Sable Company and other militaristic organizations.

[Robert Jordan]

So I'm prepping for CotCT and one of my players is planning on playing a Sable Company Marine. I started doing some research to help flesh out their character and noticed that it says in Guide to Korvosa, any human can reach the rank of General and non humans can reach Major. Only one hiccup, what rank system is in use? This raised a further question does Paizo use the modern day rank system for it's military organizations or does it change from organization to organization. The Korvosan Guard is another military structured group that has a Field Marshal as it's leader. I could create a ranking table for these different organizations, but I'd much prefer to have some input before I do. And a big request that future Military type organizations get some sort of Rank/Chain of Command sidebar so players/GMs interested in them don't need to freehand such things.

I'm currently thinkings of it ranking as such for the Sable Company.

Commandant
General
Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Sergeant
Corporal
Private

[graywulfe]

I will try to remember to check my Guide to Korvosa when I get home. I am currently at work.

[graywulfe]

Alright, so the guide doesn't add much. And now rereading your post I see you mentioned the Guide. My bad. I think your list should work. I don't see a need to expand it to the degree that the US military is expanded.

[Robert Jordan]

Agreed I figured there wasn't a need to split the Enlisted and Officer ranks. I figure Officer Commissions probably work the way they used to where a Rich/Noble family purchases said Commission essentially buying their child a rank. Of course you feel bad for the NCO that gets paired with that person.

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

Robert Jordan wrote:

Agreed I figured there wasn't a need to split the Enlisted and Officer ranks. I figure Officer Commissions probably work the way they used to where a Rich/Noble family purchases said Commission essentially buying their child a rank. Of course you feel bad for the NCO that gets paired with that person.

It would not be completely inconsistent with modern and ancient rank structures to have the entire Sable Company as commisioned officers. Some specialty fields have exactly this feature. Possibly the most relevant would be the US Air Force, in which all pilots are officers.

I'm not all up on Corvosa and the lore regarding the Sable Company to know if reference is made to any enlisted ranks.

[Robert Jordan]

They never mention Enlisted or Officers, just the ranks of Major and General. I think that breaking it down into modern ranking structure adds a level of complexity that's unnecessary in an organization that has somewhere around 600 members.

[graywulfe]

Though I agree with your interpretation of what I said, I was actually referring to the fact that there are like five different levels of General, 7 levels of sergeant, etc. Actually if my memory servers it was more like 13 different varieties of sergeant. Sergeant and then it split into two different tracks of 6 levels each.

[pjackson]

I have one PC in the Sable Company. I see that as having three types of members:
Officers - anyone who has bonded with a hippogriff
Cadets - those training to be bonded with a hippogriff
Other ranks - those who do other jobs the company needs doing: cooks, clerks, grooms, s**t shovellers.
Officer rank could not be bought since it requires a special ability, like pilots in an airforce.

I see the Korvosan Guard as more of a police organization, with a reuirement like the UK police that everyone start at the bottom.

[Lakesidefantasy]

Robert Jordan wrote:

The Korvosan Guard is another military structured group that has a Field Marshal as it's leader.

I seem to remember reading something about the title of Field Marshal for the leader of the Korvosan Guard being a misnomer and is only used out of tradition. I think it is in reference to Field Marshal Jakthion Korvosa who basically founded Korvosa.

[Tels]

Keep in mind, the Sable Company are all graduates of the Endrind Military Academy. So the graduates are all likely officers of some sort, while those still attending are not.

[MrVergee]

Lakesidefantasy wrote:

I seem to remember reading something about the title of Field Marshal for the leader of the Korvosan Guard being a misnomer and is only used out of tradition. I think it is in reference to Field Marshal Jakthion Korvosa who basically founded Korvosa.

That is correct.