The Walls of Shadow and Crimson
Unlike other sects who claim mountains, valleys, or secluded academies, the Royal Guards’ sacred ground is the palace itself. Their barracks, training halls, and secret prisons lie interwoven with imperial architecture, binding their sect’s destiny to the throne they serve. Yet beyond the palace walls, the Guards maintain hidden compounds across the empire — fortresses, archives, and training camps where loyalty is drilled, discipline forged, and treachery purged.
Their territory is both visible and invisible: crimson-clad sentinels standing proudly at palace gates, and masked shadows moving through alleys and secret corridors.
At the heart of the capital lie the Crimson Barracks, a sprawling compound within the outer palace walls. Built of black stone and red-tiled roofs, it houses thousands of guards at any given time. The barracks include:
The Hall of Vigilance: The main training hall, where sword drills echo day and night. Murals depict past commanders and the Guard’s greatest sacrifices.
The Oath Chamber: A sealed hall where initiates kneel before the emperor’s seal, swearing loyalty. It is said that the walls are inlaid with the ashes of traitors as eternal warning.
The Silent Quarters: Spartan dormitories where Guards sleep in rows, their personal lives erased in favor of duty.
Outside the palace, hidden among mountains and rivers, lies the Iron Bastion — the Royal Guards’ secret fortress and training ground. Here, recruits undergo years of merciless conditioning before being deemed worthy to serve in the capital. The Bastion is infamous for its Seven Trials of Loyalty:
The Trial of Hunger — enduring days of starvation without faltering.
The Trial of Endurance — running mountains in full armor.
The Trial of Vigilance — standing unmoving for days, guarding a single candle.
The Trial of Silence — resisting interrogation under torture.
The Trial of Shadows — surviving pursuit by veteran Guards.
The Trial of Crimson — combat to submission against fellow recruits.
The Final Oath — swearing loyalty before the imperial seal.
Those who fail vanish into unmarked graves; those who succeed are bound for life.
Beneath the palace lies a labyrinth known as the Hall of Shackled Echoes, where political prisoners, traitorous ministers, and captured sect members are confined. These dungeons are legendary for their silence — it is said no prisoner has ever escaped, and that some cells are lined with inscriptions of unbroken oaths, carved by prisoners who died still protesting their loyalty.
The Guards consider these halls sacred, for they embody their creed: that loyalty must be absolute, and betrayal must never be forgiven.
The Guards preserve a number of relics that symbolize their enduring tie to the throne:
The Sentinel’s Edge: The sword of Zhao Jian, the first commander. Said to hum when treachery is near.
The Crimson Cloaks: Passed down through generations of commanders, dyed in a secret mixture said to resist flame.
The Jade Seal of Loyalty: A relic used in initiation rites, carved with the words “The Throne Before All.”
These relics are displayed not as treasures, but as tools — ever-present reminders of their purpose.
Throughout the empire, inconspicuous Watchtowers of Crimson rise above cities and borders. To commoners, they are simply outposts; to those who know, they are the eyes of the Guards. Each tower houses archives, informants, and a cadre of silent watchers who monitor sect rivalries, rebel movements, and imperial threats.
Messages from these towers are carried by trained falcons, their wings tipped in red dye — a warning to all who intercept them.
To enter the Royal Guards’ grounds is to feel oppression and order. Discipline hums in the air like drawn steel. Every footstep echoes in unison, every movement precise. Outsiders often describe the barracks as suffocating, yet disciples call it comforting — for in such walls, no doubt or weakness is allowed.
The barracks, prisons, and bastions exude a simple truth: the Guards are not individuals, but an army bound into one will — the emperor’s shadow.
Summary:
The sacred grounds of the Royal Guards are the emperor’s own walls — crimson barracks, hidden fortresses, and secret prisons that embody loyalty and vigilance. Their Iron Bastion trains recruits through merciless trials, their dungeons echo with the silence of traitors, and their relics bind them eternally to the throne. Unlike other sects who revere mountains or sutras, the Guards worship only the empire, and their home is wherever the emperor’s shadow falls.