The Republic Guard

The Republic military functions as the Police, Military and Judicial services of The Republic.

The Republic Guard is a volunteer service but is in most cases a lifetime commitment.  It is not exclusionary by race or gender but the individuals need to meet the same minimum requirements to serve.  In almost all cases being attached to the local police for an area is required but other forms of learning basic combat and law prior to enlisting is acceptable.

The Republic's military is one of the best funded and equipped militaries on the mainland.  The average Guardsman has around 10,000 GP in equipment on him if he is a member of a military family, otherwise its typically around 2000 GP.  Guardsmen may receive an honorable discharge from the Republic Guard but are generally found a logistical or non combat role as they age.  Senior enlisted men shift to police leadership and senior officers shift towards being the panel members of the military tribunal. They receive a wage based on rank to cover their personal time and hobbies, as well as additional pay during wartime and deployment.  Military is commonly a family tradition and the combat equipment is usually a family heirloom.  The Guard encourages at a certain point in a Guardsman’s career that he create a family and start training his children in the ways of combat at a young age to ensure future generations of well trained military. Young guardsmen are typically part of the military police and elderly guardsmen who are non commissioned officers tend to take over the duties of leadership within the policing organization. Commissioned officers are not legal authorities and the head of a regional police is likely to be a Sergeant Major.

The military police forces typically are split 50/50 between individuals that are born in a given area and those who are born outside of the jurisdiction. This is with the intent that the policing is done by those who are close to the locals but corruption is harder by having those who do not have local ties. The half of the policing force that is not local typically rotates after a year or two to another location.

The Republic Guard colors are Red, Black, and White. The dominant colors of the uniforms are the red and black with white being used as trim or as the background for the heraldry of specific families, regions or orders within the Guard.

Recruitment

Young volunteers join the police they are recruited into the military ranks as a guardsman and if they survive their career in the military, the rank of Ensign or higher will be summoned as judges of a military tribunal.  The military tribunal has a panel of 3, 5, 7 judges depending on the severity of the crime.

Military Ranks

The Republic only has ~15% of its population having half or more elvish blood, but a large majority of the senior officers are made up off half elves and elves due to their exceptionally long lived nature. Elves in particular tend to rise through commissioned officer ranks due to hitting physical maturity around 20 years of age but having another 80 years before reaching adult mental maturity, this allows for decades of experience with the police forces as well as education. Many senior officers have hundreds of years on the job in role. The junior officers are disproportionately filled with half elves for similar reasons. Humans do excel into all levels of the military ranks by being the simple majority of the nation.

Enlisted Men

Naval

1. Master Chief Petty Officer
2. Senior Chief Petty Officer
3. Chief Petty Officer
4. Petty Officer First Class
5. Petty Officer Second Class
6. Petty Officer Third Class
7. Seaman
8. Seaman Apprentice
9. Seaman Recruit

Land and Air

1. Sergeant Major
2. Master Sergeant
3. Gunnery Sergeant
4. Staff Sergeant
5. Sergeant
6. Corporal
7. Lance Corporal
8. Private First Class
9. Private

All divisions of the military have a lower recruit rank where a formal contract has been agreed upon and they typically work with local police functions and are proving competency and knowledge of future responsibilities before being placed into a role with the navy, marines, or typical land army forces.

Officers

In addition to the following commissioned ranks, Warrant Officers Exist as either a Warrant Officer or a Chief Warrant Officer commanding similar authority to Ensigns and Lieutenants.

Naval

1. Fleet Admiral (Only One position held at a time)
2. Admiral
3. Vice Admiral
4. Rear Admiral Upper Half
5. Rear Admiral Lower Half
6. Captain
7. Commander
8. Lieutenant Commander
9. Lieutenant
10. Lieutenant Junior Grade
11. Ensign

Land and Air

1. General of the Army (Only One position held at a time)
2. General
3. Lieutenant General
4. Major General
5. Brigadier General
6. Colonel
7. Lieutenant Colonel
8. Major
9. Captain
10. First Lieutenant
11. Second Lieutenant

Military Families

Due to the family tradition around military service the relatively expensive gear a foot soldier carries is not a large concern, many households have their own alterations they make or may have better than the standard issued equipment but it must meet the regulator standards to be used.  This ensures that all military commanders know the bare minimum they can expect from an individual Guardsman. Families tend to show their heraldry on their equipment and take great pride in the generations of service to the nation.

Strategy, Tactics, and Training

The martial weapon users are trained in the use of a bastard sword and shield, Longbow and Shortbow.  They are trained in group formations and fight best when in groups of at least 5.

Arcane practitioners are as varied as their magic is unique to them, but they are grouped into two distinct roles, offensive and defensive magic.

Clerics of the gods work as chaplains in the military and form the backbone of healing and medical.

Training and Recruitment

Prospect guardsmen are given the rank of recruit and sent to serve with a police force as part of their 50% non local forces. During this time they are expected squire to junior enlisted men or officers depending on the carrier path they are qualified for. After an undermined time but no more than 2 years of squiring they are offered a formal contract for the rank of recruit and then sent to basic training. Upon completion of basic training they will then further their training for the specific assignment such as an enlisted men learning how to navigate by stars in the case that the ships navigation systems fail and an arcanist cannot provide a good bearing. Upon completion of the job specific training. Contracts are for a minimum of 4 years of service post job school training with the typical minimal time coming in around 5 years of contract time and 1 year of prep.

The republic also has an auxiliary force under a single regiment that has one or more brigades of non citizens lead by citizen officers. As service grantees citizenship in the republic after 10 years of service in the auxiliary individuals can request transfer to a non auxiliary unit as well as petition for citizenship at that time. Auxiliary members without citizenship cannot achieve a rank higher than sergeant or First Lieutenant, intentionally to limit the influence of non citizens until they have served long enough to achieve citizenship.

Unit Organization

Squad

5-10 guardsmen with 80% being martial users and 20% being arcane. The squad is led by Sergeant, and 10 men squads will have a staff Sergeant in addition to the Sergeant. If the squad is only 5 men then the arcane user will more likely be defensive magic, if its the full 10 then you will have 2 arcane casters one for offense one for defense.

The typical squad will put 2-3 ranged users in cover and have the heavily armored martial weapon users work in pairs of "Battle Buddies"

Platoon

Platoons are made of 20-60 men lead by a single Lieutenant and larger platoons are lead by First Lieutenant. typically two 10 man squads and two 5 man squads. The 5 man squads contain your "special weapons" units such as lightly armored units, healers, and other specialty functions that do not exist at the typical squad level but are reserved for platoon level capabilities.

Company

Companies are made of 80-200 men led by a captain, larger companies may be lead by a Major with multiple captains. Siege equipment and other battlements are assigned at the company level.

Battalion

400-1000 men, led by Colonel supported with multiple lieutenant colonel. If they are the marine attachment to a warship they tend to be closer to 400 men, if they are a land based battalion its more typical to see 800-1000.

Brigade

3000-5000 Men, led by a brigadier general

Regiment

10k-15k Men, led by a major general

Division

20k-40k Men, led by a general or lieutenant general

Naval Ship Organization

Republic Guard ships are typically made from wood with significant magical enchantments placed upon them to make them as strong as solid steel. Soul crystals are used as a power source for magical shields and as a focus for defensive arcanists on board. Ships are either powered by wind, soul crystals, or dwarven mana batteries. Cannon sizes are extremely variable based on the class of ship and the preference of the captain. Plain lead or iron projectiles are relatively rare as they typically cannot breach most other vessels protective shielding. A concert of enchanted projectiles imbue with arcane energy are the preference, especially those with ice or fire enchantments as the heat can cook enemy combatants on the deck or the ice can inhibit maneuverability as it builds up over a battle. Once a ships shields are dispelled lead balls as well as fragmentation shells are used to hit hard at those below deck, survivability of any one above deck is relatively low once this occurs because arcanist marines rain fireballs down upon enemy decks quickly obliterating every one exposed.

Single Vessel

Captain as the commanding officer

Commander as the executive officer and second in command

One or more lieutenant running specific operations of the ship based on its duties

Marine officer of appropriate rank for the size of detachment aboard the vessel, if the detachment does not come with a Major ranked officer or higher a lieutenant commander reporting to the commander is in charge of the marine detachment. On a large vessel with a large detachment a colonel sharing the same level of command as the ships captain still has to defer to the ships captain while at sea.

lieutenants will fill in the roles for Gunners, Navigation, Surgeon, Quartermaster, and Engineering with ensigns supporting the lieutenants.

A warrant officer will fill the position of the bosun, carpenter, armorer, and any other specialty function on the ship.

Smaller vessels without a large marine detachment such as only keeping a single platoon of marines and having a crew of less than 200 including the marines may be commanded by a Lieutenant Commander.