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Contents:
1: Maps of Tierra, Antar and the Known World
2: The Royal Tierran Army: A Primer
3: On the Topic of Baneblood
4: Religion in the Northern Kingdoms
5: The Tierran Peerage
6: On Banecasting
OVERVIEW:
The Royal Tierran Army is the land-based branch of the Tierran armed forces. Though eclipsed by the Royal Tierran Navy in size, reputation, and funding, the Royal Army maintains readiness mostly through the sale of commissions and the private contributions of various powerful Cortes nobles, who often pay to maintain private units of "house guards" who serve as that noble house's private guards in times of peace. The Army has a wartime strength of approximately 24 000 fighting men, divided into 18 regiments.
ORGANIZATION:
The basic administrative unit in the Tierran Army is the Regiment. Although horse (cavalry) and foot (infantry) regiments are organized differently, both types are large, usually independent formations of around 1 000 men. These regiments are ranked by the seniority and the perceived quality of their officers and men. The elite "Guards" regiments (The Grenadier Guards, Wolf's Head Cuirassiers and Kentauri Highlanders) are ranked first, followed by the three regiments of the Royal Marines and then by the remainder.
PURCHASE OF COMMISSIONS:
To ensure that the Royal Army's officer corps is populated by men of wealth and appropriate class, the Royal Army usually requires an officer to purchase a promotion once they have the appropriate seniority. Of course, any officer could refuse to sell their commission to a would-be successor considered too disreputable to advance in the ranks. In addition, promotions are extremely expensive, especially in more prestigious regiments. Even a Major's commission in a Regiment of Foot costs some 800 Crowns, equivalent to ten years' wages for a working member of the middle class. This means that the peacetime army is populated by men of wealth, honour, and privilege. Only during times of war are officers from humble backgrounds capable of earning the great sums of money needed to reach the higher ranks.
RANKS (CAVALRY EQUIVALENTS FOR INFANTRY-ONLY RANKS IN PARANTHESES):
Non-Commissioned:
Armsman (Trooper/Dragoon)—One bar.
Lance Corporal—One chevron.
Corporal—Two chevrons.
Sergeant—Three chevrons.^
Sergeant-Major (Staff Sergeant)—Three chevrons and crown.
Colour Sergeant—Three chevrons over an reversed chevron enclosing a crown.^^
Commissioned:
Ensign (Cornet)—One gold pip.
Lieutenant—Two gold pips.
Captain—Three gold pips.
Major—Pair of crossed swords.
Lieutenant Colonel—Two pairs of crossed swords.
Colonel—As with Lt. colonel, topped with a small crown. ^^^
General of Brigade—Two small crowns.
Lieutenant General—Three small crowns.
General-Royal—One large crown. ^^^^
^Sergeants usually lead cavalry patrols or infantry sections, the smallest individual units.
^^The Colour Sergeant is the most senior NCO in a Regiment. He is tasked with guarding the officer carrying the Regimental flag, or "Colours".
^^^colonel is the highest rank obtainable by purchased commission. General ranks must be earned by seniority and excellent service.
^^^^This rank is reserved for the King, as commander-in-chief.
Humanity in the Infinite Sea is best seen as a pyramid. At the bottom sit 99.5% of the human race: those lacking the ability to sense the Bane within all living and formerly-living things. This inability marks them as "Baneless". The remaining 0.5% who do possess banesense are known as "Banebloods". Of these, perhaps one in one hundred are able to manipulate the Bane and bend it to their own will. They have the capability of influencing the objects and living things in which the Bane resides with the aid of material components like baneseals. These gifted few are known as Banecasters. While Banecasters may be born from the union of any two Banebloods, the child of a Baneblooded parent and a Baneless parent will not possess the Banesense, nor will any of their descendants. These offspring are referred to as "Deathborn".
In the Northern Kingdoms (including Tierra and Antar), one of the most important social distinctions is that of Baneblood: Only Banebloods may inherit noble titles, rule as monarchs or become knights of any of the religious orders. This means that in the Northern Kingdoms, the term "Baneblood" is almost synonymous with "hereditary nobility". While there are Banebloods without titles, they are still part of the aristocracy, a social class which no Baneless person may enter. In the interests of protecting both their noble blood and their pool of Banebloods, every single one of the Northern Kingdoms maintains laws that prevent Banebloods from marrying or having intimate relations with anyone else save other Banebloods. Harsh punishments, up to and including summary execution, are used to enforce these laws.
The Northern Kingdoms are relatively unified under the worship of the "Pantheons of the Saintly Martyrs". Saintly Martyrs (or "Saints", as they are more commonly referred to) are Baneblooded exemplars who died in a way which allowed them entry into one of the three Pantheons. Saints of the Red die in battle, leading their soldiers to victory or staving off a hopeless situation. Saints of the Blue die protecting the weak and innocent against injustice or tyranny. Saints of the Green sacrifice their lives for the pursuit of knowledge, exploring the unknown or long-lost.
The process of canonizing a Saint is very simple. Any Baneblooded individual can make a shrine to a Martyr: a flame which must burn continually for an entire year, in the presence of one of the Chapterhouses of an established order. As long as the fire does not go out and is not put out by some proactive critic for that year, the deceased in question is considered Sainted, and dispensation is made to create an order of knighthood for them.
Knightly Orders are powerful organizations. Only Baneblooded can apply to become knights. Baneless and Deathborn can only join on the explicit invitation of the Grand Master of the Order. These knights seek martyrdom in the manner of their Saint's pantheon. Knights of the Red are, for example, determined to die in battle and often lead armies from the front. Below them are their Baneless compatriots, Seekers, who serve as clerical workers and priests as well as squires and retainers. It is believed that there is no distinction made between Seekers and Knights after death, so long as they gain martyrdom. Baneless and Baneblooded alike, their Patron Saint awaits them in a shining palace, ready to induct them into his or her celestial retinue.
Knights of the Red are often the most politically powerful of the orders. Focused on martial prowess, they naturally carry a great deal of influence both in inter-ordinal politics and within their host states. They are commonly referred to as the "Orders-Militant". The representatives of these orders meet semi-regularly in the Principality of Mersdon to discuss politics and dictate policy. In addition, the "Convocation of the Orders-Militant" (as this meeting is called) has the ability to declare Holy War: They may proclaim a state Pariah-Among-Nations, which gives the targeted state a choice: they may either immediately put their entire ruling house to the sword, or face invasion by the assembled Knights of the Red, a prospect which would inevitably lead to destruction.
The League of Antar possesses a similar, but different religious system. About three hundred years ago, certain theologians speculated about a "Mother of Ascension", a supreme being who alone adjudicated the saintly status of a martyr. One of the earliest adherents to this belief was Prince Eugen of Antagia, the founder of the League of Antar. As a result, the "Ascensionist Heresy" became the state religion of Antar, and its Church Hussars fight not for individual Saints, but for the Mother, depicted as an impossibly beautiful winged woman in her thirties clad in a suit of silver armour..
Though relatively uncomplicated by the standards of the Great Powers, the ranks and titles of the Tierran nobility have been known to cause some trouble for those unversed in the history and political structure of the Unified Kingdom. Thankfully, the Tierran peerage does maintain some semblance of internal logic: titles are based almost entirely on the manner in which the holders of those titles first joined the Unified Kingdom during the great wars of unification which ended some eighty years ago. These titles are, from highest ranking to lowest:
DUKES/DUCHESSES: The highest level of the peerage short of royalty itself. The first Dukes of Aetoria were the rulers of the kingdoms which had allied with Edwin the Strong during the initial formation of the Unified Kingdoms. Aside from the royal family's possession of the title of the Dukedom of Aetoria, there are also the Dukedoms of Cunaris, Havenport, Warburton and Wulfram. Duchies consist of massive swathes of land and tens, if not hundreds of thousands of crowns worth of property. Their House Guards number in the hundreds. Unlike the lesser peers of the realm, Dukes and Duchesses are styled "His/Her Grace".
MARQUESSES/MARCHIONESSES: During the Wars of Unification, House Rendower made the rather inspired move of offering high office and titles to those vassals of rival petty kingdoms willing to betray their masters and swear themselves to the service of the Unified Kingdom. The few noble families who did so were given this title, though little in the way of new lands or holdings. As a result, while the dozen or so Marquesses in the peerage are theoretically senior to their former overlords, a typical Marquess can only call upon a fraction of the resources avaliable to a typical Earl or Viscount.
EARLS/COUNTESSES: This exalted title belongs to those independent monarchs who did not willingly submit themselves to Tierran authority at first. For example, the first Earl of Leoniscourt was once monarch of his own petty kingdom. It was only after a decade of war that King Callum the Cruel of House Cazarosta negotiated a surrender with King Edwin I. Other Earldoms include those of Castermaine and Weathern. Earldoms are usually wealthy tracts of lands, or ones in control of lucrative monopolies worth tens of thousands of crowns. They are often in control of dozens or hundreds of retainers.
VISCOUNTS/VISCOUNTESSES: King Edwin the Strong's allies were not the only ones rewarded for helping unify Tierra. The most powerful vassals and younger offspring of the new Dukes of Tierra were made Viscounts. Families like the Hartigans of Hugh and the Hunters of Wolfswood were given new lands confiscated from enemy noble houses rendered extinct, often worth thousands of crowns, as recompense.
BARONS/BARONESSES: The descendants of those landholders who had once carved out their own meagre estates during the long centuries between the Fall of Calligia and the rise of Edwin the Strong became Barons with the establishment of the Unified Kingdom. Though often old in name and honours, they rarely possess particularly wealthy properties. Few of the two hundred and sixty three baronies scattered throughout the Unified Kingdom exceed more than two thousand crowns in worth: a fortune for a commoner, but insignificant to more powerful families.
BARONETS/BARONETESSES: To fund the construction of a new fleet and the establishment of the shadowy apparatuses of Royal Intelligence, King Edmund II established the title of "Baronet" in OIE 559. For a one-time price ranging anywhere from one to eight thousand crowns, a rich Baneblood without noble holdings might buy themselves and their descendants a noble title. Though the title does not entitle the holder to estates, the right to sit on the Cortes or any other substantive privileges, it does allow the holder to style themselves lord/lady and has proved very popular. There are currently about sixty Baronetcies in circulation.
PRIVILEGES OF NOBILITY: Hereditary nobles in Tierra (aside from Baronets) are provided with a great deal of advantages by the crown. For example: they are exempt from taxation (unless they were to take up any trade other than military service), they have the right to maintain men under arms as personal sworn retainers, levy land taxes and act as justices of the peace towards commoners residing in their holdings when matters of property or civil law are concerned.
The practice of using the Bane to manipulate the physical world to the will of a particular mind, or "banecasting", is an exceptionally versatile and powerful ability when used properly, prized throughout the human realms of the Infinite Sea. Banecasters have been able to heal otherwise fatal wounds, turn the tide of battles and create armour and weapons of impossible durability and strength. However, this immense power is limited by four main constraints: natural ability, resources, casting medium and the laws of physics.
The first, and often considered most important constraint is that of the natural ability of the human component. Banecasters are only born from the exalted ranks of the Banebloods, and even a child of the blood has only a one in one hundred chance of being gifted with the mental traits that allow him to bend the Bane to his or her will. In addition, all Banecasters might be trained, but their ability to implement their training varies from individual to individual. Human Banecasters are divided into ten calibres: Banecasters of the first calibre have very little ability, while Banecasters of the tenth calibre are capable of such awe-inspiring feats as pulling entire bulldings down with their power, or summoning gouts of blue or green banefire hot enough to incinerate huamn bodies instantly.
The second constraint is that of the material components needed for any sort of banecast: baneseals. These are discs of wax, approximately 10 cm in width and 5 cm thick, attached to a strip of parchment paper upon which banerunes are written in fresh blood (be it human or otherwise). These seals serve as the anchor points which focus the caster's mental powers and allow them to be amplified and channelled properly into the casting medium. Baneseals must be arranged in the proper pattern to achieve the desired effect of the cast. While simple procedures like the creation of heat or the minor acceleration of entropy might be achieved with a few dozen baneseals, more complex casts, including the much-studied and extremely difficult process of healing injuries and wounds, can take hundreds of seals and multilayered patterns that might take hours to prepare. In addition, banecasting is a physically and mentally exhausting activity, partially due to the fact that the process of casting also syphons off a small amount of the caster's own Bane. Those casters who use their powers regularly often live considerably shorter lives, withering away by the age of sixty-five from a combination of mental and physical fatigue.
The third constraint stems from the nature of the Bane itself, as it is an entity which only exists within objects which are or were recently alive. As a result, banecasting can only directly affect those sorts of materials. This is why baneseals must be marked with fresh blood, why armour and weapons must have runes etched into them and anointed with oils to be bane-hardened or otherwise enchanted, and why weapons such as the longbow have long been made obsolete as weapons of war.
The last constraint should be self explanatory: even Banecasters must respect the laws of inertia, thermodynamics and conservation of matter. For example, their ability to "create" heat is merely the temporary conversion of bane into heat. If there is no source of Bane nearby to be used, there is no way to cast.