Putting the Years Together

Have progressed through thirty-two years of military history. Only 320 years remaining to catch up to present.

It's interesting to learn some of my assumptions about who probably held what rank back when are completely unfounded. It just couldn't work out that way. By Year 81 - the year when flameswords became part of the training - I am going to have to make some adjustments to the structure.

The idea is that, by Year 320, the following structure needs to be in place.

There will only be five Marshalls.

For every Marshall there should be four Generals. This is a change from two.

For every General there should be two Commanders. This remains unchanged.

For every Commander there should be two or three Captains. This is down from four.

For every Captain there should be one or two Scouts and six to eight Lieutenants. This is a change from four Lieutenants.

Pretty dry stuff, I suppose, but it's part of the world building process. Not all of world building is creative excitement. Some of it is simply diligence and adherence to logic and rules already set in place. Changing a rule is permitted, but only if it is exatrapolated throughout. This is required if one wishes to maintain credibility and believability.

We've been watching Dinotopia, another poorly made fantasy movie in which the focus is primarily on strange creatures doing strange things. Time and distance are ignored, making the story seem implausible within itself. As a viewer I am willing to suspend disbelief, but only if the story keeps true to itself. Don't show me that people walk no faster there then here and then expect me to believe someone with asthma can climb a 300-step stairwell in ten minutes, or even a person who is fit can walk miles in a few minutes through jungle.

On average, people walk about three miles in one hour. That is on level ground. So, to walk through jungle it is reasonable to believe the pace will hold true. Disbelief can be set aside for speeds of up to five or six miles in an hour (two leagues). This means, walking, a well fit person could make about twenty leagues (about sixty miles) in a day, but that would be pushing it. And that is a ten hour day, not four or six. I just hate it when writers get time and distance wrong. There is no way I can suspend my disbelief.

And that is why I devote so much time, energy, and pure creative thought to things like who was Head-of-Family in Year 30, and who was High Marshall, and who were the acting Scouts. (For the record, Khirbah was still Head-of-Family in Year 30, Daheek was High Marshall [I had been hoping for Jora], and Alanta, Gahbi, Nordahn and Raigur were the Scouts.) It's a lot of work, but it is part of the creative process.

Military Structure

So I'm progressing along with the military history. Up to Year 24. It's kind of amusing how things worked out. Due to the strict adherence in keeping young families together, there actually was a period of several years in which there were no regular warriors in the military structure. Only officers. In fact, in the current year there are only 20 warriors out of a military structure of 74. But it's changing. The first generation born at the Compound is entering military service. Eventually, things will balance out. However, as each generation ages the military force shrinks. This will continue for three hundred years. It will take that long for the family to reach a population in which there is constant military support.

The military structure is as follows:

• Head-of-Family
• Sovereigns
• High Marshall
• Marshalls
• Explorers
• Generals
• Commanders
• Captains
• Scouts
• Lieutenants
• Warriors
• Sub-Commanders
• Sub-Captains
• 2nd Lieutenants
• Officers
• Soldiers

There can be only one Head-of-Family and one High Marshall at any given time. And while Sovereigns technically outrank the High Marshall, the High Marshall reports directly to the Head-of-Family.

Something similar takes place with Explorers and Scouts. Generally, it is accepted that all family members will marry and have children. However, for those few who decline the benefits of matrimony, the position of Explorer is available (unless they are unaligned). Explorers report directly to the High Marshall, although technically they aren't an officer at all. Scouts report to Captains, although they are almost equal with Lieutenants.

The positions below Warriors are all pre-military ranks, for those too young to actively participate in military companies. At the moment I am not dealing with those ranks. Got enough going on as it is.

Familiar Ground

So I've been working on military history for a few days now. Got all of the database records updated as to who was in the military when, and began work on assigning rank and companies. Got to Year 23 before I realized I had mucked something up. So, I've begun anew at Year 1.

It should be okay, though. Made a couple of tweaks to the system to account for Village Defense and Reserve Force. Ultimately, this should speed the process up. I just have to start from the beginning again.

Deja vu. I've been here before.

The Work Goes On - and on - and on - and on

Getting a lot of work done on the military backstory. Some of this work has, in fact, been done for years. Such as a compiled list of all Presiders/Heads-of-Family over 352 years. There have been fifteen.

Name .. Begin Ended
Khirbah....1.....60
Perdisch..60.....85
Daheek....85....105
Alahnta..105....145 female
Dakisch..145....168
Thiona...168....175 female
Rokell...175....210
Chonatha.210....232 female
Soviah...232....251 female
Khirdo...251....293
Kuschone.293....311
Deschone.311....320*
Dezro....320....340*
Kraston..340....340*
Abrin....340.......*

Four of the Presiders have been women. The last four (marked with asterisks) are father-to-son successions. This is the motivation for the treason of Book I.

I also have entered all of the Sovereigns into the database (also compiled years ago). I won't list all of those as they comprise 262 records.

Another thing I've completed (just this week) is the determination of who was in the military during which years of their life. That was fun. I generated 159,710 records encompassing a 352 year period. Everyone has been grouped according to village, and villages have been grouped according to companies. Now I'm going through each year, one at a time, assigning warriors to companies and assigning military rank to warriors. I am on Year 3. This is the tedious part of the project. I see no way to generate records based on logic queries. It is going to come down to me looking at everyone for every year. When I am finished my military history should be quite impressive. Just as my sword skills records are impressive, and my family tree records, and my housing records, and wedding records, etc.

Sometimes this seems so real.