From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996
Subject: Re: Kingdom soldier
The Kingdom is far less organized than the Tsurani system, where the House organization predominated for centuries. In the Kingdom there are, basically, two armed forces, those controlled by the local lords, and those controlled by the Crown. (By the way, this changes radically during the period between the books and the games). At the time of the Riftwar, each Baron, Earl, and Duke has his own garrison. It usually was supervised by the Swordmaster (with a Horsemaster overseeing cavalry). Within that garrison there might be multiple corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, and captains (depending on size; a small Barony might have one captain, two lieutenants, two or three sergeants, and a half-dozen corporals overseeing a couple of hundred men spread out over the Barony--the Duke of Salador probably has dozens of officers and a score of non-coms supervising a couple of thousand soldiers). The King's forces and, by extension, the Prince's are similarly organized, except there's no Swordmaster or Horsemaster (except as staff in the Prince's household to teach children those arts). The "knight-" designation means an officer in the royal army, not someone serving a noble. The politics of the Kingdom can be complex due to the nature of a feudal system. "Chain of command" is often an issue should a noble's lieutenant presume to issue commands to the Prince's soldiers. And to further cloud the issue, the Prince and King's forces also contain special units such as personal guards/household guards, designated special purpose companies like Calis's or the Royal Pathfinders. Anyway, that's a brief overview.
From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998
Subject: Re: military rankings
In general, "Knight-" means member of the King/Prince's army, or the army of the Kingdom at large. Otherwise assume the officer is a member of a garrison or a ducal household or some other military unit. Marshal General Captain Lieutenant Sergeant Corporal Soldier (no privates) In the Navy you have Admirals, Captains, Lieutenants, and seamen.
FAQ answers attributed to Raymond E. Feist are copyright by Raymond E. Feist.
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