About Riders
May 29, 2013 13:23:14 GMT -6
Post by Kitlaine Sylverstre on May 29, 2013 13:23:14 GMT -6
A cavalry/police group that protect citizens in hard to reach pockets of the country. They enforce the law and teach local residents to defend themselves. They also have a reputation for being willing to do anything, no matter how crazy it is, to get the job done. Their flexibility allows the most insane plans to be carried out perfectly and lets them improvise when an ordinary cavalry unit might get bogged down by tactical errors. they ride mountain ponies to travel in even the most treacherous terrain. Best Archers in the country, very few actually use a sword unless an enemy gets too close. They often go out with squads from the Own. Only military group (besides Knights) to accept Females as well as Male fighters. There are only 5 rider groups that you can join at the present in New Tortall, more will be added as these get filled. 13 Riders plus their two leaders per rider group.
Ranks and terms
Captain : the leader of a rider group; group commander
Commander : the collective leader of the Queen's Riders, supported by the Second-in-Command.
Group : a group of riders
Horse Mistress/Master: responsible for the Riders' ponies, including acquisition, instructing trainees in their care, and general management. The position is filled by a civilian expert and is often accompanied by an assistant or two.
Lieutenant : the second-in-command of a rider group.
remount : A rider's second horse, to ride when the primary horse gets tired. In the case of the Queen's Riders the remount is the spare horse.
Second-in-Command : also called assistant commander, or just The Second, a nominal position under the Commander, usually held by a captain
String : A group or train of horses on a lead rein
Trainees: newcomers hoping to join the Riders;
Others: additional civilians such as healers and tailors who work for the Riders by educating trainees and acting as support staff.
Rider Groups Available
Deadly Beauties - Captained by Kitlaine Sylverstre, Lieutenant - ____
Demon's Bane - Captained by ____, Lieutenant- _____
Sunlit Arrows - Captained by _____, Lieutenant- _____
Winter's Breath - Captained by ____, Lieutenant- _____
Soft Venom - Captained by ______, Lieutenant- ______
Equipment and Uniforms
Brown Trousers/Breeches, tan shirt, brown tunic. Sturdy brown riding boots, Brown cloak. Nothing that shimmers or glitters unless its made of steal and even then, dull looking is better. As for equipment, each rider has two ponies, their weapon of choice(usually bow and arrow or crossbow), their backup weapon(Generally a sword or spear), anything they need for their weapons, a pack with three changes of clothes, a sleeping roll, a tent and a week's worth of rations and soup balls. Any tack that they need or brushes and picks for their mounts. NOTHING gets brought into the field that isn't essential to survival.
Training
Joining the Queen's Riders is easy enough, really. The requirements are posted throughout the realm in schoolhouses and other such gathering places, and the list itself isn't all that long. You must be fifteen years of age or older, healthy with all your body parts attached (no missing hands or eyes), single, no spouses or children, you need to have good reflexes, and you need to be able to read and write (if you cannot, the Riders will give you work in the palace until you learn.). It helps if you ride, though that is not mandatory, and every hopeful trainee must be at the Rider camp in Corus by the March full moon.
Yes, all you have to do to join the Riders is meet the minimal requirements and show up. Thing is, it's the staying in the Queen's Riders that's tough. Training begins on the dot every year on the full moon of March, and from the start trainees are given a strict regimen. More often than not, trainees will get sick, or they can't take orders, or they can't handle the schedule. Regardless, the weak ones are weeded out early on.
Trainees begin their day by waking up and and getting out the door in full dress mere moments after their trainers sound the morning call. They then spend the morning doing seemingly menial tasks such as running through the meadows and climbing the tallest trees around. This is broken by lunch, and then the trainees go right back to the hard work. After supper, which is about seven in the afternoon, the trainees go into the school, where they do their book learning and field training, learning to, among other things, identify, use, and counter-act poisons; apply and make medicines, mostly with medicinal herbs; identify and prepare edible plants; how to track and hunt, on all terrains; how to sew your own wounds, without numbing the area; how to read maps, and how to draw them; battle tactics; veterinary medicine; and virtually everything possible about weaponry and hand-to-hand combat. The ones with the Gift learn to do all they can with it.
After a few weeks of playing around, the Horse Mistress for the Queen's Riders will come in with a herd of ponies in tow, and the real work will begin. Trainees will go to the meadows and pick out two ponies: one for the morning, and one for the afternoon. The trainers watch this carefully, because the trainees' choices in ponies will either make or break their future Rider career. Day one is spent grooming the ponies and getting to know them, as well as fitting temporary tack, which will be replaced with saddles and bridles that the trainees themselves will make.
After this, the trainees learn to ride their ponies, to fight while on their ponies, and pretty much anything else you can think of, on their ponies. This is a time when many trainees drop out, as well. Usually, by the time Spring ends and Summer is upon them, there are around thirty trainees left. By this time, the trainees are deemed ready to wet their toes and head to the summer riding camp -- which is a different location each year. It's there that the trainees apply everything that they've learned, and their training is further expanded upon.
The trainees all do the best that they can, and at the end of the following fall, those that remain divide into actual Rider groups in the field and begin their trial year. If they survive (and most do, nowadays), the trainees are hired as Riders and assigned to their permanant groups.
Ranks and terms
Captain : the leader of a rider group; group commander
Commander : the collective leader of the Queen's Riders, supported by the Second-in-Command.
Group : a group of riders
Horse Mistress/Master: responsible for the Riders' ponies, including acquisition, instructing trainees in their care, and general management. The position is filled by a civilian expert and is often accompanied by an assistant or two.
Lieutenant : the second-in-command of a rider group.
remount : A rider's second horse, to ride when the primary horse gets tired. In the case of the Queen's Riders the remount is the spare horse.
Second-in-Command : also called assistant commander, or just The Second, a nominal position under the Commander, usually held by a captain
String : A group or train of horses on a lead rein
Trainees: newcomers hoping to join the Riders;
Others: additional civilians such as healers and tailors who work for the Riders by educating trainees and acting as support staff.
Rider Groups Available
Deadly Beauties - Captained by Kitlaine Sylverstre, Lieutenant - ____
Demon's Bane - Captained by ____, Lieutenant- _____
Sunlit Arrows - Captained by _____, Lieutenant- _____
Winter's Breath - Captained by ____, Lieutenant- _____
Soft Venom - Captained by ______, Lieutenant- ______
Equipment and Uniforms
Brown Trousers/Breeches, tan shirt, brown tunic. Sturdy brown riding boots, Brown cloak. Nothing that shimmers or glitters unless its made of steal and even then, dull looking is better. As for equipment, each rider has two ponies, their weapon of choice(usually bow and arrow or crossbow), their backup weapon(Generally a sword or spear), anything they need for their weapons, a pack with three changes of clothes, a sleeping roll, a tent and a week's worth of rations and soup balls. Any tack that they need or brushes and picks for their mounts. NOTHING gets brought into the field that isn't essential to survival.
Training
Joining the Queen's Riders is easy enough, really. The requirements are posted throughout the realm in schoolhouses and other such gathering places, and the list itself isn't all that long. You must be fifteen years of age or older, healthy with all your body parts attached (no missing hands or eyes), single, no spouses or children, you need to have good reflexes, and you need to be able to read and write (if you cannot, the Riders will give you work in the palace until you learn.). It helps if you ride, though that is not mandatory, and every hopeful trainee must be at the Rider camp in Corus by the March full moon.
Yes, all you have to do to join the Riders is meet the minimal requirements and show up. Thing is, it's the staying in the Queen's Riders that's tough. Training begins on the dot every year on the full moon of March, and from the start trainees are given a strict regimen. More often than not, trainees will get sick, or they can't take orders, or they can't handle the schedule. Regardless, the weak ones are weeded out early on.
Trainees begin their day by waking up and and getting out the door in full dress mere moments after their trainers sound the morning call. They then spend the morning doing seemingly menial tasks such as running through the meadows and climbing the tallest trees around. This is broken by lunch, and then the trainees go right back to the hard work. After supper, which is about seven in the afternoon, the trainees go into the school, where they do their book learning and field training, learning to, among other things, identify, use, and counter-act poisons; apply and make medicines, mostly with medicinal herbs; identify and prepare edible plants; how to track and hunt, on all terrains; how to sew your own wounds, without numbing the area; how to read maps, and how to draw them; battle tactics; veterinary medicine; and virtually everything possible about weaponry and hand-to-hand combat. The ones with the Gift learn to do all they can with it.
After a few weeks of playing around, the Horse Mistress for the Queen's Riders will come in with a herd of ponies in tow, and the real work will begin. Trainees will go to the meadows and pick out two ponies: one for the morning, and one for the afternoon. The trainers watch this carefully, because the trainees' choices in ponies will either make or break their future Rider career. Day one is spent grooming the ponies and getting to know them, as well as fitting temporary tack, which will be replaced with saddles and bridles that the trainees themselves will make.
After this, the trainees learn to ride their ponies, to fight while on their ponies, and pretty much anything else you can think of, on their ponies. This is a time when many trainees drop out, as well. Usually, by the time Spring ends and Summer is upon them, there are around thirty trainees left. By this time, the trainees are deemed ready to wet their toes and head to the summer riding camp -- which is a different location each year. It's there that the trainees apply everything that they've learned, and their training is further expanded upon.
The trainees all do the best that they can, and at the end of the following fall, those that remain divide into actual Rider groups in the field and begin their trial year. If they survive (and most do, nowadays), the trainees are hired as Riders and assigned to their permanant groups.
