Tagmatine Armed Forces
| Military of The Greater Holy Empire of Tagmatium | |
|---|---|
| Exerkitos Arhomanos | |
| Service branches |
|
| Leadership | |
| Commander-in-Chief (Executive) | Kommodos III |
| Minister for War | Honorios Kontarian |
| Personnel | |
| Military age | 18-65 |
| Conscription | No |
| Expenditure | |
| Budget | $277 Billion (FY2024) |
| Percent of GDP | 5 |
| Industry | |
| Foreign suppliers |  Adaptus  Gallambria  Iverica  Nyantastan |
The Aroman Force (Laimiaic: Exerkitos Arhomanos, Fragran: Exercitus Aromanus), known in Anglish as the Tagmatine Armed Forces, is the military of Tagmatium. It is tasked with the defence of the state and its citizens, as well as protecting the interests of Tagmatium abroad. It is also tasked with waging warfare, if it is deemed necessary. It consists of three service branches: the Basilikostratos, the Basilikoploimon and the Basilikoaeroporia, the Imperial Army, the Imperial Fleet and the Imperial Air Force respectively. They are managed by the Ministry for War and controlled by the the High Command (Laimiaic: Epistrategaion). The Holy Emperor is commander-in-chief of the military, currently Kommodos III, and members of the military swear an oath both to their monarch and people and before God.
Members of the military play a key role within the Acclamation of the Holy Emperor. A crowd of picked armed forces personnel, civilian officials and civilians call for the newly-elected Holy Emperor to take the throne, who turns it down twice before accepting on the third call. Four members of the armed forces - one from each of the branches and then one from the Tagmata, the Imperial Guard - hoist the Holy Emperor on a shield after this ritual has been completed. In the past, securing the loyalty of the armed forces, especially the army, was key to winning and holding the Leopard Throne.
The Tagmatine Armed Forces are allocated 4.5% of the national GDP, which makes the defence spending of the Tagmatine government one of the highest on Eurth. This is partially due to the Greater Holy Empire's historical position as a power surrounded by rival states, including Machina Haurspex, Suverina, Qubdi and the Volsci Republic. This means that the Aroman Force is one of the best-funded militaries on Eurth. It currently as an active personnel strength of 1,650,000, a number that includes both the Border Guard and Coast Guard. This number is more weighted towards the ground forces of the Aroman Force. It also has a reserve personnel strength of 1,300,000, which is again more focused on the army than the other two branches.
History
High Command
The Armed Forces
Imperial Army
The Imperial Army (Laimiaic: Basilikostratos) is the senior service of the Greater Holy Empire. Its organisation and equipment has changed considerably since the Aroman Empire, moving from what was an infantry-focused force to a primarily cavalry-based one and then back again. This reflected the changing nature of warfare in Europa and the both the strategic and tactical realities facing the Imperial Army. The enemies of Arome went from fielding similar infantry-heavy forces to becoming fast-moving horse archers and then to large, well-drilled formations of musket-armed infantry. These changes were also reflected by those undertaken by the Tagmatine army. For much of this period of evolution, from roughly the 500s to the 1700s, it was said that where the Aroman army had walked, the Tagmatine army now rode. The industrialisation of Tagmatium meant that the Imperial Army was able to benefit from many technological advancements at a pace seen in many other industrialising nations but they were often not used to their full advantage, often through conservatism in the structure of the army. It was only in the decades preceding the Long War (1932-1956) that the Imperial Army came to resemble the combined-arms force that it is today and these changes were cemented by the experiences learned during that conflict.
The Imperial Army is the primary ground-based armed force and is capable of undertaking a range of tasks. These include but are not limited to peacekeeping, garrison and occupation duties, manoeuvre warfare, armoured warfare, ground assault, engineering tasks, logistical supply and support. Although the Imperial Army's main task is the defence of the borders of the Greater Holy Empire, it is also more than capable of taking the fight to the enemy. This could be either as an large-scale offensive force against a land-based enemy in Europa or smaller-scale expeditionary warfare overseas. The biggest strength of the Imperial Army is its numbers - it is the largest army on Eurth. However, it is also amongst the best equipped on Eurth as well, being able to field everything from main battle tanks to infantry fighting vehicles to small unmanned aerial vehicles designed for artillery spotting roles and more. It is also an extremely experienced force, with a history of successful wars in Europa and Argis in the last two decades. This makes the Imperial Army one of the most formidable forces on Eurth.
One of the many specialist units within the Imperial Army is the Imperial Guard (Laimiaic: Tagmata, literally "the Regiments"), the guard units of the Holy Imperial Government. These are six units that guard high-ranking officials and members of the government, honour guard duties, undertake security duties for government buildings, parades, guard mounting and accompany delegations abroad. However, they are also combat troops and have been deployed to areas of conflict in the recent past.
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The Imperial Navy (Laimiaic: Basilikoploimon) is the navy of Tagmatium. Historically, it was little more than a small force that provided transport to the Imperial Army and intercepted any attempted seaborne invasions of the Greater Holy Empire's territory, as well as bore the army when it undertook its own invasions. However, beginning in the 1790s with the reunification of Tagmatium under Konstantinos VII (1788-1809), there was serious investment into the Imperial Navy to enable it to undertake what would now be called "blue water" tasks and missions. This saw a high point in the early 1900s, with the Great Christian Fleet, made up of twelve battleships and numerous escorting vessels, circumnavigated the glube. They left Tagmatium in 1911 and called at several foreign ports along their route before returning in 1913. Whilst it was an impressive show of force, most of the ships were of outdated designs. Most of the truly useful ships were the array of gunboats, coastal defence ships and monitors that guarded the Tagmatine coast. This set the pattern for the Imperial Navy throughout the rest of the early to mid 1900s, as it was often more of a powerful force on paper than in reality. It was only under the Rule of the Admirals that the Tagmatine navy was able to become a truly modern force.
The modern Imperial Navy serves to defend and protect the Greater Holy Empire's coastal waters and overseas interests, as well as policing domestic shipping lanes. It maintains both a green water force and a blue water force, the latter containing the most impressive vessels in the Tagmatine fleet, the Protathlitai tou Khristou (Anglic: "Champions of Christ") class of aircraft carriers. However, it is the former that make up the bulk of the Imperial Navy's strength, as the blue water element is much newer. It is the corvettes, missile boats and patrol boats that are the true workhorses of the Tagmatine navy, protecting the coastline of Tagmatium and preventing any enemy vessels from getting too close and infringing on vital areas such as the Central Sea. This is referred to as maintaining a naval security perimeter around the Greater Holy Empire's coast. Patrols of Tagmatium's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) are also undertaken, in order to main Tagmatium's control over them. The Imperial Navy also operates the vast bulk of Tagmatium's offensive and defensive cyber warfare assets.
Other branches of the Imperial Navy include the naval air arm, the Aeroporeia tou Ploimou (Anglic: "Air Force of the Fleet") and the marine force, the Nauklarioi (Anglic: "Ship-Soldiers"). The Aeroporeia tou Ploimou operate all carrier-based and ground-based aircraft that the navy operates, including jet aircraft and helicopters. The Nauklarioi provide shipboard security and security for all facilities owned and operated by the Imperial Navy. They also act as an amphibious infantry force for the Greater Holy Empire of Tagmatium.
Imperial Air Force
The Imperial Air Force, known in Laimiaic as the Basilikoaeroporia is the youngest of the three main service branches. The use of observation or reconnaissance balloons dates back to the late 1700s, although the use was not widespread across Europa or the rest of Eurth until almost a century later. The Imperial Air Force started at first during this later period, when artillery observation was becoming more complex due to the increased range of weapons and the need to observe the movement of enemy troops from significant distances. When the internal combustion engine became widely available, the Tagmatine High Command offered a cash prize to the first person able to do it and the pioneer Ioannes Glauketes was able to carry out in 1906. However, the High Command had been stung by a string of charlatans and they did follow it further. Within ten years, however, it was clear that military heavier-than-air aircraft was a necessity and "Aerostato Kontoubernia", the Balloon Platoons, of the artillery were authorised to start investigating aeroplanes. By 1921, these units had evolved into the Imperial Air Force, as military necessity and utility of not just observer aircraft but combat aircraft was clear.
In the modern era, the Imperial Air Force is the ground-based aerial warfare branch of the Tagmatine Armed Forces. Its mission is to maintain local air supremacy over Tagmatium, through combat air patrols and the use of one of Eurth's most sophisticated integrated air defence systems. It is also to act in support of the Imperial Army and, to a lesser extent, the Imperial Navy in both defensive and offensive actions and operations, and to gain and hold air supremacy over their areas of operation. The Imperial Air Force operates all ground-based aircraft in the Tagmatine Armed Forces, bar some numbers of naval aircraft or those belonging to the Border and Financial Guards. This means that the Imperial Army and Air Force have a history of close cooperation in mutually supporting roles. The aircraft that the Imperial Air Force uses includes air superiority and multi-role fighters, ground attack aircraft, specialist suppression of enemy air defence aircraft, transport aircraft, airborne early warning and control aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft. They can also conduct long-range strikes against enemy targets across Europa and Argis, although the last of the Imperial Air Force's strategic bombers were retired in 2010.
The Imperial Air Force also has two branches of ground-based combat forces, the Peltastoi and the Thorakritai. The Peltastoi is a small corps of paratroops that tends to be utilised in a more defensive fashion than those of other nations, usually paradropping in support of existing positions. The Thorakritai are the air force ground forces of the Imperial Air Force. They are equipped as standard Tagmatine infantry. They undertake force protection, combat search and rescue as well as other roles.
Paramilitary Forces
Border Guard
The Border Guard, the Foussatores, are counted as part of the Imperial Army and demonstrate an unbroken lineage from the forces of ancient Arome. They are the remains of the ancient armies of the Aroman Empire that once conquered much of western and central Europa. Over the years, they were reduced in importance and relagated to the role of manning the border defences and alerting the other parts of the Tagmatine army to the presence of enemy forces. This is reflected in the name that the organisation now has, which comes from the ancient Fragran word for ditch, "fosse" - the Foussatores were there to dig, maintain and guard ditches dug as border defences. They do, however, maintain a rank structure that comes from their ancient forebears and shares little with the more modern titles of the Tagmatine army.
The role of the Foussatores is now border security and they are a paramilitary rather than a military force. Their focus is on guarding border crossings, including those within seaports, airports and international rail terminals. They work alongside the Vestiaritai, as well as the police forces of Tagmatium where necessary. Within these roles, especially along the considerable land border with Suverina, the Border Guard are not just a static force as their name may suggest. They operate a range of road and off-road vehicles and include a small number of aircraft and riverine craft.
Financial Guard
The Vestiaritai are the coast guard and financial guard of the Greater Holy Empire. They come under the authority of the Ministry for Finance but they remain part of the Imperial Guard, the Tagmata. This means that even though they are organised more along the lines of a paramilitary force than a true military one, they are rated as amongst the elite of the Tagmatine armed forces. This is not necessarily borne out by the level of military training they recieve, however. Their name comes from their ancient role as guards of the "Basilikon Vestiarion", which meant at that time the Imperial Wardrobe. From there, they took on a fiscal inspection role and this had changed by the 1600s into a customs inspection duty, especially in preventing smuggling along the extensive Tagmatine coastline and river network.
The Vestiaritai maintain a fleet of vehicles, including patrol boats, helicopters, aeroplanes and both road and off-road vehicles. They utilise these to to cover the coastline of Tagmatium and also the land borders of the nation. They are also present at land border crossings, airports, seaports and international rail terminals, where they act in the role of customs officials. In this role, they often act in support of the Foussatores when monitoring cross-border movement, as well as alongside both the National and Provincial Police when investigations call for it.
Air Defence Command
There is a joint command responsible for Tagmatium's integrated air defence system and it is called the Doukateion, as it is headed by an Imperial Air Force officer of the rank of Doux. It is the only permanent joint command within the Tagmatine Armed Forces, as any other joint command is temporary and lasts only as long as the operation or mission. The Air Defence Command brings together the ground, air force and naval elements of the air defence system covering the country and unites it under one hierarchy. It is separate from but subordinate to the Epistrategaion. The system itself is known as the "Shield of Saints" (Laimiaic: "Aspida ton Agion") and is one of the most sophisticated and advanced on Eurth.
