Commonwealth of Reikland Army

The Commonwealth Federal Army, more commonly known as the Commonwealth Army, is the land service branch of the Commonwealth Armed Forces. It is one of the uniformed services and it designated as the Army of the Commonwealth within the Commonwealth Constitution. The Commonwealth Army is the oldest branch of service, being formed in 2193 AR, a full week before the Commonwealth Navy was officially raised. The Army is also currently the largest service branch, with more than 2 million officers and enlisted personnel.

History

Origins

The Commonwealth Federal Army has its origins in two institutions of the Reikish Kingdom, the professional Housecarls who served the King and the Fyrd, comprised of all freemen.

A great distinction between the Reikish housecarls, professional soldiers who serve the king, and the Fyrd, the militia called up by local lords, lie in the equipment. A professional Housecarl was equipped with a lance, roughly three meters long, an iron helmet, a teardrop shaped shield standing at least 3 to 4 feet in height, tall enough that the soldier did not have to crouch to take cover, a sword of about a meter in length, and a mail coat that could provide protection to the mid-forearm, the knee, and included a mail coif worn under the helmet. A padded jacket was worn under the mail for comfort and added protection. A Fyrdman or militiaman would carry a round shield, easier and cheaper to make than the kite shield and would typically carry a spear of between six and ten feet in length and an axe as a secondary weapon. Few fyrdmen could afford swords or mail, so the most common armor consisted of an iron helmet and a padded jacket. Swords were generally carried by wealthier fyrdmen, often among the cavalry. Fyrd archers typically used longbows rather than crossbows, as the longbow was cheaper and also an item required to be owned in place of a spear. By law, all freemen are required to own a spear, a shield, a coat of armor, and either an axe or a sword. In place of the spear can be owned a war bow. This allows the Fyrd to quickly assemble a body of armed men. Additionally, every man in the Fyrd must practice at least one day out of each week with their arms, building skill and confidence in the group. The length of the practice varies from place to place but, in general, most will take two to four hours out of the day, generally in the afternoon, to do some basic exercises. The spearmen will form the shield wall again and again while the archers will practice their marksmanship and anyone who owns a sword will train with it. In this way, the Reikish could swiftly raise an army of armed and at least semi-trained men with weapons and armor very quickly. By calling on the Fyrd, an earl can raise an army of ten thousand men from his shire in under a week, making the fyrd potentially dangerous in the hands of unruly earls. In spite of the danger, this would remain an important part of Reikish law for centuries, even serving an important role in the Reikish Civil War.

By the 1500s CE, every fyrdman was required to own either a pike, a halberd, a crossbow, or a handgun. Pikes were commonly purchased, as one of those only cost a single day's wage. Often, local lords bought pikes themselves in lots of a hundred or more. More commonly, however, that was halberds. Where one pike might cost a single days wage of about 7 or 8 silver pennies, a halberd would cost nearly 30, four days wages. Crossbows and firearms would cost on the order of 60 silver pennies or more, depending on the quality of the weapon. This led to many weapons becoming family heirlooms, passed down from father to eldest son. It had become less common for the Fyrd to be called upon, leading many to neglect their duties in it. With the support of the housecarls, the late monarchs, including William III, enacted terrible abuses upon the people, necessitating a regime change.

The Civil War

When Parliament raised its army in 2175 AR, it called upon the Fyrd. While the King could generally count upon the housecarls to answer his call to arms, the Fyrd was more loyal to Parliament and this gave Parliament a larger body from which to draw upon reliable troops. Some of the nobles rallied to Parliament's cause, wary of the King's growing despotism. They brought with them a small force of housecarls which formed the initial core of Parliament's army. However, early failures to achieve victory inspired many of Parliament's leaders to reform the army, creating a new force of volunteers from the Fyrd to form the New Model Army, a force that was raised initially in the winter of 2178 and would continue to hone its skills over the winter months until the very end of the war. In this new army, merit and skill determined advancement, not birth or wealth.

This meritocratic approach to warfare had unforeseen consequences, however. For the first time, commoners commanded Peers and it gave the common people a taste for power. By the summer 2180, many in the Parliamentarian ranks favored the abolition of the Monarchy and the Peerage. By the middle of the war, the support for a republican form of government was near universal among the troops and many of the general population.

When it became clear that the abolition of the Monarchy and the Peerage was the new goal of Parliament's cause, the Peers in the House of Lords abandoned it. Initially, they sought to reconcile with the Royalists. However, William III was no longer in a generous mood. After a decade of war, he was unwilling to reconcile with the ones he saw as traitors. Unable to stomach Parliament's cause and shunned by the Royalists, the Peers were forced to fight on their own, creating a three-way Civil War. The Peers were soon defeated by Parliament's New Model Army at the battle of Heahmundsthorpe in 2187, where the rebel Peers were surrounded and crushed. The final defeat of the Royalists would come in the summer of 2195 at the battles of Ravensthorpe and Albertscire and William III would be executed by Blood Eagle the following spring.