The Military of the Elindari Chronicles
The Cistian Kingdom
The Cistian Navy
There are two major branches of the Cistian Kingdom. The Cistian Navy is the premier navy of this world. Built around the feared trimaran dreadnought. The Cistian Navy has almost four centuries of service. The main battle fleets are built around the dreadnoughts. Scouting and fleet surveillance are provided by fast catamarans. Education and tradition furnish the navy with capable personal. While catamaran cruisers give the bulk of the Cistian fleet. There is no force currently capable of contesting the naval power of the Cistian Kingdom.
The Cistian Legion
The Cistian Legion is built of three components.
The Sword Brothers
There are two major branches of the Cistian Kingdom. The Cistian Navy is the premier navy of this world. Built around the feared trimaran dreadnought. The Cistian Navy has almost four centuries of service. The main battle fleets are built around the dreadnoughts. Scouting and fleet surveillance are provided by fast catamarans. Education and tradition furnish the navy with capable personal. While catamaran cruisers give the bulk of the Cistian fleet. There is no force currently capable of contesting the naval power of the Cistian Kingdom.
The Elven Knight
The cavalry of the Cistian Legion is provided by the Elven Knight. Recruitment is supplied by the same arrangement as the Sword Brothers. This is heavy cavalry intended to provide victory by the shock of a charge of the lance. The Elven Cavalry is equipped with tempered armor, lance, longsword, and bow. Light cavalry is not provided in the legion. Deployment is by regiments broken down by squadron and troop. The weakness of the branch is the lack of scouting supplied. It takes 25 years to complete the training of a trooper.
Sworn Bow
The composite bows of the legion are rightfully feared. The sworn bow is deployed in regiments of 1000 men broken down by companies of 100.
Conclusions
The legion as deployed is a fearsome instrument of war. It has not, however, proven to be a durable weapon in wars of attrition. The elven-human conflicts left deep scars on the institution.
The Korvir Empire
The Korvir Imperial Navy
Formed to assist the invasion of the Cistian Kingdom, the Korvir Navy has been a perpetual also-ran in the naval world. With a few exceptions, conflicts between the human and elven navy have shown it to be outclassed. It is, however, more than a match for the other naval powers of the world. The ship of the line is built around powerful catapults. Frigates provide the bulk of the fleet equipped with the ballista. Both ship types count on the marine contingent to resolve the battle by boarding. The Korvir Navy is an expert in landing operations.
The Korvir Imperial Army
The Imperial Army is the dread of any other nation. It has proven to be able to destroy any army it has been set against. Though in the case of the legion, it might take a decade to do so. The basis for the military is the pike. All but impossible to move the pike square, properly used, is proof against both infantry and cavalry formations. The pike squares are ten men wide and ten men deep. They can be deployed to form almost any shape the army desires. Crossbows are integrated within the pike regiments providing missile fire from the pike. Recruitment for the Imperial Army is not an issue. Every impoverished male can earn both an adequate income and increased status by enlisting.
Lancers
Unarmored and lance wielding, the Imperial lancer provides scouting and screening. Lancers defend the army against heavy cavalry by swarming it. They can not and will not attack heavy cavalry head-on. By circling around the flanks, rapid attacks on multiple vectors will be used. Faster than heavy cavalry, speed is the armor of the lancer.
Conclusions
Operations during the Battle of Ubetha proved that the Imperial Army lacks in missile fire. Information provided by its Elindari allies has raised significant concern.
The Tir la Noc Army
The Navy
Such as it is. To date, the observed ships of the navies of the noble houses are nothing more than barges with the gunnels raised, sails installed, with the addition of a bow. While the cargo capacity is large, the sailing qualities leave much to be desired. Warships feature the addition of raised decks for a catapult fore and aft.
The Army
The Tir la Noc Army is a fiction. It is an assembled group of 5 armies. To some extent, the invasion of the western coast of Elindari lands has provided a commonality of formation and weapons. The fractured command structure hobbles every operation of the military. Justifiable fear of invasion by other houses in the homeland keeps the majority of dark elven forces guarding their borders. Command competence varies by the noble house. The three arms of the armies are again, infantry, missile, and cavalry.
Infantry
The bulk of the army is provided by conscription of resentful serfs. Draconian training provides for a decent level of discipline in the infantry. Equipped with chainmail, war hammers, and shields, it gives a reasonable ground force. The battalion is the basic unit, followed by regiments and division. As a whole, the infantry has proven to be unable to contest against in similar numbers with other major power armies. Given enough time, the balance of forces will eventually always favor the dark elven given the birthrate. Missile support is provided by crossbows and by javelin troops.
Conclusions
The Tir la Noc Assembly is well aware of its shortcomings. The annexation of House Timat by House Roth, its supposed ally, has shaken the Assembly to the core. New ships are being designed. New types of formations are being tested by the houses. But, Tir la Noc forces are separated by 8,000 miles of the open ocean. Every innovation is nine months away by sail. Trying new things while fearfully guarding a border is a difficult task.
The Black Knights
The Black Knight formations are heavy cavalry using shock tactics against their foes. The equal of any heavy cavalry, the Black Knight regiments often decide battles.
The Elin Empire
The Elin Imperial Navy
Issac Sanderson is not well regarded by history. Kindly remembered or not, Issac championed reformation in the Korvir Imperial Navy. Using ballista to fling fireballs was his invention, not Tanith’s. Tanith Faith Sworn Silverway used everything that her father thought of to fashion the 1st iteration of the Elindari navy. She understood that the clay feet of the Tir la Noc Assembly were that its fleet was obsolete and mostly helpless. Lady Ice, as she is called, used the facilities of Jarrod’s Landing to produce the raiding fleet. The 1st generation of ships was ship-sloops lined with ballistae. They proved devastatingly effective in shutting down the majority of sea supply to the second invasion. Only twenty raiders were built.
Lady Ice is a ruthless borrower of any technology from any navy she can observe. The Cistian Kingdom offered clandestinely, its most precious secret. The seagoing Imril tree. Tanith changed production on the spot, growing trimaran dreadnoughts. These became the heart of a quickly growing navy. A new class of catamaran scouts is being produced to provide the eyes of the fleet. Another new ship is being developed to replace the ship sloop raiders.
The entire military of the Elin Empire is structured on a strict meritocracy. Those showing skills are identified, trained, and promoted. In the navy, this now includes women.
The Elin Imperial Army
A fortuitous forced merger of the Korviran 214th Brigade and House Faith Sworn’s forces became the model of the Elin Imperial Army. The pike was broadly adopted and married to the half-elven archers. This corrected what Tiernan Silverway saw as the fault in the Korvir Imperial Army, the lack of enough missile troops. Further flexibility was demonstrated by the incorporation of the two-handed sword at the corps level. Logistical planning on a level not seen in the rest of the world allows troop concentrations unheard of to date. The Blue Sky Clan is the source of regiments of light cavalry. Heavy cavalry is under development.
The armies of the Elin Empire are quickly proving to the finest this world has to offer.
