Military Strengths on Tales of Ta'veren

Military Structure

(The following does not apply to the Aiel, Almoth Plain, Illuminators, Mayene, Tar Valon or White Tower.)

The Wheel of Time system of government is modeled on the historical system of government known as feudalism. Governments, and in particular the military affairs of governments, do not directly parallel what we see in the modern world. The feudalistic structure works roughly as follows.

The ruler of a nation of any size larger than a city-state (like Tar Valon) cannot directly control all of the government activity of that nation, not even through advisors and staff. There are no telephones or fax machines to quickly contact up your underlings to give them orders, no mass transit to quickly move troops from one area to another.

The only successful way to run a large nation is for the ruler to share out authority. The kingdom is divided up into smaller sections. The ruler gives control of each section to a noble and his family, who swear their allegiance to the ruler. The citizens of a region swear their allegiance to their local noble. So the citizens' first loyalty is to their local noble, and then to the country as a whole. The noble administers on the local level - resolving legal disputes, collecting taxes, etc.

The military structure follows the same lines. The noble in control of a region conscripts men-at-arms from the citizens who reside there. S/he (or his/her designate, often a younger son unlikely to inherit) commands these troops and is responsible for training and arming them. The ruler will directly employ some men-at-arms, but not on the scale of a modern national army. The ruler will also have at his/her disposal the troops conscripted from any regions that s/he or his/her family directly controls.

When a large military force is needed, the ruler calls upon the nobles to bring their troops and direct them as the ruler dictates. The oaths of allegiance demand that the noble obey. But oaths can be broken, and in certain circumstances a noble may take that risk, for many reasons.

This structure of the military also limits the ruler's absolute authority. If the ruler makes decisions that enough of his nobles disagree with, they have the resources as a group to make a show of arms to try to change the ruler's mind, or even depose him. It particularly means that the ruler must have the support of his or her nobles to successfully go to war.

In Tales terms, the figures below represent the total number of men-at-arms characters employed by the government - both the federal government of the ruler and the forces directly controlled by the noble houses in that country. The figure in brackets next to the name of a nation indicates what percentage of the forces in that nation are directly controlled by the ruler. The remaining number serve under nobles who in turn (ideally, at least) serve the Crown. The higher the percentage, the more powerful the Crown is within that nature, as it has more of the resources needed to impose its will on fractious nobles.

A Chart of Military Strengths

Some of the factors taken into consideration were the following:

• Whether an area has regular conflicts or finds its neighbours threatening. For instance, Tear and Illian skirmish frequently, so they'd keep their Standing armies fairly strong. The nations around Amadicia and the Children would probably be wary and want to maintain some military presence.
• If an area is cohesive. Murandy and Altara are described as "barely nations", there would be less of a nationalist feeling prompting people to join their armies.
• The Borderlands are at a state of constant war, in a sense. Thus, their Standing armies are large for their size. That also means that more of those who can serve are already serving, so there are fewer resources for an Active army to draw on.
• Amadicia's Standing army is small relative to other equivalent nations. I assumed that a portion of the Amadician population seeking a military career chooses to join the Children rather than the national army.
• Our numbers may be slightly smaller than Jordan's, I'm not sure. Both are probably far larger than setting-appropriate. Jordan seems to use modern military ideas for the military stuff in the book. (IMHO, anyway. ;)

The function of these figures is:

• Background information for fleshing out military details in the areas.
• General RP background for members of the military and their leaders. While the exact strength of a force would only be known to its leaders, military intelligence and common sense allow other areas to have a good estimate of the strength of others' armies.
• An indicator of the general strength of the nations and groups.
• A starting point for resolving possible onscreen conflicts in the future.

Of course, army size is far from the only factor of consequence in a conflict. The Borderland armies and the Aiel have an advantage because most of their army's members are veterans, whereas the majority of those in the Andor army have probably never faced real combat. The Children are banded together by a united cause, and would probably have a significant advantage over armies from the less cohesive nations, whose soldiers lack fierce patriotic pride. There are many other factors that can affect the outcome of a conflict between two armed forces, as well.

Definitions for the chart:

Standing:

The regular size of the army kept in non-war situations, made up of career soldiers. There is often a higher ratio of officers to soldiers than in an active army. The higher ratio of officers makes it easier and quicker to move to Active status, since the hierarchy to train and command the new, untrained forces will already be available.

Active:

The general size of a war-time army, whether for offense or defense.

Maximum:

The maximum size of the army. Assumes recruitment/conscription of large numbers of able-bodied men, reconscription of veterans, etc. Last-ditch defense, like when Two Rivers fought off the Trollocs, may be higher, as women and children may also fight.

Infantry:

Unmounted forces. These are usually commoners in the WoT world, particularly in the nations south of the Borderlands. Commoners usually have poorer weapons and armour than noble forces.

Cavalry:

Mounted troops. Because of the price of horses and the prestige of the cavalry, these are usually Nobles, except in the Borderlands.

Archers:

Any troops that strike from afar are also included in this group, which is armed with bows or other missle/distance weapons. The longbow is most commonly used by Andorans. The crossbow exists in the Wheel of Time world.

Militia:

These are standby or impromptu forces drawn from the general population. These are generally poorly armed, untrained and undisciplined, and used only for defense.

Navy:

Naval forces are deemphasized throughout most of the WoT world. Mayene is the only nation with a strong navy, necessary to its defense against Tear. Other than that, the only groups with sea strength are unorganized pirates and the Sea Folk.

Elite:

Elite forces are those with exceptional abilities, training or equipment. They are often dedicated to specific or ceremonial duties. Examples would include the Panarch's Legion, the Val'Carai of the Shienarans and the Warders.

Officers:

These train and lead the troops. The lower levels are primarily in charge of training and carrying out deployment orders, while the higher levels make the tactical and strategic decisions. In some nations, only nobles are accepted into the higher levels, regardless of their ability, such as Tear and Cairhien. In other forces, anyone may work his way up the ranks if he has the skill and drive.

Support:

An organized army is made up of more than fighters. Engineers build and deploy siege engines and other equipment. Cartographers are necessary for knowledge of the land troops will fight on. Scouts and spies provide crucial information about the enemy and terrain.

Other:

Although rarely mentioned in the glorious accounts of battle, there are others associated with armies - cooks, smiths, bowyers and fletchers, other suppliers of necessary items, and people who perform mundane tasks like washing, packing, etc.

Outside of the Aiel, all active military roles are filled by men. Women can be involved in the military in the Support and Other roles, however. Historically, there have been a few occasions where women disguised themselves as men to join an army, and the same is probably possible in the Wheel of Time world.