Arcadian Imperial Guard Background:

Arcadia has a very fluid ideology surrounding its regiments. It believes strongly in regimental tradition and battle history and will work to extremes to keep that tradition alive. For this reason the Order of Amalgamation was issued long ago at the time of the first Arcadia Guard foundings. The order states that anytime a regiment from the planet of Arcadia is reduced to a level deemed “ineffective” it will be merged with the next closest Arcadian regiment. During this merge, the name and command will remain with which ever regiment has the most senior surviving officer. The name of the smaller regiment is struck from the rolls until the next regiment of a similar type is founded on Arcadia. This allows Arcadian regiments to stay deployed for much longer and remove the need for regiments to return to their home world for re-training. As all the guardsmen are from the same planet there is little ill will created due to the merge. All Arcadian guardsmen are familiar with the rule and accept it as a fact of life.

This order explains the Arcadian philosophy of brigade deployment and regimental organization. When formed, a regiment is a single type (Infantry, Armored, Mechanized, Airborne, or Artillery.) They are assigned to a battle zone as a brigade or division with a balanced combination of regiment types. This way by the time a conflict concludes a brigade may have shrunk to regimental levels, but because of the order of amalgamation, still retain a mostly balanced combination of arms allowing it to perform a variety of battlefield duties.

During protracted campaigns is has not been uncommon for men from specific regiments to find themselves merged with another and then meet their old regiment again as a newly founded unit sent to reinforce the zone. The record of such an incident is held by the 33rd Arcadian Infantry. History shows the 33rd was merged, reformed, and redeployed to the planet of Armageddon eighty-six times during the Second War. It was said that by the end of the war, every Arcadian regiment on the planet had at least one guardsman from the 33rd.