Imperial Legion (Caphiria)
| Imperial Legion of Caphiria | |
|---|---|
| Imperialis Legio | |
 | |
| Active | 600 - present |
| Country |  Caphiria |
| Type | Army |
| Role | Land warfare |
| Size |
|
| Part of | Imperial Armed Forces of Caphiria |
| Garrison/HQ | Castrum Rynalia, Xalen Province |
| Motto(s) | "With wisdom we conquer." |
| Commanders | |
| Supreme Commander of the IAF | Constantinus I |
| General Commander of the IAF | Varrus Capelis Pavolcinax |
| Master Commander | Soterius Audenia |
The Imperial Legion of Caphiria is the land warfare service branch of the Imperial Armed Forces of Caphiria. Founded in the 4th century BC, the Legion has never ceased growing in capacity. As one of the longest operating militaries in human history, the Legion weathered the storms of gunpowder, aircraft, computers, and every new technology that reshaped warfare. Its incredible logistic flexibility and the mental fortitude of its troops, is primarily what has allowed it to persist over the course of all these developments over the millennia.
Technically, the Legion is the political term for all of the Caphirian armed forces. However, it popularly refers specifically to the army (exercitus) and will be treated as such for most of the article.
As an arm of the executive government, the Legion is completely at the behest of the Imperator. Its internal leader, however, is the Master General of the Legion, supreme commander of the army.
The Legion is the focal point of its military-industrial complex as it has the largest budget within the IAF at $917 billion as well as the largest military personnel in the world with 5,000,000 active duty personnel and double for its reserves. The Legion also maintains a National Guard with approximately 3,000,000 national guardsmen. The combined-component strength of the Imperial Legion is 17,000,000 soldiers.
As a branch of the armed forces, the mission of the Legion is "to fight and win our Nation's wars, by providing prompt, sustained, land dominance, across the full range of military operations and the spectrum of conflict, in support of combatant commanders". The Legion participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force of the IAF.
Mission
The Imperial Legion serves as the land-based branch of the Imperial Armed Forces. The Constitution of Caphiria defines the purpose of the army as:
- Preserving the peace and security and providing for the defense of the Imperium and possessions and any areas occupied by the Imperium of Caphiria
- Supporting the national policies
- Implementing the national objectives
- Overcoming any nations responsible for aggressive acts that imperil the peace and security of the Imperium of Caphiria
Organization
The Imperial Legion of Caphiria is administered through the Office of the Legion, itself a function of the Ministry of War. As an arm of the executive government, the Legion is completely at the behest of the Imperator, who has the ability to declare war against a foreign power without parliamentary permission, plan the Legion's military strategy - in both general and specific maneuvers, issue direct orders to a soldier in any branch of the armed forces or an officer of any rank, force the launch of military satellites and the construction of forts, walls, and other defensive structures, and appoint or dismiss any military commander at-will. A consequence of this much power is the personal responsibility for the successes and failures of Caphiria's military.
The active component of the Imperial Legion, the exercitus, is organized into 900 subunits known as a legion. A single legion contains 5,000 soldiers that are split into ten Cohorts (cohortes) which are further divided into five Centuries (centuriae); a Cohort consists of 500 soldiers and a Century is a battalion of 99 legionaries led by a centurion. Additionally, the Imperator personally commands their own personal legion, separate from the primary 900 legions. This 901st legion (Legio CMI) operates independently of the Praetorian Guard and the Legion and has no other commander than the Imperator directly.
Legions are numbered sequentially but this does not necessarily reflect an increase in prestige. For example, Legio DLV (Legion 555) is often referred by its nickname cisternis (the pits) as it is where most recruits are placed, whereas Legio XIII (Legion 13) is one of the longest active legions and is legendary among veterans for being the fiercest in the army. Cohorts are named "first cohort", "second cohort" and so on; the first cohort typically contains the most experienced legionaries, while the legionaries in the tenth cohort are the least experienced. Centuries are typically named by letter (A-F) to avoid confusion with Cohorts.
As an example, the full identification for a soldier would be:
- Eugennio Modonisi
- CENTURION Ⅱ
- CENTURY D
- THIRD COHORT
- LEGIO XV
Administrative leadership
The General Commander of the IAF (Generalissimus) is the highest distinctly military office in Caphiria. The General Commander is appointed by the Imperator and formulates the Imperium's military policy and global strategic goals with coordination from the Imperator and the Ministry of Defense.
The highest attainable rank in the Imperial Legion is Master General, or Domini Dux. Equivalent to a five-star general officer, the Master General leads the entirety of the Imperial Legion according to the strategies and direction of the General Commander.
On a global scale, there are 5 Field Generals (Legatus Augusti) who fields a number of legions on each continent. Density of legions varies from 60 under the Procuratio Sarpedonium (Sarpedon Command) 20 under the Procuratio Punthus (Punth Command). The Field Generals work directly with the Master General and form the military council called the Gathering of Legates, where large-scale decision making and military strategy is planned.
Below the Field Generals are the 20 Generals (Legatus legionis) who are responsible for ten legions each. A General may specialize in specific elements of strategy for modern warfare. Some notable Generals are experts in amphibious warfare, coordination with aircraft, intelligence management, and climate control. While centurions and legion commanders are praised by the public, Generals have the sole honor of leading a military Triumph through Venceia. For this reason, Imperators and other members of the administrative leadership have taken on the title. Even the presence of an General demands reverence and respect from civilians and politicians as much as from inferior officers. It has long been standard practice for a General to command Caphirian forces during a specific battle where different branches of the military work together. This tended to make them the highest ranked officers on the field. However, most modern Generals operate far from the front line.
Operational leadership
Below General - and the highest active-duty rank that is in the field, is Major Commander (Legatus Praeses). A Major Commander has a unique honor of being the lowest office which is permitted to formulate new strategic goals. Since they are often the nearest strategists to combat, they usually exercise more direct control than other commanding ranks. Major Commanders control a single legion and oversee the specialized components attached to it, such as artillery and logistic or supportive personnel. A Commander (Legatus) is in charge of a single legion and although it is the most junior rank within the "commander" category, it is also the most accessible field rank. For that reason, a Commander is seen as the apex of a military career.
A single soldier is called a Legionary, encased in standard armor (lorica carbonata) and operating in the most direct combat. Their smallest formation is a ten man unit called a contubernium. Modern contubernia each hold 10 legionaries, led on the field by a squad leader, the Staff Sergeant (Tesserarius) and his second-in-command the Sergeant (Decurion).
Ten contubernia collect together into a single century (centuria) whose commanding officer is the prestigious Centurion (Captain). A centurion's strategic link to his contubernia are his two second-in-commands (Optiones), one of whom - the Primo Optio - succeeds the centurion on his death. A successor position in the military, necessary to keep a consistent flow of orders, is an immutatio. COs and immutatios aren't included in the legionary count so a century comprises 100 legionaries and 23 officers.
Six centuries are grouped to form a cohort. Cohorts used to be arranged within a legion by a hierarchy from first to last cohort but this was phased out before the civil war. A cohort's principales (CO) is the Standard-Bearer (Signiferius). Once carrier of his cohort's symbol, signiferius came to denote a high military rank in the 18th century. Formal duties of a signiferius for his cohort are choosing its coat of arms, creating a motto and generally distinguishing it among the empire's many legions. While rarely in the line of fire, a signiferius still risks losing communications with inferior officers through a radio blackout or technical error. In such an event, he is temporarily replaced by the senior centurion, the Primus Pilus (First Spear) until higher leaders are contacted. Though the primus pilus' century does not receive special treatment, a first spear has the highest pay grade of all the infantrymen.