Star Wars Fanon
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Old Republic era
Legio 0
Military of the Morsian Empire
(From 20,000 BBY onwards)
Structural history
Rutilarian reforms · Farranaxian reforms · Reforms of 3,920 · Cracian reforms · Unit types and ranks · Equipment · Legions (Canon · Legends) · Navy (Canon · Legends)
Campaign history
Wars and battles (Canon · Legends) · Civil Wars and rebellions (Canon · Legends)
Strategy and tactics
Infantry tactics
Borders and fortifications
Castellum · Castra · Escensio · Finibus Galacticus (Finibus Septemtrionis Galacticus (Finibus Otega ad Qiilura · Finibus Thanium ad Ashicus · Finibus Meram ad Quelii · Finibus Kanz ad Raioballo) Finibus Coruscanticus · Finibus Teraab ad Trax · Finibus Meridionali Galacticus (Finibus Chommell ad Brema · Finibus Arkanis ad Cadavine · Finibus Lambda ad Bothanicus))
Under different political systems
Royal Morsian Army · Morsian army of the Dictatorship
Morsian army of the First Republic · Imperial Morsian Army (Canon · Legends)
Flag of the Morsian Empire Morsian fanon continuity


The Farranaxian reforms were a group of major reforms and restructuring of the Morsian army of the First Republic by Scipio Farr'anax, a Morsian war hero, ex-legate of the 3rd legion, and two times elected consul of the First Morsian Republic who the reforms were named after. The reforms aimed to rebuild the shattered Morsian army of the Dictatorship after the lengthy Second Morsian-Sicc'orax War, Third Morsian Civil War, First Morsian-Sparti War, and the widespread disease and famine outbreaks across the fledgling republic. They also aimed to further diversify the army to make it more well-rounded and better suited for defending against or attacking any threat it may come across.

Background[]

The Morsian Army was in a dire state following the rise of the first republic in 16,126 BBY. Many of its legions had been disbanded during the civil war, either due to destruction in battle or simply having too little manpower to continue fielding the legion. In addition, the units and equipment within the surviving legions was highly irregular, with some units containing ad-hoc spearmen, while other contained cavalry or ranged infantry. Manpower was depleted, morale was at rock bottom, and the army was in dire need of rebuilding.

Scipio was a celebrated Morsian war hero at the end of the civil war, having been highly decorated during both the civil war and preceding war with the Sicc'orax Republic. He had served as legate of the 3rd legion and led his troops to victory many times over the near decade of constant warfare that had plagued the end years of the Morsian Military Dictatorship. He had seen the disorganization of the army first hand, and had planned to do something about it when elected consul following the end of the civil war. Unfortunately, the instability from disease and famine had prevented that, and he was not elected consul by the time the nation became somewhat stable. As such he underwent reforming the army after returning to being a senator in the Morsian Senate, starting in around 16,115 BBY. Reformation was slow and took many years to complete due to the damaged infrastructure from the civil war as well as the slow income of manpower back into the army.

Attributed reforms[]

Scipio's reforms are mostly noted for their further diversification of the unit types found in the army, something first seen with the Rutilarian reforms nearly 600 years prior, but also from the increased size of the legions due to new branches being added to the army. During the war with the Sicc'orax, mounted units as well as ad-hoc spearmen began to appear in legions fighting on the front line, though these were little more than legionaries who had exchanged their sword for discarded Sicc'oraxian spears. Scipio compiled all these changes, some of which had been independently informally adopted by other legates, and formally implemented it into the army.

New units[]

Scipio decided to formally create new unit formations for use in the legions, which also expanded them in terms of fielded manpower. Spearmen had proved useful in dealing with the Sicc'orax and especially the mounted units of the Xikk'lac Tribe, so he created the hastarii who were spearmen carrying shorter infantry spears copied from Sicc'oraxian designs and armor much similar to the mediares infantry already employed by the Morsians. They also used more ovular shields, different to the Sicc'oraxian circular or stretched hexagonal shields. A total of 300 spearmen were admitted to each legion as support infantry, as well as a contingent of 100 legionarii equites which were mounted soldiers who also came about during the Sicc'oraxian war. These two new units of infantry meant that the Morsians had a fast response cavalry unit as well as anti-cavalry spearmen, increasing their effectiveness against the tribes of Virconis.

Siege equipment[]

Up until their second war with the Sicc'orax, the Morsians had very little siege knowledge due to a lack of training and targets to require it. What fortified settlements they had come across were easily dealt with by using siege ladders and battering rams created on-site by the legion. Before beginning the Battle of Sicc'orandunum, the largest siege battle the Morsians had performed was the First Siege of Traevilon over 600 years prior, which left them vastly underprepared on how to deal with the stronger hill forts and defended settlements of the Sicc'orax heartlands. Although methods were developed on a per-legion basis as commanders decided on their best way to deal with the problems before them, matters were not helped when it came to the civil war, where legions often had to besiege and crack the more well-defended Morsian settlements.

In response to this, Scipio gathered together what siege equipment survived the multiple wars and noted each of their effectiveness against different types of defenses. He settled on creating dedicated units for two of the larger equipment, the ballista and onager. The onager was a medium catapult capable of lobbing rocks or other such munitions at defenses and creating holes. The ballista was a giant crossbow-like structure which could fire large bolts to punch holes through weaker wall materials or pierce large formations of enemies. Each legion had an attachment of eight or so artillery pieces plus crew to fire them, allowing supporting fire in large battles or for bombardment during sieges.

Logistics[]

The Morsian Army had been relatively well serviced by their current logistical system, however with more legions being raised and the existing ones being expanded with more infantry and more importantly new heavy equipment, Scipio realized that the logistical infrastructure needed to be updated. New paved roads were commissioned to lead between important major cities or supply depots as well as leading to ports. Each legion was given a supply train, also known as a baggage train, which could transport all the heavy equipment and materials to construct marching camps. A baggage train was not a new development to the army, which had used them ever since the times of the late Royal Morsian Army, however the baggage train implemented by Scipio was far more robust and larger than before to accommodate all the extra units and equipment.

Pay standardization[]

As part of the infrastructure reform, Scipio set his sights on standardizing the pay for soldiers in the legion and making it more equal on a rank/unit type basis. Payment for soldiers in the legion had always existed but had fluctuated over time, and often from legion to legion, meaning some soldiers received a lot higher or lower pay than others, even when compared to another soldier of the same type or rank but in a different legion. In a bid to make it fairer, or at least more easily processed from a bureaucratical point of view, Scipio reworked the payment structure of the legions based around the new units now implemented into it.

The luxarii received the least amount of yearly pay due to their lower standing of light infantry. Following them came the mediares and hastarii which filled in the role of medium infantry. Legionarii and legionarii equites received a higher payment than these, with the legionaries being the more elite heavy infantry and the mounted troops often being from the more aristocratic class of Morsian citizens which allowed them to often supply their own mounts. Artillery crew were paid in the realm of between the luxarii and mediares, with veteran crews receiving sometimes slightly higher pay than the mediares. Officers followed a similar structure, with centurions being the lowest paid officers leading all the way up to the legates.

State supplied equipment[]

A reform that was not always fully implemented but followed as much as possible was the initiative for the state to supply equipment for the legions. This was usually the case during the dictatorship, however to cut costs sometimes a soldier would be allowed to supply their own weapon which would save the state both money and resources. However this came with the downside of potentially having poor quality equipment in the army, which could have deadly ramifications in combat, and it also lowered the professional standard of the army.

To return a feel of professionalism to the army, both internationally and internally, Scipio put plans in place for the state to manufacture and supply all the equipment for the army from state-owned forges and construction works. This allowed for standardization and optimization of casting, forging, and building of armor, arms and equipment that would be both of a higher quality and potentially cheaper than allowing random troops to supply their own equipment. Having standardized equipment meant that lost or damaged equipment could be repaired or replaced more quickly and easily, as well as allowing for an early example of mass production. To offset the cost to the state of manufacturing all this equipment, a new recruit would have a cut of their pay taken monthly to pay for their equipment until it was fully paid off. This also incentivized the soldier to take better care of their equipment, as it was now financially damaging if they lost any of it.

Retirement care[]

Having spent so much time in and around the army during his career, Scipio had excellent respect for veterans and so was eager to give back to the men who had put their lives on the line to protect the Morsians and the new republic in the civil war. Care for veterans had never been particularly good under the dictatorship, which is something Scipio was eager to address and prevent under the republic. With his reforms, upon retirement the soldier would receive a pension that was directly proportional to their rank and unit type the moment they retired, with a high ranking or a socially higher unit receiving a larger pension. The veteran would also usually be entitled to either some land or a dwelling in a city as a reward for their service. They may also have potentially been liable for a job post-service, however this was intermittent at best and was usually down to the discretion of the veteran as to whether they found a civilian job following their exit from the army.

Legacy[]

The reforms of Scipio were seen as sorely needed at the time, with the army basically non-existent for a period of nearly a decade following peace at the end of the civil war. Under the eye of Scipio and his reforms, the army became ultimately stronger and the logistical improvement made serving in the army more desirable with particular emphasis usually made on the payment reforms. The longer lasting impacts of the reforms were not as revolutionary or extensively felt as the Rutilarian reforms, however they lasted for over 100 years with little overall change, serving the republic well for most of its life.

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