Girtabelilu State/Military

## Overview

The military of the Girtabelilu State relies on the gigantic mass-army first built by the Realm. It is geared, almost exclusively, to the attack, and makes use of high numbers of low-tech, middling quality units to overwhelm the enemy and maintain high amounts of momentum. Speed, numbers, and violence of action are essential. While Appan-Il aspires to create a smaller and more professional military that can be more easily controlled by the central leadership, the State is not in a strong enough political or economic shape to undergo fundamental military reforms. Indeed, the military and its supporting industries are major employers, and the political prospects of leaving millions of trained drones out of a job and a paycheque are considered very grim.

## Military Structure

The Girtabelilu State is a society in the midst of a disruptive transition. Consequently, the State's armed forces are comprised of a byzantine array of military, paramilitary, and law enforcement and intelligence institutions which have been inherited from the prior regime, created by Appan-Il himself, or emerged through the actions of autonomous political actors. Many of these organs have unclear or mutually conflicting goals, and all act as reserves of political power not yet consolidated into the new regime.

### Mass Army

The **Mass Army** is the colloquial name given to the Realm-era military apparatus inherited by the State. It is an army of elite specialist divisions taken from martial Ukus combined with gigantic swarms of Akku conscript infantry. The mass army is effective through its sheer size and presence of experienced units, and is a wealth of institutional experience, surplus equipment, and raw manpower, making it a gigantic bank of political power for whichever faction controls it.

While huge and effective, Appan-Il sees the mass army as a threat to his rule. As a concentration of political and military power, it would destroy his regime for it to fall into the hands of a rival political faction. Further, its byzantine organisational structure allows for many hiding places for dissidents and Realm sympathisers to hide. Further, much of the industrial capacity for the mass army was destroyed during the West Selten War and its aftermath, wherein much of the industry once used to build weapons of war were (and remain) repurposed for reconstruction. Though huge and seemingly immovable, the future of this institution is uncertain.

The Mass army's colours are matte black and dark blue.

### Realmsguard

An ancient formation of some of the finest warriors of the Girtabelilu race. They retain their old moniker, remain a problematic hotbed of Realmist political thinking.

### State Guard

The **State Guard** are the paramilitary force raised by Appan-Il which answer to him personally. They are a professional salaried force focused on rapid deployment capability and use of reliable, replaceable equipment. The core of these armies are the *Assharitu* mechanised light infantry, equipped similarly to Akku conscripts but with significantly better training and mobility options. State Guard units are instantly identifiable by their white-and-blue uniforms, a stark contrast to the matte black and blue preferred by the Mass Army.

### Internal Security

A lightly-armed gendarmerie used to police within the borders of the State, root out and destroy dissenters, and combat small-scale rebellions. They are specifically trained in policing, investigation, riot control, and urban combat, and mainly fight as motorised and leg infantry when in armed combat. Like the State Guard, they wear evocative white-and-blue uniforms, and are salaried professionals vetted for loyalty.

### Teresh Associations

**Teresh** are loose associations of elite Girtabelilu warriors which rose during the late Realm period and continue to exist in the current State. Its members are comprised of the State's elite charioteers and Mardami warriors, who hail from military Ukus. Teresh provide an identity and fraternity that crosses lines of Uku and unit and have grown in size, number, and social relevance since the dissolution of the State and the dislocation of what was once a profoundly stable civilization. The political loyalties of the Teresh organisations as a whole are difficult to gauge and it is likely that they will side with whoever can provide them the status and purpose its members crave.

### Navy

The **Girtabelilu Navy** is comprised of a specialised, insulated community of Ukus which operate the astroinfrastructure necessary to build, maintain, supply, and man the warships of the former Realm. Many such Ukus exist entirely on centuries-old starships, captained by Lugals with drones who spend their entire life within the hull of a single spacecraft. This makes the naval Ukus a political and cultural community separate from the rest of the new State, whose loyalty to the Realm was always a matter of shared ideology and inertia. Politically, they are an immovable and unknown object for the new State, as they are neither explicitly Realmist nor Statist. In a large part, their true interests remain unknown.

## Order of Battle

*See Army Order of Battle and Navy Order of Battle.*