World Armies Megathread

Since the roleplay right now is kind of a huge shitstorm, a macro-rp total war type shitstorm, I thought it might be useful to have a list detailing the armies of the world's nations. So, here we go.

PYCHEKO:

Sovereign: Czar Ukev Bymirov

Commander in Chief: Chief Marshal Atyli Vladikov

Full count of the Armed Forces (Land) (Including reserves and levied conscripts):
678,000 (Estimate)

Breakdown of the Army:
As a benefit of owning the largest known land nation in the world, the Pychekans also have the perk of fielding the largest land army in existence. While the Republic is a far more unified state than the fragmentary Arushykan Kynazates of yesteryear, the nation still lacks the vaunted organization or material prowess of either Sanctimonia or the Occitanian Nation-States. What they lack in function they make up for in tenacity and raw numbers. While Pycheko may lack the manufacturing capability of Sanctimonia, it possesses many times the raw materials, workers, and soldiers. Through great effort, the Pychekans can muster war materials as necessary, though much of their innumerable masses are poorly equipped and trained. It is clear to many in the military community that as much of a threat Pycheko represents now, in the hands of a more developed nation it would truly be a force without compare.

The Pychekans themselves have two schools of tactical thought, corresponding to their two fronts of battle. In the south, they commonly contest with the forces of Vale, Sanctimonia, Weissebode and Buchloe, while in the north, they fight a desperate war of containment against the omnicidal Blight. When facing human enemies, they can bring their natural advantage - shear numbers and force of arms - to bare, assuming that their leaders are willing to trade lives for territory. Such a tactic would never work upon the Blight, who would easily devour the fodder sent its way and return it back a hundredfold, making the sacrifices of the conscripts into nothing more than fuel for the Blight. Thus the Republic must rely upon the venerable Buriczyzka, a class of soldier in an entirely different league than the main armies. Well-trained, rigidly disciplined, and outfitted with the best weaponry Pycheko can muster, the Buriczyzka are a match for any other unit of soldier in the known world. In their hands is the defense of the north, the frontline of the two centuries long war against the Blight.

The Standing Army: 270,000
This is the professional army of Pycheko, composed of full time, salaried soldiers who have volunteered for the task, including races such as Tieflings, who are heavily encouraged to join the military for their natural magical gifts. While by no means a disorderly mob, the Pychekan Standing Army can not match nations such as Leoben or Sanctimonia for the reliability of their gear or training, as many volunteer soldiers take it upon themselves to supplement their own weaponry according to usage or necessity, oftentimes bartering issued gear for extra rations or other creature comforts from those inside and outside the service. While the officers of the Armies have been given edicts to outlaw this practice, in effect it is impossible to stamp out, as even the Officers take part in the practice to ease their burden. Thus, in addition to the simple lack of some weaponry, whenever weapons and supplies are issued, some of it is always parcelled out, used as a tool of barter to buy, bribe, or otherwise haggle to increase their comfort and station.

For all their faults, the Standing Army is nothing to disregard. It is composed of proper fighting men, outfitted with gunpowder weapons, cannons, cavalry, and steel, expected to go toe-to-toe with Sanctimonian Regulars, Leoben Soldats, and internal brigands. The Pychekans have not adopted the popular 'pike and shotte' style of the western nations, preferring to outfit their front-line infantry with heavy brigadine armor, shields, and axes. While the Pychekans do field numbers of Arquebusiers and Musketeers, for the most part gunpowder weapons are viewed as wasteful in the hands of standard infantry, gunpowder being scarce enough that the Field Commanders of the Armies prefer to horde it for their cannons. Instead, the principle distance weapon of the Pychekan Republic is as it has been for centuries - the bow. Owing to the ease of production and the familiarity most peasants have with the weapon, and the fact that in most cases, a well-drawn arrow can out distance any gunfire, and with far greater accuracy, the Pychekans still muster large numbers of archers and, of particular note, mounted archers, in the long standing practice of the Arushykan steppes.

In this way, it can be difficult for an outsider to discern the difference between one of the masses of levied conscripts and the professional army, both using equipment often derided as outdated. What seperates the Standing Army from the conscripts is training, more so than equipment. The average conscript is forcibly called from the field and issued whatever weapon is available - the soldiers of the professional army train with a weapon for years, in their decades long service to the Republic. Though they use traditional weaponry, the well-drawn bow, and especially the mounted archer, can easily pick apart an unfortunate unit of Arquebusiers at range, or rip apart a pike formation.

Of special note are the Tieflings of the Pychekan Republic. While most nations consider them pariahs and exclude them from many opportunities, the Republic has seen it fit to heavily utilize them and their particular gifts. To this end, the Tieflings of the Republic are heavily encouraged to enter military service with increased pay and benefits, in return for acting as a dreaded unit on the field. Heavily armored, issued two-handed axes and pistols, they are expected to act as a hard-hitting shock force on the field, and a sort of Forlorn Hope during the seige of cities and fortresses. Possessed of natural demonic fire magic, they enter battle with gouts of flame before closing with their axes. The life of such a Tiefling is often short, nasty, and brutish, and many who join fan the fuels of their more depraved demonic natures. Some of the best are even offered positions among the Buriczyzka, whom value their flames, if they distrust their Demonic nature.

Largely, the Standard Army is used to garrison border defenses and patrol the interior, suppressing bandits and, sometimes, insurrection. The Marshalls of the Army sometimes petition the Czar to allow them greater participation in the Blight War, to the staunch resistance of the Buriczyzka, who view them as worse than useless against the Blight. To date, the army has only acted in an auxillary role to the Buriczyzka in the greater Blight conflict, quelling northern insurrections when populations must be moved further south. Officially, the army will only join the Blight war if the Blight manages to fully penetrate the defenses of the Buriczyzka containment efforts.

Berdiche Axemen:60,000

Tiefling Forlorn Hope: 40,000

Arquebusiers: 15,000

Musketeers: 23,000

Dvor Mounted Archers:30,000

Dvor Dismounted Archers:60,000

Light Cavalry: 32,000

Cannon Crew: 10,000



Buriczyzka: 90,000

The Buriczyzka are the elite, an entirely different class of soldier when compared to any other force mustered within the Arushykan realm. Consisting of hardened, battle-tested, exceedingly well-equipped warriors, the Buriczyzka are charged with the northern frontier, and thus, the frontlines against the omnicidal Blight threat. Many of the Buriczyzka are trained from youth to serve the Buriczyzka, in a manner reminiscent of the Knights of Occitan or Sanctimonia; others are drawn from the very best of the army, to the ire of the Marshalls, who see their best soldiers being drawn away in yearly conscription efforts. Whatever their origin, they either rise to become part of the stone wall that is the Buriczyzka, or they falter and fail to meet the task, as the Buriczyzka would rather kill and burn their own than see their flesh feed the Blight.

In some ways, the Buriczyzka resemble a religious military order more than they do a modern force of volunteers or conscripts. The Buriczyzka drive to be self-sufficient, providing their own grain, smithing their own weaponry, training their own soldiers. Like the Knights of other nations, they are a force apart, a band of brothers united, shield to proverbial shield, in their service to the cause. Loyalty to one another, while recognizing that the truth of the Blight is that there can be no sentimentality when it comes to doing what must be done, is paramount. As much as skill in arms is loyalty valued, as when one or the other is found lacking in the field, disaster will find you.

The Buriczyzka form a unique contingent of the Pychekan military. They do not answer to the Marshalls of the Army, but derive their command from the Offices of the Commissariat. The Commissariat, and, by extension, the Buriczyzka, hold complete hegemony over a region of the north officially known as the 'Wastes Exclusionary Zone', a swath of open tundra, farms, a few urban centers, guarded by a ring of forts and fortresses, the greatest of which are the wargrounds of Sercza, itself the headquarters of the Buriczyzka. From here, the Buriczyzka both guard against Blight offensives, and make occasional forays into the Blighted zones both to scout their numbers and make targeted attempts to lessen the hold of the Blight upon the region. Beyond the line of defense are vast regions of empty wilderness marked by the occasional forward post; once populated with small cities and scattered farms and villages, now long since evacuated further south in an attempt to deny the Blight human food.

This unlimited authority is a heavy point of contention between the Buriczyzka and the mainline armies, as not only are the Buriczyzka placed first in nearly all military matters, the army falls under the authority of the Commisariat whenever necessary, yet is never allowed to engage the Blight directly. The Marshalls complain amongst themselves about this disrespect, spreading rumors that the Commisariat considers itself seperate from even the Czar's authority. In truth, this claim is not without merit, as the Commisariat acts with the implicit authority of the Czar when the Blight is concerned, without first consulting his will. While this is useful and even necessary given the nature of the war against the Blight, when entire populations must be relocated, or, as is spoken of in hushed tones, liquidated to deny further fuel to the Blight, and the Commisars must be allowed to act without waiting to hear from the Czar. Still, there are rumors that the Buriczyzka and the greater Commissariat do not derive their direction from the Czar, his ministers, or his marshalls, but from a shadowy sect known as the Vindicators, whom it is rumored has the ear of the High Commissar.

Buriczyzka are encouraged to cultivate natural magical talents, and Dragonblooded, Surge-Sensitive, Tieflings, and so on are greatly valued. The Buriczyzka are issued heavy half-plate armor and enchanted weaponry of every stripe, ranging from the pike or pole-arm to keep Blight infested beasts at bay, to two-handed greatswords to inflict heavy, cleaving blows upon the regenerative Blight. They favor flame enchantments whenever possible, to both increase damage against the biological Blight and self-clean their weapons. The Buriczyzka eschew hand-held firearms, given their ineffectiveness against the Blight, in favor for grenades of varying sizes, heavy grapeshot cannons, and even older-style mangonels flinging Phoenix Fire. Mithril arms and armor are greatly valued for their composition, which guards against Blight infection and degradation, though mithril arms are even fairly rare amongst the Buriczyzka.

Although the Buriczyzka are a fearsome, disciplined force, a hard fight for any soldier, they are tailored for a very specific sort of war, which they have become very focused on, and very good at. At times, the Marshalls of the regular Army have petitioned for aid from the Buriczyzka against human enemies, or against the Minotaurs, which have yet been denied. The Buriczyzka, for their patriotism, have yet not been dragged into the conflict that embroils the world, not willing to retreat from their long guarded border in the north.


Golemskya: 80,000
Perhaps the most unique aspect of the already varied Pychekan military are the so-called Golemskya, whirring automata constructed from metal and artiface. These strange constructs have only appeared in the lands of the Aru within the last few centuries, and represent a leap of craftsmanship and industrial capacity not reflected within the rest of the nation. The Golemskya themselves are constructed by hand, piece by piece, in many smithies and magical workshops all around the Republic, before being assembled in Sercza and activated. The exact details of their function are kept a secret to even many of the higher ranking ministers of the Republic, as workshops are only given the schematics for a particular part and nothing else. Dissemination of the secrets of the Golemskya is harshly supressed by the Commisariat. As such, many rumors abound concerning the automata circulate both the military and the citizenry.

In reality, the Golemskya are based upon a design used by the third Grandmaster of the Vindicators, a Dver master craftsman by the name of Kyrgon. Kyrgon designed a specialized war automata for use in the war against the Blight, knowing that constructs could fight the Blight without the risk of feeding more flesh to the biomass. United as they were to the Surge, they could be directed by the will of the Grandmaster of the Vindicators. Even with his death, his army of automata preformed well enough that when the Republic was born, and with it, the Buriczyzka, an adaption of the design was adopted to work in concert with the Buriczyzka. To this day, the Golemskya serve the Buriczyzka exclusively, though the Marshals have petitioned to allow the regular army access.
Minotaurs: 25,000

The pet project of Chief Marshal Atyli Vladikov, the Minotaurs are war-like divine beasts from the vast southern marshes. Long a terror to the occasional peasant, then Marshal Vladikov resolved to lead his men to subdue the marshes and bring the race of Minotaurs under the heel of the Republic. What has resulted is a decade-long 'war' against the intractable Minotaurs, resulting in the deaths of many hundreds of Pychekan soldiers. In actuality, the purpose of the campaign was not to simply remove the threat of the Minotaurs forever, but to capture great numbers of them for training and use as war-beasts, a ploy to try to convince the Czar to allow the army a greater role in the Blight war. The Buriczyzka have largely refused, preferring the non-organic Golemskya to the Blight-vulnerable Minotaurs. Instead, the Minotaurs have formed a special contingent of the military, where they are used as shock troops, usually against fortified positions or cities. Guided by groups of conscripts, they are unleashed on a breach in a wall and expected to cause enough morale damage to allow regular forces to smash the remaining enemies. The upcoming war will be the first major conflict to see their regular use as beasts of battle.

Conscripts: 213,000

The conscripts are the poor, unfortunate fodder of war, called up to supplement the army in great numbers during times of war. Partially consisting of local urban militias and town watch, and partially consisting of unfortunate peasants forced from their fields and given a weapon, little are expected of these men and little are given. Organized into masses of men known as a polk, groups of a thousand strong according to their function, they are led by a Golova, usually guarded by a contigent of regular soldiers. While the army is not adverse to spending many hundreds of lives to achieve a goal, the role of the conscript is not simply 'charge until death'. For the most part, the average conscript is afforded a spear and a shield, and perhaps some leather armor, or a bow and no armor at all. The most unfortunate conscripts are given no weapon at all, taking from simple farming tools to give them something better than their hands.

Spear Militia: 71,000

Archer Militia: 82,000

Minotaur Handler(Poor Souls): 30,000

Unarmed Conscripts: 30,000

Special Units:

The Comissariat

The Comissars are the Republic's secret service, preforming any number of dirty tasks for the good of the Republic. Concerning itself with both external espionage and internal affairs, the official purpose of the Comissars is to maintain the unity of the Pychekan Republic; to this end, they are engaged in the suppression of revolutionary dissent, the assassination of undesirable individuals both internally and externally, and counter-intelligence against the spies of other nations. Among these responsibilities is included the unique task of Blight suppression. As a single Blighted creature, or, even worse, a Blight Caster, can infect an entire community, it is the job of the Comissariat to root out hidden Blight-Casters and monitor the infection status of entire regions. The Blight infection has the unforeseen benefit of giving an easy excuse to make away with political enemies or other undesirables - but even so, the danger of the Blight is undeniable, and the work the Commisariat does invaluable, if morally bankrupt.

The most unnerving fact of the Commisariat's power in the Republic is the unchecked authority it holds within the Wastes Exclusionary Zone, where the Buriczyzka answer directly to the High Commisar. While the Buriczyzka have their own command structure that ends with the High Commisar, the rest of the Commisars have duties only occasionally whispered about. With the recognition that the Blight only grows stronger with the consumption of more flesh, the Commisars have engaged in the most literal and raw form of population control, relocating entire cities expected to be in the path of the Blight. In the worst cases, if a populated city is expected to fall to the Blight within days, the Commisars are called to forcibly liquidate the entire community, stripping the city for raw materials, conscripting citizens at the sword-point of the Buriczyzka, and murdering the rest, making sure to cremate their bodies. The remaining citizens are then removed, forced to march as far as they can to escape the Blight. Many of these citizens do not survive the journey, as the Commisariat believes that it is better that these citizens be killed and cremated rather than feed the Blight. The citizens that survive this process are often moved into Buriczyzka controlled fortresses and cities, where hopefully they can find a new life in service to the Buriczyzka war effort. This is the truth that dwarfs even the more mundane horrors of the Republic, with all its suppression and mass service; a truth that the Commisars are loath to let reach the ears of anyone else, even the highest ministers of the Republic.

A further secret of the Commisariat is that the Wastes Exclusionary Home is host to a shadowy sect known as the Vindicators, whose role in the formation of the Republic and especially the Commisariat is kept exceedingly secret. In what would say a betrayal of the wills of their founders, the Vindicators have become closely linked to the function of the Republic, never acknowledged and hidden within the authority of the Commisariat. To what extent the fullness of the Vindicators are represented by the actions within the Zone is not known, but a truth is that many Commisars are inducted Vindicators, and vice-versa. The current Grandmaster of the Vindicators is close friends with the High Commisar, and the Buriczyzka are often augmented by the will of Surge.

SANCTIMONIA:

Sovereign: King Deleric Aston II

Commander in Chief: King Deleric Aston II

Lord General Alexander Martin (Vale-Pychekan Operations)

Lord General Phillip Saxton Warthrop (Southern Border Defense)

Full count of the Armed forces (Land) (Including reserves, town guard, and levied conscripts):

Standing Army: 196,000

Overview of the Army:

Unlike many other nations, who yet rely upon a decentralized method of raising their armed forces through a myriad of semi-independent local lords, who pay for, train, and maintain a number of forces as part of their tribute to the overall head of state, the Sanctimonian state is such that all forces are raised and paid for by the King. When Sanctimonia was in its youth, and still expanding its borders to eventually include all of the former 'Talibarian' heartland, the King pursued a deliberate policy of liquidation towards the independent nobles - the nullification and overall forfeiture of all titles, holdings, and assets into the hands of the King, thus annihilating any claim to legitimate independence or local power. This policy was brought into effect for very clear ideological reasons - the fragmentary nature of pre-Sanctimonian Talibar, and the petty ambitions of wealthy nobles, played a major part in nearly twenty years of chaos, war, famine, plague, and death. Instead of working together to help the people of the land, the nobles fragmented and fought their own, petty wars, which only served to drive the land into perpetual hardship. The noble families most responsible for the wars were totally stripped of wealth, while all other noble families simply lost their hereditary titles and any claim to land.

While this policy was pursued as a matter of justice, it was also a expedient policy in regards to the power and unity of the nation beneath the King. As all land and cities now belonged to the state, headed solely by the King, instead of an endless number of fragmentary Baronies, Counties, and Duchies, it not only removed the potential base of resistence to the King's authority, but also allowed for a highly centralized and organized administration spiraling out from the authority of the King. In this way, the structure of the Kingdom of Sanctimonia is more akin to the structure of the Empire of Sarkun in its highly centralized nature. This centralization has become a great boon to the military capacity of the nation, as the King and his Magistrates can impose and enforce a strict standard of quality, training, and equipment for the entire nation, ensuring that for the large part, no individual unit will fall below any other, or lack the equipment or method of fighting shared by the rest. All loyalty is given to the King, the State, not individual Generals or lords, removing much of the fear of military revolt.

In times of peace, each large city is afforded at the very least a standard regiment of 3,000 men in order to guard against organized bandit or pirate activity, to strike out at these very elements, and to act as a supplement to the local city watch in times of crisis. For the most part, these garrisons recruit and equip themselves locally, with funding deriving directly from the military apparatus itself, not the local civic authority. Most men recruited during this time thus join from the local populace, making integration with the civic structure easier.

In times of war, however, these garrisons are often relocated, moving from their cities to central mustering grounds to form into contiguous armies. Levies from this point, including new regiments, are raised wholesale from a number of major forts, the most important of which is the Fortress of Exemplar, capable of raising, equipping, and training thousands of new volunteers or conscripts at any one time. Exemplar is the most impressive of the Kingdom's military complexes, and thus forms an integral part in both the nation's capacity to wage war and defend along the northern border.

The Sanctimonians themselves commit to the most modern practices of warfare available in their era, taking full advantage of the most advanced cannons, firearms, and high quality  steel manufacturing. The basic Sanctimonian strategy focuses on the prolific use of cannon fire, Arquebusiers, and Musketeers to devastate an enemy before moving in to scatter the weakened enemy force with a focused cavalry charge or more general infantry charge. Given this focus upon firearms, a great deal of effort has been afforded to the protection of the Arquebusiers, Cannons, and Musketeers, leading to the adoption of the Pike and Shot formation wherein lines of Arquebusiers are defended by interwoven lines of pike men to protect against infantry and cavalry charges. In this way, any attempt to simply charge home to break the formation would be met by long pikes mixed with devastating wings of shot, ripping through heavy armor and causing panic.

Unique to the Sanctimonians are makeup of their Arquebusiers, who, unlike Reutten, Westerwald-Leoben, or any number of countries which use the Pike and Shot style, are armored in half-plate instead of simple buff coats, and outfitted and trained with a long sword, making the Arquebusiers uniquely capable of self-defense or even mustering forward to charge, if necessary. There have been moments where the pikes, weary of battle, have fallen back to allow the Arquebusier lines to muster their own charge against the enemy infantry, in hopes of surprising and scattering the weakened enemy.

The nation is very aggressive in their use of cannons and gunpowder weaponry, with even the average city garrison having access to firearms, mortars, and wall-mounted cannons. At siege, the Sanctimonians prefer an extremely aggressive assault style, preferring to, when possible, simply reduce the settlement's walls with cannon before charging home. During the invasion of Sarkun, this tactic was used to great effect on Qadir and Aqil, which  both fell within a day following naval and land bombardment.

The Sanctimonians, like every other nation, maintain mandatory conscription to fill their armies as necessary. The wealth, interconnectedness, and prosperity of Sanctimonia allow for a very robust military-industrial complex, with private contractors like the Greater and Lesser Heartland Guilds producing thousands of arms at a time as necessary. The nation also has prodigious alchemical workshops, dedicated to the production of large amounts of gunpowder, keeping to the Sanctimonian commitment to the use of the most modern arms available to the nation.

Although they are not by any means a true part of the military, the Town Watch deserves mention for their day to day maintenance of peace, order, and justice within both large settlements and smaller towns and villages. By law, each and every major settlement over a certain population threshold must maintain a local Town Watch, drawn from and paid for by the local civic government. While these men are by no means akin to the Talibarian Guard of yesteryear, who acted in a decidedly militant role in the defense of settlements, the Town Watch are often expected to engage in minor to moderate combat against criminals, gangs, bandits, and the occasional dark beast. In times of war, they also ensure the internal peace and continuity of power within the nation, while supplementing the military in duties such as maintenance and supply. While many settlements are bereft of a garrison of Town Watch, the largest city in a region often utilizes their watchmen to guard the roads and investigate disturbances in other settlements.

Arquebusiers: 40,000

Musketeers: 20,000

Pikemen: 80,000

Men-at-Arms Heavy Cavalry: 20,000

Heavy Swordsmen: 30,000

Heavy Cannon Operators: 6,000

Special Units:

The Knights Concordic

The Knights Concordic are a religious military order whose patron deity is Tyr, the God of Justice, and who serve exclusively the Kingdom of Sanctimonia. Consisting of a very regimented, elite cadre of faithful, tested men-at-arms devoted singularly to the ideals that formed the Kingdom of the Sanctimonia, they also represent a robust line of knowledge and defense against the particular evils that Sanctimonia seeks to combat - dark creatures such as Therianthropes, Vampires, Shades, but also Sharite infiltrators, and Heretical cults. As a result of their strenuous standards of admittance and the blessings bestowed upon them by their patron God, as well as a harsh training regiment intent on instilling the highest form of martial combat upon their members, the Knights Concordic are among some of the most elite forces the Kingdom can bring to bare.

During times of peace, the Knights are known to work with the government to pinpoint and eliminate specific dangers to the Kingdom, specifically those with a tie to the dark gods. They travel in small, task-oriented groups and traverse the Kingdom, often working with local authorities to eliminate whatever threat they may hunt, but just as often keeping unannounced as to catch their prey off guard.

During times of war, they operate in much the same regard, though in rare instances they will organize into wings of heavy cavalry to aid the main army. Most often, however, the Knights will be utilized in a way that more particularly befits their purpose.

The Oculus Infinitum

The Oculus Infinitum is a mysterious group acknowledged but not often spoken of by the Crown, but nevertheless considered eternally present in the shadows of Sanctimonian affairs. What is known is that they are a hold-over from the days of the Talibarian Empire, wherein they operated much the same as they do now - in service to their nation in the manner of trickery, deceit, assassination, and espionage. Through unknown means they were formed in the distant past, and, when the Empire of Talibar fractured, eventually turned their services over to the new Kingdom of Sanctimonia. Many legends and rumors surround them, often deliberate falsehoods spread by the Infinitum to confuse their enemies. What is, to a certain extent, known, is that the Infinitum seem to work extremely closely with the Archangel Zerachiel, the Archangel of Order, who possesses the ability to speak to these agents directly in either active or passive visions and words. In some ways, the Infinitum can be considered an ancient counterpart to the Knights Concordic, just of different means, devoted to their patron Zerachiel. In this way the danger of a rogue intelligence agency is curtailed by their overall mission and dedication to their ideals.

The Oculus Infinitum function as the eyes of the King - the 'Eye, all Seeing' is an understanding of their name - and train to function as such. They train extensively in the more mundane practices, encouraged to become polyglots and to learn regional cultures extensively. In addition to this, they learn the arts of illusion and divination, and are uniquely talented at both scrying and deceiving the senses of others. Each of the Infinitum is issued a unique, enchanted mask which amplifies their natural scrying senses as well as shielding their face when in full 'uniform' - a long, hooded, black cloak.

The Infinitum use all their talents to wage a silent war against the enemies of the Kingdom, whether by direct action like sabotage or assassination, or more subtle actions, such as impersonation, surveillance, theft of important documents, fraud, and so on. The Infinitum were instrumental in the preparation before the invasion of Sarkun, turning numerous local powers traitor and organizing the Ha'dri resistance - it can be assumed that even now they have a presence Pycheko and the Empire in any number of ways, working to lessen the strength of both powers.

The Confederacy of Westerwald-Leoben:

Sovereign: Duke Hans Jurgmann II

Commander in Chief: Baron Josef Altermann of Vinberg


Full count of the Armed forces (Land) (Including reserves and regional militia):
213,000

Breakdown of the Army:

The Confederacy of Westerwald-Leoben is in possession of one of the more effective militaries of the mortal realm, the result of a unity between old Occitanian martial style and many modern styles of warfare, including the full introduction of gunpowder weapons into the army. Since the formation of the Duchy of Leoben, the Dukes of Leoben have been engaged in constant competition with its rival states, contesting endlessly with Haria, Ansbach, Reutten, Vinberg, and Buchloe for supremacy over Occitania. These wars have shaped the borders of the Confederacy as they now stand, having absorbed the entirety of the Westerwald in 733, and a dozen other territorial holdings from their neighbors during their relatively short history. All of this has proven both the willingness and ability of the Confederacy to engage in war, although they have never been able to fully best any of the other nation-states.

As it is, Leoben fields perhaps the prototypical Occitanian army of the modern age, fielding large numbers of heavy infantry, gunners, and heavy cavalry. While the formation of the Confederacy lacks the centralization of Sanctimonia, having to rely on levies formed by regional lords instead of the direct royal conscription practiced by the south, the power of the Duke is such that, as of yet, the divided nature of the Confederacy has not led to its total collapse. It is well known, however, that the duties of the Duke include a fragile dance of power and diplomacy in order to play the numerous Counties off of each other, while making it very clear that each member of the Confederacy is better off within the fold than outside it.

Part of the fragmentary nature of the Confederacy is allayed by the fact that instead of older systems where regional powers would raise, equip, and pay for troops and then lend these troops to their overarching sovereign, the Confederate system demands 'merely' that these regional powers pay a tributary sum each year for the maintenence for the army. This money is delivered into the Duke's treasury, who then uses it to equip and raise men from the various Counties. In this way, the base loyalty that money provides is seperated from those that provide it. Soldiers know very well that their provisions and pay derive from the Duke. Failure or refusal to pay is considered an extremely heinous offense, tantamount to rebellion or secession from the Confederacy. In the past, such failure to pay has resulted in very swift military action on part of the Duke, threatening to simply dissolve the lord's holdings into the personal holdings of the Duke. In this way, the system makes it easier for these local lords to pay the sum and maintain their regional wealth and power, rather than rebuke the system and attempt to move alone.





Standing Army: 133,000

-Zweihanders:20,000

-Reiters:25,000

-Arquebusiers:40,000

-Landsknecht Pikemen: 30,000

-Light Cavalry: 5,000

-Cannon Crew: 13,000

Regional Militia: 80,000

Given the nature of the Confederacy, a conglomerate of land-holding Counts and Barons,  there exists a swath of highly variable regional militaries, raised, trained, and paid for by their local lord. These forces can range from town guard raised to maintain order, to the personal guard and military of the Baron, Count, or Viscount holding power within this region. As a general rule, these forces vary wildly in quality and form, based upon the wealth and prestige of each individual lord. For the most part, they represent the direct influence and power of each Baron, Count, or Viscount, undertaking the personal protection of their lord as well as exerting his influence upon the surrounding region. Often times, however, the most experienced or trusted officers of the lord's personal court enter into the service of the larger standing army, training new soldiers, and commanding them in battle. In theory, the Standing Army of the Confederacy is merely the personal forces of the Duke of Leoben, heavily supplemented by forces granted by the other lords; in effect, none of the other lords have enough power, individually, to directly contest the supremacy of Leoben.

Personal Forces: 20,000

Town Guard: 60,000

-Arquebusiers: 15,000

-Pikemen: 5,000

-Halberdiers: 15,000

-Spearmen: 20,000

KARAK ZIGIL

Sovereign: N/A. Democratically elected Triumvirate.

Current Office Holders:

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Yel Feyan

Minister of Culture: Weyn Jagron

Minister of Internal Affairs: Tionath Fel

Commander-in-Chief:

War Minister Aatam Gidon

Full Count of the Armed Forces (Including War Constructs): 80,000


Breakdown of the Army:

Karak Zigil, named for the first permanent settlement of Dver on the mainland following their expulsion by the Alfar, now refers to the unified nation of the Dver, itself consisting of a closely interconnected network of cities, each with its own civic identity and elected leadership. While in the past each city was independant, by now they have all fallen under the cultural and political hegemony of their mother city, Karak Zigil itself.

The Dver people as a whole are - or have become - an extremely tight nit community, bound by strong cultural ideals, most notably free expression, inquiry, debate, as well as a prolific racial identity connected to a history of struggle for self-sovereignty and freedom in the face of outside opposition. This does not, however, by any means imply that Karak Zigil is a utopia free from strife and internal conflict. To the contrary, the strong appreciation for individual expression and encouragment of progressive thought leads to an atmosphere of constant debate and often vicious argument, an attitude that has sunk into, or is perhaps best exemplified, by their political structure. The Dver have historically railed against any attempt at monarchical, authoritarian, or autocratic rule, or indeed most attempts at centralization. The collection of overarching political power into the city of Karak Zigil and its Triumvirate is still fresh in the cultural memory that it still spurs fresh debate, with many advocating for independant civic polities once again - while others argue that the Dver identity as a whole is best served by the unity of the entire species beneath one banner, pointing to exterior threats and chaos which is might only be met by the full strength of the Dver race, while also pointing out that this Triumvirate is still democratically elected, and each city maintains their own civic power structure.

This cultural encouragement of, if not infighting, but incessant discussion, debate, and communication tinges the character of many Dver, who can be extremely vocal in their opinions, especially when compared to the character of most humans. The average Dver can disagree with another Dver in a hundred different ways. Still, what unites this culture is their sense of racial identity, which, in a strong sense, manifests as a healthy mistrust and sense of disdain for the outside world. In one sense, the Dver tend to believe that their society is leagues ahead of the outside world - that the Dver civilization itself IS civilization, and all others are barbarians. In another, many Dver feel great fear when considering, especially, the trend of other races towards absolutist rule, especially divinely mandated rule. The Dver as a people are not keen to forget the horrors and devastation of the God War, and any number of religious conflicts since, which seem to prove that outside societies present a severe danger to both themselves and the Dver, given their trend towards imperialistic expansion, wars of religion, and genocidal ambitions. This mistrust may seem strange to many in the outside world - those few that have had a chance to understand the way the Dver think. In any number of ways, their isolationism - perceived as necessary to avoid a disastrous war with outside races - nevertheless continues to heighten and encourage the fear and misunderstanding that drives that very policy.

All of this is to say that while the average Dver tends to disagree, quite vehemently, with their comrade, it is important to understand that this conflict is viewed as necessary to the perserverance of the freedom of the Dver people. All of it must be understood that the Dver mindset is very tight nit - all discussion is for the good of the people. While the people are obviously not perfect, it would be a misunderstanding to assume that the Dver are a fractured entity ready to dissolve into civil war at any moment. If an outside power attempted to step into Dver affairs in favor of one side or the other, the entire Dver identity would rail against them.

ITEMS BELOW THIS POINT DUE TO REDESIGN

Based upon this sense of civic pride and community, every city maintains its own defense force, drawn entirely from a small cadre of volunteers who often serve for life. These volunteers are well-paid and respected within their community, and are amongst the most well-trained and certainly the most well-equipped fighting forces in the world. With the elven penchant for long lives, these men can draw upon decades if not sometimes centuries of experience, similiar to their Alfaric counterparts, though they lack the benefit of drawing upon previous lives. This they make up for by being equipped with the finest of arcane arms in the world, crafted by the famous Dver artifacer workshops - the highest form of enchanted weaponry in the world, dwarfing the capabilites of the workshops of Fadilla or the Inferians. The average Dver soldier, especially in recent times due to the enforcement of universal standards through the Triumvirate, is outfitted in flexible, inter-woven steel plate armor which is modified in such a way to appear to many outside smiths to appear almost unrecognizable. The surface of the steel is alchemically hardened to add further protection, which also tarnishes the steel black or grey. The armor is furthermore enchanted, commonly with a form of energy redirection artiface, similar to that used by the Demon Hunters, but by no means as perfected, being prone to dangerous overload. Nevertheless, it gives a significant advantage against those foes which wield magic, redirecting hostile magical force such as fire or electricity around the user instead of through him.

These soldiers are further equipped with the iconic Dver Lightning Rifle, a form of Arcane Arm favored by the Dver. These weapons utilize a focused array of concentrated, electrical power which tends to make traditional styles of heavy armor useless, even deadlier than going unencumbered, the metal acting to send the electricity coursing through the target's body. The average soldier is also equipped with a light, retractable blade for close quarters fighting. Though fragile and unsuited for long melees, it is nevertheless deadly for any short encounter, being enchanted to hold a magically attuned edge.

Unique to the Dver are their forms of bodily modification which serves to augment or enhance the average abilities of any Dver in innumerable ways. These additions, though not uniformly issued, are often bought by or granted to individual soldiers by their city. Artificial eyes, organs, and even limbs are not at all uncommon, and serve to make the Dver soldiers one of the most capable and adaptive militaries in the world, capable of scrying out hidden enemies, fighting for longer, or enduring more in the way of injuries than many other soldiers.

Of special note are, of course, the famous Dver Constructs. These steel, lifeless warriors, although lacking in intelligence compared to a living soldier, are strong and unflinching in a way that no mortal could be, armed with an array of weapons similar to those utilized by the soldiers. Due to their limited intelligence, the Dver tend to view these tools not as offensive weapons but defensive ones, left behind in the homeland while the Dver army moves forward, or left in pacified regions to ensure the integrity of the Dver rearguard. Nearly all of these constructs are linked to a central, directive, mobile center manned by Dver engineers. While these weapons are numerous, a large number of these are older models, still using weapons like crossbows or simple swords. Only a smaller number of newer models have been created and deployed.

Dver tactics favor a defensive strategy and the utilization of superior mobility and extreme force. In conjunction with their infamous War Platforms (described below), they allow a hostile force to enter their borders without problem, before swiftly descending upon the force from multiple angles, encircling them and cutting off their retreat, before utterly destroying them, in order to maintain an aura of fear and respect amongst other nations. The truth is that the Dver fear a concentrated invasion, believing their neighbor's larger numbers would overwhelm them. By being both as uncontentious as possible and as unforgiving and decisive to invading forces at the same time, they hope to make invasion more of a hassle than it is worth.

Dver Civic Soldiers : 30,000

Constructs: 50,000

-Older Models: 30,000

-Newer Models: 20,000

Dver War Platforms: 800


Special Units:

Dver War Platforms:

Both the most fearsome and the most unknown or misunderstood weapon in the Dver arsenal are the vaunted War Platforms, nimble, flying weapons of steel and death in many ways resembling the more unwieldy Demonic Barges. But while the Barges are hastily made and enchanted husks of rock encased in iron, each of the War Platforms is a carefully made and constructed work of art, unique and deadly in every way. To see the creation of War Platform is a once in a lifetime event - to be involved, a declaration of the highest skill and immortality through one's work. Each is armored in full mithril plate, enchanted as to provide an impressive, modular magical barrier against all attack, and armed with an array of devastating magical cannons which direct pure lances of magical energy at any unfortunate target. These craft are swift and agile, and are even capable of translocating dramatic distances. With each craft capable of housing a fair number of Dver soldiers, the War Platforms represent the lynchpin of the Dver strategic superiority. More than half of the entire Dver Civic Military can be transported hundreds of miles under short notice, enabling the aforementioned strategic policy calling for supreme mobility.

The most unique things about these peerless weapons, however, is not their armament, but what they hold within. Each is essentially as living tomb for exceptional Dver soldiers who have volunteered to be used in such a way after death. Their souls are housed within prolific, delicate neural pathways constructed entirely of strands of gold. Connected to the Platform at large, they act as the power source and its 'pilot'. The destruction of one of these networks would be a tragedy in and of itself.

The flagship of the Dver 'fleet' is an ancient Platform known as, translated into Common, the 'Dauntless'. This Platform is armored in a layer of pure Adamantium, constructed in times past, rumored to have been constructed from the venerable body of the 'Golden-King' of Dver legend.