Early Imperial Soldiers by Brijeka on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

A collection of Imperial Tenari infantry from the Early Imperial Era which began when the Emperor lifted the siege of Khana and ended shortly after the entirety of Tenar was brought under Imperial rule with the subjugation of Temurka. I've drawn Tenari soldiers from this time period before but I've never been quite happy with their design so these are the latest tweaks and the ones I'm happiest with so far. The armour consists of a scale vest covering the chest, abdomen and groin, scale shoulder pads which extend to cover the armpits, overlapping plate sleeves and greaves for arm and shin protection, a solid gorget and a metal helmet. A large, ovular shield also provides extensive protection while fighting is done primarily with spears, short swords and daggers.

While I've drawn all three as women, most Tenari soldiers would have been male as women were not officially recruited into the infantry (I just prefer drawing girls). Nonetheless, there were occasional instances where women would pretend to be men to join the infantry for some reason or another. Otherwise, it would not be uncommon to see female supporters and advisers mixed into units such as nurses, priests and witches.

Numbered Items:

1 - Hematappilatte (Spearman):

The backbone of the Early Imperial Era army. Fight with spear and shield in small blocks which can easily maneuver around the battlefield, responding quickly to threats or replacing other blocks which have become exhausted from fighting. The hematappilatte were a professional force of payed soldiers who would undergo regular training and lived together for extended periods of time while on deployment. It should be noted that even Early Imperial Tenar maintained a true standing army with many units deployed at any one time, typically guarding the empire's borders or on campaign to either liberate southern Tenar from the Lordrosians or conquer northern Tenar for the empire.
2 - Settekari (Officer): Infantry commander roughly equivalent in rank to a Roman centurion. The wear two feathers on their helmets (one on either side), a black cloak with a white trim and carry a variant of a shepherd's crook to symbolise their guiding of the troops into battle. It is also sturdy enough to encourage discipline among the soldiers and the hook can be used in a pinch to drag an enemy out of formation however the settekari would usually fight with their sword instead should the need arise.
3 - Sotappilatte (Grenadier): A handful of these specialist soldiers are attached to each unit of hematappilatte and form a forward screen from where they can lob their explosives at the enemy then retreating before the main fighting begins. The grenades are typically small clay pots filled with a primitive black powder or a liquid similar to Greek Fire and are thrown either by hand or with the assistance of a hand catapult similar to those things one might use to throw tennis balls for one's dog. The purpose of the sotappilatte was to demoralise, confuse and break up enemy formations with their loud bangs, bright flashes and clouds of smoke and flame rather than to do direct damage although later improvements in explosives chemistry conducted by the Khana Mages' Academy meant they could do that pretty well too.

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For the previous designs for Early Imperial Era Tenari infantry, click here and here.