Martial Traditions in the World of Fantasy Alive

Dearest Maurice,
The battles rage on into a third day of street-to-street fighting. We regrettably have lost several to the invading forces. The upside is, the squad we were bearding didn’t know these roads like we do, and ended up backing into the Hewer’s Courts. No room at all for cavalry – and I fear that the Butcher Street Fancy Lads viewed the Estovic Regulars’ weapons and armour as valuable loot indeed, and happily relieved them of it, once they were felled. We tried to explain to them the idea of offering quarter, and they simply had no interest…

• Sergeant Guiniveve Duchamps, Letters from the Siege of Portnos (2008)

The world of Fantasy Alive is a dangerous place, and while not everyone in it is a skilled master-of-arms, most settlements and homesteads have at least someone capable of swinging a weapon. Monsters, bandits, wild animals, and the walking dead are not unfamiliar sights in the wild lands of most nations, and in civic centres, there reside threats no less vicious, even if their interest is more often in your belongings than your life.

Some percentage of those trained in arms are formally trained, and that percentage is higher in the Lakes Region than almost ever before, with recent wars in the area leading to the training of feudal levies and draftees. The traditions of combat under arms vary from nation to nation, but a new hero seeking to make their name might have learned the use of a weapon in any of the following manners – or multiple, or having found their way to martial prowess following their own unique path.

Training for War

The Centuriae of Michian, the Dragoons of Harodom, and the Magiae of Deepwood are just a few of the professionally trained soldiers that have been fielded in recent conflicts in the Lakes Region. The Michian War saw soldiers of Harodom and Michian going to battle, along with Orcish berserkers of Ang Gijak supporting Harodom through raids on Michian supply lines. War with Estovic brought Hammerfrost dwarves and Eldersire elves into the fray, and most recently, war between Harodom and Eldersire had small bands from various allied nations clubbing in to put knives in the fog of war.

Even in times of peace, most nations maintain a small standing army, the better to dissuade rebellion, secure public roads, and of course to keep an eye on the similar standing armies in bordering nations. Most feudal levies are encouraged to use weapons with which they are already familiar – hunting spears, axes, staves, and slings – but they are often trained in the use of light armour, which is affordable and can be readily created. Heavy armour and heavier weapons tend to be more the remit of the professional soldier, with only the wealthiest, and those on the paths of knighthood, trained in plate and greatblades.

Of course, most settlements also maintain a local Guard – not quite military, but capable of standing fast in defence of their home and neighbours. Those settlements too small to maintain a full sized guard may have one or two professional watchkeepers, and a militia or posse that can be called up in times of emergency.

Orders Militant

While the faiths of Arkady and Apenca are peace-loving and trend toward pacifism, this attitude is relatively uncommon among the faiths of Ariel. Some faiths take this to the next logical step, and have traditions of training in arms; the churches of Brack, Hemulis, and Clovis all view training under arms as a natural or even obligatory part of their faith. Others, such as Callis, or Jerroh, have orders within them that take up arms to fight the undead or otherwise express their faith through acts of armed service.

Of course, not all training in arms is as salubrious; the faithful of Astrid and the hidden of Kell (if indeed, this latter group exists), are whispered to train their faithful in striking from the shadows – and there are no end of professional and amateur killers well-studied in service to Stasa, goddess of murder.

Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters

Some people are in it for the money. Mercenaries will often hire out as caravan or personal guards, join regional conflicts on the side that can pay them better, and otherwise follow the call of coin to their next job. Mercenaries tend to be better armed and trained than feudal levies, but only a few truly excel – and as they are responsible for their own equipment, how well armed and armoured they are depends on how successful they have been in the recent past.

Bounty Hunters straddle a grey area between guards and mercenaries. Many mid-sized settlements and larger will maintain a guild outpost for the Guild of Bounty Hunters, whose duties range from varminting, to seeking after those who have managed to stay outside of the reach of the law. Although culls of aggressive wildlife don’t require a soft pedal, many Bounty Hunters will learn the art of subduing targets non-lethally – for ‘live capture’ bounties, and to shed some of the additional scrutiny that a life of violence can acquire.

Duellists and Prize Fighters

Although duelling to the death over matters of honour is a generally illegal practice among the commons of most of the nations, there exist traditions dating back centuries in which settling disputes with a blade is still protected. Members of the aristocracy are obliged to demand satisfaction if slandered in some nations, and may choose champions – for which a small but thriving industry of specialist fighters remains. Those who aspire to act like the aristocracy may settle such disputes with first blood or in fighting to submission and, though it would be illegal to seek, ‘accidents’ in such disputes happen. Professional duellist champions are rare, but many supplement their income by teaching the ways of combat to those who wish to learn a new skill at arms.

Even in lands where such entertainments are officially frowned upon, watching two or more combatants beat the stuffing out of one another is a popular pass-time. Whether it’s the sawdust-strewn back alley behind a pub, or a gladiatorial arena with the masses baying for blood, some learn to fight in order to win prizes – or to win the approbation of a roaring crowd. Sometimes both.

Martial Heroes by Species

Although any archetype of warrior might emerge from any species, most races of mortals have a heroic ideal – the types of warriors about whom legends are forged and of whom epic tales are sung. A character could follow these legends and stand among them – or forge their own path, and perhaps set the standard for heroes in ages yet to come.

• Humans are versatile, with no innately specialized gifts or limitations. Nevertheless, in the Lakes Region, both the peoples of Harodom and Michian have their martial traditions stemming from the Empire of Lannick (1365-1401 A.T.), where heroic tales were formed around the Paragon Hero. These stories tell of a warrior favouring leathers and chain, bearing a longblade, favouring decisive strikes and staggering blows, but still able to sidestep flying spells in the thick of things.
  
• Dwarves stereotypically have a sturdy frame that makes them hearty and resilient, as well as a gift at artifice. Perhaps as a result, the dwarven legends tell of Dwarven Defenders such as Ulfgar, King of Understone, whose ability to forge mighty weapons and armour calcified the species heroic martial archetype as heavily armoured and bearing a mighty axe or hammer, tools as readily used to create as to destroy. Such a hero has hardened their will, and in many cases faces whatever challenges head-on, rather than ‘dancing around the battlefield’.
  
• Elven heroes rarely distinguish between martial and arcane experts, but among the most celebrated in recent history were the dúath (shadow knight) twins, Paragon and Nystula, whose martial prowess as targeted killers were enough to bring low Tivolous the Betrayer, and whose cunning distracted Sarna the City-Render long enough for the Allied Forces to entrap both sorcerers. These martial heroes were lightly armoured, as inclined to duck a blow as turn it aside, and favoured paired blades – short swords for Paragon, long swords for Nystula. Moving quietly and striking decisively, paired with small magical boosts, secured their positions in history – and elven legend.
  
• Gnomish heroic traditions are less inclined toward martial prowess, but much hay has been made of Colonel Runcible Boson and his Grenadiers. Inclined toward mixing up increasingly terrifying herbal and alchemical concoctions, the Grenadiers wore heavily padded gambeson, fighting in close combat with saps and trench blades, sometimes setting off alchemical explosions and herbal gas attacks on their own persons, trusting their nimbleness and resilience to toxins to see them clear of the consequences.
  
• Curtainborn are, as a species, too rare to have a cultural ‘ideal’ of a hero, with most curtainborn only having been born within the last forty years. Such martial figures as have arisen that were, or were probably curtainborn in the course of history tended to be deeply invested members of a faith, typically favouring heavy armour to forestall injury that is somewhat harder for them to withstand or heal.
  
• D’Shunn caverns are often found in rich biomes filled with perilous ambush predators; D’shunn martial heroes tend to be nimble and lightly armoured, favouring crossbows or longbows and short blades, using their excellent night vision to outmanoeuvre larger or more perilous foes. D’shunn histories also celebrate the careful use of poisons in tackling deadly foes; Keskin the Titanslayer is a cultural hero famous for the use of poisoned baits and blades allowing them to take down a Behemoth in the Dark-Below.
  
• Goblin histories do have the occasional war leader or immensely skilled solo fighter (although with a strong tradition of clandestine strikes from the shadows, many of these heroes are unnamed, even in goblin tales), but most interestingly, many tales of heroic goblin warriors speak of them in teams of three. Goblin Juggling Teams such as the famous Akon-Shakshur-Fow trio classically wear little or no armour, but rely on natural grace and an ability to find an opening wherever one presents itself. With their numbers, they can keep foes off-balance, with skilled teams keeping one another safe while bringing the hurt to more resilient enemies.
  
• Lizardfolk heroes famously use their terrain to advantage; the resilient Lizardfolk using their ability to move through dense swamps and foliage, and to heal quickly from incidental injury, in order to mire less rugged and capable enemies where they can be more readily dealt with. The Lizardfolk Pathfinder Ixthiss is said to have used a capable ear for mimicry and a resilient temperament in order to lead an entire ogre battalion astray deep into the Fever Mire, where she then dealt them a death by a thousand small blows.
  
• Malkin may not have been their own people for long, but their history stretches back at least seven hundred years; famous Malkin Magehunters stand in the strongest tradition of Malkin martial prowess, shrugging off magical spells and effects, in order to bring sharp, decisive blows to bear. The Malkin heroic archetype seems weapon agnostic, but many speak of those capable of using a variety of weapons, suitable to the circumstance. Plate and leather – and the ability, if not mandated necessity of using a shield – along with a hammer and sword, were the favoured weapons of the Kargath magehunter Phynneas.
  
• Minotaur loresingers of the Skrulmiter Walk tell of the Minotaur Siegebreaker, unburdened by layers of heavy plate and chain, with the famed Tosten of the Broken-Walker Clan standing as a cultural shorthand for martial might. Often favouring two-handed weapons, Minotaur martial heroes tend to emphasize strength, unbreakable will, and physical resilience; taking the challenges of the world head-on, and sending foes and impediments flying with their charges and the force of their blows.
  
• Orc skalds speak in hushed tones about the legendary might of the famed Berserkers, powerful warriors that could use their great strength and natural fury to whip themselves into a lather and credibly challenge monsters twice their size. Chief Wingar One-Tusk, reportedly quite capable as a peacetime leader, was said to be terrifying in the Ninth War of Understone, when he singlehandedly felled a dozen attacking Cave-Wights.

Authored by: Andrew Dunlop
Fantasy Alive Lore Team 2026
Copyright © Endless Adventures Ontario