Thing is, we're talking about a conflict that spanned centuries, how do you define "quickly" in regards to something like that?
Shorter than the 4 year war that supersedes it, I venture to guess.
I wonder, in RTRZ, how exactly did they describe the Shining Arms?
It didn't attempt to define them, it only noted that the Z-saber was one of them.
Vigilante?
Well, vigilante is my view, though perhaps I am mistaken. I can't seem to find the old english ZX site to compare. Does is still exist somewhere? The current english ZXA one seems to call the Raiders "Guardians."
I can compare that the english ZX instruction manual has translated 国家非公認組織 as "an organization run unofficially by the state" whereas I would read it to mean simply that the nations legally have not authorized/do not condone this group. A non-governmental organization is my understanding, something like a reploid Greenpeace. Sometimes it's written 政府非公認組織 instead, which is roughly the same, a governmentally non-sanctioned organization. While certainly a secret government organization would be regarded as unofficial and be denied involvement to the general public, they'd still be reporting to the highest levels of authority. So far there hasn't been a stated connection to Legions, the highest form of world government, whom such a secret organization would seemingly be held accountable to in their world. The one given credit to their foundation in-game is Prairie's sis, who has quite a history of doing what she believes is right regardless of the law's position.
ZX Tunes' liner notes for Grand Nuage included:
全ての人々を守る「盾」としてのガーディアンの象徴である一方で、その行動を制限する術を持たない政府にとって、いささか煙たい存在でもある。
Guarian's "shield" is a symbol of protection for all people, but on the other hand, the government which does not posses means to restrict their actions regards their existence rather murkily.
It doesn't sound to me like the government likes them too much. A private army fly around freely in their mobile base, outside the legal jurisdiction of the existing nations, doing whatever they please. Their actions are generally noble and they're heroes and protectors to the people on the frontiers, where Hunters may be in short supply. They're not openly breaking the law or presenting a danger so they are tolerated, but not exactly welcomed. Serpent's security forces on the other hand seem to have both the confidence of the people and the official backing of the government to hold important influence within Cinq Ville. There's definitely a disparity between those groups, whereas if Guardian had some superlative secret authority in the government, they would be in a position to arrest Serpent for questioning directly and the seize his company from him. Though perhaps they simply lacked clear opportunity to do so without starting a war they weren't sure they had the firepower to win.
I could be wrong, maybe Guardian did have ties to some government somewhere. Maybe Master Thomas secretly used them as spies on Albert's plans, or by Albert himself to keep one step ahead of his own antagonists. Mikhail at least seems entirely clueless, although he seems to have been in the dark about many things when it comes to his colleagues' activities.
Given the lack of organized irregular hunters amongst Legions, I always got the impression they were more official than that. At least, the english ZX site referred to them as a secret government organization.
The Hunter Guild is an official group through which Legions interacts and supports, and by whom maverick uprisings are supposed to be suppressed. The armed force Atlas led in her doomed country was Hunter-related in ZXG's D&W track. But like that example shows, sometimes they seem to be outnumbered or outclassed by their maverick opposition. Particularly on the edges of civilization like the outlands, they can do for a bit of help. Whether Ciel took it upon herself to take up that mantle or the government secretly backed her in doing so, Guardian still seems to be operating outside the parameters of normal law.
Furthermore the absence of the Z-Buster leaves Zero conspicuously shoved off-screen during Redips's attack on the Central Tower, right after R is killed. They seemingly figured that him taking cover with Marino, Massimo, and Cinnamon wouldn't be good for his image, and X and Axl are firing back. Zero just disappears.
Maybe he jumped up there and took down the ship, X3 style. Something unshown ended the assault, I like to imagine he contributed a bit.
I view Zero's poor matchup against him as simply further evidence of Force Metal tanking, same as X (who actually has the advantage in that case with X-Fire) against Jango.
Zero might not have been at 100%, since we don't know what kind of injuries he sustained after the first chapter, or under what circumstances he recovered from them. Good enough to fight through Jentra's goons, though.
Ive always believed, I dont even remember where from- that Zero series is 22XX.
Don't feel too bad about it, Capcom artist Ryuuji Higurashi thought the same thing when he was working on Command Mission.