The most important thing about the Imperial army is that it’s not just a fighting force, but has a lot of social and political relevance.

No, wait, let’s take a step back. First of all, ‘the army’ is more like the Imperial military. There’s what I might call an airforce integrated with it. The navy is a bit more separate from the army proper, but they still have the same command structure and eventual commanders.

The whole military isn’t that big, especially if you consider the huge population of the Empire. That’s because it consists almost exclusively of cultivators in the middle and high stages. After all, I imagine a fight between, say, a second-stager and a fourth-stager would only deserve the term ‘slaughter’. That doesn’t change much if you make it ten people in the second stage, or even a hundred.

From what I gather, most common soldiers are in the third or fourth stage, at least, and most officers in the fifth or sixth.

Common soldiers are mostly useful as ‘warm bodies’. Well, perhaps I’m exaggerating. But the weaker soldiers, especially, are usually deployed guarding towns and cities in the inner regions of the Empire. They carry out the ruler’s job of protecting the people from danger. Dealing with spirits or monsters at least as much as with brigands or whatever.

I mean, sizable stretches of the Empire aren’t really settled. There are many regions basically left to the wilderness, where dangerous spirit beasts or other perils lurk. They’re useful for getting resources, but need to be guarded.

The other main purpose of the army is to secure the borders. I think this often just means making a show of force. The Empire doesn’t really fight with its neighbors, on most borders. But fortifying them still makes sense. This isn’t a peaceful world. (Unfortunately.) Still, I have the impression the army is mostly important internally, the way things stand now.

I figure about a third of the army’s officers are nobles. As a ballpark estimate, at least. The relative percentage is higher in the upper echelons, but not that much higher. And that’s taking into account some distant scions of minor clans, who don’t have many options besides sects.

To become an officer, you have to pass a proficiency test my grandmother introduced. Besides having a certain strength in cultivation, of course. It’s quite common for nobles slated for the military to study for these exams, and they almost always pass. But commoners have good chances, too, if they’ve gotten a good education, or if they serve as common soldiers first, work their way through the ranks and acquire the knowledge they need.

Unsurprisingly, if I consider the culture, most soldiers are men. But there are a sizable number of women, as well. Perhaps up to forty percent? It depends on the specifics.

It still sounds pretty elitist, doesn’t it? If you have to be at least in the third stage, at a fairly young age, that rules out most people. But the army does employ recruiters looking for talent. Those tend to be picky, but open to taking anyone no matter their background. The army helps them progress, but keeps these recruits in a sort of trial status until they meet the requirements to become a proper soldier.

And the army does have a lot to offer when it comes to cultivation. They have quite the library of both general knowledge and technique books. According to some figures I read, over four times as many volumes now as before the civil war. The Leri dynasty has built it up a lot. In part, they used ‘donations’ from clans on the losing side. Nowadays, I doubt there’s a clan or sect with more techniques to show their members.

Another question I had: If the army helps them rise like this, why do the soldiers stay? Sure, they’re paid quite well, but with high stages come a lot of opportunities working for nobles, being self-employed, or elsewhere. Well, the answer is pretty simple. Some do leave after a while, especially those with skills suited for it, like medics. But many stay. The army makes them sign up for long terms of service. Some continue out of devotion, or because they’ve found a home, with their comrades. And they can keep doing their job for a long time. After all, this isn’t Earth. Cultivators stay physically fit for quite a while, and it’s not uncommon to find people serving in the army for upwards of fifty years or a hundred years.

Something I found interesting is that apparently, some veterans start working for the government. With their cultivation strength, they have the social status for it. The army sponsors a program to help them get the appropriate schooling. The cynic in me says it’s because ‘the throne’ wants people beholden (or at least loyal) to it in the local governments. To be fair, I guess that’s a valid political strategy. At least these people are competent, and not some noble given a position because he’s someone’s second cousin.

Another important thing I need to consider is, of course, the army’s support structure and logistics. Every soldier is issued a spatial item. They’re not very good, but stow what the soldiers might otherwise have to carry in a pack. For large-scale logistics, the army relies on better items, plus airships and the like.

The army isn’t just fighters, there’s quite a lot of people in support roles. Crafters, alchemists, cooks, and so on. Some of them are at lower stages of cultivation. Especially if their job relies on their brain rather than cultivation strength, like siege engineers. They’re also responsible for outfitting the soldiers. Getting resources, especially armor and weapons, is almost as important as training up the fighters themselves. No wonder the army has a lot of crafters working for them to produce and maintain gear, usually made using enchanted metal or material from spirit beasts. Well, the details are boring, and I haven’t done much more than glance at equipment lists. I’m lucky there are people to handle this sort of thing.

That brings us to the matter of transport and vehicles. Who would have guessed, but airships and flying beasts are expensive. Really expensive. They need specialized care, and breeding good flying mounts takes a lot of effort. I still feel like there should be more airships for the army, but maybe there are good reasons and I don’t get it. Flying swords are cheaper, but they rely on the user’s qi in a way the other possibilities I’ve mentioned don’t, so they’re not good for long-distance, well, anything.

Looking at everything, it makes sense why the army is such a big deal for the Empire, especially for its rulers. It might be the most important consideration to Mother’s power in her Empire. Well, the commoners also like her because of her civil rights laws. But the army, with the way it consists mostly of commoners given the chance to rise, gives her support and followers on another level. Not to mention that that’s pretty good publicity.

This is perhaps most apparent if you look at the elites. On the surface, they look not as great as one might think. After all, they’re at least in the sixth stage, as a rule. That’s pretty high in terms of status. Sure, they have high ranks and are well paid, but there are other factors that explain why people would choose such a dangerous job and to serve in the army. Glory and prestige, certainly. But they also tend to be most devoted to the Empire, and the Empress. Actually, it occurs to me that perhaps their background, far from noble for most of them, might be one reason. To have a high stage outside of a clan or sect might not be a comfortable position in this society. And I guess they’ve been groomed by the army, to rise so high.

I think I’m beginning to understand more about San Hashar, even if a lot of this is speculation.

I just need to find a way to help those who don’t have as much talent, who make up most of the Empire’s population, matter. I can’t hope for a real equalizer, but perhaps less qi-focused tech is the key. I guess we’ll see. For now, I really need to get back to more concrete warfare.