Every Sunday a new random worldbuilding related prompt will be released. The MillieBot will be asked for a prompt, I will post a screenshot of it and we get to town writing.

Prompt: Does the leader have special protection (Kingsguard, Secret Service)?

I feel like it would be a lot of work to go through all the leaders of the world and their various protection services, so I will settle on the leader of the kingdom where my first story is going to be told, Zithio. So here is a little backstory on Zithio, a semi-enclave country that is surrounded by the much larger territory of Paka Lanpau on three sides, with the north-east side of the country exposed to the ocean. The Zithians have a longstanding peace with the Pakan people which is the result of a war some three hundred years in the past. The Zithian people were attempting to expand their territory into the sparsely populated wilds of Paka Lanpau due to a surge in the population requiring more land to sustain it. This did not sit well with the predominantly elven people of Paka Lanpau who view their territory as the holy 'birthplace of civilization.' They fought to defend the wilds of their kingdom from the Zithio horde. Due to the size of their country and the relatively ancient technology from four hundred years ago, it lead to a prolonged war. Zithio would build up a large sum of troops to attack a weak point in the Pakan defenses, then the Pakan's would mobilize more troops to shore up the gap created by the Zithian surge.

After nearly a hundred years of fighting, the Zithian people were no longer facing a population boom, throwing away the vast majority of their capable men and women at the Pakan meat grinder. Having the upper hand, the Pakan people started to reclaim all the territory that was taken by the Zithians. The Pakans then started to take some Zithio territory, pushing them back towards the sea. This forced the King of Zithio to capitulate to the Paka Lanpau Emperor. The deal was somewhat strange but ensured the peaceful existence of both nations for many centuries to come. Some even consider it quite generous considering what the Zithians did and the state of their nation at the signing of the deal. In exchange for holding no standing army, the Zithianks sent fifty percent of their military-age population to Paka Lanpau. In exchange, they got back the territory lost in the last years of the war. The Zithians were also allowed to freely settle the uninhabited territories they were once fighting to attain, the only catch being that the Zithians living there were to pay their taxes to the Pakan Empire. Quite a fair deal considering the bloodshed. The military-age population sent to Paka were not squandered on menial tasks either. The Pakan generals saw the potential in the Zithians from the war and trained them to be elite troops that helped play pivotal roles in defending the Pakan Empire, and thus the Zithian Kingdom, from other foreign forces. These trained troops came back to their homeland heroes. Most chose to leave the military career behind and pursue other endeavors. But some enjoyed the camaraderie and regiment that army life provided. Paka Lanpau would not allow Zithio to raise and army ever again, but they saw a need for a Zithian based militia in the land that would better calm and quell rebels and riot.

Zithio is a wonderful place to live, in a sense, due to the peace the kingdom is surrounded by. An entire country of buffer zone. A portion of the citizens must fight in war, yes. But they make up around ten percent of the Pakan Legions and their intense training leads to a great survival rate. The Zithian Militia also provided the King with a small division of guards to protect him during public events. They were not a special division of soldiers trained in kings guard duty, but simply the closest group of militiamen when they are needed. The Zithian territory has been extremely peaceful ever since the time of the war and the Militia spends most of its time patrolling the sparsely populated wildlands hunting down monstrous creatures that wander too close to farms and villages. In a way, I guess this is a roundabout way of saying no. No the Zithian King does not possess a trained kings guard. He instead relies on his countries militia to keep the peace in times of public appearances.