: True...but I don't see why *any* of them would survive
: most wars. Wasn't the Jmen being at Bagrada in the
: last war an anomaly? Ordinarily, the entire order
: should be fighting alongside the emperor, and should
: be utterly annihilated before he dies.
: --SiliconDream
Keep in mind that like any military force, they operate in groups. Of course not all of the Heron Guard left to defend Bagrada, they would never leave their Emporer totally defenseless. So instead they had to send a large enough force to deal with the problem, thus weakening the strength of their defense.
It would work the same in past ages as well. Certain teams of Herons would be sent to keep peace in the Empire. This would mean that if Muirthemne ever fell, then not all the Herons would be present for such an event. Even if this fraction of surviving members was scatterred across the land and hunted down, still a few would be able to survive.
And even if all of them were killed, then I'm sure that there was a strong enough following so that the order could be rebuilt. The only way to truly destroy the Heron Guard would be to destroy the fundamentals and magic that the order upholds.
Sincerely,
Pimpy™
