Disclaimer: The following was not written by, authorised by, nor verified by any member of the Thief development team, Looking Glass Studios, or Eidos.

The City cannot be said to have a noble military tradition. The City’s initial situation of being dependent on trading for survival meant that it was vital to stay on good terms with surrounding city-states. This stance of dictated neutrality ensured peace and relative prosperity for the inhabitants of the City, as well as reducing the need for the high taxes necessary to support a standing army in peacetime, or to run a military campaign during war. The Baron and the City Council, in the event of war, envisaged using the City Watch as the elite of the army, with conscripts and militia pressed into service as arrow-fodder.

However, this view changed when the nearby city-state of Bohn, another trading city, declared war on Cyric. There had been underlying tension in the region for some years, and it was only an excuse that was needed for both sides to declare war. This came when Bohn accused Cyric of pirate raids on merchant shipping bound to and from Bohn. Cyric had a standing army composed of regular, paid volunteers, and also a well-organised system for conscription and the use of militia. There was also a clear chain of command, and standardised weaponry. Bohn, like the City planned to, fielded a motley collection of conscripts, organised by an overwhelmed police force. The militias, theoretically under the control of the commander, enjoyed complete autonomy as confused orders and reports circulated through the disorganised chain of command. Each part of the army was issued different weapons, and the lack of standardised weapons meant that Bohn commanders could not be sure of their own section’s capabilities.

The result of the ensuing battle should come as no surprise. A few weeks after the declaration of war, Bohn was under siege, its army having been defeated in a series of major battles. The City, alarmed at the potential loss of a valued partner, offered mediation between the two sides. However, this was rebuffed by Bohn, who also threatened the City with attack if the continued to attempt to become involved. The threat, combined with the disastrous defeats that the army of Bohn had suffered, prompted the Baron to implement the City Army.

[Although outside the bounds of this thesis, it is interesting to note the outcome of the war. Bohn eventually succumbed, and made peace. In doing this, they lost many of their resources, and had to suffer high taxes and a permanent military presence. This persisted for many years, during which Bohn organised underground resistance to the occupying force. This, combined with civil unrest, prompted Cyric to implement a series of ‘strategic reassignments’ – retreats – from Bohn. Some years later, Bohn rose up against Cyric, with a much improved army. Although they have succeeded in retaking much of the territory they had lost, Bohn has suffered several grievous defeats, and the eventual triumphing of Cyric seems only two or three years away.]

The City Army, as it official name is, is modelled on the army of Cyric at that time. Under war conditions it has a theoretical maximum size of 100,000 rank-and-file, excluding commissioned and non-commissioned officers. However, it could be possible to expand the size of the Army even more, although this would entail some officers not being nobles. Bearing in mind the current and historic attitudes of the aristocracy, this option seems likely to be never exercised.

In overall command of the Army is the Commissioner-General, a high-ranking Lord who has to come from the City Council. This arrangement does not always ensure that the most tactically proficient man becomes head of the Army, and so it is common practice to ensure that the Commissioner-General has many aides who have had experience in the field.

The Army is divided into five divisions, each commanded by a General. Generals are also required to be high-ranking nobility, although in theory any noble could become one. The splitting on the army into divisions is more that just for convenience – each division specialises in a particular aspect of warfare. The 1st and 2nd Divisions are Melee Infantry, the 3rd and 4th Divisions Archer Infantry, and the 5th Division Cavalry.

An incidental rank exists at this point: Brigadier. Brigadiers command two divisions of 10,000 men each, making them responsible for 20,000 men. There are ten Brigadiers currently, but most of them are involved with the training or administration of the City Army, and few ever gain experience of fighting in the field.

The Divisions are split into Detachments of 1,000 men, and have a Commander at their head. There are ten Commanders for each division. In general there is not much autonomy allowed, and so Detachments rarely fight as separate units. There exists at this point another incidental rank, Lieutenant-Commander. These men are responsible for five Detachments, which are known collectively as a Command. These Commands are used autonomously in battle, depending on the division, due to the fact that some are armed with different weaponry. For instance, the 2nd Command of the 4th Division is effectively the artillery of the City Army, equipped as they are with catapults, ballistae and trebuchets. [At the time of writing, the Mechanist cannon are not employed – most were destroyed at Soulforge Cathedral or in the ensuing riots]. Likewise, the 1st Command of the 5th Divisions is the horse cavalry of the army, while the 2nd Command is the burrick cavalry. While both are mounted units, they are used differently during battle and so require different commanders.

The Detachments are further split into ten Companies of 100 men each. They are commanded by Captains, who are assisted by Lieutenants and Ensigns. The latter two ranks do not hold charge of a specific unit, but instead help the Captains with their duties. The third incidental rank of Captain Major exists here, a rank that commands a Corp of five Companies. Corps are rarely used for anything but ceremonial parades, the unit being too small to fight and action autonomously, and too big to be manoeuvrable when fighting as part of a larger force.

There exists only one rank of non-commissioned officers – sergeants – who command a Platoon of 10 men. Sergeants are promoted from the ranks, and are regarded as the glue that holds the entire army together. Too often military actions have failed due to the fact that tactically ignorant officers were unable to fight actions effectively, and thus there are accounts of sergeants acting as aides to officers and fighting the battles for them.

As was said earlier, the theoretically maximum size of the City Army is 100,000 men. Under peacetime conditions the army is reduced in size by almost a half, as the 1st and 3rd Divisions are disbanded, and the 2nd Command of the 5th Division likewise disbanded. The officers are normally suspended on half-pay, while the sergeants and some soldiers are enrolled into what is now the City Watch. However, due to the ongoing war against Blackbrook this situation has never existed since the beginning of the war.

It is also important to note at this point that the figure of 100,000 refers only to the size of the army in the field. There is another Division in existence, the 6th Division, which is concerned with the training, equipping, and administration of the other five. The 1st Command of the 5th Division is the Training Command, which trains soldiers and sergeants for war in the various barracks around the City. [There are no soldiers permitted in the City, except when on leave. This is to prevent the Army being used as a political force to seize power]. The 2nd Command is the Administration Command, which has a Supply Detachment, Logistics Detachment, Administration Detachment, Engineering Detachment and Justice Detachment. The Supply Detachment is concerned with the manufacture and maintenance of the equipment and weaponry of the City Army, which will be discussed later, while the Logistics Detachment is tasked with transporting equipment and food to the army in the field. The Administration Detachment negotiates contracts and the like, and sets rules that the Justice Detachment is tasked with upholding. The Engineering detachment is responsible for the construction of bridges, forts, and other structures which may be required during the campaign. The detachment is responsible only for designing and supervising the construction – it is expected that the other five divisions provide the manpower. The 2nd Command of the 5th Division is notorious in this respect – it is often joked that the burricks of this command spend more time building than they do fighting.

As was described earlier, there are three types of soldiers: melee infantry, archery infantry, and cavalry. Melee infantry are armed with a longsword, but their primary weapon in a long, 15 foot pike. Elite units, such as the 1st Command of the 1st Division, carry shields as well. All melee infantry wear a chain-mail shirt and a standard-pattern helmet, along with a surcoat with the City’s colours. The surcoat is to provide warmth and aid identification, and, being made of leather, can soften sword blows. The chain mail, although cheap and easy to manufacture in standard sizes, can only afford protection against sword blows. Arrows penetrate the mail easily, as well as the unprotected legs and lower arms.

Archer infantry also wear the chain mail, helmet, and surcoat. Their position at the back of a formation means that protection is not as vital, but the inability of the mail to protect against arrows means that archers suffer numerous casualties as well. The archers are armed with an altered-longbow, and development of the original pattern longbow. Although not as powerful or accurate as the original longbow, the altered-longbow is easy to fire, requires little effort to use, and is easy to train on. The elite of the archer infantry, the 4th Command of the 3rd Division, use the original-pattern longbows. All archers carry a quiver of normal broadhead arrows – the quiver can hold 30. This is found to be sufficient for most battles, although there is a tendency for some archers to shoot of all of their arrows within the opening phase of the battle. Under some circumstances, such as at night or against a powerful enemy, the elite archers use fire arrows. The price of such arrows, and the difficulty involved with firing them, mean that only limited numbers of the best troops are allowed to fire them. Recently, the use of the Mechanist pattern crossbow has been advocated, due to the ease of firing and its small size. However, the destruction of the Mechanists has meant that this idea seems to be coming to nothing.

As was described above, there are two types of cavalry. The 1st Command consists of the Horse Cavalry, the 2nd Burrick Cavalry. Due to the high cost of buying and maintaining horses, the 1st Command is the almost exclusive preserve of the noble or wealthy. The horses are bred as warhorses, and are tall enough to be an imposing presence on the battlefield. Horse Cavalry are supposed to wear standard-pattern plate armour, although few can resist the urge to wear their own. The armour can guard against sword and pike thrusts, and provides relatively good protection against arrows. The various detachments each have their own weapons, which are expected to be supplied by their users. The 1st Detachment are armed with longswords, the 2nd with sabres, the 3rd with lances, the 4th again with sabres, and the 5th with altered-longbows. The 4th and 5th are collectively known as the ‘Light Horse’, and are intended for skirmishing and initial contact. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd are the ‘Heavy Horse’, and play the opposite role. The Light Horse can be used during battle, but previous experience has shown them to be ill-suited to this.

The Burrick Cavalry is the preserve of the commoners, although the officers are nobility. The 2nd Command are all issued with longswords, and wear chain mail into battle. They are not seen as the elite of the 5th Division, but instead the workhorses, and are used to break up the enemy, or force them to contract into a circle. The burricks are tamed and so tend to shy from battle, an action that is no doubt also due to the fact that that burricks are ‘slit’, so that they cannot breathe acid. A safety precaution, this means that the full potential of the burrick cannot be exploited.

The 2nd Command of the 4th Division is equipped with the artillery of the City – each company is responsible for one piece of siege equipment. Although this may seem a large number, it should be remembered that the duties of the company include the repair, transport, assembly, and operation of the piece, as well as gathering munitions and liasing with the other divisions. The technology of the artillery pieces is too involved to go into here, but it is worth noting that the pieces are each built to different patterns, making the provision of spare parts to each a complicated task.

However, the City Army is not the only force fighting for the City. There also exists a small Hammerite army, which is fielded when the upper echelons of the Order feel that their existence is threatened. Seeing as this often occurs on occasions when the City itself fields an army, the Hammerite contingent has come to be regarded as a de facto part of the City Army. The Hammerites field the equivalent of a single Command, which is a combined force of melee infantry, archer infantry, and priests. The nature of the this force, and the refusal of the Hammers to fight separated, means that the ‘Hammerite Command’ is used as a shock-force in areas where the regular army is overwhelmed. While the Hammerites have no instructions to obey the Commissioner-General, they have come to realise that they stand the best chance of victory when they co-operate with the City Army. The lesson learnt when the Hammers tried to fight independently has never had to be relearned.

Hammerite Melee infantry are armed with the infamous Hammers, and wield them with brutal and overwhelming violence. They wear a hooded jacket of chain mail, with a metal neck-guard that can defy arrows. Over this they wear their red robes with the symbol of the Hammer on front. Archer infantry wear similar armour, but fight with their altered-longbows and broadheads.

However, Hammerite priests fit into no established category. Their religious training allows them to use magic in strictly controlled and defined ways. They are able to create small hammers, and then hurl them at the enemy. The hammers are red-hot, and cause more damage than even fire arrows. However, there is a long gap between shots, although the collateral damage caused reduces the time needed to aim. Recent events, recounted in Keeper Angustiae’s recent thesis, have caused the Hammers to be absent from the military campaign against Blackbrook. This has resulted in a major drop in combat efficiency, as has been shown by the series of the retreats that the City Army has encountered.

The tactics used by the City Army are far too numerous and detailed to describe here, but a rough guide might suffice. Pikemen are arrayed on long lines about five men deep, and behind them are the archers. The archers fire arrows in an attempt to denude the opposing force before contact. When the two advancing sides are close enough the front four ranks of pikemen break ranks and run at each other. The archers stay behind, and fire arrows at their enemy counterparts. Cavalry are often brought into action at this point, from their position on the flanks. Sometimes they mount the initial attack, but standard practice is to retreat into a circle, with the pikemen on the outside and the archers within. The archers can then pour fire into the cavalry while the pikemen keep them away. The method of combating this involves using burricks and archers to break the packed ranks, and then using the cavalry and infantry to kill the routing survivors. This is in turn countered by employing other infantry to drive away the marauding cavalry. As a result, most battles between armies are long and drawn out, and usually never result in complete annihilation.

Besides the City Army, there is another facet of the Armed Forces of the City. The City Navy was originally started by a coalition of shipping businesses, determined to protect their valuable but defenceless ships. Too slow to run, to weakly armed to fight, these ships were being taken by pirates or enemy cities. Calling itself the Navy of the Union of Importers and Exporters, order were placed with shipyards around the City for several armed frigates, with a larger number of sloops and gunboats. The frigates were 150 feet long, with one gundeck that held 20 ballistae. With a sailing crew of 50, and an armed force of 100 swordsmen and archers, these were seen as a suitable deterrent to pirate attacks. The archers were armed with fire arrows to set ships alight. The sloops had four ballistae, and a crew of 70, of whom 20 were archers and the rest sailors. The gunboats had a single ballista, and a crew of 30, all of whom were sailors.

The arrival of these warships made a huge impact on commercial shipping. Merchant ships belonging to the Union were forced to sail in convoy, whilst other ships were forced to pay heavy premiums to be protected. These premiums allowed the creation of more warships, and there were evens plans afoot to create an even larger warship, a veritable ship of the line with 2 gundecks, 40 ballistae, and a crew of 450. 150 would have been sailors, 150 archers, and 150 swordsmen. However, events were to overtake these ambitious plans.

Evidence suggests that the City Wardens, who control semi-legitimate businesses, infiltrated the Union and began to cause infighting amongst the members. Various factions began to develop through the manoeuvring of the Wardens, and the infighting spilled over into open conflict. The warships first began attacking rival factions’ merchant ships, then rival warships. The sea battles, which culminated in the Battle of Markham’s Isle, destroyed most of the fleet. At Markham’s Isle the frigates of two rival factions were fighting each other, after spotting each other’s convoy. So engaged were they by this that they could not deal with a pirate fleet, under Captain William Markham himself, which destroyed first the convoy and then the frigates themselves. This humiliating action, as well as destroying most of the Union’s frigates, caused so much infighting that the conflict threatened to spill over into the streets.

The Baron took immediate action. The Union was forcibly dissolved, and the navy handed over to the City Council. The Council enacted a law creating the City Navy, charging it with the defence of merchant convoys, and the defence of the City in times of trouble. Since then, the City Navy has changed little. The sloops and gunboats used are the same ones built by the union. Shortages of manpower in the Army have caused the soldiers in the ships to be transferred to the City Army, while most of the spare parts for the ballistae have gone there too. As a result, the City Navy is ineffectual at best.

In overall command of the Navy is vested in the Commissioner-Admiral, who does not need to be in the City Council, or even a noble. Below him are three Admirals, of the White, Red and Blue respectively. These colours refer to the fleets that the Admirals command. They are assisted by two Vice-Admirals each, while each ship is commanded by a Captain. Each ship has three lieutenants, and a single Ensign. The only non-commissioned rank, like in the City Army, is that of sergeant.

Each fleet theoretically consists of ten sloops and five gunboats. However, manpower is at such a premium that it is rare for a fleet to have more than half of its strength even afloat. The low status of the City Navy means that the Department of Warfare, the government organ which controls war, accedes to its requests after all the other have been dealt with. This has resulted in a navy ill-equipped to deal with the resulting rise in piracy and smuggling that followed the death of the Trickster.

Naval battles tactics are simple to the extreme. At each engagement the ships attempt to get alongside each other, where their ballistae can do the most damages. At close ranges archers use fire arrows to try to set the ships alight, and then at the closest ranges boarding planks are used to enable the melee infantry to board the opposing ship and capture it. The development of the cannon by the Mechanists promises to revolutionise naval warfare, but it is likely that the City Army will have first use of it.

This sorry state of the Navy means that it cannot put up any effectual resistance to the pirates that now roam the seas preying on merchantmen. After an encounter with the combined forces of Captain Carr and Captain Davidson, the City Navy retreated in shame, having lost six sloops and five merchantmen from a convoy. The pirates suffered no losses at all. The desire of the City and Gormon Truart to stamp out piracy may result in increased funds for the Navy, but meanwhile all of the fleets only set sail as one force, and only to guard large or important convoys.

Prospects for the armed forces of the City do not look good. Although withdrawn from its position by the Baron, the failure of the City Army to contain Blackbrook has resulted in the loss of one of the City’s most important regions, as well as humiliation. That the Army was withdrawn to deal with the City Watch, an organization favoured by the people, has lead to further apathy. Recruits have flocked to join the City Watch, while the army has seen a rash of desertions and mutinies. The Navy is disliked for failing to protect the merchant ships, which now hire the best sailors. Both organisations face the prospect of few recruits and decreasing funds, as taxes are re-routed into the City Watch or the Department of Public Works. When the time to fight comes, the City will not be able to rely on its Armed Forces.

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