Satrapial Garrisons and House Irregulars

Every House retains the ability to raise military forces in the form of their irregulars, soldiers employed privately by the House to serve their ends. One of the primary duties of the House irregulars is to serve as satrapial garrisons, providing security services to overseas holdings.

Satrapial Garrisons

Satrapies need defending, and the burden of defending them comes down to the House which administers them. Every garrison is headed by a commander, who is tasked with supporting the satrap and ensuring the safety of the holding.

Commander

The garrison commander is appointed by the Deliberative, not by the governing House. Appointments by the Deliberative are subject to veto by the Empress, requiring a snap replacement. The Empress has made it known that she will veto any garrison commander appointment from the same House as the satrap, or any individual whose goals align too closely to those of the satrap. The goal of the garrison commander is security, not advancing the interests of the governing House.

Forces

The satrapial garrison is composed of a combination of groups. The high officers are usually selected from the Realm, consisting of the appointed garrison commander, her favored subordinates, and a couple chosen by the governing House to curtail the authority of the commander.

The battle forces are usually a combination of the House irregulars and levied locals. The forces typically serve as both national guard and an internal police; the Empress prefers her own people for these tasks, given how untrustworthy many foreigners are. Police functions are usually limited to crimes involving the Realm and her people.

Satrapial garrisons also provide security for important visiting Realm citizens.

Equipment and Funding

The satrapial garrison is funded by the House as part of the burden of running the satrapy. Many Houses gladly fund their garrisons, since keeping the satrapy is the only way they can make money from it. In a careful balance between investment and return, the quality and quantity of funding vary wildly. Satrapies prone to violence or uprisings will find their garrisons well-equipped and well-funded; those which offer little trouble, such as the peaceful Pha or the subservient An-Teng, find garrisons which are more threadbare, since they see to little action.

Most Houses choose to equip their garrisons with the simple and effective classics: a spear, a shield, and light armor.

House Irregulars

House irregulars are the private military forces of each of the Great Houses. Unlike the legions, no portion of the irregulars is paid for by the Empress’ funds – Houses fund them entirely on their own. The irregulars usually serve as security forces, garrison soldiers, and specialized law enforcement personnel. Many irregulars are bodyguards for important House figures. A few, such as the former Ghostcutter Corps of the fallen House Iselsi, served niches that the House was concerned with but which do not meet the attention of Her Radiance herself.

House Cathak Irregulars

House Cathak retains many small corps of bodyguards, trained in small arms. The bodyguard forces usually wield shortspears instead of full-sized spears, for better maneuverability in cramped quarters. House Cathak also has several units of berserkers; these fighters wield two-handed swords and descend into a battle-rage. Although powerful, the berserkers are often dangerous to their own side, making effective use of them difficult.

House Cynis Irregulars

House Cynis’ irregulars largely specialize in the crossbow, an ancient weapon of the Wàn native to Pangu. In closer combat, they usually wield short-sword and knife, foregoing shields. Cynis irregulars are infamous for their poor discipline and luxurious lifestyles, as are all Cynis. In reality, although their discipline leaves much to be desired, individual Cynis bodyguards are just as professional and dangerous as any other. Lastly, Cynis also has several corps of slave-tenders, who use force out in the world to secure and transport slaves. Their slave-tenders are usually equipped with the best equipment – slaves are the family’s lifeblood, and an important asset requires extra protection.

House Ledaal Irregulars

House Ledaal’s irregular forces are very disciplined for not being legions; the military tradition of House Jurul survived in House Ledaal mostly in the form of their irregulars. Ledaal’s irregulars are called pejuang, and descend from the martial traditions of Arjuf. They are usually equipped with khanda, the gilt straight swords associated with Arjuf. A few more veteran pejuang use the pata or gauntlet-sword and wear shiny armor with distinctive pauldrons. Lastly, the Serpent Guard are Ledaal’s specialized force for guarding their ancient dig sites and most dangerous gear. The Serpent Guard wear black cloth uniforms and wield large swords with sawtoothed edges.

House Mnemon Irregulars

House Mnemon uses many of their irregulars to guard their build sites and other important places. These soldiers mostly wield spears and are lightly armored. They usually have a purple tassel on their spears and a flower pattern on their chestpiece. In the satrapies, Mnemon’s forces train in straight swords and knives; many of Mnemon’s traditions can be traced back to the Arjufi traditions of her father’s people. One of House Mnemon’s first tasks after acquiring new territory is to build walls and put artillery upon them, to make use of the House’s famous siege engineers in defending the city.

House Nellens Irregulars

House Nellens has very few satrapies, so a majority of its irregular forces are concentrated on the Isle as police forces and bodyguards. House Nellens inherits a grand martial tradition from the former Harmonious Mountain State centered in Juche. A lot of Nellens’ forces are the Pikemen, tracing their martial skill all the way back to the techniques of the Legendary Masters. In a similar vein, Nellens has a number of mortal martial artists specializing in unarmed combat. Though these martial artists would be of dubious use against an army, Nellens has no armies to contend with – and they make excellent bodyguards and security staff.

House Peleps Irregulars

House Peleps’ normal military might is focused on the Navy, leaving it quite hurting for land presence. Most of Peleps’ irregulars are straightforward spear troops, mostly used for garrisoning Peleps’ satrapies. The more interesting are Peleps’ marines, armed with ringed broadswords and medium armor. They specialize in boarding actions, with the goal of capturing the enemy leader and subduing the crew. Marines also train in the basics of operating a ship’s armaments while the crew focuses on rowing.

House Ragara Irregulars

House Ragara’s irregulars are famously lax in their discipline. The wealthy House prefers spectacle over substance. They wear heavy bejeweled armor and focus on fancy sword techniques. Most of Ragara’s irregulars are hired on a contract basis, giving rise to their popular name, the hireswords. Aside from their fancy hireswords, Ragara also invests in actual effective forces. These mysterious Ragara elites wear yellow sashes and wield halberds. It is not entirely clear where Ragara trains them – many are foreign tributes – but they are a common enough sight at Ragara’s most important investments.

House Sesus Irregulars

House Sesus has always invested in ranged specialists, tracing back to Sesus’ own famed skill with the bow and arrow. The Sesus irregulars are thus often archers, who specialize in holding the walled cities while the Sesus legions focus on the close engagements. House Sesus also maintains an extensive (and thoroughly mysterious) network of informants, spies, and counterinsurgent specialists, who focus on infiltration and subversion of enemy forces.

House Tepet Irregulars

House Tepet’s irregulars are mostly ashigaru, peasants enlisted to serve the House for skill with spears. Tepet is special in that it allows peasants the same opportunity as legionaries – to buy gear from the House in advance of wages paid over the next several years. A few Tepet irregulars come from the backcountry of Lord’s Crossing and Tepet’s holdings in the mountains; many of these peasants study the chakram and use it as a primary ranged weapon. Lastly, Tepet maintains the Blue Stars, an elite unit of halberdiers distinguishable by the blue seven-pointed stars they wear on their uniforms. The Blue Stars are used as bodyguards for Tepet’s most valuable non-military scions.

House V’neef Irregulars

House V’neef is exceptionally young, and has not yet had the opportunity to develop proper irregulars. Their satrapies are defended mostly by levied locals, bribed into service with a signing bonus of luxury goods from V’neef’s markets. Most of these train in whatever their local martial tradition demands – usually swords, bows, or spears, depending on the locale. House V’neef also maintains a Medicine Corps, a group of specialists in healing and harm; these soldiers study to serve as bodyguard-butlers, mastering both the art of healing (to maintain the health of their ward) and the art of poison, using knives or needles.