Vaduz Self-Defence Corps
"We were given espatier escorts whenever we travelled through Vaduz space, apparently a precautionary measure in case of the unexpected. The ones I spoke to were uniformly corteous, even helping me carry my luggage when I entered Central, but I couldn't shake the feeling they were keeping an eye on me as much as they were looking out for me. I was acutely aware of the VSDC's reputation for brutality towards their enemy - reinforced by one of my escorts nonchalantly confirming his own reputed deeds at the Artemis incident - but their attitude to it was generally that of detached pragmatism, rather than outright sadism or bloodlust, a necesarry-evil born from the needed practicality of life in space."
"Vaduzian military-types are pushed in the propaganda as being this knightly nobility, but they're a bunch of headcases waiting to happen if you ask me. Put in prosthetic bodies that don't need to eat, drugged up to the gills on stimulants and desensitized to dousing transport-compartments with napalm, it can't add up to anything good in their psyche. The Rosenrot and Elysium stations love to brag about being great places for retired soldiers, but I wouldn't be surprised if Vaduz simply wanted to keep their veterans far away from the general population."
Structure
The VSDC follow a conventional military chain-of-command, with the primary differences being that individual Cohorts (Vaduzian equivalent to Batallions) each select recruits from specific stations or groups of stations in an attempt to strengthen unit-cohesion, and certain positions or ranks can be inherited by a Espatier's chosen successor (as long as they meet set standards of training and qualification).
Culture
The VSDC takes something of an anachronistic approach to their esperit-de-corps, between their semi-hereditary stations and nationalistic bonds, fostering a culture of premodern-inspired martial honor and - paradoxically to their doctrines of standardised cybernetics - independant improvement: Each recruit begins with standardized equipment and cybernetics (a necessity to ease the burden on Vaduz's logistics) which are gradually modified and changed throughout a career to optimize an individual to their assigned task . An Espatier of any rank is expected to unquestioningly respect their superiors, act in accordance with deply-ingrained standards of honor and stoicism, and to always put the greater good over themselves.
Despite this, the VSDC has incited multiple controversies among DOJ/HR for their so-called 'Psychological Deterrence' doctrine of combat: Vaduz and by extention its military believes in the use of tactics designed to demoralize and panic enemy forces to deter further hostilities, and that subjecting lawful enemy combatants to tactics Union officials deem 'cruel and unusual' to achieve those means is a valid method of achieving such a deterrence. Such tactics include (but are not limited to) the broadcast of disturbing/threatening sounds, useage of incendiary and chemical weaponry as anti-personell weapons and attacking with the intent to wound enemy combatants rather than kill, all to maximize both individual and group distress in enemy forces and to force retreat or surrender.
Assets
With the difficulty of maintaining populations and logistics in an all-space society, the VSDC takes a quality-over-quantity approach to its recruitment and manufacturing: Every piece of equipment, from individual sidearms to superheavy-gunboats, are painstakingly crafted to make the most out of every single gram of mass, and every soldier is equipped and and cybernetically-enhanced to make up for their lack of numbers via maximising their individual capabilities. A colony's defenses might be small on paper, but even small units of Vaduzian military assets are capable of achieving imposing kill/death ratios by way of outranging and outgunning their foes.
"Sentinels of the Lanes."
Founding Date
4778
Type
Military, Armed Forces
Demonym
Espatier
Parent Organization
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