Originally posted by Hellcow:
Frankly, I completely ignore Forge of War on this matter. It doesn't fit my image of Thrane during the war at all.
The Church of the Silver Flame isn't a nation of insane fanatics. Among other things, the larger portion of SF zealots is actually in Aundair. The CotSF teaches people to be prepared to fight the evil that DOES exist in the world. At any time, aberrations COULD burst out of Khyber. The Silver Crusade against the lycanthropes is an example of the fact that Thrane and the church COULD assemble a militant force capable of mounting a foreign campaign on short notice.
In any case, in the early design of the world, my concept of the strengths of each nation in the Last War were as follows:
Aundair. Small population, kept afloat by its strong edge in arcane magic.
Breland. Edge in population, industry, and espionage. Overall military discipline inferior to many other nations, but forces include a number of highly charismatic and clever commanders willing to take personal initiative. So trouble with Karrnath overall, but often wins battles against all odds or by cheating (with assassins and spies).
Cyre. Relies heavily on mercenary forces to make up for a lack of combat strength. Reasonable magical support, in part due to heavy purchasing from House Cannith.
Karrnath. Best military discipline; excellent heavy infantry; decent arcane support; necromancy as a tool.
Thrane. Excellent peasant militia; morale; archery; divine magic. Small but capable force in the Knights of Thrane. The key here is that Thrane's peasant population includes a high percentage of trained archers and the faith teaches people to be ready to fight. It lacks the full military strategy/discipline you get from a Karrnathi force, but they have access to vast numbers of peasant archers with high morale due to their shared faith. So yes, I have always seen Thrane vs Karrnath as an Agincourt situation: Karrnath has superior heavy armor, Thrane has the best archers in the land.
Overall, I think Thrane's depiction in Forge of War misses a lot of what the Silver Flame is about, and IIRC James Wyatt agrees with me.
But as always, it's up to you to decide what your Eberron looks like...
Originally posted by Hellcow:
The Silver Flame preaches that each should oppose evil to the best of their capability and profession. The Church does not expact simple farmers to be able to use weapons and take up physical arms against evil.
Yes and no. The church doesn't EXPECT it, but as it acknowledges the dangers out there, it's good to be prepared if you can.
Looking to this Dragonshard, it's said "Priests also encourage archery as a form of meditation, and in many communities the faithful can come to train at the local church of the Flame. This can result in an unusually high number of 1st-level warriors or commoners with Martial Weapon Proficiency (longbow) in areas devoted to the Flame."
Originally posted by Hellcow:
As a side note, to the degree that I accept FoW's Thranish mobs, I agree with Madfox11 that it was an unplanned side effect that was largely due to an influx of immigrants. The CotSF is spread across Khorvaire. When Thrane became a theocracy, the faithful of other nations had to choose whether to remain loyal to their country or to Thrane. IMO, many stood their ground on the premise that the temporal Last War had nothing to do with the mission of the church; many of the foreign faithful maintain that the theocracy distracts the church from its mission and encourages corruption due to the lure of political power. However, you would have had an influx of those who were drawn by the appeal of a new Kingdom of the Flame... and these would be people coming from all nations and backgrounds, not necessarily sharing the traditions of the Thranish faithful. So the THRANES might have an established tradition of archery and peasant militia easily directed by village priests... but the mob of a hundred Brelish drawn by the vision might be a rabble with no particular connection to the local commanders.