. The two came together and schemed a plot to overthrow Gabianus. They launched their attack and managed to seize the palace but Gabianus and his supporters managed to escape. They fled the country seeking to rebuild and return at another point leaving Sulla and Labienus in control of the country. Sulla became the head of state and Labienus was given control once more over the palace guard which would be reorganized into the Silver Guard, the very elite unit of the Tards. The unit started with 150 men led by, as previously mentioned, Labienus. Yet during the civil war they expanded their ranks and eventually a second unit was created, bringing the total number of Silver Guard to 300. This second unit would be led by Sulla himself. This because Sulla started seeing Labienus as a possible rival whose loyalty could be questioned. He had the power to overthrow him as long as he was in command of the unit and thus Sulla needed to counter his power with a unit of his own. Adding even more challenged to the already troubled Council of Tards.