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Medieval Infantry

2023-06-12T08:18:43Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:596E:6CC8:5157:1C77: /* Mercenaries */

When people think about Medieval Warfare, what comes to mind first are [[Knight]]s as well as [[Men at Arms]], and fair's fair they were important and would be honed to a fine edge. However they were only part of the equation. Here's a rough guide to '''Medieval Infantry'''.

== Note ==
This is a fairly big complex thing with a lot of local details and variation. Depending on who you ask or what the setting is, the "Medieval" period can stretch from the fall of Rome to just before the discovery of the Americas; even if you limit yourself to Europe, there was a lot of complexity in how some cultures raised and armed their armies.

For the average fa/tg/uy dabbling in Fantasy and Tabletop settings, this would probably be helpful in adding some complexity to your settings, just remember that "Medieval" worlds are mishmashes of things that just "feel" Feudal locked in [[Medieval Stasis]], who cares if you have [[Lord of the Rings|potatoes]] in your setting, most neckbeards can't even agree on whether or not [[Gunslinger|gunpowder]] [[Skub|belongs in the setting]].

==Levies==
Raising in army during the Medieval era meant mobilizing your country's manpower, whether they know [[Warrior|how to fight]] or [[Commoner|not]]. Nobles would, of course, be obligated to answer their liege's calls and bring along their retainers, but either they or their liege may also round up "volunteers" from the lower classes. These are the levies, and they are basically conscripted [[peasant]]s put under arms. A medieval lord could raise a levy in times of war, gathering up young men as part of their feudal obligations; all men of certain ages were required to show up and the nobles would take those they needed or how many they could support; there are laws that actually regulated how many men could be raised, for how long, and for what purpose, including exemptions for certain professions from mandatory service ([[Fail|a peasant under arms is not one tending the crops and paying rent, especially if he ends up dead]]).

Most of the time, levies would supply their own equipment, so large armies composed of ill-equipped peasants are either desperate for bodies, or fighting off invaders. They were a bit better on the defensive, protecting hearth and home. Levies were common in the [[Dark Age]] (such as the Fyrds) but they became less important into the [[High Middle Ages]], when heavy cavalry became more common and could be relied upon to reliably trounce farmers with minimal training and basic equipment.

Even if you have a lot of them, for every battle of knights getting stabbed with spears or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ksuFG8YaY clubbed with a Goedendag], there are even more records of knights [[Bretonnia|running over peasants]]. It takes a lot of training to stop a cavalry charge head-on, and even more to reliably respond to changes in the battlefield, or to even just stay together once things get serious, so when the stirrup and lance led to heavy cavalry, armies would consist of trained retainers or professionals, and it was not until the middle ages fully ended that levies became important again as nations finally became organized enough ([[Rome|Again]]) [[Gunpowder (Warhammer Fantasy)|(and the weapons simple enough)]] to raise large levy forces and also equip them and train them.

In terms of armament, they'd most commonly be armed with polearms, typically a spear, and a wooden shield. Besides being easy to use and easy to train with, especially in dense formations, they're also cost-effective. In terms of armour they generally had at least a basic helmet and a few of the luckier ones might have basic torso armour. A hastily raised army of levies that can form a shield wall can be surprisingly effective bulwark against an invasion if used correctly; especially of used defensively with fortifications. But if routed, they’ll be as vulnerable as fish in a barrel. You might also be able to raise forces of archers as well as most Peasants would probably have a bow already to help put food on the table. Axes or other heavy weapons are also good as they need a minimal of training to be functional.

Examples of Levies
*'''Fyrds:''' How the Anglo-Saxons organized their armies before they became the English, of which we know quite about because their kings wrote shit down; because the Anglo-Saxons were culturally Germanic, they fought like the [[Vikings]] that were invading their lands. A Fyrd would be composed of levied men, the newfags following the lead of the more grizzled neckbeards among them.

=== Urban Militias ===
Similar to levies, but in towns and cities; being a step-up in the ladder, they could afford better equipment and they generally ''wanted'' to be there. Also often better equipped as cities were usually richer per-capita. Still not the best trained and equipped force you can get as seen at the Battle of Visby; where the Danish king’s professional army all but annihilated the city’s militia. Excavations of the mass graves there (oddly well preserved and not looted due to the sheer number of dead as well as the heat risking decay when they just died), showed equipment varied from simple mail and polearms to brigandine and battle axes.

On the other hand, if properly led and motivated, urban militia could stand up even to the flower of French knighthood, which was arguably the best in the world, as was aptly demonstrated during the Battle of Courtrai, otherwise known as the Battle of the Golden Spurs, due to 500 spurs taken from the dead knights by the victorious Flemish.

In Fantasy and Tabletop, Urban Militias are often [[Free Company Militia|a colorful bunch]], [[Discworld#Jingo|representative of the city's diverse guilds and professions]], if not their city's [[Discworld#Monstrous_Regiment|races as well]].

==Retainers==
The professional and semi-professional classes, they became more important once it became clear that spamming [[Skaven|the board with bodies]] was not going to win wars; unlike the levies above, retainers ''had'' to answer their liege's call-to-arms, either themselves, or by supplying someone to take their place; in exchange for their service, they were often granted land or privileges. The exact specifics of the agreement varied between class and time periods, but it's useful to think of their status as being dependent on how much of their time was actually spent as a "soldier"

Examples:
*'''Men-at-Arms:''' A broad term to describe all the full time professional soldiers, what we normally think of as [[Knight]]s but could be a mercenary instead. Basically all Knights were Men-at-Arms, but not all Men-at-Arms were Knights. Besides paying for their own equipment, they'll also raise retainers to form a lance of troops that join the company. Men-at-Arms evolved over time from heavy cavalry to heavy infantry; the former using lances as their main weapon, and the latter switching to some heavy two-handed weapon such as a Pollaxe when full-plate armor allows one to ditch a shield. Can either be feudal lords with their own lands, an attache in the service of one, or a professional under the employment of the royal guard.
*'''Huskarl:''' To continue with the Anglo-Saxon examples, ''House-carls'' were professionals warriors on retainer and in the direct service to a noble.
===Yeoman===
Unlike serfs or tenants, yeomen owned a plot of land of their own, which they themselves tended to when not at war. This meant they had more income than Paul the Peasant but they were also required to use some of that money to buy gear and serve as soldiers, and not to mention tend to their land.

In some countries, Yeoman as professional soldiers are also specialists in a particular area of war; England was famed for its Yeoman archers, as they trained relentlessly to be the best archers in all of Europe.

===Sergeants===
Full time common-born warriors retained by a noble. A lordling will find a big strong guy from his peasantry and tell him that he has a job for him. He gets more training than a levy does, a regular wage and room and board as well as better arms and armour (usually helmet and some chainmail early, eventually giving way to brigandines and breastplates later on, or just a gambeson if you're unlucky and/or your knight is poor). In peace, having a big strong dude who's good in a fight and owes everything to you is a good asset to have to collect taxes, guard gates, go out on patrol, provide general security, handle criminals, etc, and he can train up levies. In times of war, these guys can be your heavy infantry and oversee levies. They’re the first step below professional soldiers in standing armies.

And yes, the modern NCO rank is named after them. There is a similar feudal rank called a ''serjeanty'', but they're only related by the root word of "servant." Sergeants are commoners serving as muscle and paid a wage, ''serjeanties'' was like being made a landlord in exchange for providing the King with some niche service in perpetuity, like [[Magical realm|rubbing his feet]].

== Mercenaries ==
Professional hired muscle. These guys are the highest quality soldiers you can find without having to maintain permanent standing armies. However, while they are well trained and well armed, they’re ultimately loyal to whoever can pay them the most unless they’re from a culture where honor and reputation are sacrosanct. Expect to spend a lot of time negotiating contracts and terms. And pray once the contract expires that they don’t get hired by your rivals. Or that they don't pillage your city if you can't pay for them anymore. Or that they don't end up aimlessly wandering your lands once the contract is concluded, harassing the populace as little more than glorified brigands. Mercenaries can come from any number of countries and vary wildly in composition. They may also possess skills that the employing military lacks, such as archers or cavalry, to make up for gaps in their unit composition.

Examples:
*'''[[Dogs of War]]:''' - The WHFB equivalent of mercenaries and brigands
*'''Swiss Mercenaries:''' Swiss mercenaries who have gone off to find their fortune in the wars of other countries, they were famous for their discipline and the effectiveness of their pike squares. The Swiss Guard for the Pope hold a number of unique distinctions such as: oldest military formation in history, being the only armed group to still formally call there soldiers "halberdiers" and being the only foreign military group a modern Swiss citizens can legally join.
*'''Varangian Guard:''' The personal bodyguards of the Byzantine Emperor, they were originally Norse mercenaries in direct service to the Emperor. The use of foreigners as the Emperor's guard was important because of how political the role was.

==Slave Soldiers==
The practice of slave soldiers was a large part of several Islamic empires and Sultanates, because similar to the Varangian Guard above, they were foreigners who were ''theoretically'' alienated from political intrigue and were loyal only to their owner.

They were often taken from conquered territories and raised as slaves, but the meaning of this was complex, because though they were "owned", those that survive the brutal training would emerge as well-trained soldiers, or even as well-educated members of the bureaucracy; the [[Schola Progenium]]'s process of making Commissars and Stormtroopers are pretty close comparisons, since they were indoctrinated and trained just as hard since childhood and emerge as symbols of their liege's authority.

These guys became so powerful and influential that there are multiple dynasties founded by Mamluk slave-soldiers; Ottoman Jannisaries were also known to have abuse their close connections with their Sultan for personal gain. And while the Ottoman Jannisaries were mostly infantry, the Egyptian Mamluks and Persian Ghilman were primarily cavalry, trained in the image of ''furusiyya'' or Islamic Knights.

Examples
*'''Ghilmam'''
*'''Mamluks'''
*'''Unsullied:''' The Slave Soldiers and eunuchs of Game of Thrones, famous for their unbreakable morale and lack of self-identity.

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[[Category:History]]

Planegea

2023-06-12T06:39:14Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:596E:6CC8:5157:1C77: /* The Black Taboos */

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'''Planegea''' is an upcoming third-party setting for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] that seeks to explore a very unique question: "what would your typical D&D world look like during the [[Stone Age]]?"

==Setting Conceits==
===No Tech, High Magic===
Planegea isn't "Historical Fantasy, Hard Mode", it's "Primeval D&D" and "Caveman Pulp". This is a world of Primordial Fantasy, and the corebook actually suggests that DMs contemplate the term "stonepunk", in the vein of [[steampunk]], when it comes to designing terrain features and factions. Planegea is a world where you might find floating islands, cities built on the backs of mammoths, temples hanging from the boughs of giant trees, a tribe that flies using gliders of skin and wood giving lift by strange glowing crystals. Don't be "realistic" to the point of just making it all about the mud, the blood, the hunger and the thirst. In other words it's D&D if instead of Reading lord of the rings, Gygax had been reading Conan the Barbarian.

===The Black Taboos===
Planegea isn't just a primordial fantasy world, there are forces actively keeping it in that state. All know that there are certain acts which a person MUST NOT DO, lest they bring the wrath of the dread Hounds of the Blind Heaven down on their heads. These forbidden behaviors, which will summon one of these eldritch entities to hunt and slay the transgressor, are collectively known as the Black Taboos, and consist of four commandments:

Writing is Death: Whilst pictures and patterns are permitted, the use of abstract symbology to communicate draws the Hounds raging from the Blind Heaven to devour whoever attempted to write.

No number higher than 9: Planegeans are only allowed to count individual numbers as high as 9; anything after that is "many". Attempting to use higher numbers will draw the Hounds. (we wish to also quickly note that chimps can count higher then 9)

Do not use wheels: Attempting to stick a wheel on an axle will draw the Hounds. (pottery wheels seem to be ok though)

Do not use money: Planegea runs on the barter economy, ''period''. Attempting to create or use abstract fiscal currency will draw the Hounds.

On a meta level these exist to keep your player's firmly in the right technology level and mind set. Even without meta gaming a player would find it hard to not just invent things. Take the Money Taboo for example, it's natural a player get annoyed with the idea of bartering everything and start hunting down some thing they know is culturally valued and so can be used as a barter item but is easy to carry, such as cowrie shells (bet you thought I was going to say gold? Nope Cowrie shells were among the first and longest lasting form of money even more then gold) since there pretty, can be used as decoration, and so have intrinsic worth and thus can be traded for other items without running into the taboo. . .Except as soon as you say 'this sword is worth <s>200 </s> enough cowrie shells to be equal the number of legs on two <s>centipedes </s> many legs', (we can't say 'centipede since 'centi' means 100 which is a number we can't use, meaning we have to call it a 'Many Legs')<ref>This whole extended bit is it self another way to cheese the 'no number bigger then 9' taboo. You don't say '14" you say "as many as there are legs as on a crab atop a wolf" or something, which depending on your GM this sort of neanderthal math might actually be acceptable.</ref> congrats you actually have invented money and the hounds are coming for you. That thought process is how money was invented and it can be extremely hard to not even accidentally go through the steps to reinvent that or any of the other items. Hence why the GM needs a metaphorical stick to swing at players to remind them to not meta game even more then in standard fantasy settings.

===Nascent Pantheons===
Planegea is an age of proto-gods, when the first spirits are forming and beginning to take command over aspects of reality. There are no great universal gods with dominion over entire aspects of reality - Planegean gods are animals, plants, or elemental beings that have learned to tap into the primordial energies of the world and begin exerting their authority. They are physically bound to a sacred place, a Hallow, and attempt to lure mortals into providing them with worship, offerings, and act as their agents as part of their ongoing struggles to survive, grow, and conquer.

===Clanfires and Hallows===
The traditional D&D mainstay of the Tavern is replaced by the Clanfire; the central ever-burning fire that is the heart of clan life. All but the wickedest maintain a tradition: if you leave your weapons in the gloom before the firelight circle, you may approach the Clanfire and be welcome. Here is where you can rest, find information, and trade.

But if you need magic? Then you need to seek a god's Hallow, and offer worship or services in exchange for what you desire.

===The Three Themes===
In the corebook's own words, these are the three themes that define Planegea:

'''Kinetic Action.''' In Planegea, you don’t stand still and hit things. Battles are fought on the backs of mammoths, on racing ice floes, on trees bent before a magical gale. The battlefield is never constant here—fires fill the air with smoke, hungry scavengers gather at the edge of combat, and enemies leap through the air, bodies and blades twisting as they throw themselves at you without regard for life and limb. Planegea is built for over-the-top action, where combat is never just a combat, but a story in itself and an explosion of dangerous, chaotic energy.

'''Primordial Horror.''' Sometimes there isn’t a name for the thing that slithers by your skin in the shadows. Sometimes you can’t control the voice you hear whispering your name at night, scratching at your tent flap, begging to be let in. In Planegea, mortals have barely any control over the world around them. You are surrounded on all sides by the unknowable, the unstoppable, and that which means you harm. The fundamental horror of Something Out There in the Dark is ever-present here, requiring great courage—or a little darkness of your own—to confront it.

'''Mystic Awe.''' Wonder isn’t about what you see… it’s about what you feel. It’s about coming to the edge of the infinite and discovering how small you have always been. It’s about the beauty of losing yourself in something greater. Planegea is a world of countless gods, of immaculate natural wonders, and of stars that spin above and whisper stories to the mortals below. In Planegea, you can fall into astonishment, seeing the world with fresh eyes, beholding everything as if for the very first time. And as you do so, all is made new again, and stories you thought you knew become strange and wonderful once more, like painted deer on a cave wall in flickering firelight.

==Kinships of Planegea==
The races - or "kinships" as they are called in Planegea - largely consist of primordial versions of the classic 5e PHB races, as well as a handful of new ones. But, the Planegea corebook itself reminds readers that it only represents a small sample, and that there is plenty of room on Planegea for other, weirder races, calling out [[beastfolk]] and [[golem]]-like creatures as examples. The one thing to remember is that this is a young world, and all the races are new and relatively half-formed.

'''[[Dwarf|Dwarves]]''' on Planegea are creatures of living stone which only recently tore themselves from the womb of the earth. Half flesh and half mineral, whilst the youngest generations are growing more fleshy as they are born rather than carved from the earth, all dwarves are known to be stubborn and hardy. The greatest builders and stone-shapers of Planegea, they are known to be friends of the [[giant]]s, who admire their construction skills... perhaps too friendly for their own good. "Hewn Dwarves", those carved from the stone, use Hill Dwarf stats, whilst "Born Dwarves" can use any of the other dwarf subraces.

'''[[Elf|Elves]]''' are denizens of the realm of Nod, the dreaming [[plane]], a place that sits somewhere between being the [[Plane of Dreams]] and the [[Plane of Faerie]]. Living dreams (or nightmares) brought to life in humanoid shape, elves show their mystical nature through the translucency of their flesh and the unearthly colors of their bodies. Whilst any elfish subrace can be found in Planegea, the most common and the most solid-looking are the "Exiles of Nod", who use High Elf stats.

'''[[Halfling]]s''' on Planegea largely consist of the "Quietkin" (Lightfoots); silence-obsessed masterful hunters who view all the world as both enemy and prey. Those who reject the teachings of the quietkin become the Walkaways, and might be represented by any other halfling subrace.

'''[[Human]]s''' are, of course, every where, and the constant influx with all manner of racial cultures and blood makes their versatility second to none. Planegean humans are particularly noted for their ability to domesticate beasts, and so they can take the optional racial trait "Beast Tamer", which lets them apply double their Proficiency bonus to Animal handling checks made against wild animals.

'''[[Dragonborn]]''' are the youngest race to appear in the Great Valley, as the known world of Planegea is called. They claim to be the direct descendants of the Worldheart Dragon, who broods on Blood Mountain, and to have sailed up the Unfalls on rafts made from the trees of the Venom Abyss to bring the Worldheart's will to Planegea. These primordial dragonborn only have [[Chromatic Dragon]] ancestry, as the [[Metallic Dragon]]s don't exist on Planegea.

'''Godmarked''' are less a race and more a scattering of families, tribes or lone individuals who encountered a god and were physically transformed as a sign of either its blessing or curse. Mechanically, they use the [[tiefling]] stats.

'''[[Gnome]]s''' are loathed by all the other kinships of Planegea as a race of sneaky, dishonorable scavengers who rely on trickery, subterfuge and deceit to get ahead. With their willingnes to pick over kills, scavenge from trash piles and steal whatever they believe will help them, these cunning tinkerers prioritize survival over honor or shame. The mainstay of these "Scavenger Gnomes" use slightly tweaked Rock Gnome stats, but those gnomes lucky enough to be adopted into other tribes may express talents comparable to different subraces.

'''[[Half-Elf|Half-Elves]]''' are commonly known as Twilight Children or Dawn Children. An often physically uneasy mix of human and elven traits, half-elves are equally likely to be raiders and entertainers, and for this reason are held at bay by the other clans. The instability of their lineage means that certain unique half-elves are "Blood Dancers", able to shapeshift from their birth form into a purely human form and a purely elven form, which are all but impossible to connect (this trait replaces Skill Versatility).

'''[[Orc]]s''' are doing incredibly well in the world of Planegea; whereas their counterparts on more civilized worlds are regarded as at best savage brutes and at worst little more than humanoid vermin, the orcs of Planegea are revered and respected, regarded as beautiful and blessed. They are the nobility of this savage world, few in number but great in ambition, skill, strength and courage. They are a spiritual people torn by the rising prominence of the hunters and warriors... and their future may not be so bright. A growing blight on orcish nobility are the clans of "Monsterblood Orcs", or "The Doomed", who have devoured beings they should not have and who are being twisted into rage-fueled beasts. Planegean orcs use the [[Half-Orc]] stats, whilst monsterbloods use [[orc]] stats.

As for the four new kinships of Planegea? They consist of the '''[[Dreas]]''', trees sprung to life as humanoid beings; '''[[Half-Ooze]]s''', a fusion of a parasitic slime and the corpse of its humanoid kill; the '''[[Saurian]]s''', the obligatory [[dinosaur]] [[beastfolk]]; and '''[[Starling]]s''', sapient stars fallen to Earth.

==Classes of Planegea==
So, you're probably wondering: how does Planegea fit the usual motley crew of [[adventurer]]s into its Primordial Fantasy setting? Well, a lot more easily than you'd expect.

Let's get the easy ones out of the way first: [[Barbarian]]s, [[Fighter]]s and [[Ranger]]s are all well represented and resepcted. Barbarians tend to be either highly respected warriors, or else outcasts whose clanmates only keep them around so they can be shoved in the direction of the enemy, depending on how good they are at telling friend from foe whilst raging. Fighters are the hunters and warriors upon whose backs rests the survival of their people. And rangers are the masters of surviving in the ever-hungry wilderness, revered for their skills and respected as leaders in the dangerous lands they call home.

[[Rogue]]s are known as '''Scavengers''' on Planegea, and are reviled for their willingness to prey on the weak and vulnerable, no matter what - or ''who'' - they are.

Surprisingly, [[Monk]]s exist on Planegea too; trhey are known as '''Ascetics''', and they are a nascent class of warrior-saints, slowly building up the principles of using self-discipline and self-abnegation to unlock superhuman feats of physical prowess.

[[Bard]]s are known as '''Chanters''', and both respected and distrusted, for they are deeply involved in the preservation of the clans throgh their mastery of the libraries of oral lore that preserve all there is to know about one's people.

[[Cleric]]s, known as '''Shamans''', are the direct mouthpiece of a god, and represent its will, as well as brokering to it on behalf of their clan. Shamans tend to be homebodies, because in this early era of the world, a god's inflence and ability to grant its pawn magic are strictly limited.

[[Paladin]]s, known to Planegeans as '''Guardians''', come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are raised from an early age to be the champions and protectors of the clan's shaman, others have directly bargained with deities for power in exchange for service. And some simply swore an oath to an ideal with such fervor that it unlocked power within them, power to make their oath reality.

Ironically, [[Warlock]]s are actually greatly respected in Planegea, for they fill a role similar to that of the Shamans - it's just that warlocks act as go-betweens for much darker and more alien powers than the gods in their Hallows.

Strangely, [[Druid]]s are hated and feared on Planegea; their divine magic is powered by tapping directly into the ambient primal magic of the world itself, the same fuel that can grow a spirit into a fll-fledged deity, and this makes the gods paranoid and wrathful. Druids are known as '''God-Leeches''', and whilst they serve a vital role in limiting the divine power of fiends and evil deities, they must keep their true natures a secret.

As for arcane magic... [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|Sorcerers]] make up the vast majority of mages in Planegea, though of those most only wield the most basic powers of their mystical bloodlines. But [[Wizard]]s, known as '''Spellskins''', aren't unheard of either. Though they constantly flirt with drawing the attention of the Hounds of the Blind Heaven, Spellskins continually seek to refine and improve their arcane art. Each Spellskin maintains a secret lair, typically a cave, where they construct elaborate pictures that trap magic into permanent shape, creating spells. By using special tattoos to resonate with each spell-picture, a spellskin can draw upon that spell-picture's power from afar and shape it into practical effects.

===New Subclasses===
The Planegea corebook offers the following new subclasses:
* '''Way of Abnegation''', the iconic Planegea Ascetic (Monk), who excels at resisting and deflecting suffering.
* '''Path of the Farstriker''', a Barbarian specialized in the use of throwing weapons combined with instinctive air [[elementalism]].
* '''Dream Sorcery''', a Sorcerer with an intuitive connection to the realm of Nod, imbuing them with the powers of visions, dreams and nightmares.
* '''The Dark Forest''', a patron for warlocks representing the ominous and fearsome intelligence at the heart of the deeep, dark woods.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Settings]]

Medieval Infantry

2023-06-12T06:32:38Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:596E:6CC8:5157:1C77: /* Levies */