The Gardier - Armed Forces

Armed Forces

The Gardier are vaguely fascistic, with an extensive military force. The forces are divided into three castes:

• Service - Members of the Service wear drab, unadorned brown uniforms and have their hair shaved in buzz cuts. Due to long hours inside their closed vessels and fortified outposts, they have a sickly pale skintone. Members of Service have their memories of their prior lives magically erased.
• Command - Members of Command dictate battle strategies and command the Service caste. They often plant spies in the other castes to detect traitorous thoughts. They also recruit spies among the Rienish. An archaic Aelin word for the Command caste is Domileh (The Ships of Air, 354).
• Scientists - The Scientists adapt stolen technology for use by the Gardier. They are often interested in Command's activities because they suspect captured individuals with knowledge of desired technology will not be turned over to the Scientists for examination. Of all the classes this is the only one that encourages free thinking (The Ships of Air).

The castes are strictly divided. No casual contact is permitted between members of different castes and strict hierarchies are in place within each caste. It appears that women are able to serve alongside men in the three castes. The higher castes, Command and Science, will plant observers among the other castes to spy on their own people.