The Regiments and Militias

The Regime was built on cities, but it was always and increasingly a military power, maintained not by its higher philosophies, but by its ability to maintain, equip and mobilise a force under arms. This force was divided into two main parts: The Regiments, the standing army of the Regime as a whole, and the Civil Militias, defenders of the cities.
Initially, the Regiments were also city-based. The First Regiment was raised in Aeternis, and for many years it remained the custom for regiments to be drawn from a single city, and the number of regiments a city could raise was a part of its civic status. A large city might be known as a city of three, or even five, while smaller settlements might be a city of one. Aeternis was a city of eight. After the Rise of Akeris - a brief, but bloody civil war - the city regiments were broken down and reformed as mixed forces, named for heroes of the Regime.
Each regiment was led and organised by a cadred of veterans, and commanded by a Magistrate Marshall appointed by the High Senate. The Marshal held magisterium to recruit, train and equip their regiment as they saw fit, within a remit as either a Regiment of Defence - charged with guarding the borders of the Regime, or a Regiment of Expedience. The latter would be grouped into Armies of Campaign under the command of a Magistrate General, charged by the High Senate to fulfil a specific objective, usually seizing a specific territory and establishing a new city.
The vast majority of regimental troops were Ash or Wood Elves, although most of their commanders were high elves of ancient families. Later in the Regime's history, the auxiliary populations of contested regions began to be organised into Anciliary Regiments. These anciliaries were effectively slave-soldiers, pressed into the service of the Regime, a policy which contributed to increased resistance in the very areas they were supposed to pacify.
The militias were smaller forces, formed from civic populations to defend their home cities. With the regiments holding the borders, militia forces were a mixture of part-timers, serving forty-two days a year on wall watch, and peacekeeping officers. Some of the latter were criminal investigators, while the bulk were enforcers. While the militia guards were supposed to maintain the rule of law, their subordination to the authority of magisterial posts held by highborn typically made them upholders of the social order.
In an emergency, a city could call up all residents with past service in the regiments or the militias to serve in the city levy and defend the walls.