1875 dress code (Consolidated Army)
The 1875 dress code (廿又亖年灋服, nis-gip-plis-ning-pap-pek; lit. "conforming attire of the 24th year") was a dress code published for members of the Hundred Companies in 1875, that is, the 24th year of Emperor Ngars's reign.
History
Themiclesia's small army was adjudged insufficient to defend against a possible Camian incursion in 1867 – 68 over the Meh Sea, causing the Government led by the Baron of Na-qrum to sue for peace well before any actual hostility began. Sensing public discontent, the following administration under the Earl of Sngraq pledged to raise 100 companies of soldiers, 60 infantry and 40 cavalry (later changed to 80 and 20, respectively), to ameliorate the unsatisfactory state of national defence. It then came to the government to decide what the new units would wear, as it had been thitherto the custom that every regiment (or comapny if not part of a regiment) to have a distinct colour and uniform design. Sngraq, breaking with tradition, agreed with his War Secretary Lord Tlang-men that it would simplify matters if all the new units had just one uniform design and wore only distinctive emblems.
The first units were stood up in 1875 under the policy, though by the end of Sngraq's administration only 58 comapnies had been raised. Nevertheless, this dress code was extended to virtually all units raised after 1875 and before 1936 even if they were not part of Sngraq's policy, making it the de facto standard uniform unless a specific unit was required to wear something else. There are also instances of individual units losing their original uniforms and adopting the 1875 code, sometimes with Parliamentary approval and other times without. In 1882, Parliament granted broad powers to the War Secretary to alter the appearances and equipment of troops in spite of statutory requirements, which were too numerous to be individually managed by Parliament as was the prior case.