The Military. (Third Draft)
The local military is based off of the original military unit that was brought here during the town’s infancy. Known as Mor’s Legion, based on the size of the original force, the present size of the standing army actually varies, normally numbering between 100 to 200 trained soldiers and 2000 or so member’s of the civil militia which can be called up from the general population when there is great need. The military is broken down into four categories, the Castilian’s elite guard, The City Guard, the City Watch and the Outland Rangers. The Guard and the Watch are under a single commander (presently Sebastiano Palmora) but the Elite Guard reports to the Castilian personally. The Rangers report to the head Ranger who sits on the Council of Wardens.
The Elite Guard
The elite guard is a small handpicked unit whose sole purpose is to protect Lady Kelvin. They report directly to the Castilian Stangus and are made up of the best soldiers the city has to offer. The elite are seen as ceremonial by many of the citizens but they are well disciplined and well led and are entirely devoted to Lady Kelvin, they are trained to attack and kill without thought to their own person and will react instantly to any order given by Lady Kelvin or Castilian Stangus. There is a rumored special group within the elite that act as Lady Kelvin’s secret police and assassins when need be but this rumor is unsubstantiated, and if it does exist most of the elite themselves are not aware of it.
The present strength of the Elite Guard is 17 soldiers for Lady Kelvin's elite guard. The work rotation breakdown is 4 squads of 4 (three guards for Lady Kelvin and one guard for Castilian Stangus) working 8-hour shifts with one squad getting a day off for every three days of work. Pay is doubled to 2 silver a day and their work schedule is lighter than the rest of the standing army, but they are expected to always be prepared for action, even on their days off.
The City Guard
The City Guard is the force that mans the city walls and is responsible for traffic in and out of the city gates. They are the rank and file of the army, composed mostly of infantry.
City Guard numbers 60 troops, they man all city gates and watchtowers and regularly patrol the city wall. The City guard is split into two 30-soldier groups, the day guard and the night guard, they work 12-hour shifts and get random one-day vacations for every 6 days spent on the wall. They are paid the standard 1 silver a day rate.
The City Guard is supplemented by 40 dwarven warriors from Kul-Moren who help to man the city walls.
The City Watch
The city watch is the group that is in charge of patrolling the city proper and keeping peace. The nicer the section of town the more likely a watch patrol is around. The city watch is not responsible for solving crimes; they are only responsible for keeping the peace and stopping crimes they witness. There is great animosity by the city watch towards the use of clay golems to patrol the city. They view this as an unneeded and extravagant expense and view the noble families who are responsible for these patrols as out of date throwbacks who swagger about trying to look important. They feel they are the ones doing the true work and the golems are only for show. Even when one of the golems is useful or effective you will not hear any praise from the men of the city watch. There is also friendly rivalry between the city watch and the city guard, as both try to out shine the other, both sides keep track of how many of each have been raised to the elite guard and elite guardsmen never forget from which branch they were raised.
The current city watch numbers 60 troops broken up into 12 groups of 5 working 8 hour shifts. They make the standard 1 silver a day.
The Outland Rangers
The Rangers are a small independent group that roams the area outside the city keeping order and watching for silk fish poachers along the lake and keeping the caravan routes bandit free. The rangers no longer have enough personnel to patrol the whole lake properly and instead use stealth and surprise to keep silk fish poachers fearful and off balance. Outside the wall the Rangers are also considered extensions of the town law and act as judges settling local disputes, their judgments are considered law in the countryside. Rangers are handpicked and swear an oath to always judge fairly according to the law. A Ranger found breaking this oath or handing down any false judgments is summarily executed as a traitor to Mor’s End.
As of yet there is no set number as to how many Rangers there are but it is known that there is never enough and the numbers have dwindled over the years. Rangers pay rates are given out according to their personal skill and talent. The Head Ranger sits on the Council of Wardens and his official domain is "the law outside the wall".
Total number of soldiers is 140 (+40 dwarves from Kul-Moren) and a dozen or so rangers.
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Originally posted by Conaill
Just to annoy jdavis , here's the corrected stats on guards for the average city of 10,200, based on the MMS tables (I had to correct for the number of adults in the population):
Guards (private): 140
Guards (city, governmental): 70
Mercenaries: 70
I agree that we probably should have more than that, but three times more seems a little much, especially if we are going to have a roaming force outside the walls as well.
50 personal guards for Lady Kelvin: what, she need her own personal army now? How many personal guards does the leader of a small city need anyway? I would say 2 dedicated guards would have to be with her at all times. Let's say 3 shifts of 8 hours. The more personal guards we give her, the more chance of sneaking in a spy or assasin among them! The number of personal guards must be small enough for Lady Kelvin to develop a personal rapport and trust with them. I would say 10 at most.
The actual citadel where Lady Kelvin resides (I'm assuming she'll be on the reinforced island in the middle of the river?) should probably be manned by the regular city guard.
Mor's End has 4 city gates right now. Let's say each has 4 guards on duty at all times (plus at least one clerk at each gate as well). Another 4-5 guards to patrol the city wall (at night there would be fewer men at the gates, and more patrolling the wall) and 10 guards for the Citadel. Add a few extras "on call" at the citadel or temporarily unavailable (training, sick, etc). Two shifts, that makes 80 city guards. That sounds fine.
No need for 3 shifts at the gates or citadel, because they're stationary: at any one time they can have one man taking a nap, eating, etc. The City watch patrolling the streets probably does need three watches. Let's stick with your 20 guards per watch, for a total of 60. That includes the occasional off-duty time for training, sick leave etc. (IIRC, days off are a relatively modern invention!)
Total:
10 Elite Guard for Lady Kelvin
80 City Guard for the gates, wall and citadel
60 City Watch
The number of Outland Rangers would probably be kept well below the City Guard. Perhaps no more than 40.
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), I was putting more emphasis on keeping people out than keeping them safe once in.
