Dukesguard

The Dukesguard operates at full strength with 1,200 infantry, including:

• 50 officers
• 150 Auxiliary Support (medics, armorers, messengers, magisters)
• 100 light Cavalry for scouting and flanking

Uniforms are modular:

• Reinforced leather underlayer with attachable steel or bronze scale for flexibility
• Hooded cloaks woven with skycloth, providing camouflage in most terrain
• Utility pouches containing compact rations, wound salts, wind flint (for fire), water skins, and field compasses

Primary: Hooked glaives and short spears—good for both close combat and anti-cavalry maneuvers.

Secondary: Recurve bows and side blades.

Specialist Units: Flamehands wield fire-based arcana or arc-wand staves.

Scouts: Silent crossbows, climbing picks, signal smoke.

Not standard for infantry, but the formation has access to Bornian wind skiffs—lightweight airsleds propelled by magicked air sacs. Used for rapid insertions and desert or cliffside campaigns.

1 Commander (answers directly to the Duke/Duchess)

4 Sub-Commanders each lead a quadrant.

12 Pikewardens oversee smaller units.

Flamehand Circle (mage officers) report laterally to both command and arcane divisions.

3 Scout-Riders (minimum)

A flexible hierarchy allows command roles to shift on-the-fly during battlefield chaos.

• Known for adaptive field formations—triangle wedge in forests, crescent in plains, scatter-nets in urban conflict.
• Excel in defensive retreats, harassing actions, and ambush entrapments.
• Developed “sand-skinning,” a tactic allowing movement under desert cover, inspired by Bornia’s border skirmishes.
• Also deploy false collapses—feigned routs to bait overextended enemies.

• Initiates undergo the Stonewall Trial, a month of endurance and terrain adaptation.
• All soldiers are trained in at least two combat disciplines, plus one fieldcraft (first aid, scouting, sabotage).
• Arcane candidates must pass a Thaumic Purity Test.

• Supported by the Bornian Logistic Core, with supply wagons, enchantment smiths, and weather scouts.
• Prefers mobile camp networks over static bases.
• Uses ravens and mana-sparks for long-range comms.

• Backed by Bornian Flameballists (field artillery mages).
• Has access to Ashrunners, elite couriers and spies.
• In some campaigns, paired with the Ironback Company, a siege formation.

Moderate to high:

• Weapon refits, magical conduit replacement, potion and enchantment restocking.
• Arcane gear and cloaks are costly, but durable.
• Paid a stipend above normal infantry.

• Voluntary, but highly selective.
• Attracts adventurers, war veterans, and noble-born warriors.
• Revered in Bornia as a "path of honor", especially for second-born nobles or outcast mages.
• “Only those who bend and do not break” is a recruiting slogan etched at every outpost.

Founded in 871 AE by Duke Salvar Bornia, originally to defend Bornia’s fractured southern border. Initially 400 strong, it grew quickly during the Gilded Uprising (879 AE) and earned a reputation for unorthodox battlefield thinking.

Its adaptability was solidified in the Blizzard Pass Defense, where the Dukesguard held a frozen mountain pass against twice their number by reshaping ice into traps and trenches.

Always loyal to the Duke/Duchess of Bornia, even when the Duchy of Bornia's politics soured with the Commonwealth of Edria. It is considered the Duke’s personal shield, and often acts as diplomatic guards during emissary missions.