Dragonsong Dominion: Military

The Dragonsong Code is best reflected by the realm's army, stationed near Fort Dragonsong. During the division, their loyalty was evident as all the soldiers migrated toward the old country, bringing their families with them, leaving a deficiency in the new land, quickly filled by lighter troops.
 
Well disciplined, focused, courageous and loyal, to see their hard iron lines facing you on the open field is to know that your end is near. Such is their strength that adversaries prefer to trap them in woods or areas, such as marshes, where their discipline and strength of formation can be annulled.
 
The military career is offered and welcomed by 17-year-old boys and girls capable of wielding the traditional Dragonsong katana or short sword. They are sent to the country's Youth Corp Military School in Tyr-Song for training in the arts of war where the four basic Dragonsong weapons (katana, two-handed long katana, short sword, and the long bow) are taught not only to defend their honor, land, and family but also to teach discipline and virtue.
 
At the conclusion of the year-long training, they are allowed to request release from duty to follow their respective paths, be it tradesmen, farmers, or other professions. If they stay, they are granted a small tribute and sent on a walkabout to see the world and to return to join the ranks when they reach 21, after which they are sworn in and either taken into the active corps or sent to the reserves where they must return to Fort Dragonsong if they are ever called.
 
The standing army consists of 7,000, which can be swollen to 18,000 in case of an emergency, an impressive one fifth of the population, due to the military training given to all able citizens that come of age. Despite the stand off and the tactics of their neighbors, the army's moral is high, the only encounter that has led to a fielding of troops was the bloodless retaking of Eastspirit Fort, a strategic position that watches over the only open highway between the rival states and a 2-days march from the Driran Kingdom's main army camp.
 
Their general, Lord Marcus Court, is the Swordmaster of the Code, title given to the best swordsman of the land. He is the realms highest military adviser as well as the dominus' brother. After the defeats at the hands of guerrilla forces that employ underhanded and dishonorable tactics, he issued a military decree to begin training and drilling the troops in individual combat with shield and short sword to strengthen individual combatant skills on mixed battlefields. This was met with resistance by the traditional commanders, but their qualms were silenced when a daring nighttime woodland raid by light Driran troops was quickly thwarted by a substantially smaller number of the newly prepared troops.