The armies of Vlandia are not permanent standing hosts but layered forces raised through feudal obligation and sustained by road and castle networks. The crown maintains a small household guard and royal retinue, but the bulk of any Vlandic host is assembled through musters issued to banner-lords, castellans, and chartered towns. When war is called, messengers ride the road network carrying sealed writs that specify quotas of men, mounts, and supplies owed by each estate. These quotas are known in advance. Houses that fail to meet them do not plead ignorance; they are judged in breach of fealty.
Musters follow predictable cycles tied to harvests and weather. Most campaigns begin after crops are secured and fodder for animals is gathered. Long wars strain the system. As seasons pass, levies grow thinner, supplies tighten, and discipline erodes. Vlandic commanders are trained to fight limited, decisive campaigns rather than endless wars of attrition. Wars are expected to have objectives that can be reached by controlling roads, crossings, and castle lines. When those objectives are met, hosts are often disbanded rather than held in the field.
The core of Vlandic warfare is disciplined infantry supported by mounted elements and siege specialists. Shielded footmen hold ground, control crossings, and deny movement along roads and river fords. Heavy cavalry is used as a mobile strike force, but rarely unleashed without support. Cavalry charges are planned around terrain that allows regrouping and resupply. Vlandic commanders value formation integrity over individual heroics. Breaking formation is treated as failure of discipline, not bravery.
Castles and fortified towns are central to Vlandic war doctrine. Campaigns are planned around lines of fortresses that secure supply routes and deny the enemy safe passage. Sieges are methodical rather than reckless. The Vlandic preference is to isolate, starve, and pressure a fortress into surrender rather than waste manpower in frontal assaults. When assaults occur, they are tightly organized around breach teams, shielded advances, and controlled withdrawals. Casualties are accepted, but unnecessary losses are considered poor command rather than honorable sacrifice.
Road control is treated as a form of warfare in itself. Patrols, toll forts, and road garrisons are reinforced during conflicts. Cutting an enemy’s access to roads and fords is often considered more decisive than winning open-field battles. Vlandic hosts advance along secured corridors rather than spreading across open country. Retreats are planned in advance along fallback roads and fortified waypoints. Losing control of a road network is seen as losing the campaign, even if armies remain intact.
The Vlandic army maintains a formal rank structure recognized across regions. Titles such as Recruit, Footman, Man-at-Arms, and Sergeant are not merely descriptive but carry legal authority within the host. Orders issued by recognized ranks are binding. Disputes over command are settled through documented rank and oath rather than battlefield charisma. Noble commanders hold authority by banner rights, but professional soldiers are respected for discipline and experience. Tension exists between noble privilege and professional command, but open defiance of rank is rare.
War customs in Vlandia emphasize order, witness, and lawful conduct. Declarations of war are formalized through heralds and sealed writs. Raids without writ are considered banditry unless later sanctioned. Prisoners of rank are taken for ransom rather than killed, as they are assets within the feudal system. Common soldiers are typically disarmed and released or impressed into labor, depending on circumstance. Looting is regulated. Unauthorized pillage is punished, not out of mercy, but because it disrupts supply discipline and provokes rebellion that threatens road security.
Banners and colors carry legal weight on the battlefield. To fight under a banner is to fight under its lord’s authority. False colors are treated as grave dishonor. Capturing an enemy banner is both a tactical and symbolic victory, as it disrupts command legitimacy within the opposing host. Conversely, losing one’s banner is treated as a public failure that can stain a house’s reputation for generations.
Vlandic war culture prizes endurance over spectacle. Campaigns are measured by roads secured, forts taken, and obligations fulfilled rather than by the number of heroic deeds sung about afterward. Songs exist, but they tend to celebrate sieges held, bridges defended, and lines maintained rather than lone champions. Victory is understood as the slow narrowing of an enemy’s options until they have no road left to stand on.
Mercenaries are used, but never fully trusted. They are hired for specific campaigns, siege labor, or specialized roles such as engineers and scouts. Mercenary captains are bound by contract and collateral. Breaking contract brands a company as oathless, which makes future hiring within Vlandia difficult. Even effective mercenaries are kept outside the core of command to prevent reliance on forces that owe no land-bound obligation.
Defeat in Vlandic culture is treated as a matter of failure to fulfill duty rather than personal shame alone. Commanders who lose armies through recklessness face legal consequences. Commanders who lose through overwhelming odds but preserve roads and castles may retain favor. The highest dishonor is not losing a battle, but abandoning obligations: failing to answer a muster, breaking an oath, or yielding a crossing without lawful cause.
The Vlandic way of war is slow, structured, and deliberate. It turns geography into doctrine and obligation into logistics. The Marches do not burn quickly. They grind forward, one road, one bridge, one gate at a time.