Lodriland has a long standing military
tradition (which they have sorely needed). Attacks by ice demons and trolls are
irregular but happen often enough that the army must always be on high alert. The
Lodriland army is made up of the following units:
The Priest-King's Guards
These are the elite units of the army. They are close order heavy infantry who
are armed with long spears and heavy maces (both tipped with stone). They use large
shields and wear long leather coats covered with obsidian discs. They wear their
hair and beards long, braiding and oiling both (with fish oil). They follow
Hanish the Stead-fast, one of
Lodril and
Oria's sons. There are 3000 men in this unit divided "evenly" into
five units which are circulated through the five main postings of Badrul, Horizon, Oria's
Love, Watchpost and Victory. The men are divided into 10 man squads led by a
corporal (300 of them), 20 man groups led by a sargeant (150), and 100 man companies led
by a lieutenant (30). Two companies are grouped together as a unit under a captain
(15), three companies are grouped as a battle group under a major (6) one of which is only
in charge of the Tunnel Scouts)) and the whole lot are led by a general.*
(So actually there's 3510 of them including officers and non-commissioned officers
(general to corporals). Six of this number are lieutenats and 1 captain assigned to
lead the Tunnel Scouts. This assignment is of course reserved for troublemakers and
is viewed as a career killer).
The five units (all named after early heroes of Lodriland) are:
Amarna (operating out of Badrul and the victor in a recent military coup.
"Mother" was the major of this battle group). Led by Major Adad (m).
Bab-ilu (operating out of Oria's Love and the co-conspirators in the coup).
Led by Major Ninki (f).
Shem (operating out of Horizon and the victim of the recent coup). Now
led by Major Lugulbanda (m).
Shinar (operating out of Watchpost. They stayed out of the recent coup.
They have kept out of the military unrest). Led by Major Shubure (f).
Terach (formerly operating out of Horizon. They were allies of the Shem
battle group but betrayed them by allying with Amarna and Bab-ilu). Led by Major Sin (m).
The Priest-King's Slingers
This is a smaller unit of missile troops many of them female. They are loose
order archery troops armed with spears and shields as auxiliary arms and their staff
slings as their main weapons. They wear leather armour and wear their hair and
beards (if they have them) like the Guard. There are only 1000 of them split into
ten companies and 100 squads. They do not have any ranks higher than captain.
Two companies are assigned to each 600 man units of Guards and works closely with them.
They have 165 officers in total.
Amarna - Slingers are lef by Captain Ninsun (f)
Bab-ilu - Slingers are lef by Captain Aruru (f)
Shem - Slingers are lef by Captain Mesannipadda (m)
Shinar - Slingers are lef by Captain Antum (f)
Terach - Slingers are lef by Captain Xisuthros (m)
Artificers
The Artificers work closely with the Guards and Slingers although they are technically
not a military unit. This despite the fact that they are responsible for all the
artillery the army uses both offensively and defensively. As a departure from
the look of the Guards and Slingers they go about clean shaven and bald. This is to
reduce the danger of sparks setting their hair on fire. There are 200 of them who
are divided into five 40 man units. They man the artillery engines and the mobile
artillery pieces that are used to destroy icicles. They also craft the special
weapons that the Guards, Slingers and Tunnel Scouts use.
The artillery pieces the Artificers use are constructed from human and reindeer bones
and leather and reeds grown in the Ring of Water. Unlike many Lodrili Artificer
corpses are exposed in special compost pits and the bones saved to craft new tools and
equipment for the Artificers and the soldiers.
War Priests
The War Priests are another unit that is only partially military. These are the
battle trained priests of Lodril's fiery aspect. Anu Bringer of Lava. These priests
have special abilities to work with lava up to and including lava elementals. When
they leave the ziggurat at Badrul they are easily recognized due to their long straggly
hair and beards and many burn scars. They usually work naked and actually seeing
them is not a good sign as they only leave the ziggurat when a major invasion occurs.
Their number is unknown and they answer only to the Priest-King and Anu.
The Tunnel Scouts
The Tunnel Scouts are the brain child of the hero Damuzi. He realized right at
the beginning that the Rangini were needed and that someone needed to patrol the barren
areas near the ice. He also realized that not everyone would fit into Lodrili
society so someplace was needed for malcontents. Thus the Tunnel Scouts were formed.
They work with, not against the enemy element, patroling the length of the Ring of
Ice to scout for enemy incursions. There are roughly 600 Tunnel Scouts at any given
time organized into units of ten led by a corporal (60). Twenty men, (or women for
the Tunnel Scouts accept women as equals), make a company led by a sargeant (30).
Sargeant's as high a rank as the Tunnel Scouts have. 100 men are led by a lieutenant
(6) from the Priest-King's Guard, two groups of 200 men each are led by captains (3), also
from the Priest-King's Guard, and the whole lot are under a major.. The Tunnel
Scouts work closely with the Rangini shamans and spirit talkers as well as their own
priests. (All under the supervision of the regular priests of Lodril of course).
They operate as skirmishers/scouts making regular patrols of the Ring of Ice and closer
inspections of the ice dome. They rarely wear proper armour instead trusting in
their thick reindeer parkas and speed to avoid attackers. Unfortunately speed is no
help when they have to scale the ice wall to inspect suspicious cracks in the dome.
Militia
Every citizen of Lodriland is part of the militia, especially the farmers who have a
lovely affinity that makes them good spearmen. In time of dire emergency Lodriland
can probably field another 20,000 militia of mixed quality. Guarding the villages is
left to the militia and each village makes sure there are enough militia to keep watch.
