Proposed Dustariian Military Reform
 

This is of course by no means the new system, and most likely never will be. I would have preferred to have Kamuii review this and give his own input before posting this here, but I have been unable to get in touch with him in recent days, and I would appreciate Dustariian feedback as well anyway. This is an extremely brief overview of something that would be greatly revised and fleshed out if it were ever accepted as a viable alternative to the house system.

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I propose a total reform of the Dustari military system, the undeniably flawed family system to be replaced by a heavily revised version of the former rank system. This new system will unite all the military under the full command of one rank, tentatively title High Commander. All infantry will be divided into platoons, and the rights of all soldiers are to be more clearly defined than ever before. Such a system would would undoubtedly strength our military branch, and should be seriously considered.

The High Commander is given absolute control over all his troops, answering only to the king himself. He will have the right to stage offensive campaigns without the prior consent of the king or any government leader, and should therefore be a person of admirable character and great trustworthiness. However, always subordinate to the King, he is under no circumstances allowed to lawfully disobey any command given to him by the monarch, regardless of its nature. He may at any time assume control over any commander’s platoon, or the entire army if he should see fit. Both land and naval forces answer to him. He is to be appointed and dismissed only by the King himself.

The rank of Commander is considerably less powerful than that of the High Commander, though his rights still outstrips that of any normal soldier. Commanders are given the right to order their soldiers in defense of Dustariian territories without orders from the King of High Commander, but in no circumstances are to ever lead soldiers to attack another kingdom without express orders from the High Commander or King. Commanders control only soldiers assigned to them by the High Commander during offensive operations, but may order any soldiers to defend Dustariian lands. The Navy’s Admiral is considered a Commander.

All the ranks below Commander, including Squire, Knight, Swordsman, and Champion, and all Naval ranks are of higher positions in title only. They are under no circumstances to attack any other kingdoms unless they are first attacked unless ordered by the High Commander, or a Commander that has been given the order to lead his men to battle. If Dustariian lands are attacked in the absence of any Commanders, they may take the initiative and defend Dustariian interests, but may do no more than request assistance from other members of the military.

Promotion will no longer be handled by house leaders, but the High Commander. He should promote members based on roleplaying abilities displayed in game, and IC achievements.

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The rank of the High Commander, was of course devised with Henry in mind, which may explain the great power such a rank would hold. I can think of no other kingdom member who could hold such a position without abusing his powers, nor can I think of any one person whom all the kingdom would follow without reservation. I am sure none would disagree.

why don't you all decend into anarchy ^.^

COMMUNISM!

But I do it all the time :(

Actually, the house system as it is IS in total chaos, and it's not working out yet, I think it's only very effective in 2k2, where we have larger lands and we can split it up into provinces. Perhaps the house system should be more territorial than members. Each family gets a peice of land to govern, and people live on that land and serve when necessary. But the military does need some sort of reform.. if only I could get in touch with Kamuii sometime...

Hmmmm...Sounds like a Dictatorship...

Forgive me if I sound stupid. I'm half asleep.

We have a council. The king is the head, of course. Each member is the head of a certain branch, such as religion. Anyways, the council will keep each other in balance. The King elects members and the council approves them. This is very much like the house system, but instead you won't be joining a houes you will be joining the military or whatever. They can discuss issues and resolve certain matters and so on. This is just a sketch of an idea that I had at 1 o' clock in the morning...lol.

Oh and the council/King will have to work out the ranks for each branch...

The High Commander has no authority over any other Dustariian branch, and is still controlled by the king, who may override any and all of the High Commander's decisions.

The house system, to be frank, was a terribly flawed idea, and I doubt that it will work even on 2k2. I like the idea of having each family govern a plot of land, but having them devise their own ranks and make their own promotions is incredibly stupid, for obvious reasons. Furthermore, it's done nothing but create stupid popularity contests, bickering and bitterness between house leaders.

This new system would settle rank disputes once and for all, and would strengthen the army like it never has been before.

Step 1 of reform

There are now two Paladins in the military, and depending on the further size of the military, there will be more. They are the elite of the infantry, and will carry out orders of the Commanders on the field. They are capable of making decisions within battle

This gives the Commanders more of a bureaucratic role. They can still go out and fight, but they may just dictate the primary objectives of a battle and the Paladins and soldiers must carry it out.

There is one Elder for the Knights and the Swordsmen. They will be speending their time training the Squires and Soldiers (spending a lot of the time in the Antora fort)

More still to come, but it's a step.

GO TO ANARCHY, NOW!

Your supposed reform is extremely frustrating, in part because of its vagueness, and in part because of its lack of reform. Paladins and soldiers carry out a commander's orders? If I may ask, what were they doing before? How does a Paladin relate to the commander; what does it mean that they are "able to make decisions in battle?" Do Paladins give orders to soldiers? The information given is totally insufficient.

I'm good that there is finally a rank in charge of training the army, but the Paladin rank was completely unnecessary. Creating a new rank structure, taking the promotion rights away from house leaders, defining the rights of each rank in detail (IC and OOC) --- this is what needs doing, before anything else.

haha I had the 1337 post on this forum, but then you posted so I had to delete mine to get a record of teh 1337ness.

Okay, here we go.

Soldiers and Squires are obviously entry level positions in the military. They take orders from everyone else above them. They train, they fight, whatever they can do.

After someone has mastered the rank or Soldier or Squire, they move up onto the next level, whic is Knight or Swordsman. A squire can only go to Knight, a Soldier can only go to Swordsman. The Knights and Swordsman are simply just a higher level of military prestige than Soldier or Squire, they really have the same roles.

Next comes the Paladins. The Paladins are the elite of the military. They are only a small group, but they are someone the rest of the military (with the exception of commanders) look up to. There is also ONE elder knight and swordsman, who spend most of their time training the rest of the military.

A Paladin's role in relation to a Commander is this. Suppose a Commander says "go capture location x". These are the basic objectives that the military must carry out. A Paladin would go on the battlefield with the men and say "Okay, I have to capture location x, but how?" If he sees two men running away he can say "kill those two men", if he sees a path, left or right he says "Let's go right" and people follow him.

In conclusion, the Commander makes the one big decision, and the Paladins and others must obey him. But the Paladin during battle makes those small independent decisions

Excuse for me asking, but what is the point? Of having these paladins, I mean. All they seem to be doing is acting as commanders anyway. Shouldn't the commanders be perfectly capable of making the decisions in battle for themselves? The paladins are doing absolutely nothing that any commander would not be expected to do themselves. This will just create long delays during battle, and unnecessary misunderstandings. With all due respect, if you're going to reform the military, shouldn't you be making it more efficient, instead of less?

So true Aestus, us commanders do nothing! We work our way up the ranks, then just sit here letting everyone else do the work (ok ok, all i had to do was give up my guild, but oh well) my idea:

Commanders come on the battlefield with everyone else. The follow at the end of the army with a messenger. When a commander has an a command, he tells it to the messenger, who then carries it up to the paladin, in the very front. And likewise, if there is a problem up front (i.e. dead-end paths) the paladin would report back to the commander, who would then decide where to head off next.


Hows dat?

Organizing the military was one of the last things on my mind. I can't organize everything. Why don't you suggest the role of a paladin

I don't care about my own rank; none of my posts had anything to do with that. Besides, I didn't really work my way up; I kind of skipped a few ranks.

My real concern was that this new system is worse than before. There's no need to have these Paladins because they're doing the job the commanders should be doing in the first place. Splitting one job into two ranks is pointless and will only complicate things in battle. To command an army, I need to be in the field, making the decisions for myself, on the spot. Having to relay messages to a rank invented for no clear reason to begin with is utterly ridiculous.

Nobody asked you to. You want my real opinion, the Paladin rank can be axed. There's no point to it, and they've never really done anything in any of the rank structures I've ever seen put into use.

ZURKISM!

Step 2 of reform
Briefly recapping the reform, a person enters Dustari as either a Squire (for Knight training) or a Soldier (for Swordsman training). So obviously, a Squire goes to Knight and a Soldier goes to Swordsman. However, there is a more elite group at the top called Paladins. A Swordsman or Knight can become a Paladin only through intense training. There is also an Elder Knight and Swordsman who trains all these men. Commanders still command the armies.

Now there are 2 Royal Guards. The Royal Guards protect the King, Queen, Prince, Princess (obviously) and when they do not need it, then they can protect nobles such as Dukes and Lords. They are not part of the basic military chain. There are also going to be 4 Royal Knights who are part of the royal families squad of elite fighters. They take orders right from the royal family.

Yes, I know that this Royal thing is not simplified, but it also has certain advantages I'd like implemented. Any comments before we make the next step of reform?

Please do tell us the next step.

Yes. See first post.