Sayar

A 19th-century sayar in traditional dress, which usually included a turban

In colonial Satria, particularly in Soravia, a sayar was the name and rank given to a utility man originating in Satria or of Satrian descent. Sayars ranged from soldiers and infantryman to diplomats to people simply fluent in Satrian languages. The term was increasingly used during the reign of the Soravian Empire over the city of Kassar in Subarna. Beginning in the 1700s, sayars began to be utilised across Soravia and its holdings due to the large amounts of manpower available in Satria at the time. The subsequent decline of the Aslamid Empire at the rapid growth of Kassar also saw some Satrians migrate into the city and conscripted into Soravian sayar armies. Around 30,000 sayars fought in the Great War under the flag of Soravia before sweeping independence movements saw Kassar absorbed into Subarna as the city of Satyapur.

Name

The name sayar comes from the Subarnan word সৈন্যরা Sain'yarā, which was an alternative name to refer to soldiers of the Aslamid Empire, and more literally meant "troops" - with them usually being referred to as সৈনিক Sainika - a more common name for Aslamid soldiers. Sain'yarā, through various spoken and written transliterations, came to be sayar by the 1750s, with its first verified mention in an economic report from the city by Chandran Ghani Khan, which referred to maintainence costs of 350 sayars.

The name remained mainly in use in Soravia before widespread Satrian colonisation by Estmere and Etruria and the First Soravian Civil War saw the term fall out of use outside of Kassar, who adopted more specific terms for infantryman rather than the broad definition of sayar.

History of usage

Painting of a sayar in service during the 1880s

The first sayars joined the Soravian Army around the 1750s and were used by Kassari governor Chandran Ghani Khan as a general policing unit before they evolved into their famous usage. The Kassar Constabulary, created in 1752 by Ghani as a unified police force, is often cited as the first official institute or unit to employ sayars in its ranks. The sayars of the Constabulary were often utilised for small odd-jobs such as maintaining the city's cleanliness, dealing with general public disorder and monitoring crowded areas of the city - particularly public markets. The first sayars were mainly equipped with wooden batons or any equivalent blunt object, with those in higher-ranks sometimes carrying rifles or muskets, and were the most heavily armed sayars of the era.

Sayars were often recognisable by their large head-dress and often turbans, and Soravian emperors were keen to transform them into a well-disciplined force that could be easily recognised on the battlefield. In 1773, the first sayar regiment - the Kassari Sayar Rifles - was created. They were armed with long rifles which began as matchlock rifles and progressed into blunderbuss technology as military technology advanced in Euclea. They were first deployed in the 1775 Mysto Myru revolt, where they displayed their potential as an influential and effective portion of the army, but gained much of their notoriety during the Etrurian Revolutionary Wars, where sayar regiments of the Soravian Army dealt large damage to the Etrurian armies.

Following the end of the Revolutionary Wars and subsequent unification of Etruria after the 1810 Caltini Restoration, which saw Caio Aurelio I rule the Kingdom of Etruria, the sayars' discipline and effectiveness as a fighting force partially inspired and spurred on Etrurian colonial ambitions in the region. The Etruro-Pardarian Wars in 1860 that saw Etrurian annexation of the Gorsanid Empire saw the first uses of Etrurian sayars, later known as the Soldati Ausiliario Satriani, at least partially based about Soravia's success with its sayars. In 1864, on the topic of newly established Satrian holdings and the Soldati, Governor of Satriana Libera Amadeo di Lorezan wrote:

There can be no underestimation or ignorance when we say that the sayars of Soravia played their part in influencing Etrurian colonisation in this region. Their valour, grit and skill on the battlefield was second to none, their recognisable clothing instilled fear in the enemy before fighting had even begun. It is to say our expeditions in the region will have been a success if we can replicate a force to challenge the sayars.

— Il significato della sayara in Satriana, di Lorezan, 1864

The sayars continued to play their part as an effective force throughout the 19th century, with many being stationed in the mainland for administration of central Euclea, due to their no-nonsense attitudes. The sayars remained generally neutral during the First Soravian Civil War, with some remaining loyal and some mutinying to the Seven Province Union. Eduard Olsov chose to retain the institution due to their historic success. Olsov stationed sayars in Sanday, Soravia's second Coian secession in Lainan. Vladislav Pudovkin raised sayar numbers up to around 16,000 in the 1920s, and they fought extensively in the Great War, fighting both in Euclea and supporting Grand Alliance offensives in Coius, particularly those of Etruria and Estmere. The sayars were commended hugely for their war efforts and many were discharged from service following the war, which saw sayar numbers dwindle to only a few thousand and their roles reduced mainly to ceremonial service due to the advent of modern warfare due to lack of need for the sayars' method of disciplinary warfare. The sayars were officially abolished when Pudovkin approved the return of Satyapur to Subarna under pressure from Estmere and Gaullica to do so in 1946, following the Solarian War.

See also

• Chandran Ghani Khan
• Etrurian Empire
• Soravian Empire
• Subarna