Edict by Lord Protector: Bernard Cenaski

Date: 33 AP

From: Edict on the Reorganization of the Peldak Military

In light of military failures observed during the ‘Founding War’, as it has come to be called, I have consulted the Senate to reorganize the armed forces of Peldor into something more suitable to our new status as the guardians of the Peldak Protectorate.

The failures I noted during the six-year engagement were thus:

           -1. Our forces were often scattered and isolated, leaving them open to being surrounded and destroyed by the enemy, and incapable of supporting each other.

           -2. There was no overarching objective, the disorganized warbands simply wandered as they saw fit, only stumbling into a final victory after six years.

           -3. Warbands often fought amongst themselves, both internally for higher positions within the warband, and between warbands fighting each other for looting rights or to take credit for a victory.

           -4. The soldiers were not properly kept in line. Looting, wanton destruction, theft, our forces acted out of step with common morality.

           -5. In line with point 4, it has proven difficult to find the assailant in these crimes due to the poor -or often nonexistent- record keeping of these warbands.

In light of the issues seen on the world of Relgan, we look to the detachment sent to the world of Foregone as the solution.

Led by ‘The Sentinel Of Foregone’ Veronika Witoska, much of her detachment sent to Foregone were men and women who served under her during the Unification Wars. Due to her strong personality, she pulled the elements of her army together in a single vision, and liberated the planet within the year.

We seek to emulate this with our Legion structure. Soldiers tied together through force of personality and individual loyalty, all herded towards wider goals of the campaign.

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Battle Buddies

The smallest individual unit will be a bonded pair of two soldiers, a battle buddy system. Ideally, these two soldiers will have known each other since before joining the military, and will keep each other in check. A soldier should never go anywhere without his or her partner, and the two should keep each other from committing some of the worst abuses seen during the Founding War.

Squad

Five of these pairs will make up a Squad, for 10 soldiers in total.

The leader of the squad, called a sergeant, will be whoever happens to be the oldest in the unit. Should that man die, the next oldest will become the sergeant. This clear line of succession will prevent the many petty squabbles for dominance that occurred within various warbands during the war.

The sergeant will have full authority to command his squad on the tactical level during a battle, and is responsible for their safety as well as the completion of the mission.

The sergeant’s second in command, called the saber, will be reserved for the best swordsman in the squad. Supervised, orderly, standardized duels will be available should other squadmates seek to take the title for themselves.

Company

10 squads (100 men in total) will make up the next highest unit of the legion, the Company, which will be led by a lieutenant.

All soldiers in the Company will vote on who they wish to become the lieutenant. This will create a sense of legitimacy within the lower ranks, spreading ownership and control. The common soldiers aren’t tools being wielded by the officers, they have an important say in the structure of the legion.

The lieutenant will, in most day-to-day operations, be the officer that the average soldier interacts with the most. This system will prevent those soldiers from wondering who their commander is or why they should follow him. The answer is because the lieutenant is liked well enough to win a vote of confidence by the majority of his men.

The lieutenant is seconded by a legionnaire, who will be a trusted member of the company chosen by the lieutenant during the election. The legionnaire will have the authority to lead detachments of the Company into battle, free to act on his own discretion.

Brigade

10 Companies (1,000 men in total) form the largest combat unit of the legion, the Brigade, and will be led by a major.

The 10 elected lieutenants of the brigade will, after their election, consult and appoint one man of the brigade to the rank of major. It is our expectation that the major will simultaneously be the lieutenant of a company.

As the major will lead soldiers into battle, but is still a level removed from the rank and file, this system still gives the lower ranks a minor level of control over their leaders. Should the troopers feel mistreated by the major’s tactics, they could organize elections or protest their lieutenant to convene a new selection for higher office. However, such organization or protest would be obvious to the major, giving more than enough time to switch course or explain to the soldiers the importance of his tactics.

Ideally, with a pathway to air their grievances, the soldiers will choose this path rather than mutiny, as was seen during the Founding War.

It should be noted that elections cannot be held in the heat of battle. Times of crisis are not appropriate for a disruptive change in leadership.

The major is seconded by a Chaplain, who will be a representative of the faith and the guardian of morality. His explicit goal is to keep our soldiers from losing their discipline and committing the many abuses that were inflicted on the people during the Founding War. In advance of this cause, the Chaplain has the express authority to execute any man he chooses, for whatever reason, and while I would personally suggest a trial be conducted beforehand, the Chaplains may skip this step if they deem it necessary. Should execution be too harsh for the crime, or the Chaplain believes the sinner may be redeemed, he has free reign to assign any punishment he believes suitable.

As there are four main denominations of the faith, I have prepared a meeting hall in the capital where representatives from each may put forward Chaplain candidates and discuss their merits. To ensure religious unity, all four denominations must agree to a Chaplain’s entry.

The Office of the Lord Protector notes that this is not an official endorsement of any specific denomination.

Division

10 Companies (10,000 men in total) form the first administrative unit of the legion, a division, which is run by a colonel.

The colonel will be picked from the ranks of  100 lieutenants and 10 majors which number the division. A higher rank known as the hetman will pick from this pool of candidates at the start of a military campaign (or renew the command of the previous colonel). The chosen colonel will relinquish his command of the company or brigade and take the largely administrative and strategic command of the division.

At any time the hetman wishes, he may demote the colonel and replace him with another suitable candidate. While the rank and file have no recourse against him, the fact that the colonel was once trusted with authority should be a suitable assurance that he will weigh the desires of the troopers with the needs of the war effort.

Structurally, the division will be given a broad objective to complete, and the colonel will determine the best strategy to accomplish it. The colonel will then assign majors to complete specific tasks with their brigades, and then the majors will have tactical authority to get it done. Ideally, all brigades will be pushed in the right direction for the good of the campaign.

The colonel will be seconded by two wings. Both appointments are the authority of the colonel and cannot be overwritten. The wings’ official job description is to lessen the workload of the colonel by any means he sees fit, to ensure the division remains in good working order.

As the colonel will have extensive support staff to file paperwork and run numbers, I recommend the wings be embedded directly within the lower ranks to monitor morale, ensure problem detachments are kept under watch, or integrate auxillary units. A wing embedded as a trooper in the lower ranks can become a sergeant if he is the oldest of his squad, however he does not have the authority to give orders to his superiors. Ideally, his advice would be respected by the officers though.

Legion

10 Divisions (100,000 men in total) form the overall structure of the Legion, supervised by the sole authority of the hetman.

Each hetman will be appointed only after being recommended by the Lord Protector’s Command Staff and, after a thorough background check and evaluation, approved by the Peldak Senate. The Senate, in accordance with the discussion prior to the writing of this edict, will form a committee of senators to judge the quality of candidates. The specifics of how the committee will be organized is beyond the purview of the Lord Protector’s office, but the Lord Protector retains the right to declare martial law should gridlock in the Senate prove to be insurmountable.

The goal is to keep the Lord Protector and Senate in lockstep with each other on the goal of national defense. To further this, the hetman will be seconded by a senatorial representative. While operation of the military, and defending the realm of the peldaks, falls under the jurisdiction of the Lord Protector, these senatorial representatives will report back necessary details to the Senate, and give the peldak government an accurate view of the military situation.

Such a dynamic will also streamline the allocation of resources to our military, and prevent the minor issue of individual warbands needing to purchase their own equipment. The protection tax from members of our new Protectorate will go towards funding and maintaining our armed forces.

The hetman’s role in the legion is strictly on the strategic level. In peacetime he will be assign garrison duty. In war, he will be given charge of the campaign. The Lord Protector’s Command Staff will be tasked with coordinating the legions to the maximum benefit of national security and the expansion of civilization.

The hetman retains the authority to hire auxiliary units to supplement his forces.

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The Edict on the Reorganization of the Peldak Military formally calls for the creation of 21 legions, mobilizing two million men to be recruited from the old warbands. Additionally, six million support and logistical staff shall be mobilized to maintain the necessary supply lines and equipment needs of the soldiers.

The first legion, in the interest of maintaining order and reducing toxic rivalries, will be organized into a training legion. All soldiers, including youth undergoing their compulsory service, will, upon enlistment, be documented as part of the first legion. With their graduation from basic training, they will be transferred to the correct legion.

As the need arises and the Peldaks Protectorate expands, more legions may be organized by the Office of the Lord Protector.

God bless.