Armadyl/Third Age Tactics

Armadyl's forces are composed of distinct factions of varying degrees of loyalty. Unlike Saradomin, Armadyl has no interest in enforcing worship, and so a huge part of his army is composed of aviansie who follow him as a war leader without paying attention to his teachings.

## Theme and Terminology

Aviansie are loosely based on the Mongolian (1400AD), Hun (400AD) and Avar (600AD) hordes and empires. They use bird and air force terminology rather than references to horses.

## Technology

Aviansie are not a deeply technological people. Most of their skills are focused on practical survival, crafting simple objects, tents and so on. Their metallurgy is undeveloped by Gielinorian standards but they make up for it in expertise at enchanting, which can produce deadly weapons without an industrial base. This same affinity for enchanting allows them proficiency in the creation of golems and similar tools.

## Military Organisation

Armadyl's forces are split into three distinct factions: the People, the Favoured and the humans.

The People are non-Armadylean aviansie. They follow Armadyl as a war leader, but not as a god, and they largely ignore his teachings and principles. The People outnumber the devout aviansie by about four to one, and so Armadyl cannot afford to exclude them from his forces. The People on Gielinor are organised in the same way as they were on Abbinah. Zu'uks (tribes) of several hundred individuals are led by a kakhan (chieftain). Zu'uks are composed of multiple small and irregular aravaks (families) which double as the smallest unit of military organisation. Multiple zu'uks can be grouped together into armies, although they will only rarely coordinate properly, preferring to act independently within roughly the same area of operations.

The Favoured are devout and loyal Armadylean aviansie. Armadyl has attempted repeatedly to organise the Favoured into coherent military units in imitation of the other gods, but the basic tribal structure keeps re-establishing itself because he is unwilling to force soldiers to separate from their aravaks even during wartime. He has managed to assemble two elite units called keshiks which are composed of orphans, exiles and other aviansie soldiers who do not have a place in the zu'uks. Favoured outside the keshiks are organised along the same lines as the people, but are more willing to listen to Armadyl's strategic direction.

Human armadyleans are organised into part-time militias that defend the region in which they live against attack. They are not a professional standing army and standards and quality of training vary wildly depending on the people who live there.

## Tactics

Aviansie, especially the People, are extremely independent, and do not follow orders well. In general the tribes of the People are left to organise themselves, and given only vague objectives to accomplish. Too often even these vague objectives are not carried out, and the People instead end up raiding and scavenging behind enemy lines. Armadyl has learned to accommodate this behaviour, and depends on his more reliable Favoured to accomplish specific goals while the raiders cut off supply, distract reinforcements and otherwise wreak havoc.

A typical aviansie battle strategy involves making use of their mobility to refuse to be drawn into a pitched battle. They will continually attack, withdraw, outmanoeuvre and harass their foes over days or even weeks. When the enemy are thoroughly disrupted and demoralised, they will launch a devastating surprise strike, preferably under cover of darkness or with some other tactical advantage. They slaughter as much of the enemy force as possible, destroy their supplies, and rapidly retreat, taking as much loot as they can with them.

Where the forces of the other gods are obsessed with capturing and holding territory, aviansie are concerned with nothing more than they can carry, and concentrate their efforts on depleting the enemy force over time. This leaves the human Armadyleans vulnerable in particular, as even the Favoured will retreat and regroup rather than defending a fixed position, abandoning the humans to fend for themselves. It also makes it difficult to defend the farmland that Armadyl hopes to use to feed his people, and over the centuries their lands have been burned again and again, forcing them back into a predatory existence.

On the offensive, however, the aviansie are devastating as they attack seemingly everywhere, burning and looting, forcing the defenders into fortifications which they then bombard from above. Even the other flying races such as icyene and demons cannot reliably engage the aviansie, as their sheer numbers overwhelm them.

On the battlefield aviansie fight primarily as ranged flying cavalry. They have adapted readily to the use of the crossbow, providing them with a reliable weapon that can be fired and reloaded while in flight without obstructing their wings. The Armadylean humans, who are mostly former Zarosian peasants, fight using spear and bow.

## Races

### Aviansie

Armadyl's people, the winged aviansie, form the greater part of his forces. They are strong and fast compared to humans, although not as personally powerful as the icyene. They are fiercely independent, but take personal loyalty very seriously. This results in a high level of discipline as long as they are led by a respected leader. On their homeworld, aviansie existed as predators and much of their culture and military outlook is based on this heritage. Almost all adult aviansie can serve as hunters and warriors, and only those who are much too young or old to fight are left behind in a safe place a long distance from the battle. Aviansie breed quickly, faster even than humans, and this has left Armadyl with a steady supply of troops to fight his wars.

#### The Favoured of Armadyl

The Favoured are those aviansie who follow Armadyl as a god and try to learn his teachings. Armadyl's creed is quite different from what the aviansie are culturally and biologically accustomed to, and so these followers form the minority of aviansie even on Gielinor. Armadyl preaches peace, and on an occupied world like Gielinor this requires a shift to an agrarian livestock society over the predatory hunting preferred by the historical aviansie. Despite the destructiveness of the god wars, the Favoured have not lost hope.

#### The People of the Sky

Those aviansie who have not embraced Armadyl's teachings are referred to by the Favoured euphemistically as the 'People of the Sky'. The People are culturally almost identical to the aviansie of their homeworld, and they follow Armadyl as a powerful leader who brings them opportunity rather than because of his teachings.

Abbinahn aviansie are nomadic predators and hunters. They form hierarchical tribal groups who freely spread out to hunt and come together for social gathering. In transferring this behaviour to Gielinor, they have found rich hunting grounds in the fertile lands of the empire, with livestock seemingly freely available. Armadyl did little to discourage the raiding of Zarosian farmland, but with the ascendance of Saradomin across the continent this has become a serious diplomatic problem between the two factions.

The People still follow the animistic religion of their homeworld, although they are a practical rather than intensely religious lot. Their priesthood seek wisdom in the spirits and for now at least, the spirits are telling them that their future lies with Armadyl. The People see no real conflict in this, seeing Armadyl as a part of their religion rather than they as a part of his. The young god is free to teach whatever he wants, just as they are free to ignore his naive proclamations.

### Humans

Initially skeptical of the small, flightless people who infested every corner of Gielinor, Armadyl has since grown to respect them. He has found humans far more receptive to his teachings than his own people, and they are a plentiful source of troops that can be trusted to defend their farmland rather than flee from it.

### Golems

Aviansie have had the ability to create magical golems on Abbinah since before their recorded history. However, they had little use for this technology on their homeworld beyond the creation of toys and trinkets. On Gielinor they have found a new use for it, created all manner of artificial soldiers to help defend their vulnerable farmland. These golems come in a huge variety of sizes, from towering war golems to man-sized automatons. One significant development still eludes them, which is the creation of golems that can fly at any reasonable speed, which makes it impossible for them to keep up with the aviansie forces.

### Others

Armadyl holds relatively little territory, and his refusal to demand worship has seen him gain few converts from the former empire. There are a handful of other creatures, but the vast majority of his followers are humans and aviansie.

## References

Main:Military Forces of the Late Third Age

1. ↑ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vYuVUeImZWEiutDRw4\_loK7r9gpugoctbgJm65L0XoM/edit