The Crimson Legions
The Agezran Shar, or The Crimson Legions, are massive military units made up of volunteer citizens and indentured chimeras. There are nine known legions, but only three are ever active at a time. Of the remaining, three are kept on reserve and guard the Dominion's interior, while the last three are considered inactive and either focus on training for their next active duty cycle, advancing in rank, or preparing for retirement. The three active, standing legions are typically involved in excurions beyond the Riah Channel, skirmishing against the Arcanaan Empire. Whether their objective is defending the ever shifting border or pushing it changes almost monthly.
Each year, the legions rotate out, one at a time. Thus, a freshly recruited legionnaire can expect three years of active duty, three years of service in the reserve, and three years inactive. Inactive soldiers are typically at the height of their career and have either already given their all for the Dominion and seek retirement, or they've found themselves suited to military life and focus on becoming a better soldier. The three years of downtime a legionnaire has is a window of opportunity for more than military training, it's also their chance to seek out a formal education from the Library of Sena (which is paid for by the Legions so long as they remain a legionnaire), and volunteer for testing to advance in rank.
During the three years of reserve duty, a legion acts as a police force within the Dominion's interior--that is to say, the major cities and settlements. From time-to-time, a reserve legion may assign a detachment to the occupied territory beyond the Riah Channel in order to enforce military law if an active duty garrison requires their intervention.
Composition
Manpower
Today, a legion consists of approximately ten thousand men. This number has varied over the years. Legions have numbered as low as two thousand and as high as twelve. At the Telo Trada Massacre in 619 BA, the fifteen thousand legionnaires that were decimated by the nephilim of Sagus were split among two legions.
There have only ever been nine legions in the Dominion's history since the Crimson Wave in 1008 BA. Each legion is designated a number (1st through 9th).
Weaponry
Both cavalry and infrantry units favor polearms in battle for their range. Infantry in particular make tactical use of the weapon's reach in combination with phalanx formations with tower shields. All legionnaires also carry a shortsword with a curved, wide blade on them as a backup weapon.
Structure
Cavalier Lords
Generals of the legions are called cavalier lords. Official though antiquated, the term harkons back to the War of Retribution, when Rytaia was saved from the Arcanaanite siege by sudden reinforcements from the northeast making use of heavy cavalry in a surprise flanking manuever. The army that came to Rytaia's aid was commanded by a low-ranking noble named Jeiran dan Nava, the first cavalier lord.Chimera Pawns & Ensigns
The infantry of the legions are mainly comprised of chimeras that have contracted their lives in service to the Dominion. While there are certainly many foot soldiers that are human, these units are mainly reserved until victory is assured. First, however, after breaking up an enemy formation using the cavalry, a legion will dispatch a vanguard of chimeras to initiate a melee. As such, pawns that have survived countless battles against the empire have proven themselves to be formidable and fearless warriors. Veterans among their ranks even earn the respect of their human compatriots. Pawn units have their own command structure that's kept separated from the human structure for simple reasons of long-standing, deeply ingrained human supremacy and racism. Jeiran dan Nava first employed the use of chimeras at the Battle for Rytaia. They were the infantry that followed her cavalry wave that surprised the imperials. But before they arrived, when the fate of the Dominion was at stake, the human officers underneath her refused to be responsible for the chimeras. To compensate, she organized the pawn units underneath her directly. Jieran ordered each one to choose their most capable soldier to be a liaison representing their unit. These individual chimeras were called ensigns and reported directly to Lady Jeiran. Snubbing her human officers, she ordered that their standard bearers surrender the legion's colors to her ensigns."If you are so insistent on carrying your own pride, then I will not permit you to carry Nasir's."Today, ensigns are the personal retainers of their cavalier lords. They march at the head of their unit and carry their legion's standards. Honoring Jeiran and paying tribute to the countless chimeras that have spilled blood for the Dominion, the Crimson Legions continue to allow only pawn units to carry standards into battle. Even though systemic racism is still prevelant throughout the entirety of Nasir, it is somewhat subdued within the legions.--Jeiran dan Nava
Tactics
Jeiran dan Nava taught Nasir the benefit of using heavy cavalry in battle by stearing a massive wave of armored horses into the unsuspecting flank of Arcanaan's siege line. While the surviving pockets of imperial soldiers were still dazed, her infantry stormed in from behind. Her remarkable display left a lasting imprint on the Dominion's top military commanders and they adopted House Nava's tactics, elevating the importance of cavalry units and practically idolizing them. When citizens think of the Crimson Legions, they don't think first of the infrantry carrying tower shields and spears, but of warriors mounted on horseback, charging fearlessly into a line of imperial devils.
The Crimson Legions favor terrain with plenty of hills and natural cover to conceal the movement of their cavalry and also lock the enemy into a disadvantage if they're reliant on heavy infantry. Lighter and faster cavalry units will act as both scouts and decoys, brazenly showing themselves to the opposing forces during or before a fight, luring enemy commanders into believing that the bulk of the Dominion's cavalry are somewhere behind them. What the scouts are actually doing is planning where to have the cavalry station at the last minute. The legions can afford this by playing the defensive first, baiting the enemy into extending their vanguard and concentrating anti-cavalry troops, like pikemen, to a particular flank. The scouts will then signal their cavalier lords, who will move accordingly if there's a window of opportunity.
To ensure the decoy trick works as often as possible, multiple scouting parties will appear before the enemy at once, all in various locations. Their signal codes change by the week, making it difficult for enemy commanders to guess where the real charge will come from on the fly. Sometimes, a cavalier lord will never give the order for their horses to charge, leveraging the threat itself as its own tactic to keep the enemy on edge and constantly guessing, making mistakes all the while by not committing enough to their vanguard.
Nasir will never march first in battle, but insist that their enemy come to them. This is both due to tactics and a sense of national pride. They want to get the most of their prized cavalry by drawing the enemy out in front of their line, while simultaneously reminding observers of history that it was the Empire that attacked first, not Nasir.
Training
Citizens of Nasir can enlist to become a legionnaire once they reach adulthood, which is considered to be 11, Leo (16, Sol). Recruits can be of either gender and come from any background. During their initial training, nobles are afforded no special privileges and share meals and quarters with commoners. The only separation is between humans and chimeras.
Basic training lasts for four months. After that time, newly graduated legionnaires are selected by a legion desiring their talents, but priority picks are afforded to the three active legions. Once their ranks are filled, second priority goes to the reserves, and, at last, the inactive legions. The top 5% of a class' graduates (who are determined by a combination of classroom, fitness, combat scores) are afforded the priviledge of choosing a legion to join. All nine are open to these honors graduates (unless the legion's cavalier lord rejects them).
Once a graduate joins a legion, they are assigned to a cohort by a cavalier lord's staff officers according to need. Whether they are a cavalier or infantryman is quickly determined toward the beginning of their basic training after enlistment. Instructors can tell right away whether someone is good on a saddle or not.
As for the chimeras, they are selected by a pawn unit upon their graduation. An ensign will have a subordinate staff officer of their own review all potential candidates and pick who they want. As with regular human graduates, priority selections go to the pawn units of the active legions. Unlike the human graduates, however, there are no honors graduates among the chimeras.
