Militia

“The City Guards? Bah! They are only good for gate duties and nothing more!” ~ Tono Junia, a merchant from Paxia answering a question of how good the City Guards are.

The Militia

The Imperial Army and Navy of the Aelyria Empire only answer to the Emperor and thus the needs of provinces, towns, cities and villages are sometimes not met. Hence, the creation of the militia. Each militia differs from each other in some aspects due to the particular needs of different towns, cities and provinces.

Militia are considered part of the military and a definition of militia here will be appropriate. Militia can be volunteers who are conscripted for a number of reasons. One of reasons is an emergency that threatens a city or town. Another is there is need for an armed force that the Imperial Forces could not provide. Many would assume that the militia is more of a part-time force and this may be true in some cases as the local government could not afford full-time soldiers, but more often than not, the militia consists of full-time soldiers. Militia respond to the commands of the local government rather than that of the Imperial Army or Navy, though in theory militia can fall under the control of the Provincial Imperial Commander. But one must remember that the local government is closer to them as the militia are funded by the local government and appointed by the local government, and not by the Imperial Central Government.

Provincial Militia

ARTICLE 95
Provincial Militia

Though the Armed Forces of the Aelyrian Empire shall maintain a presence throughout all provinces, the Governor shall be empowered to create a provincial militia, conscripting and impressing from among the inhabitants and residents of the province over which he rules a suitable force, for the purposes of carrying out his duties and the duties of his officers in the province, through the mandate of Civitate.

Each province typically uses its own money that it accrued from its own taxes (see "Taxation in the Aelyrian Empire", Compendium: Economics Reader), in raising a provincial militia. Provincial Militia usually consists of only light infantrymen and maybe light cavalry, who are more well equipped than the local Constabulary. For those that can afford it, perhaps heavy infantry and heavy cavalry can be raised like that of the Sultanate of Arakmat and the United Arium Directorate. The number of militiamen in a single militia is usually around 6,000 to 8,000, though there have been records of the Sultanate of Arakmat having up to 10,000 militiamen.

The provincial militia is dispatched to enforce the will of the provincial government and in settling domestic affairs. Each provincial militia is commanded by a General or a rank equivalent to General (sometimes called the Provincial General), and may be subdivided into smaller units according to the needs of the province - it operates as a single task force or as many subunits commanded by a master unit, and may have its own internal hierarchy. For example, during the rule of Emperor Constantine, in Carmelyn, the Church of the Faith often lent the use of its feared Prelatine Guard to serve as a provincial militia.

City Militia

ARTICLE 105
Constable

The Lord Thane shall appoint a Constable, who shall in turn be responsible for maintaining order within the city in close coordination with the Prefect. The Constable may appoint deputies from among the local population in order to facilitate the tasks charged to him under the applicable mandate, and shall defer to the Lord Thane, who may dismiss and relieve him as he sees fit.

A Constable, who is appointed by the Thane or the equivalent, usually heads a militia of several hundred troops (though it could be several thousands in very large cities like Primus Gaudeo) called a Constabulary. A Constabulary exists to maintain law and order, and to enforce the judicial rulings of the Prefecture, working closely with the Prefect. It also provides light defense, and usually consists of spearsmen and swordsmen of moderate skills. In some cities, a Constable may not be found but a person can be found heading a militia of similar function as a Constabulary and performing a similar job to that of a Constable.

If a city is particularly large, it will create a separate defending force, and to make a distinction between law enforcement and defense. Often when assessing the ability of a city to defend itself, the presence of the city militia is ignored and only the Imperial Troops is considered. Some think that the Imperial Troops will be the only armed force defending a city and without the Imperial Troops, a city will be defenseless. Such assessment greatly underestimates the ability of a city to defend itself.

To give an example, in Mystique, it is appropriate that there are probably around 7,000 Imperial Troops stationed in a semi-permanent garrison within the city, given its proximity to the border. However, these troops take orders, as explained, from the Imperial Government, and not from the local officials in Mystique. Mystique probably also has its own local and provincial militia serving co-equally, so the city can probably chalk up another 3,000 soldiers - all of them, light infantry. Thus, even without the Imperial Troops, Mystique still has around 3,000 soldiers to defend itself.

The Navy Militia

Like the Cityguard and other forces that act in similar roles in cities and towns, port towns and cities organize navy militia, usually on a smaller scale than that of the Imperial Navy.

The navy militia, like the city militia, comes about when cities and provinces want their own fleets to command and control. Like the city militia, they usually end up spending their own funds out of their tax revenues to do so. Vessels produced by cities tend to be of lesser or simpler grade than the mighty warships of the Imperial Navy. Nevertheless, provinces like Eunesia have done so well developing light and fast frigates, that during the attempted invasion by Arium to "impose order" on Eunesia (which was previously a part of Arium Province), the invading naval fleet sent by Arium was defeated by the Eunesian Mercantile Fleet.

Usually, in these instances, cities and provinces can come up with their own hierarchies, though they often use titles that are similar to those used by the Imperial Navy. It is important to note that these hierarchies are usually incompatible with those of the Imperial Navy, though at times the Imperial Navy will work closely with local merchant fleets, much like the Imperial Army works with the provincial militias (used by the governor to maintain provincial order), and the city Constabularies (used by cities to maintain law). Each provincial navy will be led by an Admiral or an equivalent rank while each city navy will be led by a Commodore or an equivalent rank.