A new podcast about Suraya Hawthorne is up!
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I totally should have posted this… sorry 
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I got you! 
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This is a fun podcast. I’m only half way through.
@baxter Devrim was part of the City Militia (combustion transcript- Combustion Transcript) not the city watch, although in the context it could mean the same thing. Militia is usually civilians being organised to fight militarily. Either as a supplement to existing armed forces or against them (freedom fighters/terrorists)
I seriously doubt that Devrim was fighting against the Vanguard and Consensus, which raises the possible scenario that the city needed to arm some of its civilian population to fight on different fronts. I doubt (because he used the word ‘militia’) that this was some police force enforcing city rules from with in the city.
Which then begs the question as to why? The tower and crucible are full of guardians. Why militarise civilians?
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Thanks @pirate_dani!
It is a really interesting point, and I regret not going into this within the episode itself. Perhaps we should have a follow up episode focussed on Devrim Kay!
It does seem odd to militarise civilians, but perhaps there are some duties for which Guardians are just not well-suited. Most Guardians seem to behave more like special-ops than soldiers following orders. There are exceptions to this, like the Redjacks, but generally Guardians seem to be fairly independent.
I’d definitely like to learn more about how the City Militia works with the Vanguard!
You guys also touched on the EDZ, and why it’s called the EDZ. I also happened to be reading a nuclear toxicology study at the same time, and it got me thinking. The EZD and the Farm are obviously not dead in anyway. So perhaps this is name that the region acquired after the Shard dropped and perhaps released something toxic to humans during the collapse. A little like the Exculsion zones we see around Chernobyl and Fukushima. Or it could be to do with a mass extinction event of humans during the collapse. I mean it’s pure speculation, but the area doesn’t present any signs of toxicity to non guardians. There is plenty of fluara and fauna. Even in the ‘spooky’ forest surrounding the Shard.
Also, there are more than one dead zone. Idle conversations from Xander 99-40 from D1 talks about the Brazillia dead zone, and the Manhattan nuclear zone And that’s just the ones I’ve heard and managed to transcribe.
But going back to Hawthorne. You forgot to mention her poncho! In the cut scene The Farm Hawthorne puts Ikora in her place for being condescending to her skill because of her ‘just being a normal human’. It feels to me that there may be some societal prejudice here at play. Hawthorne may have left the city because she was sick of being belittled for not being a guardian, and for being perceived as weak/in need to saving. So she has consciously decided to wear a poncho as a statement that she is not a guardian, or one of Caydes hunters (I also believe that cayde is probably pretty liberal in his views, I’d see him encouraging anyone to be a hunter as long as you get the job done)
And can I mention that she obviously suffers from anxiety. Listen to her idle dialogue in both the Farm and the Tower and you will hear her calming herself down due to being around so many people. Being uncomfortable with being away from the wilds. Etc (I’m in the process of capturing idle dialogue. Long road ahead on that one) So it’s interesting to see that she took a direct role organising and looking after the refugees directly after the cabal attacked. A job needed to be done, and she did it even though it would have been mentally very difficult for her.
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I think the City Militia might work to guard what is inside the City, since Guardians travel out and about around the Solar System.