Unathi Military Structure

The Hegemony, the primary government of the Unathi, has a military that operates under a feudal system.

The nobility of the Unathi operate under a fuedal system of obligations and mutual protection, where Lords are granted certain priviledges. In exchange, the Lords are obligated to maintain a personal standing army to be summoned in times of war to defend the Hegemony or advance its interest. Legally, Hegemony Clans are obligated to provide 70% of their levy to the Hegemon during war. Historically this has been contained to Moghes, though in recent years, with the creation of a navy that can operate in deep space the feudal concept has expanded to include an admiralty.

The Army

The Hegemony's primary army is a shell of its former self. The many Lords all had levy's averaging between 400 to 12,000 soldiers ready to be mobilized and deployed. The Lords would lead these armies equivalent to human Generals, with the Hegemon being the overall commander. The total combined strength of the army is believed to have been around 2.3 million men.

Clan Lords were responsible with maintaining private retinues to defend their personal clan's holdings, or to be summoned by their greater Lord.

Master at Arms, similar to a human Commander rank, directly lead the private retinue of a clan, which generally size between 30 - 700. They are almost, if not always, members of that Clan's immediate family.

After the Contact War most adult fighting men have been killed, made incapable, or abandoned Moghes in the face of the growing Wasteland and many Lord's inability to pay their men. The current estimated combined levy strength of the Hegemony is believed to be between 200,000 - 300,000, most of them consolidated in the Untouched Lands save for periodic expeditions to assault bandits or other minor threats from the lawless Wastes.

The Navy

Currently the Hegemony has two fleets, unique in being a professional standing army rather than a collection of levys. Lord-Admirals command their individual fleets, with the human naval structure adopted to some degree. Captain's run the individual ships, with Commanders being the second in command of the ship. The navy maintains a force of 90,000 men, though it continues to grow as the Hegemony attempts to expand its power into space.

The 1st Fleet is commanded by Lord-Admiral Trazarial Yizarus who leads it from the flagship HMV Cataclysm. He is a decorated war hero and famous for his unshakeable adherence to the unathi code of honor. During the succession crisis between Not'Zar Izweski and S'linzar Ickza, Yizarus defied Ickza and continued to support Not'Zar until his eventual restoration. The 1st Fleet has the Cataclysm, 25 Bulwarks, 35 Brawlers, and 40 Foundations.

The 2nd Fleet is commanded by Admiral Oyuti Gour'za. is notable for being the first commoner being appointed to such a prestigious post. He is aggressive and highly intelligent. The fleet was formerly commanded by Lord-Admiral Azikyui Yizarus, Trazarial's brother. He was known to be hot-headed and opportunistic. He supported Ickza during the crisis. Fortunately the two siblings did not come to blows and Azikyui swore fealty to Not'Zar after the crisis. He got to retain command of his fleet, with everyone doing their best to gloss over the whole technical treason business. The 2nd Fleet has 15 Bulwarks, 25 Brawlers, and 34 Foundations.

Ship Classes

Foundation-Class ships are similar to human Corvettes. They are small vessels designed for patrol or skirmish action.

Brawler-Class ships are similar to human Destroyers. They are larger and better armored than Foundations. They are usually equipped with heavy mass-driver weapons and reinforced shapes at the front of the vessel designed for ramming actions. They make up the majority of the Hegemony's navy.

Bulwark-Class ships are similar to human Cruisers. They are equipped with heavy laser and ion weapons. Similar to Brawlers they are designed for ramming actions, with their large size making this action an immense threat to smaller ships.

Hammer-Class ships are similar to human Battleships. The Hegemony does not currently possess a Hammer-class ship, favoring instead to jump immediately to the superdreadnaught class vessel.

Cataclysm-Class ships are a class of super-dreadnaught. The Hegemony possesses only one of these, it's namesake, but plans are in place to construct at least 10 more within 20 years. They are truly massive vessels, larger than any other military vessel available to the other factions save for the rusty Hiveships of the various Vaurca Hives. Despite its immense size, it is still designed to engage in ramming actions.

General Doctrine and Battle Honor

Most battles are fought by infantry, as mounted units are something uncommon in modern times due to the growing use of ranged weapons in combat. When War Riders do show up, they function like human knights, using their mount to run into the enemy formation and swipe at heads or necks. They fight with war glaives and laser pistols, riding their massive, armored Warmount beasts. Threshbeasts are smaller, 'salamander' like creatures also ridden into battle, which are lighter and thinner but are much faster than the cumbersome Warmounts.

The Unathi have also created and field Breacher Suits, which are heavily armored EVA suits that let a single unathi function as a walking armored tank on both terrestrial surfaces and in space.

While modern ranged weapons has been becoming more standard in the Izweski Nation, the vast majority of Unathi shun them and consider them dishonorable. Melee weapons and claws are the most important tools of battle to the vast majority of Unathi. They take extreme pride in their weapons, and there is honor of killing someone in hand to hand combat that many Unathi consider completely absent in human warfare.

This even extends to space warfare. Despite being the youngest spacefaring species, their unpredictable and borderline suicidal tactics often take their opponents by surprise. Unathi combat vessels tend to be heavily armored at the front, with huge plasteel spears mounted on the front. The typical strategy is to turn engines to maximum power and bluespace incredibly close to a target vessel to "ram" it - often getting as close as 500 feet. Many ships can be split entirely in half by the ramming of the heavier Unathi vessels.

With breacher suits modified to be functional in the vacuum of space, marines jettison from the unathi ship and attach themselves to the target vessel, breaching it with plasma cutters and boarding the ship with energy weapons.

The strategy is devastating when used effectively - very few ships can withstand a Unathi boarding action because few Captains or Admirals expect such outlandish tactics to be executed with such zeal. Unfortunately for the Unathi, their tactic relies on the element of surprise or disbelief from their victim. A seasoned captain or admiral can easily counter unathi ramming actions.

With honor, dishonor is an actual criminal crime. It's illegal to mistreat the helpless, infirm, or any prisoners taken by a soldier. The mindset is that there is nothing to prove in abusing someone at your mercy, which just becomes sadism and can stain the honor of the offender's clan. Unfortunately the behavior of Unathi Raiders and slavers in the frontier have given most people the perception that even the military of the Izweski participates in abuse or slaughter, a stereotype that the Hegemon military is growing increasingly sensitive of.