The Crimson Brigade is the army of Loksenta. The Brigade is almost as old as Loksenta, having been founded by King Borsen himself. The first mention of the Brigade in the Loksenta Chronicle appears in 646 CR. In that year, the Brigade destroyed the Ten Span Bridge over the West Fork of the Lyvenness, preventing the Great Goblin Horde from taking the capital city and cementing themselves in the mythology of the nation.
Historically, the Brigade has had a defensive focus. The three Goblin wars all started with Starntor invasions. The Loksenta monarchs have always avoided reciprocal aggression, assessing the Ghanate as too vast and too alien for any significant incursion to be successful. The Hokkai to the South showed themselves to be dependable allies. With the Sea of Perryn to the East, vast mires and moors to the North, and Borsen’s Gap to the West, Loksenta had no more targets for invasion.
Iron and steel have to be imported into Loksenta. This makes them rare and expensive. The Brigade has to balance the effectiveness of its arms and armor against their costs. Standard Summer uniforms are made of linen. Winter uniforms are made of wool. For training and battle, troops add chain habergeons and coifs. The only exceptions are the archers, who wear lighter weight gambesons, and the Red Battalion, who wear breastplates instead of habergeons.
The infantry are armed with pikes and short swords. Cavalry use lances and longswords. Archers have shortswords and either longbows or crossbows. Dragoons carry both longswords and crossbows.
The Brigade consists of several units of different sizes and purposes.
The High Command - The leaders of the Brigade are headquartered in the Red Fort hard by the West Gate in Freyk’s Wall. The commander of the Brigade is Marshal Teril Brontek. His second in command is Submarshal Anylise Frynam. They are supported by a coterie of majors and leftenants. Members of the High Command, as well as almost all other senior officers, are commoners. Loksentan nobles view serving in the military as beneath their station.
Red Battalion - “Freyk’s Own” Battalion is tasked with defending the capital city. It is housed in the Red Fort. It is made up of two companies of sword-wielding infantry, a company of archers armed with longbows, a company of archers armed with crossbows, and a platoon of wyvern-riding dragoons. It is commanded by Colonel Jimison Corraire.
Blue and Green Battalions - These battalions are housed in the fortress of Dakor. They are charged with defense of the West Province. This district encompasses the original territory of Loksenta outside of the Isle of Cormyn. It is still considered by many to be the Loksenta homeland, contrasting it with the “hinterlands” across the River Touze. At any one time, one of these battalions is on active duty, the other in training or on maneuvers in the hinterlands. The Blue and Green are mirrors of each other. Each one is made up of a company of cavalry, a company of longbow archers, two companies of pikemen, two platoons of dragoons, and a support company. Colonel Rodara Wanibat commands the Blues. Colonel Barantine Gamel commands the Greens.
Gray Company - The Grays are the Brigade’s rapid response unit. The company is made up of a mixed force of cavalry and dragoons. The Grays are commanded by Colonel Manwyn Perryd.
Flying Squad - This squad of wyvern-riding messengers reports directly to the High Command, but their services are available to all Brigade units. They are commanded by Major Talin Rogell.
Military Intelligence Service - The MIS is the last of the Brigade units housed in the Red Fort. The MIS has a dual responsibility of performing counterintelligence operations within Loksenta and developing and maintaining an understanding of military capabilities and intentions of target nations. Traditionally, the MIS has focused on the Ghanate. With Krondak becoming more aggressive and building up its military capacity, the MIS has begun spying on that country, as well.
The Service gathers much information from traders returning from either nation. Indeed, many of those traders are directly employed by the MIS. The MIS also places some of its spies as clerks serving diplomats.
However, spying on Krondak has required the MIS to develop new techniques. Outside of trade and diplomatic missions, humans cannot hide amongst the Starntor. Fortunately for the MIS, the Starntor reject the use of magic. That allows the MIS to make extensive use of informational magic to ferret out the Ghanate’s secrets. The MIS employs most of the adepts and masters of informational magic that graduate from the Academy.
Krondak is a country that makes extensive use of magic. Using informational magic against it is risky and dangerous. Krondak, however, is populated almost entirely by humans. That gives the MIS opportunities that do not exist in the Ghanate. The MIS has developed the capability to have small teams infiltrate Krondak directly. It has also established a network of partisans that provide valuable observations and insights into Krondakite events.
Den of the Red Wolf 