Records: the Creation of the Royal Arms (RA)

## **The Reach of the English Crown**

Getting involved in a land war in England was a little like a land war in asia, but with more boats. It would seem that England's island-based isolation should make it safer and more defensible, but instead, it means that attacks could come at any time and defenders could only chasing as far as the shores if the attackers boats were still intact. The enemy slips away, and now any counterattack is going to take ages to assemble – and the enemy is expecting it.

That was exactly the issue with celts coming across from northern Europe, the Angles and the Saxons from the Germanic areas, the Vikings from Scandinavia, the Normans from northwest France, and so on.

Just as the Chinese built wall after ineffective wall against the Mongols, the channel only served to keep the pests to a minimum, but did little to deter determined foes.

This created the web of politics and conflict that followed the region into the late 14th century. England, at this point, was beset on all sides: Ireland to the west, Scotland to the north, the Empire due east, France and Aragon to the south. And that was to say nothing of the local baronage, who had been killing each other for time immemorial and often amounted to little more than brigands behind thick walls.

On the surface, that's what the Crown of England was now planning against. The reality, however, was that Prince Rick had brought the Plantagenets as a whole in on threats of a *Foreign* source that were simply incalculable.

### **Organization and Training**

The leader of the military was going to be professionalized. At the highest levels, it would be a Plantagenet, but it was the duty of the Plantagenets to be the best at what they had to do. In this respect, they were moving away from the traditional title and role of the Lord High Constable of England , and recasting the role of military coordinator as the *Secretary of the Royal Arms.*

There were plans to overhaul the Cabinet in general, in this title role would be a part of that *new* Cabinet. There was a possibility, however unlikely, that a non-family member could advance in rank from footman all the way to the Royal Council. The professionalism was *that important*.

As identified by the *Council for Military Affairs*, in addition to the two agency-level organizations already created, the Royal Arms were forming four distinct branches:

* **The Academy of Royal Arms** (established 1376)
* **The Sergeants-at-Arms** (established 1189)
* **The Chartering of the *Royal Army***
* **The Chartering of the *Royal Guard***
* **The Chartering of the *Royal Navy***
* **The Chartering of the *Royal Marines***

Instead of creating every unit by scratch, in its entirety, they created a training cadre that would regularly cycle through new recruits, then plug them in as needed.

The officers had to know the system inside out. The officers had to lead from the front; and considering they would be asking young men to train and fight unlike most any force ever had outside the Spartans, the officers needed the chance to condition to the point they could run the same obstacles *backwards*. THIS would create credibility and authority when the men were miserable without ever having faced a single foe.

Recruitment was already underway.

**Recognizing the Honours**

At the time, showing a unit’s colours were practical tools for rallying troops in the battlefield and not quite something for displaying the unit's past distinctions. Most of the units of the day, though, were a noble’s temporary army, very objective based, and generally disbanded after completion (or failure). For a standing army, the sense of progression, a sense of history, a way to state earned honours was critical to morale.

To that end, King Edward created military decorations for his troops, as well as symbology, heraldry and rank insignia. There would be rank insignia for field operations, to be worn on armor. Barracks uniforms (class B) and formal uniforms (class A) would include rank and military decoration, with class A formals using medals and class B using ribbons.

The honors would include combat service, meritorious service, gallantry and heroism recognition above and beyond; non-combat heroism; service and training awards, commendation and achievement medals, guard ribbons, personal development, unit citations, good conduct, and specific campaign medals.

There would even be a possibility of legacy honors for actions prior to the Royal Army, with board consensus – like a campaign medal for those who might be in the RA that also fought in the war in Ireland, the Hotspur-led chase in Scotland, or the battles of Chester, Windsor or Wales.

## **Creating a Salute**

In creating a brotherhood and camaraderie among the military, formally instituted a custom not institutionalized since the Romans: *the Salute*.

Unlike the fist-over-heart of the Roman legions, this was an evolution of the knightly culture of raising the visor of the armor upon meeting a fellow knight. In the UK RA, it would be touching the visor with the lead finger, palm down, wrist straight. It would be a form of respect and salutation, with a definite etiquette and protocol of when salutes were made and to whom.

## **The Unique Touch**

King Edward, now as "enhanced" as Prince Rick, had taken on the organization and training of the first Royal Army regiment directly.

The perception was that there was no greater single organizer in England, now or ever. This helped recruitment considerably, who now had the option to choose from the occasional professional man-at-arms, the more usual experienced part-time farmer/soldier, or even rafts of Englishmen that had zero prior experience in combat.

Everybody had to pass an interview, and there many rejected with great personal skill, presence, ferocity and experience – and for a variety of reasons. Some of it was lack of discipline, some was potential for insubordination, some was just Borderline Personality Disorder.

This would be a professional fighting force that would undergo a year of training before they ever saw combat. They would be taught to read and write, to think critically and ethically, to be inculcated with the ability to turn on murder and turn it off. They would do nothing but train, condition, exercise and execute their orders. Like himself, this would become the deadliest, most-feared military unit on earth. These weren’t high standards, these were *Royal* standards.

Edward built the base army, but the Secretaries were taking over based on his example.

Of course, not mentioned was the SNS enhancement. This created an officer and NCO corps that went from civilian or part to professional soldier *phenomenally* fast. There was some rumor and speculation that it was magically enhanced, but that was never confirmed.

At this point, considering the instability in Wales, Scotland and Ireland… considering the friction from France and Castile – creating the first regiment and building on it was an element of monumental importance… *but it had to be done right*.

## **Looking to the Future**

There was a strong emphasis on mobility, expressed mostly for the Army. The war wagons were made English infantry the new world standard.

The firepower, both personal arms and artillery, was leaping ahead by several hundred years. King Edward knew they could do more – he'd seen what the Royal Order of Merlin could do – but Richard was having none of it. There was already a saturation of magic in the logistics chain; he was not releasing direct magical weaponry to be the first way the world interacted with magic.

As much as Edward argued with his son, he also respected that Richard himself carried the memory of being King first, king longer, and king under constant duress. There was wisdom in his son's compassion. Also, there was the whole *saving his life* thing.

### **The*Royal Army***

* It was inevitable that the Royal Arms (RA) would be synonymous with the ***Royal Army***. This was the bulk of the muscle, the projected force, and the instrument of policy activated when diplomacy failed. The Army would redefine the infantry role, the nature of mobility, and role of firearms on the battlefield.

### **The *Royal Guard***

* The Guard, as the name implied, were the defensive specialists of the Royal Army. Trained to be army first, and specially trained to be law enforcement and counter-siege second, the ***Royal Guard*** would take the roles common to sheriffs and garrisons now.

### **The *Royal Navy***

* The Navy would operate the ships and the guns. If they knew how to fight, great, but no fist would ever do the damage a cannon could. Therefore, the ***Royal Navy*** would specialize in the operation of vessels unlike anything the world had seen, would bring firepower to ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore batteries.

### **The *Royal Marines***

* The nautical extension of the Army, these were troops that had training as soldiers, but specialized in maritime deployment. Whether ship-to-ship, over-the-beach, or up the river, the ***Royal Marines*** would see some of the fiercest fighting on the planet

### **Recruitment for the foreign contingents**

* The ARA began recruiting in Calais, Bordeaux and Bayonne for local Sergeants-at-Arms and Royal Guard battalions. All of these were major trouble spots, with major French threat, and needed major help. The plan was to stabilize the defense with Guard, then grow into offensive-capable forces.
* Regarding Aquitaine, and potentially other English-managed areas, there were also questions regarding chain-of-command, resources and so on – especially if Aquitaine would be it's own principality in perpetuity, or more, wound up becoming its own kingdom under Richard. That option wasn't just on the table, it was growing...