Office of the National Army (Faneria)

The Office of the National Army, or IFN, is one of the eight major Offices of Faneria's government, and oversees the armed forces of the Republic. The Office itself is an administrative and mixed military and civilian organization, while actual operations are planned and performed by its component Bureaus. In Fhainnin nomenclature, the Army covers the entirety of the armed forces, leading to some confusion between the Army and the Land Bureau, the latter of which is the land army of Faneria. The Office of the Army responds primarily to the Director of the Republic outside of disaster situations where units are delegated to local authorities or subordinated to the Office of State Security.

Forces of Antiquity
The typical Fhainnin soldier for the first few thousand years of recorded history (known as a Ceiternin) was armed with a sword (deamhbah), javelins (gah), and various daggers. They generally favored no armor or padded cloth, as tribal tactics focused on skirmishes and ambush over pitched fighting. These troops were organized into rough units collectively referred to as Ceiternn, or warbands, which numbered anywhere from thirty to four hundred men depending on the size of the populations from which they were raised. The leader of each warband was either elected or lead by charisma and was referred to as a Ceiternna, and responded directly to the commanding noble or official, assuming they themselves were not operating autonomously. Many local bands fought against invading forces both foreign and native without a call to arms, often boiling the distinction between soldiery and highwaymen down to a matter of loyalties.

The constant combative nature of the area made proper settlement and annexation by anything other than dedicated armies incredibly difficult, as while early Holy Levantine forces and opportunistic raiders had free reign of the land when organized, attempts to remove or subjugate the native populations of the Ninerivers typically resulted in settlements being sacked at any opportunity.

As Christianity took hold within the country from those foreign settlements which had been established peaceably or lasted in small holds along the coastline, local nobility began to employ professional soldiers in addition to militias. These Ardceiterninn continued to use javelins and swords, but additionally took up shortbows along with rounded wooden shields and metal armor (most commonly mail coats or lamellar designs copied from Latin and Coscivian designs). Most also trained to fight on horseback as their Ceiterninn auxiliaries did, largely replacing the mounted skirmishers and relegating peasant troops to foot combat by the tenth century. While not approaching the social prestige or full plate of Latin knights, these soldiers typically fought with similar discipline and pride, earning a reputation as competent bodyguards and cavalry mercenaries throughout Levantia.

Early Royal Central Army
The first Kings of the Fhainn fought with essentially the same troops as their ancestors and opponents had for innumerable generations before, and did so successfully. However, the inherent disorganization and decentralization of feudal forces made mobilizing to fight large wars increasingly difficult, and by the fourteenth century, firearms and cannons made organized formations increasingly important.

In 1457, in response to this need for a large army loyal directly to the Throne, King (Rih) Bronlan Màrtainn reorganized his personal army into more standardized units of four hundred men, arming them with weapons produced in batches and mixing soldiers from different regions to limit the chances of any unit retaining loyalty to their original lords. Aside from introducing a degree of standardization, Bronlan created a larger officer system, with Captains (almost invariably minor nobles) replacing Ceiternnas and introducing Sergeant-Generals to lead units of two thousand men, themselves responding a General leading as many troops as were appointed to his command. While still inefficient and lacking in long campaigning ability and contemporary command and control, this system at least allowed for a functional army to be fielded against other states with relative coordination and modern equipment (and, more importantly, without cajoling the Vicars to field soldiers on the behalf of the King).

The Royal Central Army formally separated Fhainnin soldiers into distinct infantry and cavalry types, with the Ardceirerninn being transformed into more traditional lancer cavalry, while the levy troops were given a mix of arquebuses and pikes to replace their earlier bows and spears. Foot Ardceirerninn and the few remaining cavalry Ceirerninn eventually formed longbowmen and skirmish cavalry units respectively, with the former fading into obscurity as firearms became more effective and the latter taking up varying roles as early dragoons or reconnaissance units for the main armies. Static cannon were also introduced and attached as needed to the infantry for support in sieges. In its early stages, the RCA employed Tercio formations, eventually phasing out pikes but retaining sabers until the invention of ring-mounted bayonets, skipping the introduction of plug bayonets entirely.

This central army, supported by Vicarial armies and feudal levies, saw action in numerous wars of expansion after its formation in 1457, from the Vandarch War to both the First and Second Princes' Wars and until the end of the Second Kin War.

Late Royal Army
In the late 18th Century and onwards, the Royal Army grew in size greatly as the nobility became increasingly dependent on the Crown for their power, culminating in the loss of their privileges to raise levies independent of the central government in the 1830 Constitution. Units were organized into a Corps system immediately prior to the Third Kin War along Latin lines, with continuous modernization throughout the rest of the century. COnscription was also introduced in 1840, though the professional troops largely remained nobility. The Royal Army performed well until its disastrous defeat during the Fourth Kin War, during which the entirety of the Third Army Group was cut off from supply and defeated, with the Rih being taken captive and forced to sign the humiliating First Treaty of Gaoth.

Late 20th Century
- 197x Reforms

Modern Day
- 2004 Reforms

Structure
The IFN is organized into five branches labeled formally as Bureaus similarly to the civilian government. In practice, these sometimes function as their own organizations similarly to any other military, but formally the Army is a one-branch military force. As a result, joint operations are generally conducted with an order of priority of Strategic-Land-Naval-Aerospace-Logistics in order of operational seniority. Most roles relating to air combat share a heavy overlap, resulting in the shared rank system discussed below.

Branches
(small pic here) The Army Strategic Bureau oversees theater organization, operational planning, joint missions, doctrinal development, strategic weapons usage, and overallcommand and control of the IFN. It closely operates with the civilian government and is the most politically connected branch.

(small pic here) The Army Logistics and Procurement Bureau is responsible for order and purchase of equipment on request by the other Bureaus of the Army, as well as overseeing state RnD efforts and parts of base maintenance. It also is responsible for forming dedicated supply units during deployments of large formations. Quartermaster units are attached to other branches from the Logistics Bureau.

(small pic here) The Army Land Bureau is the primary combat branch of the Army, and fields its own transport aircraft and transport/support helicopter and combat drone wings.

(small pic here) The Army Naval Bureau manages the maritime forces of the Army, including coast guard duties, amphibious assault, and naval aviation.

(small pic here) The Army Aerospace Bureau manages stationary air defense systems and land-based fixed-wing and other plane-centric aviation duties with a considerable degree of overlap with the Naval Bureau. It also theoretically manages out-of-atmosphere operations, though this has never been required. Many of its personnel are embedded in the naval aviation and transport/low-altitude air support roles directly commanded by the Naval and Land Bureaus.

Budget
The IFN receives between 11 and 14% of the spending budget yearly; as of 2027, it received a total of________________ Barra (Talers Figure) annually.

Pay
Pay is based partly on rank and partly on contract. Typically, a (private) will receive 24,000 Barra a year, with incremental bonuses for ranks and a larger jump in pay for officers and specialists. Soldiers are able to increase their pay through volunteering for reassignment to a combat deployment, completing optional training programs, and surpassing additional requirements on annual fitness and readiness checks. Signing for a five-year service contract as a volunteer counts for a year's additional pay, while a three-year contract carries a 35% annual salary bonus.

Service for a three-year contract after conscription is often seen as a good way to build savings, as a private who does not splurge will often leave with roughly fourty thousand Barra in savings. As a result, many college attendees in Faneria are former volunteers aged 24-29.

Demographics
The military of Faneria is composed of roughly 82% men and 18% women, with men making up 98% of combat units. Of women in the military, most (76%) primarily serve in the Naval and Logistics Bureaus. Racial makeup is relatively close to that of the country as a whole due to conscription, with a slight underrepresentation of Gothic and Caeric peoples, likely as a result of tensions with Caergwynn and many Fhainnin Goths having citizenship in Hendalarsk and/or Eldmora-Regulus, exempting them from service.

Ranks and Insignia
Ranks are universal across branches, mainly as a result of the need to embed air assets in naval and land-centric operations. Unlike some militaries, officers and enlisted are placed along the same track, although additional education and officer training serve as barriers to entry to the upper ranks at the Sgiobair, Ardcaptaen, and General levels.

Recruitment and Training
Faneria practices a form of conscription where medically fit men and women between 19 and 22 are called up to serve. Over the course of the four years, every non-exempted draftee will serve for one year. Volunteering is encouraged and forms the backbone of the combat and high-tech units, while conscripts typically fill out support roles and garrison duties to pad out manpower requirements. Serving conscripts are not promoted beyond the rank of ______. Contracts for service come in 3- and 5-year variants, with the 5-year variant having a larger enlistment bonus.