Soldier Classifications

There are within the imperial trust, 4 somewhat loose classifications of soldiers. While each category is extremely broad and varies widely from world to world, there are institutional similarities, and the laws of the trust recognize each as a distinct classification. The classifications are, in increasing order of skill, militia, Planetary defense forces, Guard, and Grenadiers. Each step up sees an increase in skill and equipment quality, but a decrease in numbers. It is a common practice on many worlds for each grade to use the one below as a recruiting pool, promoting the best and brightest from their old unit into a new one, though this is by no means universal. It is worth noting that each world's classifications are relative to their own troops, an avernite pdf trooper may be more skilled and better equipped than some guardsmen for example.

The classifications are in many ways an outgrowth of the imperial guard forces and officers the trust inherited in its founding, though it has evolved substantially since then. Nevertheless, the four grades of troops remain a useful shorthand for troop quality and a meaningful enough distinction for legislative purposes. the four troop grades are listed below.

## Militia

by orders of magnitude the most common type of soldier, the Militia is made up of effectively the entire adult population of the trust. By law, every trust citizen is expected to be ready and able to defend themselves and their home should the need arise. Trained to an adequate standard and equipped with basic armaments, Militia armies are a key asset in the trusts defensive strategies. While lacking combat experience, and often possessing only a theoretical understanding of war, Militia units are nevertheless often willing to fight to the death for their homes and can be mobilized in place on short notice. The Militia system in effect means every trust city and hive is garrisoned by a large if somewhat unskilled army that can be mobilized in hours, freeing up professional soldiers for other duties and ensuring any attack will meet serious resistance. During defensive wars, Militia formations will mostly serve to hold ground, both buying time for reinforcements to arrive and freeing up more skilled units by securing retaken positions. Militia formations are not used in offensive wars, as even where the trust desperate enough to contemplate such an action, the bottleneck of transport capacity makes using such tactics deeply impractical.

## PDF

An outgrowth of the old PDF units, the trusts Planetary defense forces are the bottom rung of the trusts professional military. However, unlike the infamously unskilled PDF of antiquity, they must meet minimum standards on par with most imperial guard regiments in the old empire. Typically equipped with impalers and carapace armor, though there is significant variance. on most worlds, the PDF is designed mostly for efficiency, maximizing the total military power of the organization at the expense of its force concentration capabilities, as such it tends to favor massed usage of comparatively cheap vehicles and weapons. The ubiquitous Militia training establishing a firm foundation for further training and allows for easy identification of those with a talent for war. Despite their name, they are not a purely defensive force, and when the trust goes to war to either relive a besieged world or invade its enemies, PDF formations will be brought along to fill out their numbers. However, the name is not totally inaccurate, as most worlds organize their planetary defense forces as a primarily defensive military. While fairly skilled, many PDFs suffer from brain drain, as their best and brightest are often recruited into their world's local guard forces.

## Guard

The trust's guard formations are designed with the assumption they will be sent far afield. As such, the focus is shifted somewhat from overall effectiveness to force concentration, allowing a greater amount of military power to be carried in the same amount of transport capacity. One can often come to understand the focus of a world's military by looking at its guard regiments. many more martially inclined worlds equip their guard units to high standards, ensuring they have a large amount of more advanced vehicles and weaponry, with some going so far as to issue pulse or volkolite weapons as standard issue. Many Guard formations benefit from using the local PDF as a recruiting pool, with PDF forces who distinguish themselves being recruited into the guard.

## Grenadier

further emphasizing force concentration, Grenadier regiments are the most elite armies that can be produced en mass by any given world. When the trust marches to war, the elite Grenadier units will often provide much of their forces killing power. Often either trained from birth or recruited from the very best of the guard, Trust Grenadiers are some of the best purely human infantry in the known galaxy and are equipped with the most advanced weapons and vehicles the trust can produce in meaningful numbers. Many worlds clade their elites in power armor, and equip them with advanced weapons such as neutron weapons or rail-rifles. The category of Grenadier is the category with the largest variance in quality, primarily due to the overwhelming advantage power-armored formations such as the helguard and Jotun elite posses over their carapace armored peers.