The Imperium covers much of the known galaxy, with borders stretching many thousands of light-years across, containing millions of worlds spread across the darkness of space. It struggles for survival against numerous alien foes as well as rebellion and subversion from within. Fighting these wars is the largest army Mankind has ever known: the Imperial Guard, also known more formally as the Astra Militarum. Not even the Adeptus Administratum knows how many are serving at any given time, though in a single sector alone it can easily reach the billions, "thousands dying each day to be replaced with thousands more". "These soldiers form the thin line against a violent universe eager to scour the stars clean of all traces of humanity". When alien races and planetary uprising threaten, it is the weight of the Imperial Guard that is wielded like a mighty hammer blow intended to crush all resistance to the Emperor’s rule. Even so, engagements can last for years, decades, and longer in "seemingly endless" wars of attrition where generations fight and die for the promise of future victory.
Service in the Astra Militarum follows many paths, some following in the traditions of their world to join famous regiments like millions before them. Others might enter via lottery, conscription, punishment, or blind chance. Each world is responsible for tithing a percentage of its population to this service, and a world that slackens in this duty often faces the fury of the Imperial Guard bringing it into compliance. Once a woman becomes a soldier, "she usually never sees her home world again", sent off across the galaxy to fight wars on far-off worlds for strange peoples and foreign lords. "Every Guardsman knows, though, that there is no real escape from service, and only in death is she free of this sacred duty to the Emperor". For their part, the regiments of the Astra Militarum combine both those dedicated and fanatical to the cause with those that serve only out of fear or penance. Thus, an Imperial Guardsman can be anything from a hero heaped with glory or a zealot ready to spend her life for unseen masters, to a self-serving coward merely trying to survive or a criminal running from her crimes, and all manners of woman in between. All have their place in the Imperial Guard’s plan, sometimes serving as mere cannon fodder so that other more valuable assets might be protected. However, even the greatest of soldiers might still be squandered in the hands of a callous commander, of which the Astra Militarum has more than its fair share.
The "rare" veterans that survive to see life beyond the Imperial Guard are "hardened fighters, the product of countless wars and engagements". Often trained in a variety of the Imperium’s most deadly weapons and armoured vehicles, their skills are always in demand. Each is unique, but all share the common trait of being survivors, having come through the meat grinder that is Imperial war, and somehow survived where millions have not. This in itself is a valued ability, one that only those that have fought in the Emperor’s service can truly understand. Within some regiments, however, veterans might find little chance of advancement or survival due to incompetent or careless commanders. They inevitably die in battle, their skills, like their blood, spent in another of the Imperium’s endless conflicts to hold onto its fragile empire.
Imperial Guard Characters
Imperial Guardsmen come from many worlds and are masters of many skills, each combination of both often unique to their regiment or unit. A character who has served here is adept in the use of weapons and has likely tasted combat, seeing first-hand just what the Imperium must do every day to survive. This can fill her with a deep hatred of heretics and all xenos life. It has also made her into a survivor. "Often entire regiments are consumed only hours after their arrival in a warzone, and it is rare for a Guardsmen to live through an entire campaign, or sometimes even a single battle". That the character has lived through many such combats marks her as valuable and rare, even if few within her command structure notice. Fortunately, there are often others that do identify the character’s unique attributes and can put her talents to good use.
Imperial Guardsmen also can become specialists with a specific weapon or method of fighting, and it is likely such a character has one or more specialisations under her belt. These can include sniper training among the regiment’s recon elements, driving Leman Russ battle tanks, or operating the gargantuan Imperial artillery pieces. A Guardsman might also learn less combat-oriented skills that are also essential to prosecuting wars, such as logistics, material support, or advanced intelligence- gathering techniques.
Some Guardsmen might rise to a position of command, and learn something of the tactics and strategy of warfare along with logistics and politics. These skills can prove invaluable in other vocations, as an understanding of one’s foes and how to best counter them can be applied to myriad situations. The Imperial Guard are among the few elements of the Imperium to face the alien threat head on, and a woman that has spent time within the Astra Militarum has "seen things few others could even imagine". This marks her out from the majority of the civilian populace who have never heard of many of these threats, let alone seen them. Her rank alone can also serve her well in the presence of others with similar service. Those still within the Imperial Guard, especially if they are aware of the character’s regiment, may often hold her in greater respect for her service, knowing first-hand the price of duty she must have paid and the comrades she lost along the way.