Military of Froturn

The military of Froturn is currently the third strongest in Continental Artograch.

Land Army
Since feudalism never existed in Froturn, Froturn never relied on levies like Etrand - instead, Froturn has always had a history of using professional troops.

The Froturnish Army totals in 14 100 soldiers, out of which 10 000 are regional auxiliaries - overwhelmingly light and mobile conscripts with mediocre training - and 4 100 are legionaries - overwhelmingly heavily armoured, well-trained professionals.

The land army of Froturn consists of:
 * The Legions:
 * The Main Legion: Consisting of 1100 soldiers.
 * 150 Raetheri: heavy cavalry
 * 330 Qualdi: Skirmishers
 * 100 Qualtri: heavily armoured and well-trained veteran swordsmen also equipped with javelins
 * 250 Scirantheri: phalanx
 * 220 Caeli: longbowmen
 * 50 Arseni: battlemages
 * The The Three Lesser Legions: Each legion consists of 1000 soldiers, totalling in 3000. Combined with the Main Legion, this totals in 4100 soldiers for the legions.
 * 125 Raetheri
 * 300 Qualdi
 * 100 Qualtri
 * 225 Scirantheri
 * 200 Caeli
 * 50 Arseni
 * Regional Auxiliaries: 10 000 soldiers in total, composition depending on the region

Skirmishers
Froturnish Skirmishers are divided by race, as different equipment is deemed apropriate for different races.

High Elven Skirmishers (as well as Skirmishers recruited from similarly tall races) are called Qualdi, and are essentially equipped like lighter version of the Qualtri: a shortsword, some javelins, lighter armour, and a smaller round shield (or buckler) instead of the Qualtri's large curved shields.

Halfling Auxiliary Skirmishers on the other hand are outfitted with slings and axes, and are usually accompanied by a smaller group of spearmen to deter enemy cavalry and other melee fighters. Halfling Skirmishers are famous for their mastery with the sling, yielding in an extraordinary high rate of fire and surprising accuracy, acting almost like snipers.

Navy
The Froturnish navy consists of cogs and galleys. Since Froturn has never really had any threats from overseas, the navy was always neglected.

Early Army
Before the reign of Queen Salvia the Great, who unified Froturn for the first time in the 13th century BEKE, the various clans of Froturn fought in a way remiscent of the Proto-Elves and the later Wood Elves: relying mostly on infantry equipped with both bows and axes (or swords, for the elite), lacking discipline. These warriors did not fight in formations, as warfare before Salvia came along was mostly endemic, fought between very small groups of raiding parties rather than full armies.

After Salvia unified Froturn for the first time, she created an army composed to heavy cavalry with swords - forming the Queen's personal retinue -, heavy infantry with swords and shields, light infantry with spears and slingers. Archers were rare - they were equipped with shortbows, and were part of the Queen's personal retinue.

During the wars with Fathred's Confederation, the High Elven army has proven to be ineffective against the Etrandish troops, despite having discipline and being much more organized. The infantry-centric Froturnish army was smashed by the cavalry-centric Etrandish, and the javelins of the humans have proven to be the biggest disaster for the High Elves.

Even though their final battle against Fathred's Confederation was a victory ending in the destruction of the state, the Queen herself died in the final battle. The people of Froturn learned an important lesson that day: never be ashamed to learn from the enemy. It was at that point when javelins were introduced to Froturn.

The Warring Clans Era
Between the death of Queen Salvia in 1106 and the ascension of Queen Taela the Wise and her predecessor's efforts at reunification, Froturn was ruled by two weak-handed kings who allowed Froturn to descend into a period of civil war lasting for almost four centuries.

During those almost four centuries of absence of a central power, the various clans took on their own ways of fighting. The clans of Southern Froturn were influenced by Dragoc, replacing shortbows and slings with longbows, axes with swords. The clans of Eastern Froturn invested in heavy cavalry to deter both Etrandish raids and incursions from other clans. The clans of Northern Froturn invested in long pikes to counter cavalry.

King Lynésus the Wolf-Hearted took all the reforms the other clans made, and created his own reformed army that had the winning recipe: heavy cavalry, long pikes, javelins, longbows, swordsmen. Lynésus used this new reformed army to forcefully crush all other clans, but it would be Taela who would finally consolidate the realm of Froturn.

Late Archaic Era
At that period of time, the army Froturn has today was already halfway there: just like in the late Archaic Era going from the 8th century BEKE to the 3th century AEKE, right now, in the 9th century AEKE, Froturn's army has Silverhelms, Footmen, Pikemen, Longbowmen and Slingers.

However, in the 8th century BEKE, Froturn's military was still clan-based. Armies had allegiances to clans, rather than the state of Froturn. It was during those ten centuries of slow transition that the armies of Froturn were transformed from clan-based tribal levies into professional legions, composed of professionals who were paid for military service, who were trained to be good at the weapon they were using. It was also during that period time when Froturn finally started having a navy.

The period also saw an overall improvement in the quality of weapons. It was during that time period when the stereotype of High Elven perfection arose, from the quality of their weapons.

After the Demonic Invasions
The Demonic invasions of Artograch saw a sudden shift in the military of Froturn. The inability of the centralized armies to respond to external threats in a swiftly manner compelled the military to enact necessary reforms.

The Froturnish military would be split in two: the Central Army under the leadership of the central government, and the Provincial Armies, which were under the leadership of the provincial governments, allowing for faster response to external and internal threats, but also giving ammunition to renegade governors to foster civil wars.

Some controversially, the current period is also seeing the increasing militarization of Froturn's police, blurring the line between military and police - city militias are being equipped with the same plated mail, swords and javelins that footmen are equipped with, and being encouraged to respond to internal threats with extreme prejudice.