The Empire has made many concessions to its provinces in order to keep their rulers content and loyal. One of the privileges that Marland enjoys is that of keeping an own army, relatively independent from the Empire. The Royal Army is no great host, and there are few true battles to be fought within the borders of the country, but the soldiers and the officers take themselves seriously and are usually proud of their position � they are quite convinced that it is thanks to them that the country is so peaceful. Most of their time the soldiers however spend on exercising or doing quite different works � the road network for example is maintained by the army. Actually one of the few commitments that the Royal Army has from the Empire is to keep the Imperial roads that connect the most important cities of the different provinces in good condition and safe for travelers.
As most armies, the Royal one of Marland has a complicated system of ranks and command chains. However, little of this is seen in the borderlands of the realm. In principle every town and more important village should have a Tower with a garrison relative to the size of the settlement. In reality many of the bordertowns have but their own men to defend it against possible threats, which admittedly aren�t very many. There are some borderpatrols that wander from village to village to keep an eye on the roads and to ensure that everything is running smoothly enough in the settlements, and some towns have their own townguards that are counted as a part of the Royal Army. These groups however usually lack the strict discipline of the parading troops and contingents of the south both in uniform and behavior, although the men that serve at the borderlands are not necessarily worse fighters than the comfortable sons of rich families that have their posts near the entertainments of the large cities.
Red has always been the colour of the Royal army, although there are no strict rules saying that this colour would be reserved for the soldiers only. Signs of rank are displayed in � depending of rank - in black or metals on a field of red on the shields and tabards of the soldiers and officers. A high general for example is recognized by three golden bendlets (diagonal stripes) on a red field while a sergeant carries one black bar across the red field. It is probably unnecessary to point out here, that these rules are more strictly followed in the south than among the more practical patrols of the north�
