Among the Keshdumah, caste and tradition dictate that the cream of the military trains to fight as individual techno-warriors using power armor. Below them are rifle armed fighters, also trained to individual action. Although of the military caste, the riflemen are disrespected by the elite techno-warriors. Least respected among the military caste are the fighters, low quality close combat units armed with edged weapons. The fighters are treated by the others as scum, little better than butchers.
The Taikahir is strong in the Shatterlands where the efficiency of power sources rapidly degrades. In the Banakur Forest, small charges of chemical propellants, portable solar electric cells and battery packs are the only source of energy and they are intermittent in their effectiveness. Because the Taikahir attenuates the power of the techno-warriors when they fight on the margins of the Keshdumah lands, they remain in reserve to drive off major incursions by L’npei and Rapani armies.
The lowest quality and least well-trained units are the county militias. These are independent units responsible for their own training. In Great Road Councilate, the Councilate Executive appoints all officers and non-coms of the militias and pays them a part-time stipend for their responsibilities. The Councilate also supplies weapons and armor. The militias are generally neither proficient with their weapons nor reliable in combat.
Because the organized military is concentrated to defend the borders and large towns, a mercenary organization known as the Dumah Rangers provides security for the Banakur Forest frontier settlements and settlers. The Rangers attract military entrepreneurs, adventurers and deserters from the military. The Rangers also actively recruit women who frequently serve as team leaders. They have learned that in the complex environment of a forest firefight, women excel at absorbing information and making quick intuitive decisions. As markswomen, the role of these team leaders is to direct the fight from a protected position where they can utilize their long range rifles to best effect.
Independent companies of Rangers are based in villages or forts defending important geographic points. The size of the companies varies depending on the assignment and the reputation of the company’s captain, but generally a company contains 25 men and women.
A typical company organization would consist of a captain, four fire teams of four soldiers, and two sword teams of four soldiers. Each fire team would consist of a muzzle loaded rifle armed markswoman, two musket/crossbow armed soldiers and a squire to assist the fire team. Each sword team would consist of a leader and three swordsmen. Like all Keshdumah, the Rangers prefer to fight with ranged weapons, rather than up close with sharp pointy weapons. In a combat, it is the role of the sword teams to keep the enemy at bay, while the fire teams pick off and disperse the enemy.
The Rangers aggressively patrol the surrounding forest, but do not raid into L’npei territory, unless engaged by the Councilate Executive for that purpose.
Equipment
In general, the Rangers favor a decorative style reminiscent of the Art Nouveau period. Individuals are free to modify their clothing and equipment, provided that it is suitable for operations in the woods and colored in a way that blends into the environment. Clothing and equipment is frequently decorated with stylized embroidery and inlay depicting organic and natural designs.
Rangers shave their heads and faces, although women frequently keep a patch of hair at the top rear of the skull, pulled into a neck length pony tail. They have multiple stud piercings across their faces. Younger rangers favor gold and silver, while older, wealthier ones add precious stones. Some rangers wear facial war paint.
Standard headgear is a helmet of tanned L'npei skin, with brass metal fittings and a colored L'npei feather crest. Green feathers are most common, because all three of the Banakur Gens share green as a base color of their crest feathers.
Fire teams wear a hip length coat and trousers colored in pastel earth tones. There is no uniform color and individuals add decorative embroidery in saturated complementary hues to suit their particular tastes. Their footwear is a tanned leather ankle height hiking boot.
Their equipment consists of a waist belted cartridge box, a hip slung quiver (for fighters with crossbows), short sword with a broken back seax style blade, leather back pack and blanket roll.
Team leaders carry two jezail style rifled muzzle loaders with a percussion cap firing mechanism. In combat, the squire attends the team leader, reloading one weapon while the other is in use. These rifles are highly personalized, often decorated with inlay and L'npei crest feathers.
The other fighters carry a unique over/under weapon with a crossbow on top and a muzzle loaded rifled carbine below. In the woods beyond the Periphery Zone, firearms do not discharge reliably, so the crossbow is the preferred weapon as the range closes.
Swordsmen wear a short sleeved chainmail longshirt, with a leather cuirass over that extends to the hips on both sides. The cuirass is fashioned from three pieces of overlapped leather, to permit for flexibility in movement and extra layers of protection below the ribs. They also wear the standard Ranger helmet.
The swordsmen are armed with a leaf bladed steel long sword and a leather covered buckler with a metal boss in the center, and carry the standard Ranger kit.