Imperial Army

Imperial Army (also known under its old name of Legiones Imperatoria) are the regular armed forces of the Grand Empire of Karadia, although with history dating back to the times before its establishment and to the times of the Itavian Republic. It is ancient, and it has many reasons to be proud of its history.
Today it is the main reason of the continuous existence of the Grand Empire of Karadia. It is the Imperial Army that takes the brunt of the attention of the denizens of the Lost Lands. It is its legions that are fighting the most intense battles and have their soldiers give up their lives by the thousands to prolong the Empire's existence. It should be no surprise that the Army demands to be properly rewarded for all that, in both money and other benefits.
That results in a rather bumpy history of military usurpations plaguing the history of the Third Empire, resulting in a situation where its throne de facto belongs to the Imperial Army. It might have some grounding in the law (during the Second Era the emperors were considered to be commanders-in-chief of the army, at least during the times of war or martial law), however the sheer length of the period led to many disagreeing with the Army's hold on the Dragonbone Throne.
The situation has become especially problematic during the reign of the current Grand Emperor, when the Imperial Cult and the Imperial Senate gegan to be more active in their opposition.

Structure

The Imperial Army is divided between two hundred legions, each of them with a 'regular' level of about 15000 line soldiers (the exact number is typically slightly smaller, so 14000-14500). They are supported by a number of specialists from the other imperial organizations - mages and sorcerers of the Imperial Magic Guild, craftsmen and medical personnel of the Imperial Ministry of Production, and workers (labour slaves, normally) to help carrying the supplies.
Each legion is a self-contained small army, a necessity in the empire this shattered and a sensible follow-up to the Second Era' doctrine of flexible military organization and support for initiative of lower ranked officers. Each legion can be further split into its lesser constituents to maintain overwatch of the larger territory (for example a handful of small praesidial provinces), but also quickly reassembled when it becomes obvious that a larger invasion is underway.
On the other hand, when an even larger campaign becomes a thing, the higher ranked officer will be delegated from the Imperial Army headquarters to gain command over numerous legions (or simple the most senior of the legion commanding oficers being 'automatically' in charge for the joint operations). To maintain maximum combat ability during such joint operations, the legions of the same diocesis occasionally exchange a single century with two or three other legions for a year or two - it acts as an ersatz of proper over-legion combat training in a situation where major military movement is considered to be a large danger for the local security, meaning that very little large-scale training exercises can be done.
The imperial officers are also allowed to temporarily conscript citizens of the Empire into the ranks of the Imperial Army as Auxiliarries - typically this happens to adventurers and soldiers serving the local vassal governments. If situation is sufficiently critical, the Imperial Army can also call on other imperial organizations (and demand for example the Imperial Cult or the Imperial Magic Guild to hand their armed forces), however especially at the current time the results of such call can vary.

History

Twilight War

There always was an Imperial Army, regardless of its exact name and organization. It started from the combination of the itavians with the initial wave of barbarian settlers and menorian advisors. Since then, the organization, equipment and training of it slowly evolved, achieving its peak during the Second Era. At that point, the Army was composed entirely of Warforged - meaning that the Empire was defended by slightly more than twenty million superhumans, capable of tearing through entire squads of normal soldiers with their barehands.
The Empire never fully integrated the Warforged with the Network, instead keeping their interface at the minimum and even then had them stay connected to the Military Subnetwork. The were multiple reasons for that, including the possibility of having them operate outside of the Network range (such as in different countries or even in the Spiritual Worlds).
Eventually, it was this decision that saved the Grand Empire. When the Twilight War started, the imperial armed forces were merely decimated rather than outright annihilated. It was the remaining Warforged regiments and divisions that did their best to slow down the Hexmachina march through the ruins of the Empire, while desperately shepherding survivors into safety.
It wasn't enough to win, but it was enough to survive. When the Chosen Ones managed to slay the Hexmachina, the clouds parted for a while. At least until the issue of the Hierarchs became apparent. The Imperial Army continued its mission of defending the survivors, now woefully prolonged.

Third Era

Eventually, the Army simply run out of the Warforged to keep the entire army formed of them. More and more regular humans (and others) were recruited. That wasn't the most important change, however. The one truly important was that the Imperial Army's political importance has swiftly eclipsed that of whatever remained from the civilian government.
The Second Empire considered separation of civilian and military leadership a crucial cultural and societal element - and it survived it for a few decades. There was a martial law, but the remnants of the civilian government did their job in cooperation with the Imperial Army. Eventually, however, this clear division has died out. The Army eclipsed everything, with martial law becoming de facto permanent.
It doesn't mean that the Imperial Army decided to rule the Empire like its personal estate. However after the few decades long transition period (when it became apparent that the situation is going to stay like that for good), the civilian government had to be recreated, although it was still inferior to the Army. The highest positions of both sides de facto merged, with the Imperial Army's highest command either taking the Dragonborn Throne or putting their puppets on it.
This lasted until the relatively recent time, when the growth in power of the potential opponents (such as the Imperial Cult and the Imperial Senate) has began to threaten the Army's position. It was even more exacerbated when the Lucius Aurelius Sylvanus son of the former puppet Emperor managed to organize a countercoup (with Senate and Cult's help) and deposed the Army-backed usurper.
The result, among other things, was a decimation of every single Imperial Army legion that had any degree of participation in Lucius' father deposition and execution. This, together with replacement of majority of higher ranked officers, has essentially pacified the Imperial Army and managed to reign it in... at least, for now.

Demography and Population

Imperial Army recruits primarily from one stock - the human population of rural Itavia. At least fifty percent of every legion has to be coming from such an origin, which is non-negotiable. This is supposed to offer a core of loyal and actually patriotic soldiers and officers, at least partially due to the (however small) risk of secession.
The remaining 50% are either even more rural baseline humans of Itavia, or 'others'. Here there is a grading system, although in recruitment rather than treatment of recruits. First are non-baseline humans from Itavia, and then everyone else. The official reason for this is the logistics and medicine - uniformed membership means less problems with tailoring proper diets, training and equipment for them.
Unofficial reason is that the Grand Empire doesn't want to risk giving too much power to elves, drakons and goblins - they are citizens loyal enough, but especially some of the elven vassals are known to still be occasionally displeased with the imperial overlordship. Part of it is also the fact that the heart of the Empire lies in Itavia, which also tends to be among the stablest members of the Grand Empire, which happens to include the largest (and most stable) populations surpluses.
However, once someone was recruited into the Imperial Army, the situation changes. Army is a brotherhood - the species in question no longer matters, only their loyalty to the banner. There are even cases of non-human domini militum.

Territories

The accomodation of soldiers and arsenals of the Imperial Army are centralized in numerous praesidiums scattered through the Empire. They are typically created with either a cohort or an entire legion in mind, with some extremely rare fortresses dedicated for simultaneous garrisoning of multiple legions (these happens only at some truly critical junctures). They are built through an usage of Second Era knowledge on hyperresistant materials and structural engineering, which together with techmaturgic artillery on the walls renders them nearly unassailable unless the enemy is truly overwhelming in numbers or power.
The praesidiums also act as crucial logistical hubs - in a larger provinces there is one placed in an intersection of crucial supply lines per every 2-3 build to secure the borders of the provinces, while in the smaller ones the supply typically takes predecences. It is also quite common for a single legion-sized praesidium to be placed as logistical hub while several cohort-sized are used to secure the border, with only a single legion stationed in the province - when the border gets overwhelmed, the garrison can pull back to the central supply hub and defend it with its full force while awaiting reinforcements from outside of the province.

Military

Military Ranks

Miles

Standard grunts, regular soldiers of imperial legions. There are three subranks of the milites, denoting the seniority, experience and prestige of their bearers (a common theme throughout the Imperial Army ranks.
Miles Tertius is either a recruit of the Legiones Imperatoria who is still going through his military training, or a conscripted soldier/adventurer/else of the Auxilia accompanying the legion, with an exception of certain individuals (higher Circle mages, master-level craftsmen etc.) who are instead temporarily given the officer rank of an optio. Both cases are done mostly for the sake of normalizing and calculating the pay (and the funerary arrangement in case of death).
Miles Secundus are regular soldiers who went through proper training and joined the legions. They are competent, they can be dangerous, and are properly equipped as the Grand Empire's rather charitable when it comes to this (the unrestricted access to some autofactories producing said equipment greatly helps). The most common rank throughout the Imperial Army, naturally.
Miles Primus is official rank for soldier considered to be elites. They are veterans, specialists accompanying the Legion permanently (so, for example the medical help, or regular members of legions considered 'special' (so for example the pretorians).

Optio

Optios are technically not a part of the standard linear rank ladder, and instead something existing a bit of an outside. They are either officer cadets before receiving a 'proper' rank (and thus existing beneath the level of theoretical NCO's, the draconariuses), or more qualified and higher ranked non-combatant permanent attachments to a legion as a whole - for example if there is a field hospital (it almost always is), the orderlies will be milites primi, while the regular practitioners will be optios.
Significant part of optios are former Draconariuses Secundus and Tertius who are about to receive a rank-up to Draconarius Primus [this depends a lot on Primus dying or retiring] or even a military tribune rank. Optios do not command forces without Draconarius Primus' oversee, but they are training hard how to do it. The trainee-optios military training typically is both this and some intensive theoretical study on wars, requiring them to go through accelerated equivalent of officer's training. If they prove capable, they can technically rise higher.
Despite many nobles after proper military academias getting straight into military tribune rank after finishing the optio training, there are cases of field promotion optios' raising high, with four magisters militum primus to date being former draconariuses.

Draconarius

Draconariuses are an equivalent of lower-to-mid rank officers and NCOs. They are - according to many - a backbone of the Legiones Imperatoria. A solid corps of veteran officers and NCOs that keep soldiers well drilled, trained and disciplined... while also possessing certain degree of intiative on the battlefield, and occasionally ending up with temporary independent command.
Draconarius Tertius is a leader of contubernium, composed of around ten soldiers. They are the 'true' NCOs, who have the least to do with being what junior oficers are on Earth. They are still veterans, who should not be underestimated and are expected to show some degree of initiative on the battlefield (so for example reposition to a bit different place when their position is too exposed and so on).
Draconarius Secundus is a leader of a century, typically composed of around one hundred soldiers. They are yet to receive an optio training, which means that they are technically older NCOs rather than proper officers. Still, veterans who spend close to a decade in the military. Especially when a single cohort operates somewhere on their own, they can end up being tasked with independent command (like holding the praesidium when the rest is gone from it, doing reconaissance etc.).
Draconarius Primus is what once military tribunes were, a leader of a cohort of around five hundred soldiers. They are typically experienced veterans, who also went through optio training [mentioned earlier] meaning that they tend to be skilled in both practice and theory of military combat. As leaders of a cohort they are often operating independently, and occasionally can end up being the most senior Imperial Army representative in a praesidial province (where the etiquette and diplomacy skills aren't particularly important).

Tribunus Militum

Tribunus Militum is a rank for mid-level officers, typically being lower-level staff officers of the Dominus Primus [thus learning the craft of commanding many people by observing him]. Tribunes can also be officers in charge of specific auxilia units attached to a Legion. Plus this is also a rank for non-combatant officers, such as heads of military hospital accompanying a legion. As a whole, this isn't a rank typically visible on the battlefield as commanders of anything, yet it's still an officer rank.
Due to that status, they are directly under oversee of the local dominus, yet they can't really order draconariuses around. On the other hand, many of them [at least the lower-level staff officers] are former people of that rank who turned out competent enough to start training for lower domitorial ranks.

Dominus

Domini are a combination of 'colonel' and 'general' ranks, that has essentially replaced legates of old. Domini are where the independent command 'truly' starts. They are numbered in a few tens of thousands throughout the Grand Empire, each of them typically also an important political player at least in his or [rarely] her region. Even if not the main players, like their direct superiors.
Dominus Tertius is a rank typically held by officers who are allowed to command various permanent outposts and fortresses that are seen as bot himportant and/or troublesome enough to warrant an officer of such rank (often to intimidate the locals with the title). They tend to be akin to a permanent commandant of such places, commanding whatever lesser-than-a-legion forces are send there and maintaining stability of command and its accompanying politics.
Dominus Secundus with typically three of them per legion. When the battle rages, two of them are tasked with commanding the flanks, while the third one will either command reserves or accompany the dominus primus to replace him if he somehow gets killed. When the legion marches, one dominus secundus will command the rearguard, one the frontguard, and one the main forces. They also are to advise the Dominus Primus, while acting as his collective chief of staff.
Dominus Primus is a descendant of the 1st Era legates. They are the sole, undisputed commanders of a single imperial legion, who are - by definition - tasked with operating independently and suppressing the threats that the troops of the local government cannot measure up to - in short, they are allowed a free reign for as long as something requiring a major mobilization of the imperial forces doesn't show up on the horizon.

Dominus Militum

The rank - name means something akin to 'lord of armies' - is the highest achievable rank in the imperial army. Only a handful of people in the Grand Empire can boast such a rank, their number rarely reaching twenty [save for those currently retired, most of whom can still be recalled back into service if there is a crisis or their expertise is needed]. They oversee the joint defenses of an imperial diocesis, act as permanent commanders on the 'burning' borders, and it's them that act as commanding officers of a task force containing several legions.
Dominus Militum Tertius are the most common subrank, tasked with the last of the jobs mentioned above. When multiple legions are organized for a singular operation, a single Magister Militum Tertium is send to command the operation. It is quite common for them to be field promoted, picked by the higher ranked dominus militum from the domini primi in charge of the legions supposed to participate in the campaign and receiving such a promotion (with how long they keep it depending on the results of the operation).
Dominus Militum Secundus are way less numerous, with less than ten of them at any given time. Two of them are the so-called domini militum presentalis, commanding the imperial 'strategic reserves' stationed in Itavia and tasked with responding to any major crisis among the provinces [due to the close distance to the imperial capital there are two armies with two commanders]. 4-5 domini militum secundus are assigned as a permanent frontline commanders of imperial forces stationed near 'burning borders', such as Niflheim, Nikopol or Telya.
Dominus Militum Primus act as commander-in-chief of Legiones Imperatoria as a whole - although they were seen as 'deputies' of the Grand Emperors the true commander-in-chiefs of the Imperial Army. In the recent past this rank signified a designated imperial heir (with the Grand Emperors being almost uniformly former domini militum), with some cases of the Dominus Militum Primus treating the ruling Grand Emperor as a puppet. Currently there are two Dominus Militum Primus who, for a change, are loyal to the ruling (and non-soldier) Grand Emperor. Although for how long, the time will tell.

Special Military Formations

Pretorian Legions

Pretorian Legions are special military unit composed of the Warforged - humans changed into supersoldiers through a complex set of alchemical and surgical alterations. During the Second Era the entire Imperial Army was composed of the Warforged, however the diminished imperial technological base means that in the post-Twilight War empire maintaining two legions of the Pretorians (named due to them acting as the Grand Emperor's honour guard during the wars) is all that's possible.
Every Pretorian is truly a supersoldier. They are way stronger, faster and more resilient than normal human soldiers, with a single pretorian legion considered an equivalent of approximately five regular legions. In fact aside from truly massive crises, they typically will not be deployed as a legion-size unit. As a result, approximately half of every pretorian legion tends to be scattered into smaller units (from contubernium to cohort) busy supporting the Imperial Army deployments.
The pretorian legions are numbered 1st and 2nd in the general list of legions. Both are equally dangerous and, in fact, tend to be in a bit of rivalry with each other (that the Grand Emperors tend to support, since the risk of both pretorian legions turning against the Dragonborn Throne is probably enough to turn the rulers of the empire into paranoiacs.

Legiones Mechanica

Numbered 3rd to 10th, the Legiones Mechanica are a dedicated engineering, siege and assault legions which maintain majority of the remaining Second Era machinery park. They include numerous techmaturgists (borrowed from the Imperial Ministry of Production on permanent contracts) and even more numerous machines - from combat robots (sometimes rather tall) through what is de facto a tank and to advanced siege artillery and transport units.
At the beginning of the Third Era the Legiones Mechanica had unrestricted access to everything remained of the Second Era combat machines. However, having to wage war against the denizens of the Lost Lands has gradually thinned the supply. To a degree, those were replaced with inferior versions of machines provided by the Imperial Ministry of Production. There are still very few of the old ones left, but they are deployed only in the most dramatic of circumstances.

Type: Faction.
Allegiance: Grand Empire of Karadia
Imperial Council: Yes.
Organization Ranks:
Miles - Regular soldiers.
Draconarius - NCO's and younger officers.
Dominus - Higher officers and younger generals.
Dominus Militum - Higher generals and marshals.

Combat Strength
Soldiers - Est. 2 850 000.
Pretorians - Est. 30 000.
Auxiliaries - Varied.
Combat Machines - Number Confidential.