Runswick Marksmen

Somewhere between 50 and 100 years into the second Glaenian war, Acror began supplying Osha with various types of soldiers - more often than not, they were mages. The more powerful of these mages are said to be from Runswick, and were supplied with weapons and runes that were manufactured in Runswick. These soldiers became known as Runswick marksmen, and their ability to attack units from thousands of feet away via the use of traps and other mysterious magical items dominated battlefields.
While this training and technology could have won the second Glaenian war within weeks, poor strategy and poorer activism on behalf of the king at the time led to the marksmen mainly just being stationed in Delorfair Heights, with the task of defending Goldcrest. While this had thwarted at least one invasion of Goldcrest from Glaenian forces, many of the marksmen abandoned their stations, as Osha had not given them any orders in weeks, which bled into months, and then years. For those who did not abandon their stations, it would be a grueling 8 years in the mountains before they received any kind of supplies, or even an update from Osha or Acror. When a messenger finally arrived, all but 6 of the 271 marksmen sent by Acror had fled or died a cold death in the mountains. Those who were alive and found were charged with treason and executed anyway. To this day, it's still unknown how many were buried by ice and snow, and how many fled their duties.
The 6 marksmen who came back to Goldcrest alive were brought to Goldcrest and designated to be guards of the king, and were stationed on rooftops and in buildings near wherever the king planned on going. They were paid very well, and given large amounts of land, goods, and gold. Despite this, there was contention among them. Some thought the war was already lost under the king's faulty rule, and that they were sure to die if they kept following orders, others thought it was good pay for a job where they never had to actually kill anyone. On Ununan 28th, 3 members died under mysterious circumstances, and the other 3 vanished. After this, Acror stopped training Runswick Marksmen out of fear of being overthrown by them.

Composition

Manpower

It would take only 8 or 9 marksmen to successfully protect a city from an army of a thousand, or even more, given the right environmental conditions and preparation. On flat terrain and no notice, a full formation of marksmen would be around 150 people.

Tactics

The marksmen almost never even come in direct contact with opposing forces.
Defensive formation: Were an invasion imminent, the marksmen would set up traps to slow and potentially injure invaders, and set up magical items with similar effects to clairvoyance. During the invasion, they would use their expert training in various offensive spells unavailable to regular casters to deal large amounts of damage from thousands of feet away. There were typically survivors, but never enough to retain enough power to actually invade any cities.
Offensive formation: While the snipers have never actually been used for offense, theoretically, when invading a city, they would be positioned far outside the gates of the city. Their jobs would be to cover the front lines from afar, sniping down the defending ranged units.

Training

Prerequisites: Level 5+ Wizard 100+ hours of expert training Spell Sniper feat

Type

Special Forces

Overall training Level

Elite

Assumed Veterancy

Decorated/Honored

Used by

• Acror
• Ozha