Rhyde

The economic and social life of the Rapani countryside is dominated by military organizations known as Rhydes. The basic purpose of the Rhyde is to raise, equip and train soldiers for the defense of the Elirapa. All of its ancillary economic and social functions are directed to that end.

All land outside of the towns is owned by the Rhydes. The land owned by a particular Rhyde is not contiguous but consists of farms spread throughout the March. The Master of the Rhyde assigns farms to members of his Rhyde who have completed military service. The proprietor has tenure to the land for life. The Rhyde assigns young men who have finished their military training to assist proprietors in working their farms. In return, the proprietors provide the Rhyde with food and agricultural products to support the Rhyde’s military obligations.

The Rapani follow the Way of E’lani and their Kamahs fight in alliance with Gornarod or L’npei. Their soldiers fight predominantly as infantry with pikes, short chopping swords, and longbows. These fighters do not use either rifles or power armor. Rapani armies include Taikahir Bringers.

The basic operational unit of the Rhyde is called a Kamah. Each Kamah is further subdivided into 12 Gavah which, while capable of being detached, do not typically operate independently. Each Gavah is further subdivided into three Raham.

Each Rhyde raises one Kamah each year. The Kamah serves together for 12 years and then it is disbanded. A small proportion of the men will be identified as officer candidates and, depending upon their success and skill, will serve for up to 32 years.

Upon induction a Kamah consists of 1,728 recruits. For its first two years, the Kamah spends its time in full time training. It may see active service, but usually only during the last six months of the training period.

After the training period, the Kamah settles into a cycle of three months of active service, six months agricultural labor on farms owned by members of the Rhyde and three months of large unit training in the fall. This cycle lasts for three years.

Upon completion of the three year cycle, the Kamah enters its final, five year cycle. It serves two months on active duty, eight months in agricultural labor and two months training with the other Kamah.

Upon the completion of ten years of service, the soldiers of the Kamah retire and are assigned farms owned by the Rhyde. Some will return to family farms that they will inherit as their fathers age. Others will be assigned to farms that are unassigned or that are held by elderly proprietors.

The March Commander is the senior military officer in each March. He is an elected officer and he serves a single term of twelve years. In each March, other than Selka, the Rhyde Masters elect the March Commander.

The March Commander appoints all brigade and army commanders. The March Commander also appoints each Master of the Rhyde however the active and retired Kamah commanders of a Rhyde can vote “no confidence” in the Master of the Rhyde and remove him.

In Selka, the procedure is slightly different. There, the Duke selects three contenders from among the Rhyde Masters. Each Rhyde Master can vote for or against the slate. If the slate gets a majority of the votes, a second round of elections is held to select the March Commander from among the three candidates proposed. If the slate fails to get a majority of the votes, the Duke must propose a new slate. This process continues until a March Commander is elected.

In wartime, the Duke of Selka, together with the Council of Rhyde Masters can remove a March Commander and replace him with a temporary wartime commander.

In operations involving Rhydes from more than one March, the Selka March Commander takes command.

The Master of the Rhyde appoints the two senior officers of each Kamah and they serve at his sufferance, although typically they serve for the full ten year life of the Kamah.

The Kamahs of the Marches are almost exclusively infantry. They are organized along two forms. The older form, the Usak Kamah has Gavahs of pikes, swordsmen and archers. The newer Selka Kamah has Gavahs of swordsmen and archers.

Selka also has one Rhyde that raises Kamahs of cavalry that have Gavahs of lancers and archers.

The Duke of Selka is attended by a special cavalry Kamah of nine Gavahs. Five Gavahs are manned from the Rhydes (one from each of the Marches), one Gavah is from the Selka City, one from the towns of the New Marches, one from the towns of the Old Marches and one from the towns of Selka. The men of these Gavahs are 28-38 years old and frequently go on to become senior commanders and Rhyde Masters. All nine Gavahs are lancers.

Sivas and Selka shoulder most of the burden of defending the Vari River border. Every three months, one Selka Rhyde garrisons the 24 river watchtowers with a mixed force of 100 warriors per tower. A second Rhyde garrisons Fort Inogau, at the mouth of the Brissa River. The Fifth Rhyde patrols the Banakur Forest. Sivas is responsible for the garrison of Fort Varinde and the northern four watchtowers along the river. Sivas draws those garrisons from the Kamahs in residence at the Varinde training camp.

Selka City is fortified and heavily garrisoned with a town guard of 3,000, the Capital regiment and the Lily Rhyde. The other fifteen Rhydes occupy five training camps: Doberai Hills, Great Road, Inigol, Vari and Selka.

Sivas divides its six Rhydes between three camps: Sivanica Castle, Dunafolda and Varinde. A town guard of 1,000 garrisons Sivanica Castle.

Usak has two camps, the North Camp and the South Camp. North Camp is near the capital of Zamegaber and South Camp is located in the long southern tail of Usak, on the west bank of the Brissa. Zamegaber has a garrison of 700.

Tahir has one large camp in the Rabkona Hills and a guard of 1,400 in the capital of Taglari.

Artova has one camp along the Brae River and a guard of 500 in the capital of Artiven.

Each Rhyde has adopted a wildflower as its insignia. Each Kamah is designated by a number that is assigned to its NCO group. Each Kamah within a Rhyde has a stylized version of the Rhyde’s Flower Sigil and the Kamah’s number as its Kamah insignia. The insignia is painted on shields, embroidered into tunics, and tattooed on the right forearm of each member of the Kamah. NCOs tattoo the insignia on their left bicep. As a mark of honor, soldiers who perform with distinction in combat are permitted to tattoo the Kamah’s insignia on their right bicep.

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Marc Rubin

Long-time gamer, amateur cartographer, living in a world of my own making.