South Army
| South Army | |
|---|---|
| 南軍, nem-kwljel | |
| Disbanded | Dec. 31, 1922 |
| Country | Themiclesia |
| Branch | army |
| Type | infantry, cavalry, artillery |
| Role | territorial defence |
| Size | 4 – 9 regiments |
| Nickname(s) | Colonials |
| Colors | black |
| Anniversaries | June 1 |
| Engagements | Second Maverican War |
The South Army (南軍, nem-kwljel) was a Themiclesian military force formed in 1797 with the surviving regiments of the Colonial Army. Its goals were defence of the southern border against the Maverican Federation, and its strength varied from 3 to 10 regiments depending on the government's foreign policy and threats offered by Maverica. As a force with independent finance, procurement, recruitment, training, and strategy position, it has effectively ceased to exist in 1921, amalgamated with the Capital Defence Force to form the Consolidated Army.
The civilian authority overseeing the South Army was the Pass Marshal (備塞尉, brjegh-segh-′judh), one of the Principal Counsels.
Culture
Army of criminals
It is an oft-repeated refrain in some military circles that the South Army was an "army of criminals", which often pillaged property and killed civilians. This stereotype has its roots in their antecedent, the Colonial Army, which histories describe as formed out of "criminals" (罪人, dzuih-njing). However, the word "criminal" here does not mean "one who has committed a crime" as it was taken in the 19th century, when this myth first surfaced. In the 1300s, when the Colonial Army was founded, a criminal's family was seized and forced to hard labour, and their descendants grew up in these labour camps; the camp's inmates were forced to intermarry, and their children too grew up in the same environment. This system provided the state with a perpetual source of labour, and the inmates were only released by amnesties or earning their freedom by extraordinary performances. These unfree labourers were the "criminals" that formed the Colonial Army, many of whom never committed a crime themselves. In the rescript that formed the army, the state offered "forgiveness of ancestral crimes and freehold titles of land" in exchange for 25 years of military service. Since peasants in 14th-century Themiclesia were usually tenants to aristocratic landowners, the government was effectively offering a settlement better than the average peasant for their service. By the 17th century, criminals' families were no longer seized, so the meaning of the word "criminal" shifted to its present meaning.