Many Loksentans believe that the Ghanate is populated by several races. After all, this would not be an unusual for those whose ancestors came from Glorien, a continent of humans, dwarves, elves, and dalibor. The rtor are large, blue, and scaly. The zartk most resemble humans, although with reddish skin and pointed ears. The brdah are short and green. It is the brdah that the early Loksentans called “goblins”, after fae found in their homeland of Gwenddon.
The Loksentans who believe the rtor, zartk, and brdah are as different from each other as elves and dwarves are mistaken. They are all the same race, all starntor. A starntor child may be born as any of these three types - or of one of the rarer versions which are kept secret from the Loksentans - no matter the types of their parents. The starntor find the fact that human parents always bear human children weird and, frankly, boring.
The differences between the strantor variants are mental as well as physical. The rtor are the least intelligent, brutish and prone to violence. The zartk are intelligent and much longer lived than other strantor. They have an innate need for hierarchy. The brdah are the cleverest variant. They are also the most common, making up about three fourths of the strantor population.
Starntor society and the Ghanate military reflect the inherent differences in these variants. Civilian rtor are manual laborers. Zartk are managers, scientists, and architects. Brdah are everything else - store keepers, brewers, pickpockets, merchants, krok lizard trainers, and the Ghan. The Ghan is always a brdah. Goblin Town outside Freyk’s wall is entirely inhabited by brdah. In the military, rtor are battle tanks. Zartk are form the officer corps. Brdah are the infantry, krok-riding dragoons, and the irregular troops.
Aside from the Ghan’s bodyguards and a gmah - approximately equivalent to a Loksentan company - of rapid reaction troops, the Ghanate does not have a standing army. Even the highly organized zartk cannot impose military discipline on the rtor and brdah for long. Instead, the Ghanate has a militia that can called up and organized into forces ranging in size from a raiding party to one of the Great Hordes that fought the Lokentans in the Wars of Glory.
The basic Ghanate military unit is the mvon (squad). A mvon is lead by a zartk. A standard infantry mvon includes one or two rtor, armed with large clubs, that serve as the primary melee fighters. The mvon also includes up to a dozen brdah armed with crossbows and spears. The brdah try to avoid hand-to-hand combat with an organized enemy. They either snipe from cover with their crossbows or follow frenzying rtor, finishing off those injured but not killed by the rtor.
Several mvons are organized into a gmah. Most Ghanate raiding parties are gmah. A few gmahs make up a narma. The Carkvna (Bronze Shield), the emperor’s bodyguard, is a large narma consisting of eight gmah. Gmah and narma are always commanded by zartk. On very rare occasions, the Ghanate combines several narma into a gklar (horde). The three Straglkar (Great Hordes) were the largest Ghanate armies ever recorded, ranging from thirty to fifty narma.
The Ghanate army has several types of specialty units. A frast consists of a zartk and between six and twenty rtor. The frast are shock troops sent to disrupt enemy formations. A krokta is a team of krok-riding brdah dragoons, led by a zartk officer. A zbor is a small team of guerilla brdah. The zbor is the only unit not commanded by a zartk. During the first War of Glory, the Ghanate had to develop a new unit to siege the Loksentans fortresses and Freyk’s Wall itself. The mrogrna (wall breaker) units consisted of zartk engineers to design and maintain siege weapons and rtor to build and man them. Maintaining a large army in the field also required creation of logistics and quartermaster units of zartk and brdah.
The Ghanate has very little access to metals compared to nations in Glorien. The continent of Safara has, in general, very little iron or gold ore. The Ghanate has a few large silver mines, although only the Tnak mine produces high quality ore. The copper-tin alloy bronze is the most durable metal available to the Starntor. Tin is abundant; copper less so. The usefulness and scarcity of bronze makes it highly prized. The gift of a bronze axe head is a sign of great respect.
Development of Ghanate military equipment expressed this lack of metals. Brdah infantry spears and daggers are made of wood and flint. Elite units may replace the flint with obsidian or bronze. Only senior officers and members of the Carkvna use the long, curved, bronze blades called drthon.
A starntor soldier’s armor relfects his role. Zbor troopers rarely wear armor, trading protection for mobility. Common soldiers wear a padded jacket similar to the Krondakite gambeson. Elite units and most officers wear krok-hide tunics. Only the most senior officers and the Carkvna wear bronze breastplates.
Den of the Red Wolf 