Military And Warfare In Adel I

For a hundred years the whole of Adel was at war, and it is a war that they will remember 200, 300 or 500 years later. Though they have been mostly at peace, to say that Adel’s culture is not partial to war would be misleading. Adel’s culture and traditions are very warlike at their roots, and the three ancient tribes reveled in warfare. Almost all of the mythology of the Adelians in some way involves battle and honor, either defending oneself or attacking another, and the decisions involved. The great heroes and heroines of the Adelians are so because of battle – either metaphorical battle or physical combat.

Adelians have war in their blood, and have developed powerful national armies to protect their sovereignty. The only mitigation to further warfare is that the Adelians now recognize the cost of war, both in human suffering and national prosperity. There are common skirmishes against their machinating enemies, but the Adelians have no large national targets with whom they could war – except each other. And sometimes, they have come close to resuming all-out war, though the peace has tenuously held.

The Role of the Military

In Adel, the military forces are divided among two main branches.

Reserve forces, also known as Patrol or Guard forces, are used for territorial security. They control the borders, and are tasked with patrolling the country. Depending on the need for guards, each village, town, city and major landmark has a force, often recruited from the people living there, and equipped with local resources (unless they are too scarce to properly equip the guard for the task). Some villages have as little as two or three reserve people assigned to them, while the capital can have a few thousands. The main task for these forces is patrol and defense. They roam their territory and provide security for any official parties around. They also aid in humanitarian relief efforts during disasters, albeit Adel’s systems for doing this are still underdeveloped. They can make arrests if necessary, but typically they only detain criminals if force is necessary, or if it would be safest that way.

Active Forces are either in deployment, training for a deployment, or guarding the borders. They are the forces that would primarily be sent outside the nation should it be necessary to launch a full-scale assault. Depending on the country, the active forces are almost always partaking of some kind of action. The wasteland of Noshiki seems to constantly provide some threat to be combated, and there is also a lot of national saber-rattling in which active forces are involved, such as being assigned en-masse to sit on a border and threaten the adjacent nation for perceived slights or to counter perceived threats.

Anybody can join the military – anybody. Even children are given some kind of role, be it shining the commander’s shoes, cooking, carrying ammunition or sounding trumpets. At age 15, basic infantry training is given to all recruits. All of Adel’s military units are unisex. After all, most Adelians romance people regardless of sex and gender anyway, so there is no real disciplinary reason to separate a mass of commonly-bisexual people by their sex and gender. Discipline is still enforced on this issue, though most commanders will not care what the soldiers do in their time off, so long as they fight and don’t do anything illegal or completely untoward. Some behaviors are prohibited however, like drinking liquor.

The Stages of Conflict

Adel’s militaries are organized on a “stage of conflict” doctrine. The military must be very aware of the nature of the threat facing it, and it will not fully deploy its power immediately. This is a necessity out of respect for the current international climate. If adjacent nations hear of massive troop surges, for whatever the reason, they could become afraid and start rattling sabers and posing problems. As such, Adelian military power is often slow and metered in its reactions to problems. This is in large part why there is an undercurrent “mercenary” culture – some problems just will not be fixed by military fast enough, so organizations like the Andaliel Archeological Society or a nearby Church or an Explorer’s Association are called for help instead.

Stage One Order: Infantry Trickle: A military commander with Stage One orders has the power only to requisition infantry and in limited amounts, along with the equipment their numbers can carry. This can vary from a solitary 5-soldier squadron for the poor commander, to a small company composed of several squadrons. Stage One orders are given to any problem minor enough, or any problem enigmatic enough. A Stage One Order is itself mysterious: the poor commander sent on one could be either going on a routine trip, or be expected to scout a possible invasion spearhead with limited resources.

Stage Two Order: War Machines: A military commander with Stage Two orders has the power to requisition a company of infantry, the gear they can carry, and some limited additional support of golem engines. Lightweight machines like the Andalian Kasowari or the Vedarian Antlion lead these charges. Stage Two orders are issued to threats which at their outset already seem serious enough, or are given as an escalation order to threats that are fully understood and ready for squashing. A Stage Two Order cannot be given by the military alone, and requires consultation with political authorities.

Stage Three Order: Annihilation: Only a General is ever given Stage Three orders. Stage Three orders involve full scale assaults with infantry regiments, sizable amounts of golems, and the use of naval and as well as the often limited air power, such as Prism Floats or Airships. A Stage Three order is a full scale mobilization to utterly destroy a target that has been confirmed and politically considered. Stage Three Orders involve sending diplomats to nearby nations ahead of time, telling them not to panic or kick up a fuss and perhaps even recruiting them to the fight, so that two smaller, allied forces are sent instead.

How magical assets fit into these calculations varies. Nearly every commander has a child mage with them for useful telemetric communication and other things, and there is often an invested cleric. These two are not often tabulated into the requisition orders – either a commander befriended a kid mage or a priest enough for them to follow, or not. Similarly, when a nation asks its Natural Allies (spirits with a long tradition of official cooperation) for aid is a separate concern.

These processes can take days depending on the logistics involved. Depending on the situation, locals might be able to solve a problem faster – or the army might give aid immediately and resolve events to satisfaction.

Domestic Threats?

The military in Andaliel may not be fighting full scale wars anymore, but they have plenty to chew on. In the seas of the Trieze Archipelago, and in the other island territories, there is sometimes unrest due to the weak, propped-up governments in these “protectorate” colonies. Pirates are also roam these seas away from national influence.

Within their own territories, they might have to deal with bandits and large-scale criminal organizations, sometimes magical in nature, as well as the common enemies of the Andaliel, such as the Sorians, the Elves, the Angels and the Furies. What’s more, the dangerous Arch-Dungeons can present trouble that might escalate to the point that full scale mobilizations into the dungeons are necessary. All of these threats can, and a lot of times are, handled by other entities with or without some contingent of military support or approval. But the military is just as often also called in to deal with them in full.

National Powers

Andaliel: The Republic of Andaliel is considered one of the “Three Great Powers” of Adel, and consider themselves the most important on a national scale. Their military is well developed and they are often called in by Emderuer and Periterim to help resolve certain issues. On the national scale they are the most diplomatically prolific nation, having embassies and ties with everyone. They have a rather strained and sometimes rival-like relationship with Vedaria, however.

Vedaria: Looking at it objectively, Vedaria is the likely candidate for the greatest of the Three Great Powers. They wield the largest military of any of the nations. Despite being a mostly desert nation, the Vedarians have made great strides and use their resources to their fullest. Their close ties with the other great power, Sargasso, a lush and tropical nation, also help. Under the young vizier Magdalena Keehl, the Vedarians have expanded their influence and culture, and even opened their borders. Magdalena’s military doctrine is also more pragmatic, and sometimes, more callous to collateral damage so long as victory is achieved.

Sargasso: The wildcard among the Three Great Powers, who tends to decide international conflict. Sargasso is the only nation who’s military status and organization is unique, rather than derived from the Aptoan Empire. They have a reserve force of unisex military regiments known as the Sargassan Rangers, but their main military force are the all-female Seraphim paladins. Though they have the numerically smallest army, the Seraphim are a legendary force and rightfully respected. Sargasso is usually neutral, and advocates against conflicts (and has at times even threatened to battle both sides in a conflict if they don’t back off). However, there is growing concern in Andaliel that Sargasso is leaning toward Vedaria after various exchanges.

Emderuer: Once the capital of the great Aptoan Empire, Emderuer is a shell of its former self. Now a nominally peaceful nation, they have maintained the proud (often too proud) Imperial Guard as their national army, its traditions dating back to the Aptoan Empire. The Imperial Guard tries not to consider that, worldwide, it was hated, confronted and devastated during the Intolerable War, and routed thoroughly from every corner of the map but Emderuer. Emderuer tends to rely on the good will of Andaliel nowadays for its protection. Sargasso are indifferent toward them, but Vedaria hates Emderuer. Vedaria was the first territory to rebel and the catalyst of the Intolerable War, and they will never forgive the abuse of the Aptoan hierarchs upon them. Emderuer is a strange case now, though it was once passive. Its proud, young new emperor, recently crowned, is making some unwise decisions. Should his saber-rattling continue, Vedaria might take it as an opportunity to get their revenge.

Periterim: The merchant nation of Periterim has the weakest army, in the sense that they hardly have an army, as the oligarchs find it too costly to maintain an army in a time of “widespread peace and prosperity” for their nation. Periterim relies on various mercenary companies and war guilds, and purchases the services of the lowest bidders or the best proposed offers for limited time periods. These companies supply themselves, and Periterim believes this is the most efficient way to defend themselves. Periterim is also the most politically unstable nation, due for a proletarian revolt any time soon. They are a very, very wealthy nation, but also the least capable of dealing with problems militarily.

Protagonists In The Military

Mages: Militaries make use of child and teenage mages for a variety of battlefield tasks and support, including running golem engines, providing telemetric communication in the field, trying to predict the messages in the sergeant’s tea leaves, and other important things. Older mages tend to do paperwork or work in artifice and engineering. Every military commander in Adel is often seen with a child or teenager at his or her side to send and receive telemetric orders.

Clergy: Because the military often has to deal with supernatural problems, every company tends to have a priest or priestess assigned. Clergy not only serve as support, they also raise morale, hold funerals, arrange field marriages, cook, serve as the company medic, and perform a myriad of other jobs that nobody else is official, charitable or idle enough to do.

Mercenaries: The Military will often use a handful of local fighters to help them with the geography of the battlefield, to negotiate with other locals if necessary, and just to prop up smaller squadrons if Stage One is being stingy.

Soldiers: Of course, the characteristic of the military are its soldier characters. Be it a struggling squadron commander having to deal with a stage-one order that gave him or her only a kid mage, a priest and two soldiers worth of a squad, or a hapless recruit in the midst of a massive regimental mobilization, there are all kinds of character possibilities for soldiers.