From: "Stewart Stansfield" <stewart_at_cynoscephalae.freeserve.co.uk>
>The sexual structure of the Esrolian army is an interesting topic, Donald.
>Greater female control over the rank and file would better eliminate
>potential problems (if you see them). Apart from for a select few
>malcontents, who through incitement and that bossy female Windsor Davies of
>a drill instructor may just tip Esrolia into open rebellion! :o)
Drill instructors are usually NCOs so in male units (I don't think there are any mixed units) they would be male. A more typical problem would be the young inexperienced lieutenant insisting her knowledge was more useful than the experience of the NCOs. Even then I think desertions would be more likely than rebellion.
>There are further options open regarding the nature of the Esrolian army,
>structurally. As reference to the Samurai (e.g. Takeda) armies of Sengoku
>Jidai era-Japan, you could have a situation where elite women warriors
>(probably not the axe-maidens!), mounted or otherwise, are accompanied by a
>corps of favoured retainers in battle, in addition to the standard male
>spearmen, reminiscent of the Ashigaru.
Looking at some of the previous discussions (indexed on Lokarnos) there seems to be a general agreement that the Esrolian army is mostly male militia with a few elite units of women (Babester Gor) and possibly some male Humatki. The latter do possibly act as retainers to various women but I'm not sure they are elite warriors, rather they are senior leaders/officers or magicians.
One question remains as to what cult the women officers follow, the suggestion has been made of Lhankor Mhy which I feel stretches the cult too far the wrong way. Thunder Rebels lists Kev the Visionary which would provide a distinctive style to Esrolian leadership. A leader who could see the results of particular actions and yet tries to avoid conflict because it is basically destructive. Another alternative would be a variation on Orendana the Queen but that seems inappropriate for junior officers.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/ --__--__--
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