| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 11 Mar 2010 : 21:29:58
I've found scraps of information all over the place related to various military units, numbers and etc. belonging to this realm or that in the Forgotten Realms; but never anything truly comprehensive.
Have I missed something?
Is there any material that truly lays out some strong numbers for the actual military organizations of the various Kingdoms, City-States and etc. that exist in the Realms? |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Calmar |
Posted - 26 Jul 2010 : 07:55:44
quote:
Originally posted by Zireael
On topic - what do you think about Aglarond's victories over Thay in the 2ed? Or about Netheril vs. Cormyr in 4e? Is magic really that important for winning wars in the Realms?
No, it depends on the author wants to win the war. You see, that's also the explanation why Mordor or the Galactic Empire were rather easily defeated despite all odds.  |
| Hoondatha |
Posted - 26 Jul 2010 : 05:06:24
A thought about Netheril: one of the reasons Netheril didn't attack Cormanthor/Myth Drannor is because it was flanked by Eaerlann and Ammarindar (and Delzoun, for much of its existence). We know the two elven empires had fairly cordial relations, and it's not much of a stretch to think that Eaerlann would have come in on any war against Myth Drannor. That would leave Netheril having to fight on two widely divergent fronts, with each opponent close to if not exceeding itself in strength.
There's also a chance Ammarindar could have come in as well. They were close allies of the Eaerlanni, and nervous about the Netherese. For instance, the Xothol was established specifically as anti-Netheril, and closed up with that empire fell. And if Ammarindar was attacking, Delzoun would at least cut ties with Netheril, if they didn't send troops, and Delzoun provided Netheril with much of its "goods from the earth" trade.
I think it might be possible for Netheril to take out one of its neighbors, at least in a MAD, "no one left standing" kind of fashion. But attacking any one would likely expand to its fighting an alliance of three or four kingdoms across thousands of miles, and not even Netheril could handle that.
edit: I think it's telling that it's only after Netheril's fall, when there's a desert/magical battleground separating the survivor states from the three empires to the west, that any (former) Netherese go to war with Myth Drannor. Because now finally their long-vulnerable flank is secure. And they still get their heads handed to them. |
| Hoondatha |
Posted - 26 Jul 2010 : 04:58:48
True, though a lot of the rough spots got hammered out in the aftermath of the city's first invasion. But with the death of the Coronal and his heir (Aravae never actually became Coronal), the factions did decidedly weaken the city. There was also a great deal of emigration, as people left to find better opportunities elsewhere (an unintended consequence of the mythal extending lifespans - there wasn't the usual turnover, so advancement stagnated, especially for anyone challenging the orthodoxy).
Still, even against a force as strong as the the Army of Darkness, Myth Drannor had a fighting chance. They made mistakes, and there was the occasional flare-up of racial tensions, but for the most part they came together in a cohesive whole that in some cases stunned their enemies. They also had a superb command team in Arms-Major Kelvhan Olortynnal, Arms-Captain Hachaam Selorn, and Spell-Major Josidiah Starym. Not to mention, well, a lot of other factors.
Reading Fall of Myth Drannor really gives you the feeling that if a couple of things had broken in a different way, or if the city had seen any sort of strong reinforcement (from Cormyr, Silverymoon, or wherever), it really could have weathered the storm. It would have been greatly reduced, and might not have survived to the present day, but it could have beaten the Army of Darkness.
One thing's for certain: it would make an epic campaign. |
| Dark Wizard |
Posted - 26 Jul 2010 : 04:49:15
Indeed, The Fall of Myth Drannor details the pressures on the elven nation during that time. I recall several significant events and trends that lead to Cormanthor being in disarray during the war. (it has been several years since I gave Fall of Myth Drannor a full read through, so some of this might be out of order and specifics lacking).
Shortly before the Weeping War, the Coronal Eltargrim passed on, leaving his niece (Aravae?) to lead the country. Not long after that, the new Coronal was killed. A long procession of would-be worthies tried to claim the ruler's blade to become Coronal. Some of these were the best and brightest of the elves, many didn't survive. This insured the top tier leadership remained a pure vacuum with many casualties of the subsequent succession process. Factions formed as a result, dividing a once united nation. Some of the factions and noble houses even fought each other.
During the war, there was much bickering about leadership and direction. Many lives and resources were wasted as Cormanthyr when through different leaders and strategies. Some of the talent lost in the first encounters of the war again deprived Cormanthyr of its best and brightest. The Army of Darkness also started stealthily, maneuvering and then striking before defenses could be fully implemented.
There was also prejudice on the part of some elves who took on leadership positions. They did not view non-elves favorably, the friction amongst the ranks of the nations defenders (made up of many races) meant a less-than unified effort to confront the Army of Darkness.
Later the Army raided elven tombs and other vaults, seizing potent magical items for their own use. This enhanced the might of the Army beyond most regular hordes, even daemon-led hosts.
Perhaps due to arrogance, Cormanthyr failed to call in assistance from neighboring realms such as Cormyr. The shock of the Army of Darkness' rampage and sheer cruel power stunned the denizens of Cormanthor, there was some hesitation at the beginning.
The details of the Weeping War in The Fall of Myth Drannor supplement is an epic saga that shows how the once great nation fell in its weakened state and how a few tried to save what they can. The Cormanthyr that saw Netheril and her survivor states consumed by hubris and dust is vastly different, in terms of prowess, than the Cormanthyr that succumbed to the Army of Darkness. |
| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 26 Jul 2010 : 03:41:23
Awesome information!
I still don't understand how the Army of Darkness could win out where NETHERIL was only an "annoyance" to Cormanthor.
I'd wager that the two eras reflected a horribly different scale in military power being available to the elves... |
| Hoondatha |
Posted - 26 Jul 2010 : 03:35:38
Hi again. Sorry it took so long to get back to you on the Myth Drannor army size question; I've been having some pain in my hands that makes it hard to type. It's somewhat better now, which gave me a chance to run the numbers.
It's actually really easy to figure out Myth Drannor's army size, though a bit time consuming, because Steven Schend gave us the break-down of the sizes of the various units, along with how many troops were in the base unit. A bit of spreadsheet-fu yields the full numbers. (As a side note, I discovered doing this that my old numbers for the Akh'Faer were drastically low, thanks to my multiplying by the wrong multiplier in a couple of places.)
Myth Drannor appeared to have a thing for fours. The Akh'Faer is explicitly said to be made of four Flights, and the Akh'Velahr can be implied to be made of four Legions (references are made to the Fourth legion, but not to any Fifth). Four also shows up a lot in the Akh'Faer organizational chart. Anyway, here is the summary:
Akh'Velahr:
Legion Troops: 3888
Legion Officers: 2332 (of which 1296 are Nilaa "sergeants")
Legion Total: 6220
Akh'Velahr Total: 24880
Total Troops: 15552
Total Officers: 9328 (again, of which 5184 are Nilaa)
Akh'Faer:
Flight Troops: 4096
Flight Officers: 1754 (of which 1024 were Faerniir "sergeants")
Flight Total: 5850
Akh'Faer Total: 23400
Total Troops: 16384
Total Officers: 7016 (again, of which 4096 were Faerniir)
This is not including the Arms-Major, the Arms-Captain, the Spell-Major, or the two Spell-Captains. This is, however, after the draft that went into effect following the first incursion of the Army of Darkness into the mythal. That draft included every single wizard in the entire city, which is why there's nearly as many of them as there are foot soldiers.
Twenty three thousand wizards gives you an idea of why Netheril never expanded into Cormanthor's territory, and why the Crown and Scepter Wars were never much more than an annoyance to Myth Drannor.
Left out of the count are the various adventurers and other independent groups (Moonshadows, N'Velahr, etc), but that still puts Myth Drannor's total army strength just below 50,000. This is, incidentally, consistent with other parts of the text in The Fall of Myth Drannor. The Army of Darkness was established to be about 250,000, and Myth Drannor is "still outnumbered by five to one." Steven Schend obviously worked all this out in advance.
Myth Drannor's draft quintupled the city's army size, so we can infer that the army probably was defended by one Legion of the Akh'Velahr (6220 total soldiers) and one Flight of the Akh'Faer (4096 total soldiers). That might explain why the expanded Akh'Faer doesn't have an officer at the Flight level besides the Spell-Captain. Even assuming the Spell-Major also takes a flight, that leaves two others without anyone above Arfaern, who normally command the unit one down the chain (Wings of 2560 soldiers). It's a relatively elegant system, but still shows some signs of being cobbled together. Quite fun. Hope all this helps. |
| Zireael |
Posted - 21 Jul 2010 : 13:38:05
quote:
Originally posted by Hoondatha
Absolutely yes. MarkusTay and I and others have expounded on that in this and other scrolls; essentially, magic makes possible modern force mixes (including long-range artillery fire and the need to guard against it) in a "medieval" setting.
Two examples of heavy magic use in battles spring to mind. The first is the "March to Extinction" detailed in the Netheril boxed set: forty or fifty thousand humans from the then-very-young nation of Netheril against several million orcs in the nearby mountains. The humans were tired of getting hit with hordes every few decades, so they built a series of gates ringing the mountains and used them to cut off all escape. So whenever orcs tried to get out of the mountains, the entire human force could combine to destroy them, and then disperse again to continue hunting down and destroying orc villages.
The other is from Elaine's novel The Floodgate, and is a mass battle between the armies of Mulhorand and Halruaa. Halruaa is on the defensive, strategically surprised, and massively outnumbered... and they wipe the floor with the Mulhorandi. One memorable spell combo slays thousands of Mulhorandi soldiers, pulls their blood into a gigantic elemental, and then animates their skeletons. And then later we get an equally-enormous roc made of fire that destroys the elemental and takes out even more thousands of Mulhorandi.
As for sizes of hordes, Fall of Myth Drannor notes that the horde that destroyed the city was around 250,000 strong, and that it was small to tiny compared to most hordes. The thing that made it deadly was its genius generals, its previously-unheard of level of organization (it was an army, not a horde), and a comparatively high percentage of "things worse than orcs" (ogres, gnolls, mezzoloths, etc.). I made some notes years back about the estimated sizes of Myth Drannor's army in return; I'll see if I can't hunt those down when I get home.
Lovely! I once tried to estimate the forces of Myth Drannor too.
Could one of the hallowed scribes here point me to other scrolls regarding the wars in the Realms? |
| Hoondatha |
Posted - 21 Jul 2010 : 13:28:30
Absolutely yes. MarkusTay and I and others have expounded on that in this and other scrolls; essentially, magic makes possible modern force mixes (including long-range artillery fire and the need to guard against it) in a "medieval" setting.
Two examples of heavy magic use in battles spring to mind. The first is the "March to Extinction" detailed in the Netheril boxed set: forty or fifty thousand humans from the then-very-young nation of Netheril against several million orcs in the nearby mountains. The humans were tired of getting hit with hordes every few decades, so they built a series of gates ringing the mountains and used them to cut off all escape. So whenever orcs tried to get out of the mountains, the entire human force could combine to destroy them, and then disperse again to continue hunting down and destroying orc villages.
The other is from Elaine's novel The Floodgate, and is a mass battle between the armies of Mulhorand and Halruaa. Halruaa is on the defensive, strategically surprised, and massively outnumbered... and they wipe the floor with the Mulhorandi. One memorable spell combo slays thousands of Mulhorandi soldiers, pulls their blood into a gigantic elemental, and then animates their skeletons. And then later we get an equally-enormous roc made of fire that destroys the elemental and takes out even more thousands of Mulhorandi.
As for sizes of hordes, Fall of Myth Drannor notes that the horde that destroyed the city was around 250,000 strong, and that it was small to tiny compared to most hordes. The thing that made it deadly was its genius generals, its previously-unheard of level of organization (it was an army, not a horde), and a comparatively high percentage of "things worse than orcs" (ogres, gnolls, mezzoloths, etc.). I made some notes years back about the estimated sizes of Myth Drannor's army in return; I'll see if I can't hunt those down when I get home. |
| Jakuta Khan |
Posted - 21 Jul 2010 : 11:01:16
For me, definately a big "YES"
the shadovar army for example, sports regular troops with minimum 1 level of sorcerer.
Just imagine all of your troops being able to cast 3+ magic missiles in a mass battle....
regular rank & file troops drop like crazy before even getting in touch with the enemy, and this is only small 1st level spells... |
| Zireael |
Posted - 21 Jul 2010 : 10:44:26
And my friends said there are no huge armies in the Realms. I'll have to direct them to this scroll.
On topic - what do you think about Aglarond's victories over Thay in the 2ed? Or about Netheril vs. Cormyr in 4e? Is magic really that important for winning wars in the Realms? |
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 21 Jul 2010 : 08:27:25
quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden
Yes...I have to agree...these numbers are HUGE!
Most had to have come from the Upper Dark...are there any references anywhere on what strengths of the domains are that lay beneath the Small Teeth?
EDIT: Also, are these the total populations...or the actual military fighting members of these races?
The numbers in Lands of Intrigue are what is "included in the forces." Although this may cover some non-combattants, it certainly does not include the full population.
Some other numbers - at the outset of his campaign against Shou Lung, Yamun Khahan's horde counted something like three hundred thousand warriors. Shou Lung's armed forces were greater in number.
The Battle of the Bones saw about the same number of goblinoids ("The host included nigh unto 200,000 goblins, tens of thousands of affiliated orcs and kobolds, and a few thousand hobgoblins leading detachments of goblins or orcs."; Elminster's Ecologies, Appendix 1, p. 10) facing off against around 140,000 humans and demihumans.
Orc hordes might be even more numerous. |
| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 21 Jul 2010 : 00:15:25
Yes...I have to agree...these numbers are HUGE!
Most had to have come from the Upper Dark...are there any references anywhere on what strengths of the domains are that lay beneath the Small Teeth?
EDIT: Also, are these the total populations...or the actual military fighting members of these races? |
| Jakuta Khan |
Posted - 20 Jul 2010 : 17:09:26
just have to throw this,
these numbers presented leave obould many arrows look like a small child, assuming he only had 30.000 troops and three to four dozen frost giants...
I just want to imagine what alone this army, after 14 yrs of preparation, including sufficient hobgoblins to even guide all the gobbos and kobolds efficiently could have done to the region.
not to mention almost 5000 ogres together with 45 hill giants...
45 companies of 100 ogres each, led by a hill-giant and a dozen hobgoblins?
Man these are dreams coming true!!
not to forget their support from the twin towers of eternal eclypse |
| Jakuta Khan |
Posted - 20 Jul 2010 : 17:00:11
They are from "lands of Intrigue" 2e, Page 59 under the entry "sythillisian empire"
according to the size of the small teeth, this makes me shudder with the potential numbers of humanoids lurking in the orsraun mts. or other larger mountains.
Especially since the small teeth were not famous for being "overpacked" with humanoids earlier.... |
| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 20 Jul 2010 : 16:49:35
where are those numbers from? What book? |
| Jakuta Khan |
Posted - 20 Jul 2010 : 13:42:04
only numbers I have seen were for the sythillisian empire of the small teeth.
30.000 kobolds
24.000 goblins
10.000 hobgoblins !!!!!!!!!!!!
4.800 ogres
45 Hill Giants
this was the original army that attacke in 1370, numbers of later on not found yet. |
| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 19 Jul 2010 : 22:21:20
Many thanks MT! |
| Markustay |
Posted - 19 Jul 2010 : 17:36:46
quote:
Originally posted by capnvan
Edit: And MT, sorry if I'm stepping on your toes. I'm just concerned that Alaundo, the Sage, Wooly etc. have expressed their uncertainty about what would be appropriate for CK to link to. I know that you, of all people, having gone through the debacles with your wonderful map series, are acting in good faith. 
First, if they feel it is inappropriate, they can delete my post, or at least the link (after which I will probably - if I remember - pull it down off my photobucket).
Second, I used to post things similar to that (entire pages from old MM's sometimes) on the WotC site itself, and they never bothered me about it. The difference here being they own the material, so posting it on their own site might be something they are less-likely to find issue with.
Either way, I felt it was better to be up-front with what I was doing, rather then have them think I am mailing PDF sourcebooks to people wholesale. That particular page was from a scan of my own physical source, but I do own many sourcebooks on PDF that I purchased from Paizo, and they can check Paizo's records to confirm that.
I'd rather be honest and get smacked, then accused of something less respectable.
Besides, I think some of the designers that hangout in these hallowed halls may have also been unaware of that list, and may find it helpful that I posted it here. At least, that is my hope. |
| Kentinal |
Posted - 19 Jul 2010 : 16:35:02
Tactics are always a factor of foe and terrain.
In forest area even skirmishers could be effective against an orc horde, kill more of them before you die. It is always a number game, send 500 to stop/delay at a bridge or fort knowing they will die but buy time.
Clearly a massed organized force going against a party of Wizards clearly not the best tactic. Mass effect spells (and there are many) makes a tight group less likely to win and clearly could lose more then they kill.
There again even depleting the Wizards spells could be a tactic, it depends on plan for overall success.
A battle does not matter - you can lose many as long as you win the war.
|
| Hoondatha |
Posted - 19 Jul 2010 : 15:06:37
I think Markus has a good point, but I think there are also times when you would see the sort of tight-rank, mass formations that were common on Earth for so long. For that matter, we have seen them in Realms fiction (Cormyr vs the Magelords' undead horde), and the reason is simply that against certain types of foes, that kind of formation is invaluable.
A line of skirmishers isn't going to do anything against an orc horde except die. They aren't even going to slow them down. If you're going to take on huge numbers of enemies that really want to roll over you, you need to have numbers of your own and tight ranks, and preferably lots of magic.
I'd imagine that there would be a number of different types of warfare, each depending on the opponent. City-states would fight each other differently than nations, and both would fight differently than they would against magic-poor hordes. And then some groups would prefer to maintain their tight ranks even when fighting other magic-rich groups, and would just mix large number of wizards and priests into the ranks to provide cover. I think that would be the most powerful type of formation, but since you'd need enough wizards to both protect your people and to go after the enemy's wizards, I doubt many cultures could actually do it properly. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 19 Jul 2010 : 05:23:09
Since it is a page from an old source, and doesn't really contain any lore beyond city statistics, and it is 2 editions out-of-date, I don't 'think' posting it should be a problem.
Cormyr's Military |
| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 19 Jul 2010 : 03:24:31
I actually don't have that 2e book...care to share in a PM? Maybe here? |
| Markustay |
Posted - 19 Jul 2010 : 00:20:32
Was trying to find some info on Cormyr last night, and did something I always neglect to do when researching - look at the cover of the product!
In the 2e Cormyr supplement, on the back cover, you will find troops-counts for the major settlements within Cormyr. 
That's just standing-army, and there is probably quite a large number of militia that can be called up (and was, during the crusade), and all of the nobles have 'house troops' (although many lesser, poorer noble houses probably have barely enough to be considered a 'bodygaurd'), which the crown can also call upon in times of war through scutage (Shield tax). Some of the more powerful noble families - like the Royal families - practically have private armies.
So, although most of the noble-troops aren't included, that gives you a good idea of what and how much is stationed where.
I also noted a couple of locales I hadn't placed before.
Must check more 'covers' from now on. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 17 Jul 2010 : 20:00:41
Yup.
And I think Dalor is onto something; much like our modern militarys, foot-soldiers are becoming obsolete. Specially trained soldiers (like Harpers and High Knights  ) for things like infiltrations and intelligence-gathering, and Mages as WMDs, seem more the norm. It would be counter-intuitive to spend a lot of Gold on building a massive army that was forced to stay tightly-packed just because of its size. As a table-top miniatures player as well, I know a little something about using specific (loose) formations when Mages are about.
So, even though the Realms appear to be less-civilized then Earth cultures in many ways, the truth is that they are equal to, or even surpass, us thanks to magic.
I also have my theories about non-humans affecting human culture as well - dwarves and elves are probably why their metallurgy is so advanced, and their 'bronze age', if they ever had one, was extremely short.
Magic also helps with the advancement of the medical sciences - who needs and X-ray or a cat-scan when you have scrying and 'heal-all' spells. Realmsians seem to have a much greater knowledge of biology and how the natural world works then the folks of our own medieval era.
So when someone says that the realms are 'medieval', that's actually pretty far from the truth. Just the equality shown women proves that.
I read a pretty good yarn years ago (I forget the title), and although it was meant as light-comedy, it made an interesting point. The main character was one of those 'Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court' types, and when he got to the villain's lair, he was very surprised to find an elevator and electric lighting inside. The female lead (who was from this alternate fantasy world) said "Electricity? Sure, we've had that for years, but the people who tried to promote it were driven off. Why would any sane person want that stuff crawling around inside their walls?"
The point: just because something 'took off' here, doesn't mean it would have been popular somewhere else. I think the Realms could be more advanced then Earth scientifically, just because the cultures are much older. Two things prevent that - magic makes certain types of science redundant, and the nature of Realmspace doesn't allow tech above steam-level.
Anyhow, I went off on a tangent again - I just wanted to say that Dalor's observation of realms armies makes more sense to me then anything I've seen. You build them really big, and all you do is give some mages an easy target. |
| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 17 Jul 2010 : 02:33:41
Aye, Gold and Glory isn't so bad...and it did at least give me an idea years ago of what size mercenary companies usually were.
Heck, in Europe, mercenary armies were often quite large enough to nearly be strong enough to tackle national armies...if they weren't handled properly.
It seems in the Forgotten Realms, there is so much magic that if your army is too big it is only a target for a wizard with an assortment of evasive magics to protect him while he deals out severe damage with his simple wand of fireballs! |
| Hoondatha |
Posted - 16 Jul 2010 : 13:42:59
It's definitely one of the weaker Realms products, especially compared to some of the other early FR books (like Dwarves Deep) that it came out in sequence with. But it's not a bad product, and there's always bits and pieces that are of interest even if you don't use any of the full-up merc companies. |
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 16 Jul 2010 : 12:32:53
quote:
Originally posted by Zireael
Gold & Glory is for download on Wizards site - thus my question - is it any good?
It's OK-ish, I think. I have not used it often for gaming purposes. Done in the style of the Ospreys series military reference books. It was interesting to see a number of mercenary organisations described to a bit of detail. One thing I had some reservations about was that, in my view, there was a disproportionate number of "exotic" mercenary bands (monster-centered, etc.), but that's a minor quibble. I got over it through the realisation that even Gold and Glory covers only a limited number, and if you're covering a limited number, you might just as well go for the flashiest ones.
But, given that it's available for free on the Wizards site - you can just download it and see if you like it . There's simply no reason not to. |
| Zireael |
Posted - 16 Jul 2010 : 11:51:17
quote:
Originally posted by capnvan
quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden
Well, I will just estimate based on the books I have then.
Thanks for the input all...
Dalor, there's always Gold & Glory, which, while it's only about mercenary companies, might give you a place to start. Hordes of Dragonspear is basically a Battlesystem module.
Other than that, I think you're on your own. And I've found that many sources can be contradictory - most notably accounts of the size of the Cormyrean military, for me, at least. I suspect that in part that was left to the DM as a design decision - that way it's harder for your resident lore jockey to say, "Hey, there couldn't be that many Purple Dragons chasing us!"
Good luck!
Gold & Glory is for download on Wizards site - thus my question - is it any good? |
| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 16 Jul 2010 : 07:33:31
Well, I will just estimate based on the books I have then.
Thanks for the input all... |
| Brace Cormaeril |
Posted - 15 Jul 2010 : 19:28:52
quote:
Originally posted by capnvan
quote:
Originally posted by Brace Cormaeril
quote:
Originally posted by Thauramarth
quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden
Sure...
I have the Grey Box, the 2e Hardback book (can't recall name off hand) and several 3e sources...but I was wondering if anyone here had compiled anything or if there was actually something published.
This is the Forgotten Realms Adventures hardback we are talking about, right? I can only speak with some certainty with regard to 1E and 2E products. There has not been a specific volume dealing with the military strengths of nations/cities. For mercenaries, however, there was Gold and Glory. The second edition supplement The Horde Campaign contains information on Yamun Khahan's horde, as well as some of his opponents (Shou Lung, Thay, Rashemen, the Army of the Alliance).
How does Cormyr manage to maintain it's military acumen? It seems to *very* infrequently flex it's military muscle.
Very infrequently? Just within the last few years (pre-Spellplague) you've had the Gondegal uprising, the takeover of Tilverton, the crusade against the Horde, and the Death of the Dragon war. The latter two, in particular, meant a lot of casualties and rebuilding of the force, IIRC.
In addition, of course, you've got an active patrolling schedule - the frontiers on the Stonelands, the Vast Swamp/Sembia, and to the west of the High Horn all need to be patrolled on a regular and recurring basis. And, while much of the land is pacified, Cormyr is not without internal threats from the occasional brigand and monster as well, necessitating a need for regular Purple Dragon patrols within the realm as well, as we know from some of Ed's replies.
In other words, the Purple Dragons have hardly been hanging about the barracks for decades. If anything, they're probably some of the most seasoned professional soldiers around.
Edit: And Dalor got there before me!
Cool, I was probably thinking a little too in-line with the real world. The Unites States has been in a state of perpetual war since it's founding. I don't see Cormyr being a imperialistic. So, I thought maybe, like a lot of European states, Cormyr's military might be (sent) to train/reinforce other militaries.
I have fond memories of 'The Hoard' box, and the Battlesystem rules. Whem both were new, a Cormyrian lancer of mine, (Unearthed Arcana cavalier/Paladin/1.5e) Jon Holyblade (lol, what a name...) smashed through the Khahan's infantry, and obliterated a powerful, CE mystic attached to the Hoard. It was paticularly awesome, considering that as soon as Jon claimed his holy-sword, he never, *ever* seemed to encounter CE beings.
(Those familiar with 1e-2e holy swords will recognize how my DM was being quite the jerk, lol. As they were, in those days.) |
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