Stonehearth Army

## **Projecting Force**

The well-equipped soldier is the backbone upon which the Arms of Stonehearth rests.

The exceptional magic has created means by which those soldiers can be trained, conditioned, armed and armored far beyond the norm. The per-soldier expense is *significant*, but the result of the investment is that each soldier has an impact far beyond the norm, even for a well-paid equivalent professional force. That force multiplication is the key difference.

A standing army was still enough of a rarity in Toril that mercenaries and Companies of Adventurers were commonplace, legal and a status symbol. The typical makeup started with the nuclear unit of a man-at-arms, a squire and a page, and grew from there depending on the area of operation.

The Marquisate, with 4 vassal counties and 9 baronies, was a middle power by geographic size (not counting the Principality of former Netheril), but middle powers themselves were rare enough to be notable. A middle power with a 11-Battalion standing army of professional soldiers was unheard of in Faerûn; most relied on a reserve army led by professional companies due to the economics. The commercial success of House Stonehearth got this professional army in the door, the fact that they now had a mature tax system kept it going.

### The Individual Soldier

It all starts with the individual **Infantry Soldier**. This person is recruited based on desire, and when an experienced fighter enlists, all the better. The initial, magically-enhanced training and conditioning alone creates a skilled fighter. The issued equipment raises their lethality and staged deployment ensures increased survivability and efficacy before they face significant threat.

The length of initial enlistment is 6-years, ensuring each soldier has ample training time, but also returns the investment by serving the Marquisate long enough to recoup the cost. Over the course of a typical 6-month deployment cycle through their Operational Area (OA), a soldier's Company will cycle through three 2-month blocs:

* *Forward* *patrol duty*, the zone where some Companies face regular (sometimes daily) action against troll armies and other formidable foes.
* *Territorial* *patrol duty*, the zone where the threat is substantially lower.
* *Recuperative* *duty*: the zone that's usually the battalion's base of operations (i.e.; the fortress by the main population center). This is a 2-month training and recovery cycle, where additional skills are added, injuries recovered, and opportunities afforded.

### The Table of Organization & Equipment

The Stonehearth Arms is a medium-large army against the Faerûn average. Neighboring Cormyr has a significantly larger standing army, and other armies are assembled on a temporary basis that dwarf them both. Strategic planners across the courts of Faerûn refer to the "Stonehearth ratio" – a measure of how many troops it takes to equal one Stonehearth soldier.

Stonehearth soldiers are arranged into squads and the squads into platoons. Those platoons are organized into companies, and the companies into battalions. While a battalion occupies the entire OA, the three duty zones are subdivided into Patrols by Company.

**Squad** (5 soldiers)

* 4 privates
* 1 corporal

**Platoon** (21 soldiers)

* 4 squads
* 1 sergeant

**Company** (213 soldiers)

* 10 platoons
* 2 lieutenants
* 1 captain

**Battalion** (typical configuration)

* Mobile Infantry Company. The MICs are colloquially known as *The Fire Companies*.
* Mobile Infantry Company. MIC mobility comes from horseless, armored war wagons.
* Mobile Infantry Company. The wagons are equipped with mortar and swivel guns.
* **Cavalry Company**. They traveled as light but could switch to heavy cav in 15 minutes.
* **Artillery Company**. The guns can be modified to different configurations in minutes.
* **Logistics Company** (Expeditionary).
* **Command Company**. Includes executive staff and combat service support.

### The Battalions

The 1461 Shadovar-Thultanthar attack reinforced the value of standing armies. It also sparked a call for a second and potential third battalion to form an expeditionary Brigade. The Stonehearth vassals wanted to project a rapid response force against the sustained, surrounding threats *without* losing any defensive power from their garrisons (as they did during the provisional battalions).

Even after the Commonwealth expansion, there were complications to new expeditionary battalions. The money was part of it: there was already an expense of filling out Stonehearth-quality garrison battalions to defend the new Commonwealth partners. There was a desire for more, instantly, but local sovereignty became an issue as negotiations took place how much command authority Commonwealth partners would have over garrisons. Even if the materiel was produced solely by the SMC, who would contribute what percentage of cash for the payroll and maintenance?

* 1st Battalion, Baldur’s Gate (Marquisate Garrison)
* 2d Battalion, North Point (Marquisate Garrison)
* 3d Battalion, Fort East Bend (Expeditionary)
* 4th Battalion, Manchester (Marquisate Vassal Garrison)
* 5th Battalion, Rivergard (Marquisate Garrison)
* 6th Battalion, Adlington (Marquisate Vassal Garrison)
* 7th Battalion, Durham (Marquisate Garrison)
* 8th Battalion, Sambar (Commonwealth Garrison)
* 9th Battalion, Halarahh (Commonwealth Garrison)
* 10th Battalion, Stonegate (Impresk) (Expeditionary)
* 11th Battalion, Shadowbane (Principality Garrison)
* 12th Battalion, *In Formation* (Expeditionary)

Every company, in every battalion, had an individual identity. The battalion would carry a theme and each company bore a variation on the motif, displayed on morale patches that augmented the House escutcheon of where the battalion was based.

2d Battalion, for instance, carried a fire theme due to their regular contact with trolls. The Mobile Infantry Companies were named Firestorm, Blaze, and Flamestrike. This was done for the soldiers, but it was later discovered the fire themes played directly on troll perceptions. It was 2d Battalion that sparked *all* the MICs to be shorthanded to "Fire Companies."

### Battalion Support

The expansion of the battalions was contingent on the support of the people they'd be defending. Initial capital and formation costs were subsidized by Stonehearth, with each jurisdiction contributing a minimum to recruitment, maintenance and payroll after establishment (and pension for those that honorably completed their assigned tours).

For baronies, facilities included a keep to garrison one company at or near the baronial seat.

For counties and Commonwealth partners, requirements were a keep to host a garrisoned battalion. Garrison battalions would maintain the bi-monthly patrol schedule for their area and would otherwise be under local control. Stonehearth could commandeer battalions for contingencies if necessary.

Training was spread across various Stonehearth facilities, but the bulk of it was conducted at the College of Arms complex, just a little south of North Point Keep.

### Battalion Logistics

Logistical challenges were some of the major stumbling blocks to waging war, and the Zhentarim were great examples (good and bad). They were well-practiced in deploying units far from a base for an extended period, but half their practices simply weren’t sustainable as they depleted local resources and political support. Still, keeping supply lines open was a tactical key to strategic survival.

After the massive success of the Navy's *portal ships*, and for the Expeditionary Battalions, the Army was looking to duplicate the capacity on land. That they did, with a similar principal of a portal that could be dialed in to any location and sustained long enough to get the battalion through a temporary gate. How many times they could make those portals (before returning home) was a closely guarded secret, but it meant that resupply or retreat were always possible.

## Branching Off

Soldiers who complete the 6-year tour have options to transfer to special units – and those special units will often recruit heavily those completing their 6 years. The biggest recruiters, however, are the Fire Companies themselves, who want to keep those experienced fighters. At this point, the Fire Companies often offer commission to officer status, higher education and so on.

Wherever these solders go, including retirement, they retain their issued armor with the proviso they aren't allowed to sell it. If the retirees agree to reserve status, they are allowed to retain their weapons under the same proviso.

The *other* recruiters include the Stonehearth Guard, the Marines or the Rangers. It *is* possible to sign up for the Guard, but recruits must *first* complete a 2-year active duty patrol rotation, with an additional year to take place during their remain four years. The marines and rangers each have 4-year tours of duty, and from these two groups, the Sergeants-at-Arms are recruited.

The progress facilitating this capacity can be followed in the Roll of Years, or a summary skimmed in the Brief History of the Stonehearth Arms.

### **In-Battalion Alt-Duty**

For every Infantry soldier from the Fire Companies, there were five other jobs that required a slightly different skill set. This included the closely related cavalry, the artillery, the maintenance and logistics specialists, cooks, arcane support, administration, tactical intelligence and command. The cavalry was usually recruited from within Fire Companies (after they'd survived a 6-month deployment cycle), while the artillery and other were so specialized that basic training was the same, but the task took recruits on a different path.

#### **Wagon Drivers**

The magically-powered horseless carriages took practice to drive on a flat road: but the Arms piloted their armored vehicles through rough terrain. When they parked and let out the soldiers, they didn't sit idling behind the wheel, they became artillery experts, manning the mortar and swivel cannons to support their folk.

#### **Cavalry**

**Stonehearth Cavalry** from the central Sword Coast was mostly equine, but it varied depending on what was better suited to the environment they were fighting. This required become an expert rider. Even the single-soldier logistics was complicated – and exceptionally expensive – as every horseman utilized bags of holding for heavy armor transport. They traveled as light cavalry, but could quickly re-equip to heavy cavalry when the fight called for close encounters.

#### **Artillery**

The cannons were the backbone of the battalion. For as powerful as dragoons and musketeers were, properly placed artillery would destroy 10 times the enemy. This was similar artillery to cannons on the Navy ships: booming, all-magic weapons that obliterated targets. *Unlike* the nautical cannons, however, the terrestrial cannons also operated as howitzers, and like the wagon's mortars, were able precisely place indirect fire.

The direct fire infantry support was often less damaging but based on the visual psychology, more feared. In this role, the shots could be configured in spread and power. The well-practiced gunnery teams could fire an average of 1 shot every six seconds once they'd dialed in a target. If placing siege, such as in the case of the famous "making the hill disappear" action, the configuration gave 1 shot every fifteen seconds with larger, more penetrating, higher-explosive shot.

Modern Stonehearth terrestrial artillery, similar to the naval, no longer required ammunition nor propellant, now operating akin to a Directed Energy Weapon (not unlike an ultra-empowered fireball). The cannons are powered by arcane crystals, and the time between shots during a battery is charging and configuring the gun. The logistics teams are capable of making additional crystals in the field, from nearly any dirt or stone (though the denser the stone, the more efficient, higher-power crystals they can produce). With minor repair capacity, this gives artillery teams an effective unlimited time in the field.

The typical battalion's cannon company operated 1 cannon per squad, amounting to 40 cannon for the company. Combined with the mortars and swivel guns mounted on the infantry wagons, the amount of fire support behind the infantry would wipe an swath of area clean of life – or undeath – in mere moments.

#### **Logistics**

Wagon-drivers, artillery, maintenance and repair, arcane support, and combat engineering. Heavily cross-trained, and always in extraordinary demand when they got out because of it, the logistics companies were able to staff and run a mobile military city.

#### **Guard**

The **Guard** were "low-mobility" prestige. They were required to do 2 years in Fire Companies (collateral duty didn't qualify), with an additional 6-month rotation through the field just before their final six-months on-post. The Guard didn't organize in full battalions, instead usually stationed in a Company (light, medium or heavy) that protected a specific site, zone or facility. All the guard were trained in animal ridership, able to respond quickly to anywhere in their jurisdiction.

The Guard were a more recent expansion of a concept the Arms had been experimenting with since the very beginning. For a most of Stonehearth history, the basic soldier was cross-trained to serve as gendarmeries, and were the police force as they rotated through their Recuperation Zone. While this kept the soldiers busy, it didn't provide enough downtime for true recuperation and decompression – and often resulted in interrupting extended investigations. Creating the Guard solved both those problems.

There was one other quiet advantage to the personnel expense of a dedicated Guard: as areas got used to the capacity and competence of new dedicated defenders, Stonehearth could deploy the local Battalion downrange, either wholly or provisionally. This would be a massive help to expeditionary battalions as they ramped up to take down the constant threats to the Sword Coast.

#### **Individual Firepower**

It's been said the 1465 creation of the "Wand of Casting" has been behind the Stonehearth scenes for more than a century. That might even be true, but the common release of the arcane technology was a turning point.

It wasn't out two years and the Arms were campaigning to the House seniors that the *first* place those had to be was in the hands of their own troops. So it was: by 1470, military-grade, crystal-powered *Wands of Casting* were issued as sidearms for Stonehearth. This also meant a massive training effort as thousands of soldiers now needed to be instructed in the *Use Magic Device* feat, with the addition of mage hand and magic missile spells to cast through it.

### **Post-Battalion Directions**

After the initial 6-year rotation, there are four potential choices for somebody coming from the Fire Companies. Most of these are limited to Infantry soldiers, though a few support soldiers can find their way into equivalent roles (those are rare billets to open).

First, they can choose to stay in the *Infantry*. Their reenlistment durations go in 6 year blocs, but after the first four years of the second tour, they may transfer or retire with honors. Enduring and contributing for their full term guarantees bigger bonuses upon retirement (beyond just more time served for pensions – something the rest of Toril knows little about).

Second, they can apply to the *Stonehearth* *Guard*. The Guard a specialty defense force, having taken over both site security and most personnel protection duties. This includes high-value targets like mythallars and treasuries. A good soldier who has lost a step is often the perfect candidate for the Guard, where they can bring their experience to help minimize violence around civilians. This is not, however, a "retirement" billet – the Guard still face military-grade incursions, but now become the thin blue line against the daily criminal element, and the first line of defense against espionage and terrorism.

Third and Fourth: either the *Stonehearth Marines* or the *Stonehearth Rangers*. For the highly motivated individuals seeking to go above and beyond on a daily basis, the Marines and the Rangers are the epitome of high-risk adventuring for a good cause.

#### **Marines**

An extension and evolutions of the House Guard, a liberty afforded the patriars of Baldur’s Gate, was the Ship’s Guard. For most, these were simply swords on a boat. For Stonehearth, whose high-value shipments were a frequent target from pirates and everybody else, they were highly-paid, highly-trained, highly deadly maritime soldiers. It was this history that eventually led to the current deployment and training cycles as they are today: learn to be a soldier, then learn to apply it over the sea.

These maritime soldiers studied, developed and fought with with the focus learning to neutralize shipborne-complications and even making them work in their favor. Thus was born the concept of marines.

***Stonehearth Marines*** are legally empowered masters-at-arms aboard ships and they retain law enforcement authority when ashore, often acting in defense of port facilities.

Prospective candidates needed to serve two years in the main Arms before they were eligible to test into the Marines. Less than 5% enter this way – most make it full 6 years in the Infantry.

Additionally, the Marines function along the coastline and river banks around North Point. If they can *see* the water, then it's in their OA. The Marines are the premiere commandos of the Stonehearth Arms, over-the-beach raiders that have stopped countless troll incursions while they're still on the north shore beach...

#### **Rangers**

If the Marines are fire and fury over the water, the Rangers are the icy cool, the quiet professionals that get the job done anywhere on Toril (including the water).

This went back nearly the beginning of House Stonehearth, when the Arms needed a light infantry capability, specializing in surveillance and reconnaissance missions. More than just patrols, they needed to track down who was targeting their overland shipments. In a word, they needed ***Rangers***.

The modern Stonehearth rangers tend to recruit soldiers that can endure more, longer, stay stealthy – and still think through the pain. Once they pass selection, they're trained and conditioned to “mountain troop” standards.

The Rangers are deployed to collect clandestine tactical intelligence at every level, from strategic reconnaissance on Warlock's Crypt to tactical intelligence on the long-distance movement of troll armies. The rangers have relieved a great deal of the tactical level duties from the Sergeants-at-Arms, allowing the SA to focus their talents where they can do the most good.

The rangers start with the soldiers’ skill set and patrol experience, then are trained in survival, tracking, hunting and camouflage techniques to comfortably move deep through hostile territory.

If necessary, those rangers had to have the ability to engage and destroy minor targets of opportunity, but on the whole, they needed to be clandestine: able to get in and get out without everyone knowing anyone was ever there.

#### **Sergeants-at-Arms**

The **Sergeants-at-Arms**, or “SA” for short, had been the core of the house guard, the visible bodyguards and highly-trained retainers of the house lords. By that token, where many lords’ guards also acted as their henchman, the Stonehearth iteration had evolved into an extraordinarily capable special operations unit.

The SA performs certain discreet, highly sensitive missions and operations on behalf of the House, functioning as both spies and attachés.

There are three ways into the SA: the *Rangers* (50%), the *Marines* (40%), and *Every Other Way Including Some You Can't Even Imagine* (10%). Those coming from the non-traditional route are usually brought in because of a special or unique skill, and most of the time, it's magically-related.