It's interesting what you can find lying around in old thumb-drive. It almost makes me want to write seriously. Sadly, I lack the focus or concentration to write anything other than short bursts of drivel.
What we have here is yet another dabble at chronicling Anuire and our Birthright game. I believe I wrote this while in the jury pool, waiting to be called up. In retrospect, I suppose I was still flush with recent events that had befallen our virtual state, and as such the names have, at least to me, a more authoritative impact.
As written, this is meant to be a work of non-fiction written by a fictitious character. It is, as well, meant to be evocative of the kind of report written by, say an officer writing a thesis paper. However, unlike most modern scholarship, the writing presented here is almost deliberately sycophantic. Perhaps not without reason, as the Vandeil character is somewhat of a cult of personality-type leader.
The part presented here, the whole of what I had written, is the start of an essay describing recent innovations in the military system adopted/created by the New Empire.
Progression of the Anuirean Military Structure
Since Reunification
Keiren Steele
Lord Commander of the Anuirean Army
For a thousand years, war has remained essentially the same in the Anuirean Empire. Massive battles, while not common, were still fought by companies of men—archers, foot, skirmishers, heavy infantry, cavalry and knights, artillery, sappers, and wizards—small groups of tactically disseparate men, each commanded by its own structure of officers, nobles, and landed gentry. Ultimate command was reserved for the member of nobility who fielded the greatest number of men, or by a lord appointed by his liege. While such a structure suited the fragmentary nature of battle prior to the Reunification, the integration and centralisation of all military command under the Ministry of Defence has lead to a progression in military structure, in both organisation and leadership.
Many of these changes are Mieren in origin, and were developed in response the rapidly emerging role of Mieres in Anuirean politics. The First Citizen of Mieres had, at the time, recognised that the bitter rivalries that could develop between leaders of soldiers could spell disaster for the outcome of a battle. At first, this problem could be alleviated by simply taking command personally, as Vandiel had done on numerous occasions. Yet as the size and scope of the Mieren Army, Navy and merchant marine fleet, and finally Mieren Guard increased, as commitment to the Khinasi Campaign and the Anuirean continent increased, Vandiel could no longer personally take command of the forces. It became obvious that some new system of command would need to be devised.
To this end, Vandiel created both the Mieren War College and the Meiren Naval Academy. Both were intensely personal projects for the First Citizen, who had until very recently been the long-standing (489 years) commander of the Free Lancers of Tuar, a company of Elven knights hailing from Tuarhievel. Vandiel opened both schools to Mieren citizens of all social status. Needless to say, this caused much outcry from the nobility, yet the First Citizen made clear that this was not an endeavour to award the rich second sons of Mieres easy posting in military command. Advancement would be awarded to men of quality, and all officers, regardless of personal wealth, would draw the same pay from the quartermaster in accordance to their rank. While officers need not renounce their landed titles, should they possess them, rank in society no longer guaranteed rank in the army. Such meritocratising of a military was unheard of, and as a result the first flood of students came from the middle class of citizenry.
Yet no one can train a General, or a Colonel, or even a Captain. All the graduates of the first classes from both College and Academy were commissioned by the Mieren government as Lieutenants and Ensigns respectively. The rest of the command structure was appointed personally by the First Citizen and the Mieren Cabinet, from the officers, captains, and commanders who had proven themselves in quality and loyalty to Mieres.
Yet even at this point, while command had been centralised, and Mieren units were mustered according to a standard structure, the units that were mustered were in spirit no different from those that had been mustered (and disbanded as needed) before them. True changes in this system would begin to emerge with the introduction of the first Guard companies in Mieres.
Again, Vandiel was at the forefront of this initiative, personally supervising the creation of this fledgling military service. Initially, it was an effort to prevent a repeating of the disaster that struck the Mieren province of Ghaele, where an incursion of the Shadow World caused the dead to rise and attack the citizenry. At the time, there were no Mieren units nearby to combat the undead, and as a result many of Ghaele’s folk were slaughtered. Intending to see that such a tragedy could never again happen, Vandiel set about implementing Guard companies.
In size and structure, these Guard companies were no different from a regular army company. What differed was that after initial mustering and training, Guard companies were deactivated until need caused them to be reactivated. Weapons were stored in centralised armouries, and mustering grounds and marching routes established to ensure speedy formation of the company. Initial enthusiasm for this new system was high, as there were many taxation breaks for families who could contribute sons to these new companies (indeed, tax breaks had already been established for those with sons or husbands already serving in the regular army), and for towns which could provide mustering grounds and armouries. Those already serving in the army also took heart to this arrangement, as they could now fight unfettered by worry for their loved ones at home when abroad. Authorisation to activate Guard companies was granted to the Governors of the provinces, by any member of the Mieren Cabinet, and of course by order of the First Citizen. For the Governors of the provinces, many from nobles houses shattered in the conflicts that ravaged Anuire before Reunification was complete, this was a gladly accepted authority, symbolising an entrustment of responsibility which began to foster a sense of Mieren pride. The stability and peace of Mieres, coupled with the initiatives undertaken by the Mieren government would give rise to a growing sense of national identity.
This national identity would be further strengthened by the professionalizing of the Mieren military. Whereas Anuirean tradition had seen wealthy (or at times not so wealthy) noble lords raise their armies from their own treasuries, the centralisation of command meant that such a system could no longer work in Mieres. While the practice of maintaining a standing army was by no means a new one, no realm had deliberately set aside a portion of its treasury for the maintenance, development, and growth of their army. No longer was the army a tool reserved for use in times of crisis or war, to be discarded once the crisis had been averted, nor was it simply a home for criminals or freeloaders or noble sons with no land titles. By introducing strict training standards and codifying tactics, by implementing uniform military regulations and punishment, by regulating and furnishing the weapons, armour, and tools necessary for a soldiers to perform his duty, and most importantly by establishing a non-commissioned rank structure (with accompanying pay scale), for the first time since the days of the Rhoeles the army became a viable profession for even the most common of citizens. For the first time, a citizen of the meanest birth could rise through the ranks of the military, and help contribute to his family at home. Many recognised that such a system could never have happened in the days when Mieres was simply a pirate haven; it was a system tied to the success and stability of Mieren policy.
With the Reunification of the Anuirean Empire, further changes would be necessary in the structure of military command. While the fundamental system had proven its worth in the years leading up to Reunification, the Avanil-Mieres Alliance would reveal new challenges in the coordination of both armies. While much of the fighting in Anuire proper had died down, the realms of old had disintegrated into ruin and chaos. The encroaching Elven forests had defeated the goblin hordes that had assembled for pillage and conquest of the northern lands, and the routed beastmen fled into Avanil. While Avanese forces, aided by Mieren troops proved equal to the task of mopping them up, initial response was sluggish. Despite a policy of joint command authority, both Avanese and Mieren forces suffered from problems relating to command, with questions of validity of orders rife on both sides. Mieren units did not at times recognise Avanese authority (they had been for the duration of stabilisation efforts placed under the command of Avanese Baron-General Bertram Davonelle), and several smaller incidents resulted in the execution of Mieren troops under charges of insubordination and mutiny.
These difficulties served to outline future problems that would plague a unified Anuirean military if steps were not taken to solve them.
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