Conquest - Hundred Kingdoms: Men at Arms (English)

'We're not some Geronese mercenary dirt here, boy. We don't make coins out of death, we don't rob the dead or plunder. We are professionals. Seamstresses make clothes, blacksmiths make weapons and tools, carpenters make furniture. We are men-at-arms and our trade is war. '

Most of the armed forces in today's Hundred Kingdoms are composed of well-equipped professional soldiers known as Men-at-Arms. In the early days of the Hundred Kingdoms, these men were referred to as corporals and were indebted to their feudal lords. In exchange for their services they were given lands, mostly as soldiers in the lord's retinue. These privileged positions allowed them not only to secure high-quality weapons and armor, but also to train in the use of the sword, a weapon hitherto restricted to the nobility. This led to the creation of a landed elite, the nobility, whose prestige was higher than that of the freedmen, but still below that of the nobility. These were the soldiers with whom Charles Armatellum established his empire.

Over time and the rise of the Hundred Kingdoms, this old-fashioned feudal service was slowly abandoned. Sergeants were tied to their country and the growing military needs of the empire could no longer be met by men unable to travel or establish long-term garrisons because they had to tend their fields. The knight's tax, payment to the lord in lieu of military service, became the norm, and professional soldiers, competing for coin, quickly emerged to fill the void. The old landed gentry tried to distinguish themselves from these newcomers and coined the term the Men-at-Arms.

Freed from the need to work and protect their land, the Men-at-Arms could concentrate solely on their fighting occupations. This allowed them to march on extended campaigns and travel in search of work, ensuring that trained men were available to any commander with enough coin to secure their services. Ranging from mob mercenary companies to the well-trained and practiced knightly guards of the great noble houses, the constant warfare eliminates the incompetent and duplicitous, making the Men-at-Arms the backbone of the Hundred Kingdoms' war machine.