The Imperial House DeVerre
In the Kingdom’s south lie House DeVerre’s ‘Imperial Grounds’. Of all the feudal factions, these self-declared ‘Imperials’ possess the largest territory. House DeVerre carries great responsibility because they are charged with guarding the border of the Kingdom. People travelling from north to south may suspect they are independent for multiple reasons. They are the only Royalist faction that doesn’t include the royal red of their monarch’s house in their attire or banners, but they do port the typical royal lion head on their shields. House DeVerre has its own coins and laws. The king allows this because the DeVerre family has always been very loyal and suffered the most under the pressure of invasion armies. They keep their own business, but also problems, away from the rest of the Kingdom, and are respected for this. House DeVerre has strong ties with the Magus Guild and the Starcapes and frequently integrate these groups into their armies or work together with them. The nobles themselves organise their lands, regions and armies, and manage this very well, but they don’t fight, always leaving this to others.
They have to maintain a strong standing army to protect the borders of the Kingdom against mainly Bull Tribe expansionists / refugees. Their victories are always greatly celebrated in their own domain but the rest of the Kingdom isn’t always informed directly, the ‘Empire’ more than confident it can take care of it’s own. The Imperials like battles up close and personal, and thus ‘glorious’. Therefore their armies boast strong infantry but is seen as a susceptible force because of their lack of swift cavalry and actual archers. These weaknesses haven’t struck them in the form of defeats yet, though, their army deemed ‘invincible’ by themselves.
Flag Guard
The most skilful knight in the region is always chosen to guard the Imperial flag, the grinning lion their most important sign of dominance on the battlefield.
Halberdiers
These men are recruited to counter the Bull Tribe phalanx formations. Their shields are too small to imitate their formations but they may present their enemies with a deadly wall of pikes just as well, and make up for it with their heavy armour. Their numbers are kept limited because their actual specialty is fighting horsemen, and they don’t often have to face these.
Swordsmen
Swordsmen form the bulk of the imperial forces. Their medium armour makes them a versatile unit. Since they often comprise of younger recruits an experienced sergeant is always kept near to lead them.
Elite swordsmen
Elite swordsmen are those recruits that show exceptional skill at the academy or those soldiers who are promoted from the regular swordsmen. They are given fine longswords and uniforms. Only a fool would mistake them for parade troops.
Sir Knight-Marshal Cales and bodyguards
The flag guard may be elected annually from the tournament winning knights, but the Knight-Marshal is elected differently. He is chosen from the border captains by the Imperial Marshal before him when this one retires. Cales is perhaps a woman-loving (as seen in his choice for bodyguards), flamboyant type of commander, but this doesn’t keep him from doing his job well, and he is very popular amongst the soldiers, and revered for his victories even beyond the Empire.
Starcapes
These men hail, perhaps unsurprisingly, from the castle of Starkeep, which defends the westernmost pass into the Kingdom. In exchange for money and materials they have given up their sovereignty to the Empire and thus have no real ‘lord’ anymore. They are more interested in their work, making gunpowder weapons and experimenting them, than politics anyway. On the battlefield the Starcapes, each man a skilled sharpshooter, inspire fear in their enemies, armour made almost obsolete against their weaponry. Their main disadvantage however, is that no defending infantry can be placed in front of them lest they be hit themselves like it is done with archers, making them very susceptible once the enemy manages to get through to them. Therefore Starcapes have started training themselves in the way of the Hitokiri to their north, and have also commissioned a set of their fearsome blades, but it may take them some time to accomplish this and become more than what they are now. Regardless, Starcapes are considered amongst the elite of all the forces in the Kingdom.
Faction assembled
30 minifigs total: 1 Sir Knight-Marshal Cales, 1 Flag Guard, 2 Bodyguards, 6 Starcapes, 6 Elite Swordsmen, 6 Halberdiers, 7 Swordsmen, 1 Sergeant.
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