Ministry of War

"Härskarens vilja ske."

The Ministry of War is an ancient institution stretching the second Aderyn, along with its sisters, the Ministry of Extermination, Intelligence, Expansion, Religion, and Diplomancy. Ran by a series of strategists and elder commanders, its sole duty is to exact Ardeiria's ruler's militant will, while commanding its masses.

Like all of the Ministries, the High General is considered part of a pseudo-nobility, which are used as a sort of auxiliary in the case of treason to replace troublesome nobles.

## History

After his father, Aderyn the First, passed, Emperor Aderyn the Second created the Six Ministries; War, Extermination, Intelligence, Expansion, and Diplomancy. Over the years, they evolved from six, barely relevant organizations to being nearly as important as the Large Three (Vaught, Caer, Kresten.) in terms of power. This happened during Aderyn the Fourth's reign especially, with Extermination encompasing a secondary, Law, as its subsidiary. Those who are not hunters or farmers are commonly employed by one of these in one war or another, though almost always in lower, grunt-like branches.

Up until the Second War, the Ministries were occupied by Royal Enforcers, which prevented House Vaught from retaliating. However, Ardeiria was seen as successfully subjugated after the Wall was closed, and so the officials were allowed to be deposed, as well as the patrols they commanded. Today, they each do the Ruler's Will, which allows the heads not to rely solely on another family's militant training, though they're generally better than the soldiers employed by War, Extermination, and Intelligence.

## Structure

1. High General
2. Blood General (Created during Anneryn's reign by Haerith Vaught.)
3. Knight-Commander/Chancellor
4. Corporal
5. Major
6. Officer
7. Footman
8. Grunt

Of all these positions, Grunt and Footman take up about 80% of the personel combined, while Officer takes 7%. There can only be one High General. Moreover, the 8th, 7th, and 6th positions are practically entirely reserved for the Basic Military, making the Ministry of War the largest Ministry of the six.

## Legions

The Ministry's forces are split into different divisions, or "Legions", based on skill in battle. Since its creation, one of these has been merged; the Sköldbärare (Shieldbearer) legion and Krigare (Warrior) Legion, due to the standard melee soldier using a shield and some other device, most commonly a pike. The remaining legions are the

Ardeirian Jägare Legion: The Ardeirian Jägare (Hunter) legion is formed from marksmen from across the former Kingdom, and make up the backline in many battles. Since marksmanship is a rare trait, they're far from numerous, especially with the mandatory training of horseback riding. These men wear almost entirely white uniforms, their only marks in a deep grey, far from prestigious and meant for blending in with Ardeirian winters and autumns. In the War of Subjugation, most of Taeron's Boys were former members of this Legion.

Trollkarl (Wizard) Legion: Based in near the Heron's Flight, these are commonly the more wealthy in the Wedge who have gotten a grasp on magic, but were refused or chose not to swear themselves to Vauswen's warmage armies. Exceedingly rare, the House of Vauswen have begun getting compensated for every excess wizard given to the Ministry. Few in number and low in prestigious equipment, these men wear blood red robes and are commonly trained in Frostfire magic.

Sköldbärare (Shieldbarer) Legion: The frontline and the second most common of the Ministry's forces,  close behind the Kavalleri, the Sköldbärares are usually those who would rather not hunt, mine, or trade for a living, though they're sometimes minor noble's cousins. These men are also known, informally, as the "Ardeirian Soldiers", and are generally regarded with respect - if only due to their predetermined position of being ahead of the rest of Ardeiria's troops, or at least with the Caer's militia forces. Although the standard outfit includes the Ardeirian Tornsköld (Towershield), troops are allowed to request heavy weapons instead. However, this is a rare happenstance and not enough to warrant changing the Legion's name. All are equipped with decent quality crimson plate and helmets intended to entirely hide identity. Despite its name, experienced members of this Legion are allowed to take to horse (Or Aurochs) with them into combat.

Kavalleri Legion: Created as a subset of the Krigare Legion by Haerith Vaught, and later excluded from the merger to the Shieldbarer Legion for obvious reasons, this is the blanket term for "Cavalry" under the Ministry. Cuirassiers (Kyrassiär), Medium Cavalry (Hackapå), and Hussars (Husar) are all included within this Legion and are placed under one Legion Commander (The same as the others) as well as three Officers for each type of unit. These men are known for their armor and prestige, having been trained longer and harder than most other men in the Ardeirian military. Due to their founder, they wear light, medium, or heavy armor of varying shades of red and the same, uniform winged helm with the face of the diety of their choice replacing a viser entirely. Most commonly, the visage they carry into battle is Ferith, War Made Flesh, or Aderyn I, Greatness Made Flesh.

 File:Ardeirian-Knight.jpg