Army Designations

[cypher132]

Recently I've been writing a lot of stories involving FFH and I've been wondering about something. What are the designations in the army? We have private, corporal, sergeant, liutenant. What do each of the races have?

 

[thomas.berubeg]

well, orcs have thier traditional fantasy "Maggot" desgination

Bannor i'dee imagine regimented as we are, perhapes Amurites too, for the Non-magical forces (battle mages are probably thier own designation)

I wouldn't imagine Svartalfar regimented enough for designations, Luchuirp use golems, Khazad are too rich to fight , Doviello to barbaric...

for the rest, no idea

 

[thewyrm]

The Balseraph are probably separated into guilds. The Fighters Guild, the Hunters guild, and whatnot. They probably all dislike each other and have trouble coordinating a battle strategy without a strong willed leader guiding them.

 

[wilboman]

The Bannor would have separate ranking systems for the various Orders, Families and regular forces. The only common denominator is that the designations would be extremely complex and probably very specific. There would be a lot of levels. Probably the Bannor would be the closest in terms of COC to a modern professional army (or a Roman one).

Most of the armies would have the standard "elite and everyone else" ranking arrangements of medieval armies, so King, Duke, Count, Lord, Knight, Man-at-Arms, Archer, Peasant. But obviously these titles would be different depending on society - mage-heavy, more pack-like, sea-based or plain insane.

In short, impossible to say, make it up as you go along.

 

[cypher132]

So, basically it would be like swordsmen and then elite swordsmen and so on and so forth? What about generals and lieutenants and stuff? It'd be kind of annoying to just keep calling the commanding office "commander"

 

[wilboman]

Find something you think fits. After all, if the real title emerges in some pedia entry, it wouldn't be hard to retcon it

 

[Ribusprissin]

Wouldn't your army structure depend on your civics? Apprenticeship or Guilds would have a different influence on your army than Caste System, and similarly an Aristocracy army would be different from one with Republic.

 

[Kyroshill]

Re: Hippus

They have a Great Person known as Nigel of the 5th March....


I've always wondered.... what does March refer to?

Is it a geographical reference.... like Westermarch or somesuch?
Is it a reference to a battle..... a la Charge of the Light Brigade?
Is it a regimental reference..... Nigel commands the 5th March?

Just a wondering

 

[Crazy_Ivan]

It could be a Campaign Refference IE. The 5th March on the Elohim

 

[MacMoney]

They have a Great Person known as Nigel of the 5th March... I've always wondered.... what does March refer to?

Is it a geographical reference.... like Westermarch or somesuch?
Is it a reference to a battle..... a la Charge of the Light Brigade?
Is it a regimental reference..... Nigel commands the 5th March?

I'm no authority on things FfH, but usually terms like 5th March (i.e. using numbers instead of writing the words) refers to military entities instead of geographical locations or historic battles.

 

[Skitters]

Mark and March relate to a border region. Technically that could make Nigel a Marquess/Marquis (English version / Scot or French version), or at may just mean he comes from that territory

Thats a similar Noble rank to Count (/County) - only it tends to relate to land that is (historically at least) disputed with a neighbouring state, so in that sense its a little more high profile a role.

 

[WarKirby]

Calabim would probably have nobles comanding the armies on the field

 

[Skitters]

Calabim would probably have nobles comanding the armies on the field

To be honest I've always envisaged Nobles leading armies as the norm and not the exception in Erebus. I guess thats partly because I picture a fairly Feudal society, where even a Grigori army would tend to be led by the more prominent members of society (ie; town Mayors) as opposed to a modern day army structure. Therefore position in society defines rank as opposed to actual ability.

Even amongst the Bannor, which is perhaps easiest to imagine a more regimented army system, I'd expect many of the higher ranks to be Nobles who have bought their position in the army (akin to the British Army in the early Victorian age)....so again, it'd be quite possible to have a General in charge who's actually pretty inexperienced in battle and perhaps bordering on incompetent.

I'd also expect that the concept of a rank like Lieutenant would be pretty alien in Erebus - breaking troops up into small units is a relatively modern day development which focusses on the initiative of trained troops. In Erebus, I would expect the fear would be that if you let the troops use their initiative then they'd use it to find something else to do than fighting! ("Here...there wasn't there a pub down the road?...they 'ain't gonna's miss the five of us, we'll pop back later, see if there's any lootin' to be 'ad")

As such I personally imagine most units to be 20-50 strong, fighting in pretty close formation, with perhaps a couple of the biggest members tasked with the job of bullying the majority into battle at the behest of a Noble. They wouldn't neccessarily be paid to consider whether they could perhaps flank that entrenched pikeman enemy unit, but instead just make sure that when the boss says charge, near enough all of the unit charges.

 

[DirtyFinger]

why don't you look at historical examples and not modern ones if you are trying to envision an authentic army structure for Erebus ?

Early battles were probably mostly a unorganized bunch of warriors running at another unorganized bunch.
The effectiveness of the units rose with better weapons, tactics, formation and organization.

A very good place to look for good descriptions is - believe it or not - Civilization 4.

Now just try to overlay the historical civs on the erebus ones and see which ones match and fit. Granted, it's a bit hard to find historical counterparts for civs like the Luchuirp or the Infernals, but I always pictured the Bannor as a european medieval, the Hippus as the austrian Mongolians (notorious robbers, the austrian bunch) and the doviello as some kind of Huns/Vandals.

 

[Tyrs]

Actually for the Bannor it has been stated that Rank is only given for skill, and that competence was the most important part of their identity. I think.

 

[MacMoney]

Even amongst the Bannor, which is perhaps easiest to imagine a more regimented army system, I'd expect many of the higher ranks to be Nobles who have bought their position in the army (akin to the British Army in the early Victorian age)....so again, it'd be quite possible to have a General in charge who's actually pretty inexperienced in battle and perhaps bordering on incompetent.

In medieval times, it was always land holders (nobility) that raised troops for their liege lords so all officers were nobility. The peasant just weren't allowed and couldn't do it.

I'd also expect that the concept of a rank like Lieutenant would be pretty alien in Erebus - breaking troops up into small units is a relatively modern day development which focusses on the initiative of trained troops. In Erebus, I would expect the fear would be that if you let the troops use their initiative then they'd use it to find something else to do than fighting! ("Here...there wasn't there a pub down the road?...they 'ain't gonna's miss the five of us, we'll pop back later, see if there's any lootin' to be 'ad")

Actually, there was a lieutenant to every commander (or captain) commanding a company. The lieutenant was a noble as well receiving a commission from his liege lord, and acted in lieu of the captain if he was absent. He was pretty much his aide-de-camp.

 

[Luckmann]

I see the Calabim fitting into a rather rigid feudal mold, in two seperate hierarchies of vampires and cattle. Even the lowest vampire is the highest authority, but otherwise considered subordinate to his betters, and the cattle organized into a similarly rigid structure where "almost-vampires", mayors, generals, and so on are pretty linear.

This means that a Vampire could essentially tell a Mayor "get your people there, do this" and then it's up to the Mayor, General, or whatever, to organize his troops as he see fits. If he fails, he's food.

 

[MAPBill]

Actually for the Bannor it has been stated that Rank is only given for skill, and that competence was the most important part of their identity. I think.

I must agree with you. The Bannor always prized in their military-based methods, or so I've read. Their ranking system is probably one of the most complex but nonetheless effective. One thing it must be noted is that their military structure seems closely linked to religion. Their Confessors, Priors and such would probably incorporate many military functions, not to mention Crusaders.

Their nobles may have some importance, but merit in field must be specially admired. What's the story on Donal Lugh, Valin Phanuel and Capria? How did they get their rankings?

 

[Skitters]

I must agree with you. The Bannor always prized in their military-based methods, or so I've read. Their ranking system is probably one of the most complex but nonetheless effective. One thing it must be noted is that their military structure seems closely linked to religion. Their Confessors, Priors and such would probably incorporate many military functions, not to mention Crusaders.

Their nobles may have some importance, but merit in field must be specially admired. What's the story on Donal Lugh, Valin Phanuel and Capria? How did they get their rankings?

The religious aspect is exactly one of the things that makes me think that the Bannor army would have its share of incompetent leaders - because the religion would intervene in matters military. I could almost imagine that Confessors/Priors (/insert other religious unit here) would almost take on a Commisar-like role - where their primary concern is not that the commander/soldiers are actually good soldiers, but are devout in their faith. As such, I'd envision a scenario where some good soldiers are refused promotion on the basis that they lack spiritual fortitude expected of a Bannor Officer, whilst others of less ability are fast tracked because they make all the right moves/say the right things from a religious perspective.

I could also envision the tactical choices of commanders being hampered by religion - ie; the commander looking to take a position being encouraged to act rashly and have faith in Junil (insert other God here).