Redcoats Investigative Division - JanLetovanec/laurasia-worldbuilding GitHub Wiki

Redcoats - Investigative Division

Also known as the Third Division, R.I.D. is a subdivision of [Redcoats]]. They have a lot in common with [Inquisitors. Many inquisitors are actually ex-RID officers.

While Inquisitors purely serve to seek out evil, R.I.D. officers operate above the law, seeking criminals, passing judgements and executing the will of the law. They are more privileged than their Inquisitor counterparts, but their title is only recognized in Lynxia.

If you wish to see it that way, Inquisition is the force for good. RID is a force for law.

In addition to their impressive combat performance, RID officers are trained in anti-magic warfare, and often deploy abjuration spells and rituals.

Requirements

Any RID officer must have served Redcoats in any division for at least 2 years and must have been declared an Officer in good standing, which arguably is just a formality.

Secondly, must have earned a reputation for solving at least 2 distinct cases, completed elementary thaumaturgy course, engineering training and natural philosophy training. In short, they must be well educated.

Furthermore, candidate must complete RID officer training and pass RID examinations. Specifics of both the exam and the training procedure is closely guarded secret and is surrounded by many rumours.

Finally, candidate must obtain a security clearance and pass a probation case.

Duties

RID officers act as detectives.

They are called in by the other Redcoats divisions to assist them in solving special crimes. They may also be called in for other investigative matters by military or royal guard. Unlike Inquisitors, RID officers cannot chose to drop the case and once they are called in, they have little choice in the matters.

Furthermore, RID officers are responsible for dispensing justice, which includes executions or taking convicts into custody. To this end, they are expected to act as a judge for the criminal in question, or even pass judgements without trials.

In short, they are expected to speed up the process of apprehending and punishing criminals.

Benefits

Since RID Officers typically deal with pretty dangerous criminals and hence may need to step outside the law, they are offered an immunity to most crimes. RID officers can only be charged with Treason and Dereliction of Duty, and cannot be investigated for any other crimes.

They can also overtake any investigations and assume command of any local redcoats division. Note, that the rest of military is outside of their command. In addition, any civilian must surrender their weapons (of any kind) if they are order to do so by an R.I.D. officer.

As for material benefits, they are reimbursed in gold for each solved case, have a well-furnished lounge in every city and most of their expenses are covered by government treasury.

Accoutrements & Equipment

Standardized equipment is similar to that of Lynxian military officers:

firearm of their choice
melee weapon of their choice
standard set of potions Mk II
standard healer's kit

However, typically the RID officers also wear a RID badge or RID hat and receive 1 or 2 magic items of variable potency.

Grounds for Removal/Dismissal

RID officer is suspended from duty after serving their term (25 years), although usually their term is renewed.

Alternatively, if the RID officer is accused of Treason or Dereliction of Duty, they are suspended until the investigation yields results (or lack thereof).

In case of Dereliction of Duty, RID officer is stripped of their title, their clearance is removed, but is otherwise allowed to serve in other Redcoats divisions.

On the other hand, if the officer is convicted of Treason, they are executed.

Naturally, death (by any means) counts as end of term.

History

Historically, Lynxia was always a bit ill-disposed towards spell-casters, and ever since Redcoats branched off from their military structure, authorities started to work on how to incorporate their anti-magic forces (Mage guard) into Redcoats.

However, Redcoats were a de-facto police and therefore a civilian unit. They did not see much of warfare magic the Mage guard troops were trained for. Instead, especially in more urban areas, magic was used in the shadows and dark alleyways. It was subtle. Naturally, any efforts to prosecute mages were less about deflecting firebolts and dodging acid splashes and more about detective work - tracing culprits one spell at a time. This eventually shifted how the unit operated and it slowly became what we know and love today - the R.I.D.