Help with naming conventions?

[ThePenitentOne]

Hey folks, I'm hoping some Guard enthusiasts may be able to help me out with a project. I'm writing background for my Iron Gauntlet Challenge, and I'm at the point where a Hive World is raising it's first Militarum force. Now I know that regiments tend to be overall organizations that span planets or even sectors. And when people name their armies, there's usually a name and a number, but I'm not sure if regiments have numbers, or if it's only smaller battle groups like companies.

 

Do the numbers always go after the names, or can the number come first?

 

And of course, this is the first guard force that the planet is putting together... So the number is just "The First" I would assume?

 

I've never built a guard force before, and I don't know enough about real-world military organization, so I'm a bit out of my depth. How should I go about naming these guys?

[Gamiel]

30 minutes ago, ThePenitentOne said:

can the number come first?

What I have seen: yes

[Emperor Ming]

Its generally the name of the planet they are raised on, then a number. 

 

So an example, Praetorian Guard come from Praetoria, 

 

So mine are the Praetorian XXVIII (28th) 

 

Before or after wont matter. The number will be assigned by the Departmento Muintorum. 

 

Generally on Imperial regiment banners, you have a centralised image, like the cadian gate, with the regiment number above the symbol, and the regiment name below. 

 

Is yours a already named planet or just of your design?

[ThePenitentOne]

My guys are from a planet called Desdaemona Prime- the Desdaemona piece doesn't modify well- Desdaemonan, or Desdaemonian both sound cumbersome- so I think I want "Primal" in there- Desdaemona Prime is the only planet in-system with a prime designation, so the reference is there, but it's less obvious since Primal is already an adjective with its own (unrelated) meaning.

 

So I could go with the First Primal Legion, for example. But I could also nounify Primal, and just call them the first Primals- which I think sounds more aggressive, but doesn't necessarily suit them; the only Guard I have ATM are Krieg models, and I'm hoping that 10th gives us more plastic Kriegers so that I can give my whole army a consistent look without going into overpriced resin. I think they're also going to be fairly Ab-Human friendly; Ogryns are used extensively as labourers throughout the system, and there is a Warren of Ratlings at the Echo Station Trade outpost. 

[DemonGSides]

Desdaemian Primals?

Desdaemian 4th or whatever number you might wanna go with.  I kind of like it.  But I like your lore foundations so far!

Edited April 22 by DemonGSides

[Emperor Ming]

Lots of potential options, 

 

Desdaemona Guard, 

Desdaemona Rifles

Desdaemona Fusiliers

and so on

 

Or something like Desdaemona Primal Guard. 

 

or maybe Primals is a famous regiment? Like the 8th catachans Devils or the 18th Valhalla Tundra Wolves. 

 

 

[ThePenitentOne]

Thanks guys- glad to know Desdaemonian doesn't sound as bad to the ears of others as it does to me- I guess there's some truth to most of us being our own worst critics.

 

The other background piece I didn't mention is that this regiment was created from a loosely organized group of underground resistence networks that maintained faith in the Emperor during a prolonged Chaos occupation during the Age of Apostasy- so they are hive fighters and guerilla tacticians. Once Saint Katherine liberated the system, they rose up to support her armies, and once the planet had been taken back, she united them all and recognized their role in the liberation by giving them the infrastructure they needed to become a full-fledged regiment.

 

In the present, they've grown, and now have garrisons on every planet in the system.

[Emperor Ming]

33 minutes ago, ThePenitentOne said:

Thanks guys- glad to know Desdaemonian doesn't sound as bad to the ears of others as it does to me

In a galaxy with terminology of long and difficult words such as Echlessiarchy and Departmento Muintorum, it sort of fits right in

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

Just look at real militaries.

 

in soviet/russian traditions, they put numbers first, like the 98th guards battalion

The US army also does number then type so,  4th infantry division

 

so you very well could do number then planet name if you wanted. You could also throw in a nickname or a regiment classification in the regiment’s name.

 

[AutumnEffect]

On 4/20/2024 at 5:34 PM, ThePenitentOne said:

And when people name their armies, there's usually a name and a number, but I'm not sure if regiments have numbers, or if it's only smaller battle groups like companies.

 

 

Just a quick aside, but companies can and often do have other designations besides numbers. I've seen letters (A-Company, B-Company, etc.) as well as colors (Red-Company, Blue-Company, etc.) 

 

It helps a bit to allay confusion with numbers.
So for example, you could have:
Red-Platoon of A-Company of the Desdaemonian 1st.

[ThePenitentOne]

Cool- thanks for the help everyone. Some I'm going to go with Desdaemonian Primals; the point I'm at in the writing (pre-history) deals with the 1st Desdaemonian Primals, but by the time we get to the present, we'll be looking at the 33rd Desdaemonian Primals.