The Bostanji Imperial Guard is the soldiery of the realm, charged with the keeping of order and security. This modern corps has taken the place of the once-famed Janissaries, broken up after their own internal quarrels; and the guardsmen are known as much for their ceremonial office as their martial one, as was seen to fine effect at the coronation of Abd-ul Mejid, where they made a grand parade of disciplined ranks, banners, and full military array. Their charge, in sum, joins the enforcement of law and order to these offices of state occasion.
Through the coronation festivities the Bostanji Imperial Guard partitioned off stretches of the street to keep the procession's way clear, marshalling the crowds and lending the day a festive air. They scattered small bags of coin amongst the people, which was received with mixed feeling — some in the throng declaring their loyalty yet to the old Janissaries. The guards held to a strict discipline, and met the first stirrings of unrest by drawing the agitators quietly out of the crowd. Their bearing mirrors the political and social currents of the region: they are the living emblem of the present ruling power, even as they manage the long shadow of the past.
In more recent days the Bostanji Imperial Guard — sometimes named simply for what it is — has met with grave trials following the murder of Nazif, a perfumist, during the Festival of Candles. When chaos broke out at the hand of the Ghost of March and his followers, who had put on the uniforms of the disbanded Sekban soldiery, the guards proclaimed a state of emergency; they were on the ground, labouring to break up the crowd and restore order amid the wider tumult.
The guards confirmed Nazif's death and held the situation in hand as further companies came up, their conduct answering to their long office as the keepers of law and order. Their part in that troubled hour underscored their standing in the power of the city, the more so as they found themselves pressed by the Ghost of March and by a public grown sullen over the late violence. To compound their difficulties, the theft of state arms from the armouries, laid at the door of the underground forces, further tangled their efforts. The presence of the guards proved vital in threading these tensions — a fair measure of how delicate their footing has become in the realm's present affairs.
Riflemen of the Bostanji Imperial Guard — elite soldiers of the palace — served Aziz Sefa Bey in his ambush of the party on the road to Mira's farmhouse, firing from the trees near the archaeological dig alongside an escort of the secret service. The party drove them off; and with Aziz Sefa Bey fled and two of their number down, the surviving guardsmen laid down their arms and let the party pass.