TFT Snippet #4

dobriennm wrote:

doug941 wrote:To the most high lord of celery. I may have missed it if you already published one, but if not please, please, PLEASE publish a rank table for Imperial Harchongese officers.

At some point, the Author stated that the rank structure was somewhat fluid, that is, any rank given could mean several different ranks (in a normal army) depending on the person and the authority given them from higher up. While I'm sure there is some nominal hierarchy to the Harchongese ranks, to paraphrase, "When I use a rank, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

I understand that RFC has these ranks something like officers of the Thirty Years War where a "Captain" could command 50 men or 500. But even a most tentative rank table would be better than reading a chapter and having to metaphorically flip a coin to decide who is higher ranked and who is lower.

doug941 wrote:To the most high lord of celery. I may have missed it if you already published one, but if not please, please, PLEASE publish a rank table for Imperial Harchongese officers.

dobriennm wrote:At some point, the Author stated that the rank structure was somewhat fluid, that is, any rank given could mean several different ranks (in a normal army) depending on the person and the authority given them from higher up. While I'm sure there is some nominal hierarchy to the Harchongese ranks, to paraphrase, "When I use a rank, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

doug941 wrote: I understand that RFC has these ranks something like officers of the Thirty Years War where a "Captain" could command 50 men or 500. But even a most tentative rank table would be better than reading a chapter and having to metaphorically flip a coin to decide who is higher ranked and who is lower.

Despair not, it is much less hand-wavy than DOBRIENNM fears. Lord of Horse is somewhat variable since they don't distinguish between 2, 3 and 4 star generals in the title, but otherwise it is fairly reasonable. Of course, since it's Harchong, your social rank and family status also affect how much real authority you have.

Imperial Harchongese Army

Ranks and nomenclature:
Lord of Armies — Army minister
Lord of Hosts — field marshal
Lord of Horse — general (a floating rank)
Lord of Foot — brigadier
Captain of Horse — colonel
Captain of Foot — major
Captain of Swords — captain
Captain of Spears — senior lieutenant (no precise equivalent in other armies)
Captain of Bows — lieutenant
Captain of Staves — cadet/midshipman

Noncommissioned ranks (which are less important and therefore less flowery) are the same as those used by other armies: corporal, sergeant, etc.

Taken from 'How is the Harchongese army organized?' (Asked August 26, 2016) in the Safehold FAQ's (qv)

It's the top one on this page http://www.davidweber.net/faqs/index/series:6
and contains a lot more comment on the army and life in Harchong. Hope this helps.

"...two officers who'd survived the initial massacre were dragged, twisting and fighting desperately, towards a knot of serfs gathered around eight nervous horses.

One of those officers wore a captain of horse's insignia, and Syngpu wondered if the column's commander had been stupid enough to let himself be taken alive...
... the frantically struggling officers ... were hurled to the ground and ropes were tied to their wrists and ankles...
the other ends of those ropes were tied to the saddle horns of the captured horses. It was one of the Spears' favorite "lessons" for serfs who got out of line, after all. If ripping parents bodies apart in front of their children to encourage those children's better behavior was good enough for them then, he could indeed live with it when their turn came around.

Whips cracked, horses snorted, reared, and lunged forward, and the spreadeagled men shrieked as they were literally pulled — slowly and terribly — limb-from-limb while their cheering executioners jeered at their agony."

I'm wondering - did this execution have its origins in the Book of Scheuler? And/or will they be drawing on it for inspiration for some of the treatment they give to captured nobility and/or Imperial Army?