The Republic has a strong military, probably one of the strongest in the sphere. The military is divided into three distinct branches, each with different commanders and officers. All ships are piloted by the lesser magi of the Republic. Within the Republic, all magi are required to learn the fine art of spelljamming and are expected to serve as helmsmen when the need arises.
The bulk of the military is the common militias. This part of the military is not a standing army. Instead, it consists of all civilians licensed to handle weapons. Each town can typically muster a militia force of 30-180 men (d6 x 30), while a city can muster a militia of about 100-350 men (d6+1 x 50). These militias are poorly armed and armored, but are often well trained and have high morale. Typically, these militiamen are armed with pole arms or crossbows and clad in leather armor. Leaders are chosen in advance by officers in the Empress' Regiments. These leaders are always chosen for their leadership skills and abilities. Thus, the common militias do not suffer from incompetent leaders and are often surprisingly successful.
All members of the militia are required to spend one day per month training with their fellow militiamen on fields outside of the town or city. These practice fields are often watched over by people from the settlement, and the day is usually considered a holiday. The practice maneuvers serve to train the militias, boost morale, and provide monthly entertainment for citizens. During training days, militiamen are well-treated and enjoy being the center of attention. Some merchants give discounts to militiamen during training days out of respect and as a way to boost sales. This system of militias was introduced not long after the Beholder War, when the various houses were weakened and could not defend the individual towns and cities from raiders and pirates.
Part of the common militias is any water borne warship that a town or city may have. The militias are charged with provisioning and maintaining all water bound warships of the Republic, a duty they take seriously. While most towns may have but a single cutter with a crew of about 40 men, port cities will have d6 of the craft. The Republic does not build bigger water craft than a cutter, as there is little need for it. Other than pirates using leaky coasters, the Republic completely dominates the waters off its shore.
The second branch of the Republic's military is the Sky Marines, also known as the Bloodwing Riders, and their attached unit, the Imperial Regulars. These brave men and women ride giant bloodwing hawks native to the Girdle. The Sky Marines are few in number, but are highly trained and very dangerous. Some were drawn from the nobility, but most are the children of farmers and peasants. Service as Sky Marines is seen as an excellent chance at rising to a higher station. As a matter of fact, those who join the Sky Marines usually lead successful lives and have incomes twice as high as they normally would have.
Sky Marine units are usually small and scattered about the entire nation. A unit of Sky Marines, called a wing, is twelve bloodwing hawks each with a rider. Most wings are based in citadels found throughout the five islands of the Republic. Each citadel is a strong fortress with 1-4 wings (d4 wings) of riders and 20-160 soldiers (d8 x 20 soldiers). The soldiers are Imperial Regulars, also drawn from the lower rungs of society. They are charged with guarding and protecting the citadels against attack by bandits or raiders. Many are Sky Marines in training or hope to become one.
Individual Sky Marines are armed with light crossbows, spears, and short swords. Piercing weapons are far preferable to slashing weapons, as the risk of hacking off a wing accidentally is less. Armor is not worn, for the birds have a difficult enough time carrying a human aloft. The Imperial Regulars carry long swords, heavy crossbows, and halberds, and are clad in leather armor and carry metal shields. All of their weapons are kept in excellent shape and well-oiled, free from rust.
During times of war, wings of Sky Marines are called upon to provide air support for the army. They counter any aerial units the enemy may have, provide intelligence on enemy troop movements, and rain a hail of crossbow bolts down upon enemy soldiers. The Imperial Regulars are either left to guard citadels or moved to settlements, depending upon the situation.
The last branch of the Republic's military is the Noble's Fleet. This is the regular navy of the Republic. The nobles fund the fleet, and are in charge of it. Each house contributes as many ships at it can afford. The ship of choice of the Nobles' Fleet is the sunhawk. The sunhawk is a large warship, shaped like a hawk. Sunhawks are always crewed by the finest sailors the Republic has to offer and have the most powerful magi as helmsmen and magical backup. In most cases, sunhawks are commanded by members of the noble families. Minor members of the families (distant relatives of the main line) fill in the remaining officer positions. Professional soldiers are hired as crewmen, making a sunhawk very difficult to board and take. Each house retains sovereign right to command their ships.
Interestingly, the sunhawks are rarely used for military patrols. Instead, most are used as trade ships, visiting all the ports of Twilitespace and even visiting other spheres. By the Empress' personal decree, no more than six sunhawks may be away from the Girdle at any one time; she does not wish for the fleet to become too spread out such that it cannot respond to a threat back home.
Each sunhawk has a crew of 15 sailors, 22 marines, and 8 officers. Of these men, at least five are mages or priests; some crews have double this number in mages and priests. Sailors are equipped with short swords and daggers and wear no armor. Marines are armed with longswords, boarding pikes, and short bows and are clad in leather armor. Officers usually wear no armor and wield rapiers and starwheel pistols.
Several of the noble houses provide the Empress with special and elite units. The Empress' elite guard consists of one thousand men-at-arms (palace guards), several special forces units, and a small fleet of powerful ships. Additionally, many troglodytes have joined an elite unit of guards that protects her personal palace. She carefully screens these troops, and their loyalties are unquestioned. In all, three hundred troglodytes are charged with protecting the Empress' life. The units of special forces that the nobles provide her include the Comet Knights (one hundred strong), subdued krajen (currently two), scavvar hordes (up to fifty of the beasts), and no less than four court mages (each specialized in a different elemental school). Her personal fleet consists of two court cruisers (the galleons that provided exodus for her people a thousand years ago, now refurbished & overhauled), six Sunhawks, and a number of small scout ships for her agents. The scout ships include a smalljammer, two shrike ships, a viper ship, and a battle dolphin which serves as the mobile command center for her spy network.
