Veturii

Veturii were well-trained, lightly armored, and universally equipped with a sabrius and gladius.

Veturii (singular: Veturius) were members of an elite unit of heavily-armed shock infantry which served with distinction within the military of the Sabrian Empire, acting as both the personal guard of the Legate as well as part of Sabria’s standing army. Similarly to the Hostilii, the members of the Veturii were drawn from the Cacertian archipelago alone and consisted exclusively of women. It was the only religious military order in Sabria—dedicated to Veturia, the goddess of spring—with conversion to the Cult of Transformation a requirement for membership.

The unit was founded in 736 BCE by order of Legatus Hirpinia Modia. A skilled practitioner of the usage of the unique two-handed sabrius and devout adherent to the Cult of Transformation, Modia set out to create a division of the reformed Sabrian military dedicated entirely to rapid offense. As a result, Modia created both the martial art focused on the sabrius and the Veturii, although there exists no definitive explanation to the reasoning behind its gender exclusivity.

It was well-known that the training regimen of the Veturii was extremely taxing with nearly all of its candidates entering the sabrii schools at a very young age. Although highly-skilled and ferocious on the battlefield, the taxing program ensured that the Veturii were often small in number, usually never numbering more than ten thousand at any given time. By comparison to other soldiers in the Sabrian military, Veturii wore relatively light armor and were characterized by their tattoos and unique battledress. All Veturii were equipped with a gladius in addition to the characteristic sabrius that defined them.

History

Sabrian Wars

Main article: Sabrian Wars

Equipment

The Veturii were a unique category of Sabrian infantry and possessed a very different set of equipment given their role in the Empire’s battle doctrine. Similar to the Hastati and Constantii, most Veturii wore a loricae linteae breastplate as their standard body armor, although higher ranking members of the order might instead have worn lorica squamata. Instead of a helmet, which restricted their vision, members of the Veturii instead wore armored headbands and faceplates although these did not provide similar protection and were mostly seen as ceremonial. The size of the two-handed sabrius also prevented Veturii from carrying shields into battle.

The weapons of the Veturii Order were specific to their role as shock troops and were primarily offensive in nature. The main weapon of the Veturii was their characteristic sabrius, a sword possessing a single-edged blade between 90 — 100 cm in length, with a handle approximately 60 cm long, and forged with superior steel. Due to their large size, a sabrius was not worn on the waist when sheathed and was instead carried into battle across one’s shoulder. To complement the sabrius or if one lost their primary weapon, Veturii were also equipped with a gladius.

In addition to standard campaign equipment which included rations, cooking equipment, and other similar accoutrements, Veturii also carried with them everything necessary to perform religious rituals on behalf of the Cult of Transformation. As a religious order, it was common for the Veturii to hold gatherings dedicated to the goddesses of Mos Maiorum during the campaign as well as prior to battle.