User:Nightstar The Bright

Hello everyone, I am Nightstar The Bright. I really enjoy reading Brandon Sanderson’s books, sometime after I read them all I began editing the Coppermind.

Notable pages I reworked

• Court of Gods
• Iridescent Tones
• Listener
• Duladel
• Pahn Kahl
• Jah Keved
• Fjorden
• T'Telir
• Hallandren
• Idris
• Final Empire

! The following text is a collection of the information about the Alethi military !

over thirty Shardbearers.

Wages

Wages are based upon ones military rank and caste. The average darkeyed soldier is payed five clearmarks a day. Military slaves are paid less than half that of a darkeyed soldier, around one clearmark a day.

Shards

According to official records, Alethkar possesses more Shardblades than any other nation on Roshar, with only Jah Keved coming anywhere close. These Shards are used effectively in combat to overwhelm non-Shardbearer armies.

During the War of Reckoning, their Shardblades were used in order to cut through chasmfiend chrysalises in order to harvest gemhearts.

During the True Desolation, warfare began to change. There are far fewer large scale formations, those are far to easy to disrupt. Instead men spend their time in protected warcamps, occasionally making a sudden surge to claim ground and shove away the enemy. During this time battles changed from decisive engagements to several month long fights. The Alethi quickly adapted to warfare against the Fused and Regals. When there is an abundance of Shanay-Im the humans lock their shields together into a canopy, protecting from lances and spears, aside from that the humans have learned to use water to render the stormforms power unusable. Kings guard: blue and gold. Also from the Kholin army. The old campaign conundrums: did one choose the best position to weather storms, or did one seize the high ground. Most men choose the former. The Alethi army adapted to the listener strategies by increasing the flexibility of their armies, making them able to respond quickly to the uncanny way the listeners fought. Low ranking men in the armies are often susceptible to bribes. Soldiers can pay their brightlord’s scribes to send a message via spanreed, although this is considered extremely expensive, with even a terse note costing roughly a week’s wages for a common spearman, which translates to about forty clearmarks. Army surgeons: the apprentices are almost all men who have some incapacitation, preventing them from fighting. Stealing from the dead is strictly prohibited, although this doesn’t stop some soldiers from doing it. If regular soldiers killed a noteworthy target, usually an important brightlord, they can send for their captainlord, who will confirm the kill, to earn a reward. A shardbearer will almost never give up his shards, the only time he might is when he is to weak to use them. Generally, a man in the personal guard of a lighteyes earns thrice as much as the wage of a standard spearman, so about 15 clearmarks each day. When a soldier dies, his highprince needs to pay out to his family. A proper salute is moving a hand to your breast. Several hundred cavalry, darkeyed spearmen, lighteyed heavy foot have large maces, square steel shields and thick armour.

Military

Enlistment

Any man, lighteyed or darkeyed, can volunteer to join the military. Most of the volunteers are boys, their head full of ideas about glory and Shards. When needed, conscription can also used to gain more men.

It is seen as a citylord’s duty to handpick men to conscript into the army. There are limitations to this system however, a citylord isn’t allowed to conscript someone who provides an essential service to the community, such as a surgeon. Recruits may bring two changes of clothing and three stoneweights of other possessions with them.

Each enlistment lasts four years, after which a soldier can choose to enlist for another four years. Upon completion of his time in the army, he will receive a war bonus, equal to one tenth of his total wages. If a darkeyed soldier manages to distinguish himself and rise to a high rank, he could also rise in nahn.

Command structure

Leadership

The Alethi military not a single unified entity, rather, it is a loose coalition of ten different militaries. These ten militaries are sworn directly to their respective highprinces. This means that the king has very little say in how the military is run; he doesn’t command anything other then the two hundred and fifty strong King’s Guard. There is constant in-fighting between the highprinces' armies, even during wartime, and cooperation between the highprinces themselves is seen as a weakness. This is bolstered by the tenets of Vorinism that say the purpose of life is to prepare in order to join the Heralds in the fight to regain the Tranquiline Halls and Alethi belief that everything is a competition in life. Recently, in an effort to truly unify the kingdom, Dalinar Kholin has been appointed as the Highprince of War by the king. This title was used in Alethkar before being fragmented into ten princedoms when each highprince was given the ultimate authority over one aspect of the governing of the kingdom. On paper, this gives Kholin authority over all war-related activities.

Aside from this division between the armies, the Alethi have excellent leadership. This is mostly due to how for the Alethi, being a leader essentially the same is as being a general. Alethi officers, be it low ranking or high ranking officers, learn how to properly and effectively boost the morale of their troops. If a commander, like a captain or companylord, isn’t in place to give commands, the most senior of his officers has command.

Chain of command
Unit	Soldiers	Typical Commander
subsquad	6–8	sergeant
squad	~25	squadleader
platoon	~50	captain/captainlord
company	~100	companylord
battalion	~1000	battalionlord
division	~2000	general
army	—	highprince
In companies made solely of lighteyes, the rank "lieutenant" is used as the equivalent of sergeant.

Ranks

The Alethi military is complex and contains many ranks. The figure to the right shows some of the ranks and gives some information about them. Besides these, there are a few extra ranks or duties. One such rank is highmarshal. It is unknown what the position of highmarshal entails, but it is a high rank, and most highmarshals command a large force of soldiers practically by themselves. Some officers are responsible for a branch of the army, such as the infantry or cavalry, these officers are referred to by their duties, along with the suffix -lord (e.g. cavalrylord, infantrylord). Besides these ranks, some officers gain command of certain parts of the army (e.g. the rearguard). These officers are referred to as ‘commander of the … (part of the army)’ (e.g. commander of the rearguard). It is extremely rare for a darkeyed soldier to rise higher than the rank of squadleader.

Equipment

Uniforms

Although uniforms differ between armies, most Alethi wear something very similar. Uniforms are usually coloured with the colours of their wearer’s highprince.

Uniforms are generally comprised of stiff trousers, a jacket, which often comes down to the waist and buttons closed beneath the belt, a shirt and boots. Uniforms, both the ones owned common soldiers and the ones owned by high ranking lighteyed officers, always have a patch to indicate the duty and unit of the wearer. Some men choose to further personalize their uniforms by adding embrodiery or colourful scarfs. When it rains soldiers may choose to wear a stormcoat over their uniform, and there are often umbrellas ready for officers.

An officer’s uniform is usually comprised of a waistcoat and a double breasted longcoat, sometimes decorated with embroidery or precious metals. These longcoats, called officer’s coats, are approximately waistlength and are supposed to hang unbuttoned. Army surgeons wear white clothing. Messenger women often wear travelling dresses of a particular fashion. These dresses have the front and back slit open, all the way to the waist, to allow for greater mobility. They, and likely messenger boys as well, also wear something called a runner’s sash.

Officers are distinguished by knots on a cord across the epaulette, with the amount of knots and their colour signifying their military rank, and their rank in the Alethi caste system. White knots indicate a citizen officer, that is a sergeant or squadleader; red knots indicate an officer of seventh dahn; and gold knots indicate second or third dahn; It can also distinguish between low captain, captain, captainlord, lieutenant, sergeant, and battalionlord. Soldiers without authority bear no knots.

Armor

The Alethi are outfitted with a large variety of armours, what a soldier wears depends on their job, wealth, and rank. Regardless of these factors however, soldiers almost always wear the colors of their highprince.

Regular spearmen wear special skirts, which are appropriately named spearmen skirts. It is forbidden for spearmen, even squadleaders, to wear trousers, although this rule isn’t taken very serious; respected soldiers won’t get into trouble for breaking it. They also wear leather caps and they don’t seem to wear any arm or leg guards. Wealthier soldiers, or those in professional armies, may wear proper steel breastplates, steel caps and chainmail. Archers generally wear leather vests, while heavy infantry wears thick steel armour.

Wealthy lighteyes often wear steel plate armour. At least some lighteyes decorate their plate armour to resemble Shardplate. Some lighteyes prefer helms with open visors to helms with closed visors. Some lighteyed soldiers also decorate their helmets with bird plumes. High ranking Brightlords may sometimes have a shieldbearer with them. The Alethi also have access to a number of sets of Shardplate. While the natural color of dead Shardplate is slate-grey, it is extremely common among the Alethi to change the appearance of one's Shardplate by painting it or adorning it with decorative details or even gemstones.

Weaponry

Most of the Alethi soldiers are equipped with spears, both longspears and sometimes shortspears, and shields. The Alethi also use maces, polearms, pikes and halberds. Pikes are often used alongside large rectangular shields. The Alethi also use truncheons when they don’t want to kill. The Alethi are skilled in the use of bows, of which most are shortbows. Despite this, longbows are also used. Most soldiers can’t choose what weapons to wield themselves; their weapons depend on their position in the army (e.g. spears for spearmen and bows for archers). Some higher ranking soldiers however, like squadleaders, are allowed to choose weapons.

Only lighteyes wield swords, although almost never as primary weapons, because according to Vorin traditions the sword is a lighteyed's weapon. These swords include both longswords and shortswords. One handed swords are often wielded with small round shields. Alethi heavy infantry, which always consists of lighteyed men, carries heavy and impact based weapons such as maces, they also often carry square steel shields. Due to Vorin cultural ideas women can’t be armed, even scouts are only allowed to wear knives. The Alethi also have a number of Shardblades, around twenty, these blades are used effectively in combat.

Strategy

Troops

The Alethi Military has a lot of soldiers, approximately a hundred fifty thousand troops. Most of these troops are darkeyed spearmen, with a smaller percentage of lighteyed heavy infantry and archers. At the tail end of the Era of Solitude Alethi warfare started to include more and more cavalry, an army in the year 1145 would have about fifty horsemen, if not less, while an army in 1173 would have several hundred horsemen. Following the start of the True Desolation, the Alethi armies began employing surgebinders to aid in their war efforts. Foremost among these surgebinders are those of the Order of Windrunners. Besides the Windrunners the Alethi employ a large number of [[Order of Edgedancers|Edgedancers], with a smaller number of Lightweavers.

Each of the Alethi armies has it’s own strength, with the Kholin army having the best heavy infantry, the Roion army the best archers and the Sadeas army the fastest bridges, at least during the War of Reckoning.

Battlefield tactics

The Alethi employ a wide range of tactics. One popular tactic that is often used by the Alethi is the hammer and anvil tactic. The Alethi are also practiced at executing a fake rout, often leading to an ambush.

The Alethi infantry is usually employed in large block like formations, these blocks can get very large, with some of them being five thousand men strong. These standard spearmen blocks engage enemies as much as to position them as to do harm. The Alethi infantry blocks are also extremely mobile, far more so then infantry blocks from other militaries. The Alethi infantry uses their shields, forming a canopy of sorts, to protect from arrows and throwing spears. For most of Alethi history, due to lack of horses, light infantry was used to harry enemy armies.

“All wars are games. The greatest kind, with the pieces lost real lives, the prizes captured making for real wealth! This is the life for which men exist. To fight, to kill, to win.”

—The Sunmaker, who shaped modern Alethi militarism

Cavalry to fight shardbearers.

The Alethi are also excellent, by modern standards, at using their surgebinders. Windrunners are used to launch aerial assaults on the enemy, defend the Alethi armies against other lashing surgebinders and aid in conventional ground attacks. Besides this, the Windrunners scout the surrounding landscape and aid in moving troops, mostly generals or other high ranking officers, around. The Edgedancers are mainly used as medics, with their use of the surge of Progression the Edgedancers can heal anyone in a matter of seconds. In contrast to these surgebinders, the Lightweavers don’t enter combat, instead they serve mostly as spies.

New tactics

Middle is heavy infantry, then to the sides mobile, lightly armoured but fast, archer units is new tactics. Infantry will try to reach the sides but the heavy infantry will beat their central block. Some officers take their children with them to war, although never to the battlefield. Instead they usually stay at the town that serves as the army’s long-term command post. In recent years the Alethi also began to make use of smaller more mobile teams, which have their own tactics. Men rotate in and out of the front lines, for every five minutes you're fighting, you have as many minutes resting.

Sieges are rare in Alethkar, and often last only a short time. This is due to soulcasters, which make it almost impossible to starve a city out. Instead, the Alethi break down the walls quickly, seize the high ground to pound the city for a while or simply attack, attempting to scale and conquer the walls.

Shardbearer tactics

Nets, ropes. Destroy the plate and then kill them with arrows. Shardbearers generally duel with eachother, without interference, or at least, until your lighteyes is losing.

Shardbearers often lead formations themselves, cutting a hole in enemy ranks with their overwhelming force. This creates a gap that well-trained men can exploit, which can allow for an army to overcome superior numbers. The usefulness of this tactic is twofold. Few regular men can put up an effective resistance against a Shardbearer, allowing them to lead a spectacularly effective charge, and also this tactic puts the Shardbearers at the front of the regular soldiers, often giving them a boost in morale as well. Shardbearers will also sometimes be used in defensive fights to bolster the gaps in their own lines, moving quickly between weak places to give soldiers a chance to recover and return to their formation. When a Shardbearer has Plate and Blade, they can also easily cut their way behind enemy lines, where they can wreak havoc with impunity and cause confusion that their own soldiers can then exploit. Unlike fighting in a duel, the most effective way to combat large groups of soldiers is to maintain momentum and keep the Shardblade in constant motion, always cutting. Practiced Shardbearers will use their control over their bond with their Shardblade to make use of it unexpectedly. They may throw their Shardblades in a more ranged attack than an enemy is used to and then dismiss it once the damage is done so that they can summon it back to their hands. Another uncommon tactic is unexpectedly dismissing the Blade, which can surprise an enemy who is preparing to dodge the Blade or parry it. This works particularly well when the Shardbearer is wearing Plate.

Due to their awesome power, Shardbearers fighting together often have to be careful that they do not inadvertently hurt one another or their own men. Fighting in tandem with Shards is a skill all its own, keeping close enough to support one another but just far enough away to avoid interfering in the other's fight. While the skill is uncommonly practiced, two Shardbearers supporting one another in combat can achieve incredible success. Many times a Shardbearer will wade into enemy lines, bolstered by an honor guard fighting a few steps behind them. The honor guard does not spend time defending the Shardbearer directly, but rather stays nearby to support the Shardbearer, so if his Plate is severely damaged or he is seriously injured, the Shardbearer can retreat to safety and not risk their life or their Shards. Bolder Shardbearers will leave this honor guard behind and will attack enemies alone, either on foot or horseback. Such a move is a tactical risk, as an isolated Shardbearer is at his most vulnerable and the loss of a Shardbearer in combat may prove disastrous for their own forces. Shardbearers may also fight alone when capturing a wall or taking down some other fortification. Narrow wall tops are ideal for Shardbearers, as they are able to easily kill the clustered soldiers. They must take care when scaling walls however, as some handholds are designed to be retracted by the defenders. Unexpectedly pulling in a ledge that a Shardbearer is hanging from can be enough to send them spilling to the ground, cracking their Plate or killing them.

The most effective way of countering a Shardblade is to send another Shardbearer against them. By leveling the playing field in this way, the overwhelming power of a Shardblade is negated and victory is left to the most skilled of the fighters. However, when going up against a full Shardbearer, a person with both Blade and Plate, a Blade is often not enough to ensure victory. In fact, in a duel between someone with only Plate and someone with only a Blade, the person with Plate will more often be successful, as they only need to get in one good strike on their opponent. This is why most Shards are won by people who are already full Shardbearers.

As swords and arrows are practically useless against a Shardbearer, heavy weapons such as war hammers and axes are often used in an attempt to shatter the plate. The most common tactic is to simply drown a Shardbearer in enemies. Enemy forces attempt to attack from all directions, hoping that the Shardbearer may grow distracted or disoriented. Despite the fact that most regular soldiers are afraid to face a Shardbearer, when they attack in large groups the weight of the army can force even the reluctant forward, and there is always the chance that someone will get in a lucky blow. Shardbearers are vulnerable if they can be separated from the soldiers supporting them, so if an army can separate a Shardbearer from their honor guard and limit their mobility, they have a decent chance of killing him. One tactic to reduce a Shardblade's effectiveness is to get in close to the Shardbearer, staying within the Shardbearer's reach and taking advantage of the Blade's long, non-lethal hilt. Fortifications may be constructed with this principle in mind, keeps built with narrow corridors to prevent a bulky Shardbearer from maneuvering. There are also soldiers trained specifically to deal with Shardbearers. They utilize ropes and hooks to try to unbalance or trip the shardbearer, though this isn't always successful as shardplates are heavy. As the Shardblades cut through corpses instead of knocking them away like a normal weapon would, Shardbearers often become surrounded in corpses, which can lead to unstable footing and decreased mobility. In extended battle, Shardbearers are rarely the last fighting, their enemy focuses on bringing them down first so that their Blades can be turned on their own men once they have fallen. This means when a Shardbearer is killed, recovering their Blade and Plate are a higher priority than even retrieving the highlord's body.

Planning and army movement

After centuries of warfare the Alethi have become adept at effectively moving their armies around. While highstorms are a problem, good planning prevents an army from needing to be out during one, except in some rare cases, in which case the army will search for a lait to set up camp. If a campaign takes longer then anticipated, the army can split and retreat back to a number of close towns for shelter. Due to highstorms, the Weeping is a common time for military campaigns.

Bridge Crews

For more information, see Bridge crew.

by Ben McSweeney

Bridge Crews were a very important part of most of the Alethi armies during the War of Reckoning, serving as an expendable workforce that carried bridges to help soldiers cross over the large chasms between plateaus. They also acted as canon fodder for Parshendi bowmen, as to direct attention away from more trained and valued soldiers. Due to this, bridgemen had a very high mortality rate, with around half a crew dying per run.

Each Bridge Crew was made up of 35-40 men, which were lead by a Bridge sergeant, who reports directly to the Brightlord in charge of the crews. Each crew has an internal leader elected amongst themselves known as the bridge leader, who has no official authority outside of that which his crewmembers choose to give him. Members of bridge crews were typically payed five clearmarks a week, given on the third day of every week.

The bridges used by Torol Sadeas's army are eight feet wide and two feet thick, with supports on both sides extending its width to sixteen feet. They are also thirty feet long, and allowed one to set up 8 men per column and 5 men per row.

While not on bridge runs, they are typically used as cheap manpower to perform undesirable duties at war camps, such as chasm or latrine duty.

Not all highprinces made use of bridge crews, with Dalinar Kholin notably refusing to make direct use of them. He instead made use of large bridges on wheels, pulled by chulls. Due to being heavier and pulled by chulls instead of people, movement is significantly slower, but Dalinar makes use of it regardless as it results in a major reduction of casualties during plateau runs.

Communication on the battlefield

On the battlefield, runners are used to give orders. Many leaders give speeches to their troops, these speeches are then recorded by a number of scribes, who are always women, and repeated to the rest of the army. Horns are used to signal certain commands. Aside from this, when it is dark stormlight may also be used to give certain signals, such as the signal to attack. The Alethi, like the other Rosharan militaries, have become incredibly dependent on spanreeds for communication. They use them to gather information about enemy movements and to spread commands.

War banners are used to mark divisions, battalions and companies. This makes a battlefield easily surveyable for someone who understands the system. Most high ranking brightlords have their own personal glyphpair, which, like the name suggests, is usually made up of two glyphs. These glyphpairs are often painted on war banners, which ensures that particular brightlords are easy to find on a battlefield. There is a symbol, which every Alethi recognises, to indicate a truce.

When the sound of battle is loud enough, a squadleader may decide to give his commands by banging his spear against his shield in a certain rhythm, with particular rhythms meaning particular commands. Some troops, like a lighteyes’ personal guard, are trained to recognise certain arm gestures, which mean certain commands, such as to retreat.

Soulcasters and supplies

Alethkar possesses numerous soulcasters, most of them are capable of creating materials such as grain or stone. In fact, Alethkar has a near monopoly on food making soulcasters. The existence of these Soulcasters enables the Alethi to raise and supply large armies that their logistics would not normally allow for, as it can be difficulty to travel in Alethkar, and the Alethi have poor supply line infrastructure. Soulcasters are also used to supply the armies with wood, metal, and other necessities. Although despite their access to many soulcasters, small armies often have only one, to be used in emergencies only, this means that they still need to run supply trains. The king controls most of the Soulcaster ardents; in fact, manipulating the highprinces with his Soulcasters is one of the ways that the king maintains a control over them.

“Plan every battle as if you will inevitably retreat, but fight every battle like there is no backing down.”

—Highmarshal Halad

Warcamps

How a warcamp is organised and run depends greatly on the highprince. Some camps are organised and patrolled while others are chaotic and almost lawless. Alethi warcamps are generally circular, with the camp followers in a ring on the outside, the mercenaries, if there are any, in a ring next to them, the citizen soldiers in the middle and the lighteyes in the very center. Inside these rings the barracks, which are placed in rows, are arranged into circular patterns, with a meeting ground and a mess hall at the center of each battalion. Some warcamps Jane wooden scouting towers, these towers are designed to be portable and mobile. Many warcamps have a market, which is located in the camp followers' part of the camp. Most warcamps also have a number of barracks that allow for families, or married soldiers can rent a place in the market.

Formations

The Alethi make use of a wide variety of formations. They generally fight in a shield wall. However, they also have many other formations. One such formation is called ‘pincer pattern’. This formation looks, as the name suggests, like a pincer, the formation is meant to distract and then destroy an enemy target. The troops at the side generally distract the target while the troops in the middle go for the kill. Pincer pattern is meant to be used by a large number of men, like a full squad or company. Soldiers are also trained to assemble and function in pike blocks to counter heavy cavalry.

Another formation is called the trident formation, this is a small-squad battlefield formation used by spearmen. The men, or man, in the middle hold(s) the target’s attention while those on the outside attack from the flanks. There are also a number of formations which aren’t used on the battlefield. One such formation is used during an inspection, the men will stand in lines while the officer(s) check(s) their gear.

Training

The way soldiers are trained depends on the Princedom they’re from. In at least some princedoms it is seen as the squadleader’s or sergeant’s task to train new recruits. The Alethi do make use of a number of drills to practice large scale formations and movements however. The Alethi are excellent soldiers, each individual is far better at combat then any given Azish or Veden soldier. Besides their skill in combat, soldiers are usually trained in one or two additional skills, e.g. horse grooms.

“There hasn’t been peace since the Tranquiline Halls, Man’s life on Roshar is conflict.”

—a quotation from The Arguments

Drills

The Alethi have a large number of drills to practice certain formations, movements and fighting in general.

The ‘close order’ drill is a an essential exercise to an army’s performance, although few outside the military appreciate its importance. There is also a drill called the ‘extended order’ drill, sometimes called the ‘extended combat’ drill, this drill focuses on practicing formations and movements used on the battlefield.

Shardbearer training

The Alethi military also relies on trained Shardbearers to aid their regular soldiers. Due to their militaristic society, and the large amount of Shards they have, the Alethi have become excellent at training Shardbearers.

In most cases, lighteyed boys of appropriate rank around the age of ten are chosen by an ardent swordmaster for training. These boys typically already have at least some training with the sword. The swordmaster teaches them the ten Shardblade Stances and familiarity with plate. They train with Blades in two ways. If the trainee has no Blade of his own, they can make use of wooden practice swords that approximate the balance and weight of a real Blade. They may also borrow one of the King's Blades. This tradition is one of the reasons the Alethi have the best trained Shardbearers on Roshar. Whenever a Shardbearer is killed or dies, there is always someone prepared to bond their Blade and use it right away. A swordmaster also coaches their student on how to control the Blade with their mind, commanding it to remain in place so it can be loaned to others.

Punishments

The Alethi military also has a large number of punishments. Regular punishments, usually given by a squadleader, include menial duties and corporal punishment. A highprince can also choose to execute someone, or even leave them to the stormfather’s judgment, which includes tying them up and leaving them outside during a highstorm. Officers can put people in a stockade.

Fortifications

Many holdings, to let armies rest and wait. Soulcasters are used in building fortifications.

Shardbearers

Ballistas, nets, both on top of the walls which are cut down and nets that can be fired at shardbearers. ropes, catapults. also Polemen to push shardbearers off.

Artillery

Ballistas and catapults. Women ofcourse.