Ch.26Devotion Offered by the Sword (1)

# “After reviewing all these cases, what do you think? Doesn’t the relationship between state and military look somewhat different? No? Well, that’s disappointing.

Let’s summarize. A state absolutely needs an army to defend against external threats. However, as the army grows stronger, the risk of rebellion increases proportionally.

Therefore, how to control the military and what size to maintain it are questions any ruler must naturally consider.

Especially for an empire that adopts a ‘professional soldier’ system—specifically a ‘standing army’ structure.

Even without the risk of rebellion, regular military systems have other issues. Although soldiers are occasionally deployed for public works, they don’t produce as much as agriculture or commerce. Soldiers need regular training, unlike farmers and merchants, right?

So recruiting many soldiers means reducing the production of that region and slowing its development.

You should understand how terrifying that short phrase ‘reducing production’ truly is. Just because this year’s wheat harvest was good doesn’t mean next year’s will be too.

But when a sudden cold snap comes next year and food runs short, it’s already too late.

Production affects both short and long-term outcomes. Remember that agriculture and livestock are matters of survival.

So, are there alternatives to these problematic regular military systems? Of course. Some states had no formal military at all.

Wait, let me clarify what ‘no formal military’ means. It means ‘no distinction between soldiers and non-soldiers.’

Someone herding sheep yesterday might suddenly become a soldier by evening, then return to shepherding the next morning. You might think, ‘What kind of state operates like that?’

In fact, before political systems developed, all states functioned this way. Even when barely forming cities, people considered it perfectly normal to ‘raid’ neighboring communities when food ran short.

But in this lecture, we’ll mainly examine the irregular military systems operated by northern and western pagans, particularly militia systems where people normally pursue their livelihoods and only receive soldier status during special circumstances.

Militia. Doesn’t that sound good? Since they normally do their regular jobs, there’s no risk of rebellion. When crisis strikes the nation, they transform into an army, reducing the risk of losing the country.

Question: Why does the Empire operate a regular army rather than an irregular one? Furthermore, why do territories from Imperial direct control down to electorates, duchies, and even counties all gather standing armies, large or small? Please answer freely. I’ll give extra points for brief answers.

(…) Everyone seems to have paid attention in class. This means I can’t show off as much as I’d like. Still, I’m pleased because I can teach you at least one thing.

Pagan states are mostly desert and steppe. Despite their vast territories, people don’t live together but are scattered.

Consequently, pagan armies primarily consist of cavalry. They focus on raiding rather than occupation and garrison. Their specialty is attacking quickly to break the defending army’s fighting spirit, seizing supplies, then rapidly withdrawing.

The problem is that these ‘cavalry’ aren’t state-operated organizations. Normally living as nomads, when food ran short, they would mount their horses and steal from neighboring tribes. You could say they divided their time equally between nomadic life and raiding.

That’s why there were no unified states in the north and west. They were too busy fighting and quarreling among tribes. This is precisely why the ‘Stone-Fire’ faith, which we call pagan, holds such significance.

The Stone-Fire faith united all nomads. Its founder, also called a saint, known as ‘The One Who Cries in the Wilderness,’ reportedly visited all tribal chiefs saying, ‘Let’s not fight. Let’s reconcile. Somewhere in the world, there exists land that is neither desert nor steppe.’

Even now, the north and west lack anything resembling a ‘unified dynasty.’ Instead, they have religious leaders. Under the leadership of the ‘Calipha,’ essentially the Pope of the Stone-Fire faith, tribes establish loose cooperative systems. Since religion binds them together, it stands above politics.

From the Empire’s perspective, the north and west hold little appeal. Nobody wanted more sand. Moreover, Imperial horses differ from desert horses and don’t easily adapt to the desert climate—hot days, cold nights, and sinking sand.

However, pagans did invade the Empire. Or more accurately, raided it. This is the decisive reason why the Empire has a regular army while pagan states don’t. The Empire needed to protect what it had, while pagans needed to take what they lacked.

Hmm. I have much to say about holy wars, but since we’re examining the relationship between state and military, let’s leave it at that. We have more to cover.

The Eastern United Republic… we’ll address this in the next class. To discuss Niccolo Dandolo’s failed reform proposal and the decline of the Venelucian Republic requires some understanding of republics, but today’s class is about military organizations.

So let’s move on to today’s main topic: the White Blood Knightly State.

The White Blood Knightly State pledges loyalty to the Empire and Emperor. Unlike electors, they have neither the right to elect the Emperor nor the right to become Emperor, but they respect whoever becomes Emperor.

It seems strange, doesn’t it? Despite the Imperial army’s existence, there’s a separate knightly state? They’re neither mercenaries nor nobles. They’re just knights and warriors. Yet they’re not part of the Imperial army either.

But the Imperial army doesn’t fight the White Blood Knightly State. Why? How did this military group gain acceptance?

To understand this, we must examine how the White Blood tribe, once nearly a barbarian tribe, became ‘knights’ and gained recognition as a ‘state.’

The White Blood tribe originally operated as mountain bandits in the western mountain region. They were known as extremely violent and aggressive berserkers.

They acknowledged neither western pagan invasions nor the early Empire. Their logic was simply that they had lived on this land and would die fighting on it, so they wouldn’t listen to anyone.

The western mountain region consists of high mountains covered with dense forests. Some of you may have heard of the famous Teutoburg Forest. Known for the Varus Disaster, where three legions of Imperial Commander Publius Varus were destroyed under the leadership of Sigurd ‘Growling Teeth’ of the White Blood tribe.

The Empire eventually recognized their autonomy. In exchange, they strictly prohibited raiding and periodically provided food and medicine. Though nearly humiliating, this led to unexpected results when a three-year great famine struck the world afterward.

While even minor nobles were dying, the White Blood tribe survived. It’s said that Chief Sigurd tied himself with ropes, came to the capital, and pledged loyalty to the Emperor.

Though ‘loyalty’ sounds nice, it must have seemed like mockery at the time. Nevertheless, the White Blood tribe truly remained loyal to the Empire. They sent various tributes, albeit small ones, and fought in the vanguard whenever the Emperor requested.

Ancient documents refer to them as ‘beasts of white blood,’ which really means ‘they are not human.’

‘Those who came down from the western mountains covered in eternal snow may look human but are not. Humans have red blood flowing, but they have white blood.’

Surely you don’t think the White Blood tribe actually had white blood? White blood is a metaphor for the eternal snow of the western mountains. The tradition that disaster strikes when mountain snow melts has been passed down for generations, and they call it ‘white blood.’

Anyway, while ‘white blood’ meant barbaric creatures barely resembling humans, the White Blood tribe actually liked the name. It was practically a compliment that their bravery reached a superhuman level.

As the White Blood tribe’s reputation spread, some became curious about their culture and customs.

Their system of accepting anyone who claimed to be a ‘warrior’ regardless of reason, but immediately expelling those who fled from battlefields or duels.

Their system of selecting a new chief through competition among aspirants when a chief died without designating a successor.

But back then, the White Blood tribe was just a tribe. During the Empire’s expansion and conquest period, Emperor Constantine the Great appointed them as a ‘knightly order.’ This signaled their formal acceptance as part of the Empire and earned them the title ‘tamed beasts.’

Thus the White Blood tribe became the White Blood Knights, but their customs continued. They accepted anyone who claimed to ‘know how to fight’ as a member of the order.

As a result, there were times when applicants to the White Blood Knights outnumbered Imperial army volunteers. While the Imperial army is a well-organized military structure with a huge pyramid shape making promotion increasingly difficult, the White Blood Knights offered advancement simply by fighting better than others.

Of course, the White Blood Knights couldn’t shake off the label of ‘uneducated barbarians who only know how to fight.’ But they were wise people who, despite limited knowledge, valued honor.

If you don’t follow the rules properly, civilized nations might whip you, but here they’d split your head in half. No exceptions.

Then the holy wars broke out.

Officially four, unofficially five. The First, Second, and Third Crusades against northern and western pagans.

The ‘Cursed Army,’ which originally targeted pagans but became mercenaries paid by the Eastern Union forces and invaded Imperial territory, thus losing even the name of the Fourth Crusade.

And the Fifth Crusade against the Demon King.

The White Blood Knights fought as the vanguard of the crusades. Their aggression was fully displayed even in the desert. They competed favorably with the Pope’s knights.

As a result, they returned with immense wealth.

This is where things got complicated. The White Blood Knights belong to the Empire. If the Pope’s knights took property from pagans, it would become church property one way or another.

But since the White Blood Knights took considerable spoils, from the Pope’s perspective, he had initiated the holy war but had to yield much profit to the Imperial Emperor.

Pope Innocentius argued these were byproducts of a ‘holy war’ and should rightfully be ‘offered’ to the church, while the Empire countered they were ‘rewards for the White Blood Knights’ faith and devotion.’

The one who put an end to this pointless debate was Alexios I. The greatest emperor and also the most handsome. I’m not saying that because he’s my father.

Anyway, Alexios I ordered ‘holy relics to be stored’ in the western mountain region, the foundation of the White Blood Knights, and gave the entire territory to the White Blood Knights, saying ‘since there are holy relics, knights are naturally needed to protect them.’ He even allowed selling the relics for ‘fair value of devotion,’ essentially for money.

As a result, the White Blood Knights received enormous wealth and territory. This was possible thanks to the guidance of the venerable Emperor Alexios I, who could be considered the incarnation of the war god Mars.

Thus the White Blood Knights became the White Blood Knightly State, and to this day it remains a nation aspired to by many young people, especially those who want to prove themselves through fighting but don’t want to start at the bottom of the Imperial army.

Numerous talents gather at the White Blood Knightly State. Being from the White Blood Knights guarantees success. They secretly work as instructors somewhere, and even pagans pay large sums to hire them covertly.

But the knights of the Knightly State don’t care. They know there’s more money here than what others offer, and they know they’ll fall behind the moment they leave the Knightly State, aware of how much the knights train in martial arts.

So they gather, learn, and master martial arts from around the world. The situation has reversed to where the Knightly State spends fortunes to invite foreign combat experts.

They accept both men and women, but still use ancient language for titles. They refuse to adopt the Imperial standard language for this.

Once, the Imperial Treasury Bureau demanded they use the Imperial standard language, arguing that while everywhere else used it, the White Blood Knightly State alone using their native language ruined the aesthetics of unity. They complained about seeing ancient language in official documents.

The Knightly State accepted this to some extent but refused to give up their titles.

The most problematic title was “skjaldmær,” referring to formally knighted women. In Imperial standard language, it means ‘shield maiden.’

Then formally knighted men would have to be called ‘shield bachelor,’ which the Knightly State protested sounded quite strange.

For warriors, connotation matters. Titles can signify dignity, fear, terror. Emperor. Pope. Demon King. They don’t sound simple. The same applies to White Blood.

Maintaining official titles embodies the White Blood tribe’s wildness, bravery, and free-spiritedness—bowing only to the lord they choose.

They don’t adhere to family ties or bloodlines. The bloodline of the White Blood tribe symbolically means the bond of blood spilled by weapons on the battlefield. It strongly symbolizes when the eternal snow of the western mountains melts white like blood.

They also use ancient language for titles given to the 12 incomparably excellent warriors. Generally, these 12 receive the right to enter a tournament to select the next Grand Master of the White Blood Knights if the current one dies without a successor. Male warriors are called “berserkr,” female warriors “Valkyrja.”

If you get into an argument with someone who introduces themselves as a berserkr or Valkyrja, it might be wise to reconsider fighting. You’d be quarreling with one of the 12 most outstanding martial artists gathered from around the world.

Oh, you’re wondering what the Treasury Bureau did? They hired separate staff. Their job is to translate documents sent from the White Blood Knightly State into Imperial standard language.

So Treasury Bureau documents contain lengthy titles like ‘shield bachelor’ and ‘shield maiden,’ ‘man wearing bear skin’ and ‘winged woman who normally idles but takes people to fight beside god on the final day.’ Those hoping to join the Treasury Bureau should know this in advance.

That’s all for today’s class! Don’t forget your assignments, and if anyone needs ink, pens, or paper, I’ll leave extras in front of my research office. If any student wants to use my library, just leave a note anytime, and I’ll let you know when it’s available.

– Excerpt from Lecture 4 ‘The Relationship Between State and Military’ of Professor Anna Kommodus’s ‘Introduction to Imperial History’ course at the Imperial Capital Academy.”

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“So. When will you spar with me?”

With swollen eyes, Lily grinned at Kain.