Difference between revisions of "User:Nightstar The Bright"

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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.{{book ref|sa4|43}} The Alethi quickly adapted to warfare against the [[Fused]] and [[Regal]]s. 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.{{book ref|sa4|42}} 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.{{book ref|sa1|22}} The Alethi military is over a hundred fifty thousand troops strong.{{book ref|sa1|22}}
 
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.{{book ref|sa1|47}} A shardbearer will almost never give up his shards, the only time he might is when he is to weak to use them.{{book ref|sa1|52}} 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.{{book ref|sa1|73}} A proper salute is moving a hand to your breast.{{Book ref|sa2|75}} Several hundred cavalry, darkeyed spearmen, lighteyed heavy foot have large maces, square steel shields and thick armour.{{book ref|sa1|6}}
 
 
Although uniforms differ between armies, most Alethi wear something very similar. Uniforms are usually coloured with the colours of their wearer’s highprince.{{book ref|sa1|46}}{{book ref|sa1|58}}{{book ref|sa3|116}}
 
Uniforms are always worn with an undershirt alongside the uniform itself.{{book ref|sa3|59}} An officer’s uniform is usually comprised of astiff waistcoat andtrousers, a doublejacket, breastedwhich longcoat,often sometimescomes decorateddown withto embroiderythe orwaist preciousand metals.buttons Theseclosed longcoats,beneath calledthe officer’s coatsbelt, area approximately waistlengthshirt and are supposed to be unbuttonedboots.{{book ref|sa1sa2|222}}{{book ref|sa2sa3|259}} Uniforms, generallyboth the ones of common soldiers and the ones of high ranking lighteyed officers, always have a patch to indicate the duty and unit of the wearer.{{book ref|sa2|2}} OfficersSome wearmen something called an officer’s coat, which is long and meantchoose to befurther unbuttoned.{{bookpersonalize ref|sa4|27}} Alethitheir uniforms arewith traditionallyembrodiery madeor upcolourful of a long, approximately waistlength,scarfs.{{book ref|sa1sa2|2244}} coatWhen withit buttonsrains upsoldiers themay side.{{bookchoose ref|sa1|18}} Army surgeonsto wear white.{{booka ref|sa1|47}}stormcoat Someover mentheir chooseuniform, toand furtherthere personalizeare theiroften uniformsumbrellas withready embrodieryfor or colourful scarfsofficers.{{book ref|sa2|4481}}
 
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 be unbuttoned.{{book ref|sa1|22}}{{book ref|sa2|2}} Army surgeons wear white clothing.{{book ref|sa1|47}} 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.{{book ref|sa2|76}} They, and likely messenger boys as well, also wear something called a runner’s sash.{{book ref|sa2|81}}▼
 
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.{{book ref|sa1|1}}{{book ref|sa1|6}}{{book ref|sa1|17}}{{book ref|sa1|26}}{{book ref|sa1|46}}{{book ref|sa1|47}}{{book ref|sa1|58}}{{book ref|sa1|67}} White knots indicate a citizen officer, that is a sergeant or squadleader;{{book ref|sa1|1}}{{book ref|sa1|6}}{{book ref|sa1|46}} red knots indicate an officer of seventh dahn;{{book ref|sa1|46}} and gold knots indicate second or third dahn;{{book ref|sa1|26}}{{book ref|sa1|46}} It can also distinguish between low captain,{{book ref|sa1|67}} captain,{{book ref|sa2|25}}{{book ref|sa3|83}}{{book ref|sa3|117}} captainlord,{{book ref|sa3|63}} lieutenant,{{book ref|sa3|i|14}} sergeant,{{book ref|sa3|6}} and battalionlord.{{book ref|sa4|40}} Soldiers without authority bear no knots.{{book ref|sa1|17}}{{book ref|sa1|46}}{{book ref|sa1|67}}{{book ref|sa4|23}}
 
 
When it rains soldiers may choose to wear a stormcoat over their uniform, and there are often umbrellas ready for officers.{{book ref|sa2|81}}
 
▲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.{{book ref|sa2|76}} They, and likely messenger boys as well, also wear something called a runner’s sash.{{book ref|sa2|81}}
 
==== Armor ====
The Alethi are outfitted with a large variety of armours, what a soldier wears depends on their statusjob, wealth, and rank. Regardless of these factors however, soldiers almost always wear the colors of their highprince.{{book ref|sa1|47}}
 
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 and; respected soldiers won’t get into trouble for breaking it.{{book ref|sa1|47}} Wealthier soldiers, or those in professional armies, may wear proper steel breastplates, steel caps and chainmail.{{book ref|sa2|2}} Archers generally wear leather vests.,{{book ref|sa1|57}} while heavy infantry wears thick steel armour.{{book ref|sa1|4}}
 
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.{{book ref|sa3|3}} Some lighteyed soldiers decorate their helmets with bird plumes.{{book ref|sa3|11}} High ranking Brightlords may also have a shieldbearer with them.{{book ref|sa1|24}}
only the officers wield swords because, according to Vorin traditions, the sword is regarded as a lighteyed's weapon.{{book ref|sa1|prologue}} Shortspears and longspears.{{book ref|sa2|81}} maces.{{book ref|sa2|6}} War axes and polearms.{{book ref|sa3|11}} shortsword and longsword.{{book ref|sa4|35}} also truncheons and small round shields, used with swords and large rectangular shields, used with pikes.{{book ref|sa3|73}} Poleaxes. Shortbows. {{book ref|sa3|3}} arming women just isn’t done, even scouts wear only knives.{{book ref|sa3|70}}
=== Tactics ===
The Alethi have a wide range of tactics. A popular tactic is the hammer and anvil tactic.{{book ref|sa3|3}} The Alethi are also practiced at executing a fake rout, often leading to an ambush.{{book ref|sa4|41}} At the tail end of the Era of Solitude warfare started to include heavy cavalry more and more, although the use of heavily armoured and equipped horsemen was still a relatively new and costly strategy.{{book ref|sa3|73}}
 
{{sidequote|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 [[Sadees|Sunmaker]], who shaped modern Alethi militarism{{book ref|sa1|24}}|side=right|size =300px}}
Each highprince has his own martial philosophy, and their army has it’s own strength, with the [[Kholin princedom|Kholin]] army having the best heavy infantry, the [[Roion princedom|Roion]] army the best archers and the [[Sadeas princedom|Sadeas]] army the fastest bridges.{{book ref|sa1|24}} Cavalry to fight shardbearers and lighteyed heavy infantry. Wooden mobile scouting towers in the camps. Canopy from shields to protect from arrows. 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. Standard spearmen blocks engage enemies as much as to position them as to do harm. {{book ref|sa3|26}} also light infantry as fast harrying forces due to lack of horses. 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. 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.{{book ref|sa3|52}} In recent years the Alethi also began to make use of smaller more mobile teams, which have their own tactics.{{book ref|sa3|66}} There is a known symbol for a truce.{{book ref|sa3|76}} 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.{{book ref|sa4|41}} The Alethi are excellent soldiers, each individual is far better then any given Azish or Veden soldier. The Alethi infantry blocks are extremely mobile, far more so then infantry blocks from other militaries.{{book ref|sa4|47}}
 
While highstorms are a problem, good planning prevents an army from needing to be out during a storm, except in some rare cases.{{book ref|sa3|19}}{{book ref|sa1|4}} If a campaign takes longer then anticipated, the army can split and retreat back to a number of towns for shelter.{{book ref|sa3|19}} TheDue to highstorms, the Weeping is a common time for military campaigns.{{book ref|sa2|79}} Sieges are rare in Alethkar, and often last only a short time. This is due to soulcasters, which make it 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.{{book ref|sa3|19}}{{book ref|sa3|11}}
 
==== Formations ====
On the battlefield, runners are used to give orders.{{book ref|sa1|65}} 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.{{book ref|sa2|81}} When it is dark stormlight may also be used to give certain signals, such as the signal to attack.{{book ref|sa2|81}}
 
War banners are used to mark divisions, battalions and companies. This makes a battlefield easily surveyable for someone who understands the system.{{book ref|sa4|27}} Most highrankinghigh brightlordranking brightlords have their own personal glyphpair, which, like the name suggests, is usually made up of two glyphs.{{book ref|sa1|28}} These glyphpairs are often painted on war banners, which ensures that particular brightlords are easy to find on a battlefield.{{book ref|sa1|67}}
 
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.{{book ref|sa1|47}} Some troops, like a lighteyes’ personal guard, are trained to recognise certain arm gestures, which mean certain commands, such as to retreat.{{book ref|sa1|13}}{{book ref|sa1|28}}
 
==== 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.{{book ref|sa2|5}} Proper Alethi warcamps are arrangedgenerally neatlycircular, 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.{{book ref|sa1|4}} inside these rings the barracks, which are placed in rows, are arranged into radialscircular patterns, with a meeting ground and a mess hall at the center of each battalion.{{book ref|sa1|26}}
 
=== Training ===
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