Member
Shienvien
Dark Jack
ASDAValueMilk
Name:
The Kingdom of Ængland
Realm:
Xai
Population:[/b
9,500,000
[b]Species:
65% Human
15% Elven
10% Half-Elven
5% Dwarven
5% Other Races
Brief Overview:
Government type:
Despotic Bureaucratic Monarchy, with Absolute Cognatic Primogeniture succession laws.
Current Government:
Ruler - His Royal Highness King Richard IV de Normandie
Consort - Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth de Normandie
Groom of the Stool - Sir Richard Jaywick, Lord Jaywick of Harrowdale
Royal Chancellor - Sir Thomas Drysden, Lord Drysden of Wingate
Royal Marshal - Sir Edmund Lancaster, Lord Lancaster of Cheltenham
Chancellor of the Exchequer - Sir Caleb Kimberley, Lord Kimberley of Lansdowne
Master of His Majesty's Spies - Princess Marianne de Normandie
Primate of Ænglaland - Archbishop John Stratford, Archbishop of Redhill
Master of the Swans - Sir John Staines, Earl Staines of Brokeborough
Seneschal of the King's Court - Sir James Candler
Cupbearer to the Royal Family - Sir Henry of Stokeham
Important Members of the Nobility:
Duke Johannes van Musselberg, Duke of s'Hertogenbosch
Duke Andrew II Blunden, Duke of Gainsborough
Duke Claus III van IJssel, Duke of Althem
Duchess Sophie I Syndale, Duchess of Northwich
Duke John V de Vere, Duke of Tyneshire
Duke Edward III Broke (pronounced 'brook'), Duke of Lothian
Earl William III Marshal, Earl of Camberwick
Jonkheer Darius van Bort, Jonkheer of Wijthmen
Generals of the Realm:
General John French, Lord French of Wivenhoe
General Paul van Henk, Lord Henk of Gasselterboerveenschemond
General Henry Amersham, Lord Amersham of Kolberg
General Erich van Tappe, Jonkheer van Tappe of Kamperdam
Military:
The Infantry:
The infantry of the Kingdom of Ængland has always been the strongest of the land-based forces, yet the Navy forms a more crucial role in English military planning.
The backbone of the Kingdom's heavy infantry force are made up of halberdiers. Trained and equipped to fight with long halberds, these soldiers can fend off cavalry and crush many kinds of enemies depending on what part of the halberd they hit them with. Well trained, these companies specialise in assaults or the close defence of pike squares, and are adept both on the attack and the defence, able to storm fortresses or hold the line against whatever horrors they may face in defence of King and Country.
Alongside the halberdiers in the lines of infantry that form the bulk of the Kingdom's armies stand the feared 'fire-spitters', or 'hell-raisers', or whatever the foes of the English may face call them. They are the arquebusiers of Ænglaland, and they are armed with the latest and most up-to-date weapons of the age: the advanced arquebus. The noise, smoke and lethality of this weapon is a source of intense fear for any charging into the gunline, for they know that they will meet their end with a pull of the trigger.
A third, although antiquated, part of the Kingdom's foot armies is that of the 'old guard' - the longbowmen, heavy swordsmen and billmen, all of which have been thought to have been superseded by the New English Army.
In the English Army, longbowmen now sign a contract of indenture with a captain to become part of his retinue or company. The captain then 'hires' out their services to the king in theory, although in practice such men serve for as long as they can in the armed forces, paid for by the treasuries of the Kingdom. Such men are professionalised soldiers, and highly skilled archers. They are well armoured and equipped and confident in their own abilities.
The age of the sword in melee combat is coming to an end for the English Army. Whilst in days gone by, the armoured swordsmen of the Army reigned supreme over other infantry, the age of pike and shot has begun to bring this to an end. Nevertheless, for fighting against armies that cannot be stopped by halberd and shot alone, the English Army maintains a force of skilled swordsmen to this day, at considerable cost to the treasury.
The bill is a typically 'English' weapon. Billmen in days gone by performed the role of spearman and heavy infantry both. Now, however, the billman's days are numbered as a true fighting force. Nevertheless, some generals still swear by the billhook. Considered by those generals to be the pinnacle of English commoner infantry, the billman of today is still equally comfortable in both attack and defence. Wielding the billhook allows the billman to hack, stab and chop if needed and being encased in anything from half to three quarter plate armour means they can shrug off most blows.
The Artillery:
Supporting the foot troops are the cannons of the King's Artillery Regiments. Divided between three main types of artillery, the guns of Ængland are the most feared instrument of war .. Able to devastate ranks of closing infantry, send walls tumbling to the ground, or even hole ships at sea and secure the waves for His Majesty, the gunners of the Artillery Regiments are veterans of their art, trained and hardened in the fires of war. In addition, the crews of the artillery guns are equipped to a standard that is 'unbecoming of mere artillerymen' according to some old-fashioned generals. However, the 'mere artillerymen' in question have turned the tide of battles with their thundering salvoes, and brought fortresses crashing down.
The main cannon in the Artillery Regiments is the culverin. The Culverin is a fearsome piece of artillery, first used in the Battle of Trenthill during the Second Civil War. It utilises advanced metallurgy techniques, superior construction and better trained crews to outrange and nearly all preceding bombards. Able to fire solid or burning shots, the culverin is devastating against enemy walls and lethal against enemy soldiers. Many battles have been turned about by the decisive fire these monsters of artillery have provided.
The supporting cannons to the culverins are the sakers. Sakers are medium cannon, slightly smaller than a culverin, developed after the Second Civil War as a supporting gun, as it was found that culverins often fired too slowly. Saker shot is designed to bounce on the ground and plough straight into massed lines of infantry, throwing men's bodies left and right as if they were bloodied ragdolls. Saker fire is a withering hail of cannon fire that often forces the enemy to break and run, lest they be massacred by the English cannon. When sakers and culverins fire as one battery, even the largest castle wall will fall, and all but the most sturdy of infantry will dare to charge into the jaws of musket and cannon fire.
The third cannon type fielded by the English is the mortar. Resembling the iron bowl from which it gains its name, the mortar was created to lob shots over intervening walls. Useful in dealing with companies skulking behind walls for protection, or to whittle away besieging soldiers outside walls, the mortar's capabilities makes it an excellent siege weapon for both attacker and defender. Mortars on the open field are rare, as their trajectory is more suited for siege warfare, nevertheless the sight of iron shot landing amongst your comrades as you march forward is detrimental to an enemy's morale. After all, he might be next...
The Cavalry:
English cavalry has gone through several phases of existence. In the beginning, the English cavalryman was a noble, a knight who ruled over a fief of land granted to him by counts, barons and earls, who in turn were granted their lands by the Dukes and the King. The English knight was at the very heart of feudal Ængland, and as a result the knights were often only committed into battle at the last opportunity - the phrase 'Gone to the Knights' was a term used by the English to describe a battle that has gone to the very end - the battle has lasted so long that the knights have been committed into action to try and win the day for the King. The old English knight was encased in mail and fought with a lance and sword, charging into the enemy ranks like the sledgehammer force they were in the old days. However, with the march of time, the knight has had to change, mould and adapt to the passage of technology. Next came the half-plated knight, or the stereotypical 'feudal knight', who was armoured in partial plate armour, with a lance and longsword. However, even this proved ineffective with the march of time, for cavalry required even more fear factor, even more punch and more power. The result was the Winged Hussar regiments.
After the First Civil War, Hussars began to replace the knight as the main cavalry arm of the English Army. After the Second Civil War (some 40 years later), they adopted plate armour. Professional soldiers, equipped in plate armour, a steel helmet, a war lance and a sabre, these proud and headstrong cavalrymen's usual tactic is an immediate charge. Although their tactics are simple, they are devastatingly effective, and the Winged Hussars have turned the tide of many a battle the English have fought, for the just when the battle seems lost, the Hussars sweep into the fray, crashing headlong into their enemies, sending them fleeing the field, lest they be skewered on a lance, or cut down by their sabres.
The Royal Navy:
"The Royal Navy is our Wooden Wall. It is our first line of defence against those who would threaten our nation. It is our primary method of attack. Our Navy is the most feared fighting force on the seas, and we intend to keep it that way." - Admiral Duke Claus III van IJssel, Duke of Althem and Grand Admiral of the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy of Ængland is the most powerful of the arms of the military. Dozens of oak-framed ships, bristling with cannons, muskets and rifles. Each ship is designed to be a gun-armed fighting machine, with relatively few soldiers on-board in favour of gunners, sailors and armsmen. The gun-decks of the Royal Navy are a frightful place to be in the middle of combat, with cannons firing almost at all times, especially when both sides of the ship are in action.
Economy:
Cities:
Ashton Gate: Population 65,000 - Capital
Martlesham: Population 25,000
Gasselterboerveenschemond: Population 14,000
Religion:
Society:
Ideology: