Wretckin Peasant Levy: Common serfs, either levied by their feudal lords to fight in the civil war, or populist rebels revolting against Istvanite-aligned lords, either way, they are essentially normal people armed with farming tools and spears.

Wretchkin Militia: Violent and aggressive, many Wretckin have a personal vendetta against the Justinian state for the pogroms and genocides that preceded the civil war, willing to fight autonomously and of their own accord. Others are simply eager for blood or to set themselves free of all feudal contract through war. Either way, Wretchkin volunteer militia are the brutal vengeance-hungry counterparts of the Istvanite Citizen-Militia. They are raiders and hunters, pillaging the outskirts and burning Justinian temples.

Cult Levy: Wretchkin or not, these peasants have been fully induced into one of the Red Pantheons numerous cults as lesser members. Some have willingly taken the Familiar Curse while others fight entirely of their own will. Their higher grade equipment is mostly scavanged or donations from the cults for service, including access to polearms, maces, some lesser grade swords and occassional firearms. They are not professional soldiers other than the fact that they are usually more active than normal levies and are usually of higher morale than average. Cult levies will act differently depending on their assigned deity, such as Uturrite cult levies practicing cannibalism and occasionally losing themselves to berserker rage when cornered.

Sergeant-Familiars:
The Sergeant-Familiars are the semi-professional bread and butter of the Imperial Army of the East. Typically former peasant and urban levies, through years of experience fighting in the Eudazite/Gushawar wars as well as the seven years of civil war they have become relatively good at soldiery, abandoning their seasonal warfare to an occupation of war. Nearly all of them have been put under the Familiar Curse, contracted under regimental witches, who act almost like religious commissars and field mages. Some of them are loyal to their witch commanders, others are loyal to the Marshal Ostorius Răceanur who has led for so long, others to the emperor or their new Red Gods. Many others are bound by force, essentially puppets on strings, compelled by the curse against their will. Either way, they are well armoured and often wielding polearms and pikes.

Sergeant-Familiars are often trained in using crossbows and cumbersome arablests, with guns being less common due to the Ouroborasian environment being detrimental to the use of gunpowder based weapondry. Pavise shields are however a common addition to crossbows.

Mounted sergeant-familiars are surprisingly common, as many aristocrats died during the early days of the civil war, uprisings, pre-civil war purges and other events that forced the raising of experienced sergeant man-at-arms as cavalry, usually light cavalry wielding swords or small crossbows.

Ouroborasian Knights: While the civil war has been a dangerous time to be an aristocrat, the eastern aristocracy has survived significantly better than their western Istvanite counterparts, mostly by adopting the various private cults. The witches found corrupting individual aristocrats easier than masses of Justinian peasants, after all. Ouroborasian Knights are experieced by foreign and civil wars, heavily armoured in full-plate and armed with swords, maces, polearms, flails and various other weapons. Chivalry as found in Aberys is a dead concept, the Ouroborasian Civil War being a vicious ethno-religious conflict with no place for things like romanticised honourable combat. Ouroborasian knights even before the civil war were particularly renown for their pragmatic fighting styles, including half-swording. Ouroborasian knights while honourless are usually quite eccentric, wearing elaborate religious symbols, naked Ishnanneh idols on headresses and so on.

Some Ouroborasian aristocrats become deeply involved in their respective cults, enough so that their religious affiliation rather than their title and station defines them, being more like a religious order member than simply a knight - though not trained and magically trained enough to be considered a blackguard. These knights besides apparel and behavioural differences depending on their faith also tend to have cursed weapons and armour, blessed by various witch curses to aid them in battle. Some are willing familiars and serve as retinue to senior regimental witches.

Ouroborasia's knights have more than enough wealth to pay for their own armour and mounts, and have the lifetime training required to act as heavy shock cavalry. While not the most famous cavalry/mounted force in the world, Ouroborasian knights are respectable.

Neophyte Witch: The Regimental witch is what East Ouroborasia is famous for. An army of curse-flinging, familiar-holding sacrifice taking magic users, dedicated to various Red Gods. Either witches born with the Witch Curse or made witches later for certain actions of sacrifice, the vast majority of witches are girls and women, particularly Ephememite and Ishnannehi witches. Conscripted from villages, kidnapped as young girls to be trained in Solomonta, aristocratic hostages trained in witchcraft, daughters of cultist families or wretckin willingly handed over - who believe they are doing what god commands... even volunteers, eager for revenge, power or to serve their deity who blessed them at birth.

The lowest ranking regimental witches are essentially child soldiers, 'neophyte' girl witches sent out from Solomonta or private tutoring to experience the Sacrilege War, or otherwise child witches brought up in the Imperial Army of the East. They are not usually actually given command of large formations of familiars and instead act as squire adjutants to more experienced regimental witches, or a units designated magic user if it is low ranking enough to have a child as one. A neophyte witch will usually have at least one familiar bodyguard though, and nearing the end of their service period will be expected to hold a small group of familiar soldiers under their will.

Innominate Witch: A professional military witch who has passed her passage of trial but has not yet joined the Hecataphrim and so taken on a 'witch name'. Of those who do not pursue research, religious or political aspirations, the remainder continue fighting with the army as familiar-commanding officers and designated magic users. Many are graduates from Solomanta or private tutoring and have chosen to continue fighting the Sacrilege War as a military witch, others have grown up in the army and it is their home and 'family'.

The Innominates are often witches who while have not created their own unique personal legend or image, are instead experienced military fighters, used to large scale battles and formation based combat, as well as mass scale curses and support magic.

Witchknight: Some Innominate witches never end up joining the Hecataphrim, instead choosing to remain with the army. In the last seven years of civil war, these coven-deniers have instead decided to immitate the order of Blackguards, becoming colloquially known as "Witchknights", heavily armoured witches, often riding monsterous mounts or bicornes, unicorns or pegasi.

Witchknights are particularly popular among the Imperial Army of the East and its commanders, who see them as professional and serious soldiers, who usually forsake the impracticalities of the coven for harsh military logic and pragmatism.

Coven Witches: At the upper most echelons of the Witch hierarchy there can be found a select and exclusive group, a society known as the Hecataphrim - The coven of the witches. Those who have become members of the coven have been 'named', given a name by the coven deriving from the ancient sorceresses of Ancient Pantheon times. The Covens members include mostly ancient pre-civil war witches, remnants from the Axohar Rebellions that have prolonged their existence beyond the natural human or even elven lifespan via complex magics. Some coven members are young East Ouroborasian women, invited into the coven usually for significant achievements, patronage of the gods or clear exceptional potential.

The Coven besides being the ruling political elite of East Ouroborasia are also prominent military assets. Coven Witches are often extremely proficient at curses, spellcasting and various magic attacks and support buffs. Their efficiency of casting is often very high, and they have the wealth and resources of the empire to provide them both larger rituals and more research funding.

On the other hand, Coven Witches often becoming increasingly eccentric and individualistic after joining the Coven. Many tend to work alone or as commanders of their own private retinue armies. They rarely fight in conventional battles. Many Coven witches also tend to forsake armour and equipment during their time with the Imperial Army of the East, instead taking on either proper witch robes or the more 'eccentric' attire associated with their god (of particular note, Ishnannehi Witches).

Peasant Levy: Common serfs of Western Ouroborasia, either levied by their feudal lords to fight in the civil war, or populist rebels revolting against Witch-aligned lords or actual Witches, either way, they are essentially normal people armed with farming tools and spears. The Average Ouroborasian Peasant is very poorly educated and parochial, however they are also have strong survival insticts, healthy paranoia and a suprisingly level of mental resistance and faith. The Average Ouroborasian Peasant is also capable of withstanding the Ouroborasian environment better than even their knights, since it is these poorfolk that often live out in the muck, mud and odious swamps.

Sergeant Men-At-Arms:
Sergeant Men-At-Arms are semi-professional bread and butter of Istvan's Imperial Army of the West. Typically former peasant and urban levies, The survivors of the Red Purge (of the loyalist eastern army) have great experience fighting in the Eudazite/Gushawar wars as well as the seven years of civil war, overall they have become relatively good at soldiery, abandoning their seasonal warfare to an occupation of war. The Sergeant Men-At-Arms of the West are particularly loyal and high in morale, both because their new young emperor is charismatic and commoner-friendly but also because the new regime under Istvan has advocated a system of meritocracy, where the best and most valiant men-at-arms may rise to knighthood. This is so prominent, that upon becoming men-at-arms, soldiers are often given honorary batons, once only posessed by aristocratic knights.

Sergeant Men-At-Arms are often trained in using crossbows and cumbersome arablests, with guns being less common due to the Ouroborasian environment being detrimental to the use of gunpowder based weapondry. Pavise shields are however a common addition to crossbows.

Mounted sergeants are surprisingly common, as many aristocrats died during the early days of the civil war, uprisings, pre-civil war purges and other events that forced the raising of experienced sergeant man-at-arms as cavalry, usually light cavalry wielding swords or small crossbows. Many of these mounted sergeants are hopefuls, awaiting a possible knighthood right behind the corner - so often fight extra hard.


Clerical Headhunters: Men and women armed and armoured by the local Clerisies of their towns, either once being particularly devout junior members of the Clerisy or remarkably zealous townspeople/militia, they are now on the payroll of the Clerisy's private armies, though usually as local clerical militias. They are zealous witchhunters and often collaborate with Nightwatchmen and Gauntlets, acting as henchmen for in particular Cleric Rozarosu. Clerical headhunters are a varied group due to the decentralised nature, some being honest faithful villagers defending their communities and temples while others are fanatical and genocidal militia that were once villagers caught up in the Witch Purge preceding the civil war or hang on to every word from Rozarosu. They are usually not magic-users themselves, that are often retinue support to clerics or other low-level magic users who give them minor blessings - as such they are mostly used against witches isolated from the East, including women accused of witchcraft by village neighbours. Old women, wenches, ugly and diseased, mystics, herbalists, prostitutes, children, social rejects, etc.

Istvanite Knights
The West Ouroborasian Aristocracy suffered greatly from the build up to the civil war. Purges, asassinations and defections to the East combined with many being killed during the early days of the Civil War (Including the Red Purge) took a great toll on their numbers. Istvanite Knights as such are the new radical wing of the knightly aristocracy, being hardened sergeant men-at-arms that have been knighted. They have since become known as "Istvanite" or "the Knights of Istvan" despite being no order. While lacking knightly training, they make up with this with years of actual military experience in campaigns from Eudaz to the Civil War, and they also have greater survival skills than most aristocratic knights due to their humble beginnings. Just as vicious and pragmatic as their eastern counterparts, Istvanite knights are willing to do whatever to win. Dirty tactics, unfair use of terrain, half-swording, whatever it takes they will do. This combination of lack of chivalry and commoner orgins however causes them to be alienated and distrusted by proper aristocrats and foreign knights, particularly those from Weshland and Aberys.


Western Knights that are mounted have a majority of still mostly true aristocratic knights, as the uplifted sergeants usually do not have the personal finances to cover the costs of a large enough warhose and armour to be considered 'heavy cavalry', though some do. There is a degree of internal conflict between the two different groups of knights.