How do client rulers work? ("bodyguards of the tyrant" etc)

How do the recruit-able client ruler generals ("bodyguards of the tyrant", "bodyguards of the archon", etc) work? I've been mostly figuring out EB2 by playing it since I don't see info online about how the game works. Forgive me if this is all posted on some FAQ somewhere.

I'm playing as Hayasdan. Many of the Hellenic settlements I capture are suffering from lots of unrest and cultural difference even though I'm destroying their govt and cultural buildings and replacing with my own. I discovered that client governments do better than royal administration, which makes sense. One day I realized some of the client-ruled settlements let me recruit a bodyguard unit, which I thought was just a unique unit but turns out is a general that works mostly like a family member, except it's a Hellenistic foot infantry unit instead of my Armenian cataphracts. They have traits that decrease unrest. What else should I know about them, or is that it?

Was also wondering in particular:
- Only some settlements let me recruit them, even if they're all on the same level of client government. Why is that?
- Is there some long-term benefit to recruiting "bodyguards of the archon" instead of "bodyguards of the tyrant"? One sounds better than the other :)

Thanks

Their primary purpose is to be governors of frontier settlements, especially ones that are predominantly foreign cultures. Only the first level of the client-city building tree allows their recruitment.

First of all, I highly recommend you check out the EBII player guide. The most recent version can be downloaded here: EBII Player Guide 2.35A

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hot_gril

- Only some settlements let me recruit them, even if they're all on the same level of client government. Why is that?

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Each region in EB falls within an "Area of Recruitment." These Areas of Recruitment, which usually span several regions, provide units based on the culture and military history of the peoples of that area of the map. This "AoR" system also extends to different types of units for Client-Ruler Bodyguards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hot_gril

- Is there some long-term benefit to recruiting "bodyguards of the archon" instead of "bodyguards of the tyrant"? One sounds better than the other :)

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The differences in these bodyguards come down to unit stats* and appearance on the battlefield. Some regions offer two different types of bodyguard units (usually in regions that have multiple cultural or ethnic groups). There is no long term difference.

*(As in Vanilla M2TW, you can right click on the unit card or unit name in a recruitment building's description screen to bring up the stats)