> I think, perhaps, you are misunderstanding the nature of the "Lunar"
army.
> It isn't really "Lunar", it's "Imperial". There are regiments drawn from
> every part of the Empire. They have their own traditions, gods, uniforms,
> friends, hatreds, etc. (If you've ever studied the British Army, it's a
lot
> like that, with "Home County" Regiments, "The Guards", Scots, Irish &
Welsh,
Very much so. New recruits still spend some time learning the specific history and traditions of their Regiments. The system has been slightly weakened by the fact that as the British Army has contracted many regiments have been merged - so, for example, all the Rifle regiments are now combined into a single Regiment called the Royal Green Jackets.
> Indian & Nepalese, etc.
The Indians and Nepalese were not part of the same Regimental system. After the British conquered India by a mixture of force, fraud, and commerical enterprise they raised an Indian Army. After the Mutiny each brigade of that army included one British battalion, rotated in from a British Regiment and still owning all the traditions of that Regiment, and two Indian battalions. The men of each Indian battalion would all be recruited from some Indian warrior tradition (Sikhs in one battalion, say, Rajputs in another) with British officers and British discipline superimposed upon them.
The Nepalese are another story again. The British never conquered Nepal, they just continued the tradition of rulers of India hiring Nepalese mercenaries. These were recruited into separate units with Gurkha soldiers and NCOs and British officers. This was so successful we're still doing it today. Until very recently the Gurkhas would always go home to Nepal after their service but on a British pension, they are now given the option to seek British citizenship at the end of their service. I don't know how many do.
Jane Williams:
> I'd assumed that everywhere has its own
> army/warriors, and joining the Lunar army instead of the local one is
> sort of like the Gurkhas joining British regiments.
The Gurkhas are a special case. Rural Nepal was riven with bloodfeuds and every adult male needed warrior skills just to survive. There are probably areas of the Lunar Empire like that too.
Andrew
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