The Imperial Banners

The Imperial Banners are the Imperial army. It is made up of nine Banners. They are responsible for garrisoning and conquering worlds for the Empire. Note: All terms in this article are Rudanese, though the Banners are (for the most part) multicultural

Organization

There are nine Banners, each of which is commanded by a Banner Marshal. Above the Banner Marshals is Imperial General Headquarters, reporting directly to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years!). Each Banner is divided into several armies, commanded by a Field Marshal. The numerical strength of the Banners is a carefully guarded secret.

Civilian Authority

The Banners (as well as the Armadas) report directly to the Emperor. The only control the Secretariat has over them is through the Secretariat of the Treasury and its payment of wages. Governors, Judges and Magistrates have no authority over military bases within their jurisdictions and the only regular contact between military and civilian forces is through the Watch, which on occasion will request that the Banners assist in ending local unrest.

The Banners license their own medical personnel, purchase their own rations, build their own weapons and equipment, and administer their own territories with little reference to any higher authority save the Emperor. Despite this, there have occasionally been successful civilian interventions in military affairs, usually those demanding that the Banners eliminate ghost soldiers and ensure that everyone who draws upon the Imperial Treasury is entitled to do so. Though the Banner Marshals have fiercely resented these intrusions, they have usually been supported by the Emperor and so have gone through.

Standard Rank Structure

The Emperor
Banner Marshal
Field Marshal
General
Major-General
Lieutenant-General
Colonel
Captain
Lieutenant
Staff-Sergeant
Sergeant
Corporal
Trooper
Bannerman

Recruiting and Promotion

The Banners recruit from across the Inner and Middle Spheres, meaning they are made up of Roanians and Nmmr. Each Banner is traditionally associated with an Inner Sphere world, though limiting recruitment ended centuries ago. To join the Banners means making a commitment for 50 years, and men are encouraged to join for life. Only males are presently recruited, as has been tradition since the foundation of the Banners 44,500 years ago by the Third Emperor.

Lieutenants are chosen from those who pass the First Examination, and then go on to pass the Imperial Cadet Examination, which is offered four times a year at most Examination Halls. To be promoted from enlisted man to officer is rare, and requires passing the examination. To become a Colonel, a Captain must receive the approval of his superior officer or hold the rank for twenty years.

Pay increases by 5% a year. Promotion is by merit and favor.

Uniform

The uniform is a tight robe that hangs down to the knee, in a color that depends on which Banner the soldier is assigned to, worn over a padded shirt, trousers and leather boots. As a brief example, the first Banner's colors are Banner Gold and Banner Blue.

Training

The vast majority of male Roanians and Nmmr in the Empire are given basic military training during the last three years of schooling, primarily in the afternoon. Those who choose to continue with a military career after their coming of age at 16 report to the local recruiting office, where they announce their intentions to either become Bannermen or pass the examination to join the Officer Corps. Bannermen spend their first year at training in the same classes, and are assigned to specific roles in their second year for specialized training. By the time they turn 18 they have been prepared for their new positions and deployed to the Banner where they are needed.

Every planet in the Empire has at least one training camp, though not all are currently active. Those on Pathaar, for instance, are currently shut down and have been for hundreds of years. These camps are controlled by the Banner Department of Training and Guidance and headed by a Commandant. Trainers are usually retired battlefield sergeants and corporals. Deployment is, as said, based on need (or, occasionally, by lot).

Encampments

The primary role of the Banners is to defend the Empire's worlds and territories, support the Watch in maintaining the Empire's peace, and show the locals that the Emperor is watching them. The primary tool for this is the Yingdi, the Encampment. There are multiple types of Encampment in the Empire, but the three most important are the Bao (Fort), the Qianshao (outpost), and the Zhujunchengshi (garrison cities).

Bao

Forts are, despite the name, not always walled. They are military bases. Technically there are two classifications of fort according to the Banners; those near urban areas for rapid deployment (Chengshibaolei) and those located in isolated areas (Yebao), but they are for the most part very similar. A standard fort consists of barracks, an armory, a vehicle depot, and an airfield, the numbers of which may vary. Sometimes forts are specialized, i.e. chemical weapons depots. Usually, though not always, family members are not on base for soldiers deployed to a fort. Those forts that are close to a populated area will often be heavily entwined with it, with soldiers, dependents and support personnel dwelling there and forming a large percentage of the population.

Qianshao

Outposts are usually located in areas that the Banners have, for whatever reason, decided need to be permanently garrisoned, such as passes in the mountain or along important roads; the term is also sometimes used for Banner stations in urban areas (though these are more properly termed Zhujunqu, Garrison Quarters). Assignment to an outpost is short term and soldiers are always cycling through. An outpost is often a large fortified structure, much of which consists of barracks for the enlisted men. Depending on the mission, there could be a hoverpad or an armored vehicle garage (or both). Both kinds of outposts are fairly common in the Middle and Outer Spheres, where both Watch requests for support and bandits or rebels can be frequent.

Zhujunchengshi

Garrison Cities are large, fortified, permanent locations that in scale, size and environment are closer to cities than to military bases. A Garrison City is often home to millions of soldiers and their dependents and support personnel (with their dependents), with private housing, markets, schools, temples and all the other paraphernalia of an Imperial city. These cities can be run under either Banners law, Secretariat law, or a combination of both. In the Middle Sphere they are not usually responsible to the Planetary Governor, though in the Outer Sphere they are often the residence of the Planetary Governor.

The Inner Sphere

The Inner Sphere worlds are garrisoned, patrolled and defended entirely by Rudanese forces from the First Banner. No other nations may join the First Banner or be garrisoned on Inner Sphere worlds. There are Garrison Cities and major military installations on all worlds except Myaar. Garrison Cities they have their own shuttleports and usually contain the Planetary Shield Generator as well as the civilian representation of the Secretariat of the Feudatories.

First Banner forces are usually stationed at a distance from the planetary capital to avoid the appearance of controlling or interfering with local Feudatory government, except on Ly-Tanh, where there is a large military base located in the outskirts of Thanh Gun and outposts near or in other major urban centers, though the Garrison City on the world is located on an island off the coast of the inhospitable Rung Noc Doc. Discussions are ongoing between the Principality of Ly-Thanh and the Imperial Government about reducing the presence of Bannermen on the plane but as of yet no formal withdrawal is contemplated or under consideration.

Rudan

Rudan is both the center of the Banners as a whole and the headquarters of the First Banner and the First Army of the First Banner. It is garrisoned by the entire FAFB, with military bases near most major cities (two at Huanxin, northwest and southwest of the capital). The Banners as an entity are administered, along with the Armadas, from Jiangong in Huanxin, where the Chiefs of Staff meet when they are not in formal conference with the Emperor. The First Army is ceremonially headquartered in the Closed City itself, where it is responsible for the physical defense of the Closed City's walls, bridges, gates and airspace (The Imperial Guard serving more as an armed police and bodyguard force).

Other Banner institutions include the four training camps on the world and Pearl River in the far south, where military research is conducted in the icy wastes.