Sun Domers also have mounted archers (Kuschile) and have access to cult weapons of the bow and javelin. I do not believe that Sun Domers can only fight in Phalanx but that they usually have a small number of other troops available.
Nevertheless I do think that Yelmalio wants his followers to fight in Phalanxes and thus every Sun Dome Temple has its own phalanx regiment (even if, as might be the case of Balazar, the regiments are largely ceremonial).
There probably exists a mythical justification as to why Phalanxes are So Great for Yelmalions to fight in (as opposed to being Peltasts for example). Something like:
War was made by the Cruel Gods to destroy the
Peace of Yelm's Empire. Many tried to remain peaceful
despite War. They were slaughtered. Others tries
to fight the Cruel Gods using their creation. They
themselves became Cruel Gods.
Yelmalio did not want this and so he summoned the
surviving men. First he commanded them to count of
in files of eight. Then, through his skill of
leadership he commanded them to arrange who among them
would face the enemy first and who would be second,
and so on. Then he made them line up that way, and
practice lining up that way, and then moving that
way in line. And then he placed many files together
to create the phalanx. The phalanx practiced marching
together in line and in column. This way discipline,
that helps us fight war without becoming cruel, was
made.
Some bits (most actually) are swiped from a myth about how one of the Dara Happan Emperors invented war. The remaining segments will probably explain why the Phalanx fights with spear and shield, and not on horseback...
--Peter Metcalfe
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