Military Units of Neutomian History

Men-at-arms

The backbone of any army in feudal Runtallia and the Grand Duchy of Geuphorion, and some of the vassal states of the Durfrenian Empire. They predominantly serve as infantrymen, and are moderately equipped depending on the army where they served, but they can also act as light cavalry when mounted. Generally, men-at-arms are divided into two categories: full-time and part-time. Full-time men-at-arms are professional standing units whose occupation is solely dedicated for warfare. They serve as household troops and retinue for nobles and royalties. Meanwhile, part-time men-at-arms are those called upon during the times of war with better training than levies and militias, but in addition to being soldiers, they have other roles in the economy of their feudal lord's domain. Typically, men-at-arms are yeomen who can afford their training, weapons and armors. Nonetheless, there are many men-at-arms of lower status, as was the case in the Four Great Duchies of Runtallia, as the regional overlords would often sponsor armaments for their own soldiers.

Levies

The conscripts which are called upon by nobility and the monarch to make up, if professional soldiers like knights or men-at-arms are insufficient, the bulk of an army. They are mobilized from the able-bodied men of a province's population for military service, which usually lasts for four to six months depending on the length of the campaign, and more than that would be against Runtallian law. The ages of levied troops ranges from 16 to 60, yet a peasant or a yeoman cannot refuse the call to arms when decreed by their leige lord, unless they pay what is known as 'scutage,' or shield tax. Albeit training career soldiers is more preferable in contrast to drafting peasants with little to no experience and arming them for battle, the former option is costly enough that only provincial rulers could maintain such large standing armies, which is due to the economic constraints faced by the lesser nobility. Typically, levies are poorly equipped with little to no armor and armed only with a simple spear and shield, and usually utilized as fodder for the meat grinder; expendable units for a commander to exploit. However, issuing a levy during spring and autumn may be detrimental to the economy, so wars are usually fought in summer.

Militia

Like levied troops, militiamen are also conscripted from the pool of able-bodied population of a kingdom. They are usually employed for the defenses of their home villages and towns, as well as other defensive campaigns like sieges. Unlike levies, militiamen are not only limited to military service, for they can also be used by the feudal lords for labor and other economic purposes. Generally, militia are armed and trained to some extent for them to be useful enough to hold their own in a battle or skirmish. In this sense, they are better units than levies. However, the term militia is sometimes interchangeable with the term levy.

Knights

They are the elite core of any army, typically deployed as heavy cavalry or the shock troops that are utilized to breach enemy formations. Knights have extremely high offensive capabilities in a well-timed charge and if dispatched in groups, and can rout an army thrice their number. They are trained in an early age and are not only prized military assets, but also serve the noble warrior caste invaluable to fedual society and politics. Generally, a knight starts as a page in a noble's court, where he would learn how to read, write and do basic arithmetic, as well as learn other fields of study of their master's choosing or their own. Then, they will be promoted into a squire, where they would begin to train with various types of weapons and learn other martial crafts like archery, horsemanship and military tactics. Once they gain approval from the knight or noble whom they are squiring with, they are eligible for the dubbing ceremony where they would pledge the Oath of Chivalry. Landed knights, who serve as lords of the manor, owe their allegiance to a liege lord and they are obligated to provide military service when called upon, while some who are not would receive their pay in gold. Knight-errants are of special case, as they swore fealty to no lord and are thus considered as outcasts. The most popular type of armor for knights is a suit of full-plate armor, which protects the entire body. This is also paired with a piece of mail and gambeson or any padded clothing beneath.

Archers

They are arguably the most important military unit in siege warfare, but they can devastate armies in a field battle all the same. They are missile units, which means that they can hurl projectiles with their bows while maintaining distance to the enemies. However, they are typically vulnerable in close quarters combat, and is usually placed in the rearguard of the formation. Nevertheless, they needed to be placed ahead of the battle array if they were to launch volleys of arrows towards the enemy army, lest their comrades suffer from friendly fire. Generally, there are two types of archers: the longbowman and the crossbowman. Longbows had been used by the elves for hundreds of years to compliment their innate ability with wooden weapons, and were adapted by human kingdoms like Runtallia, Geuphorion, Balarone, Rozenbourg, Cleondle and even the Neruslish Isles. However, humans would need to at least train for years before achieving mastery with said weapon. Meanwhile, crossbows were invented to counteract such problem, which allowed nations to field archer armies without the lengthy and extensive training demanded by the longbow. However, the only setback for a crossbow is that since technology around it has yet to evolve to its full potential, the longbow still outreaches it by a range at least thrice as far. According to historians, the first crossbows were used in the Far Eastern Continent and the weapon, after it was first seen in the continent, was adapted by many Neutomian nations like the Republic of Veronia of the Veramune League, Brudram Stratocracy and the Durfrenian Empire.

Royal Pikemen

The Kingdom of Runtallia's standing military is comprised of this type of units, who are drafted from the yeomanry of the entire Central Region that is directly controlled by the Crown. These pikemen mainly serve as infantry, and are highly effective dealing against cavalry but sometimes susceptible for flanking maneuvers. They are full-time men-at-arms who are armed with a two-handed polearm called a pike, which is a variation of the spear that is 20 feet (six meters) in length. The Royal pikemen are also equipped with a steel buckler shield that is strapped upon their left arm, utilized to block close-ranged strikes and deflect arrows, which can cover a large portion of the torso. To be admitted to the Royal Army as a pikeman, a recruit has to undergo at least a year's worth of training under a bannerette, where he would to be drilled in a group among other recruits. The Royal pikemen's favorite tactic is the phalanx, a solid and massive formation that maximizes the effectiveness of pikes as soldiers stand side by side and shoulder to shoulder upon one another, creating a dense spiky wall.

Berserkers

The ferocious warriors of the Chiefdom of Norsmund infamously characterized for their wild and frenzied style of fighting. They are known to consume a fungus called 'cavern-shroom' to induce a trance-like state that makes them efficient warriors capable of breaking enemy formations with ease. In the Norsmundi lands, they are called 'he-bear warriors' and 'she-bear warriors,' and like knights of the feudal nations, serve as the elite and noble warrior caste of their society. Berserkers are often seen garbed in thick furs and hides from head to toe, sometimes ornamented by bone headdresses as helmets, and would sometimes fight half naked or covered with mud. The most popular weapons among them are two-handed battle axes and throwing axes.

Phalangites

The professional army sanctioned and funded by the Senate of the Gittlorne Republic is composed of those who are referred to as the phalangites. Similar to the Republic's rival nation, the Kingdom of Runtallia, the phalangites are spear-based soldiers, with a similar favored tactic as their counterpart– the phalanx. Albeit, some would argue that their tactical formations are much more akin to a shield wall rather than a phalanx because of their reliance with their shields instead of their polearms. A phalangite wields a ten feet (three meters) long spear, coupled with an oval iron shield much larger than the buckler. The phalangites are raised indiscriminately from the population by a system of compulsory military service, where able-bodied men from the ages of 18 to 38 are obligated to serve in the Republican Army for at least two years.

Mages

These are magic casting troops that have arguably the highest destructive power and valued potential among military units in Runtallia, albeit some would argue that the wyvern-mounted knight-riders of the Neruland Isles would preceed over them. Nevertheless, mages can invoke the supernatural force by harnessing the power of mana, which is innate only to some people. This renders magic casters extremely rare and valuable. Although historians would argue that the practice of magic had degraded over the centuries, it is still widely considered that a lone mage can devastate an entire army with hundreds of combatants, or level a castle with a single spell. This was especially true for those who have the ranks of Master and Archmage, who can wield high-tier and arcane magic spells.

Knight-riders

A knight-rider is a type of cavalry unit employed by the Nerulish Isles. By taming a wyvern, an Ill-spawn species descended from the dragons, they are able to mount said beast and conquer the skies. Their primary weapon is the acid breath which is spouted by the wyvern from their maws, capable of dissolving hard materials like iron and steel, but most knight-riders are also equipped with vials of Dragonsblood, an extremely flammable liquid that is ten times more effective than pitch and oil, which they use to drop off towards ground and naval units, causing not only an artificial wildfire, but also mayhem and disarray among enemy ranks.

Legionaries

These are citizen-soldiers of the Durfrenian Empire raised from the mainland and its vassal states. They wield short swords and large rectangular shields know as 'scutum' which could cover the entirety of the human body. Legionaries are accoutered in an armor of segmented plates, and wore a skirt-like bottom in lieu of trousers. They are also equipped with throwing javelins for other tactical purposes. Durfrenian legionaries are extremely disciplined due to the strict military doctrine of the Empire, as most of them were forcefully conscripted from conquered and assimilated nations.