The Greenward
The arrival of the Golden Woods in Warlderia forced Dîmeril Laeghartha to reconsider how its people might defend themselves. In the Fey World, the woods had been protected as much by their nature as by warriors. Friendly Fey, Rangers, woodland creatures and the sheer difficulty of approaching Merilrond unnoticed provided considerable security. Warlderia is different. Here there are kingdoms, armies and wars. Dîmeril has no desire to turn the inhabitants of the Golden Woods into soldiers, nor has she introduced any form of compulsory military service. Instead, she established the Greenward, a voluntary programme through which ordinary inhabitants of the woods may learn how to defend themselves, their families and their communities.
Those who complete the training are known as Greenwardens. The Greenward is open to the peoples of the Golden Woods regardless of race or sex. Most volunteers are young adults, with the majority between sixteen and twenty-five, although this is not an absolute age restriction. Service is entirely voluntary. A Greenward volunteer commits to twelve weeks, the first six weeks are spent in training while the second six weeks are spent on active duty within the Golden Woods. Throughout those twelve weeks, food, accommodation, equipment and healing are provided without charge.
Greenward training takes place at a permanent camp deep within the Golden Woods. Recruits are trained in groups of approximately fifty at a time under the command of Maeriel Thornbow, one of the senior Martial Sisters of Anwyn and an experienced Ranger. Other Sisters, Rangers, healers and skilled inhabitants of the woods assist her as instructors. The first six weeks are deliberately intensive. Volunteers learn archery, spear and shield fighting, sentry duty, simple battlefield formations, woodland movement and the defence of paths and settlements. They practise responding to alarms, assembling at rallying points, protecting one another and withdrawing in good order. Dîmeril does not expect six weeks to produce veteran soldiers. She expects it to produce people who know what to do when something goes wrong.
The Greenward is deliberately more than military training. Volunteers receive instruction in first aid, navigation, campcraft, woodland survival, equipment maintenance and basic horsemanship. Those requiring it are also offered lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic. There is no stigma attached to accepting such tuition. A recruit who enters the Greenward unable to read may therefore leave twelve weeks later not only capable of defending their community, but with skills which remain useful throughout the rest of their life. For some of the poorer young people of the Golden Woods, this alone makes volunteering worthwhile.
Becoming a Greenwarden
At the end of the first six weeks, successful recruits formally become Greenwardens. Each receives a properly fitted suit of studded leather armour, which becomes their personal property. They are also presented with the distinctive Greenward sash; dark green, edged in gold and bearing the golden maple leaf of the Golden Woods. The sash has no magical significance and confers no rank. Socially, however, it is already becoming considerably more important than Dîmeril anticipated. Greenwardens can wear their sashes at festivals, weddings and other celebrations, and amongst some of the younger inhabitants of the woods, completing Greenward training is rapidly becoming something of a rite of passage.
Newly trained Greenwardens do not immediately go home. They now undertake a further six weeks of active duty. Greenwardens are distributed in small groups throughout the Golden Woods, usually serving alongside experienced Rangers, Sisters or other trusted leaders. They patrol paths, stand watch, guard stores and rallying points, carry messages, escort travellers and become familiar with the country they may one day be required to defend. They are not deliberately sent looking for serious danger. Dîmeril considers throwing newly trained young people at monsters an exceptionally poor method of improving the defences of the Golden Woods. The purpose of these six weeks is to turn training into experience.
At the end of the twelve weeks, each Greenwarden receives the Greenward Purse of twenty-five gold pieces. Their armour and sash remain theirs. Most then go home. They return to their farms, workshops, families and ordinary occupations and become part of the reserve Greenward Muster. They are not professional soldiers and receive no continuing military pay. They are, however, expected to attend occasional refresher musters and to answer the call should the Golden Woods face a serious threat. Their armour remains at home with them. Weapons and additional equipment are maintained at local rallying points and stores. Dîmeril hopes that most Greenwardens will never need to answer a genuine muster.
Some Greenwardens discover during their twelve weeks that military life suits them. Those who wish to remain may volunteer for full-time paid service within the defences of the Golden Woods. They receive generous wages and undertake the everyday duties which cannot reasonably be left to a reserve force: guarding important locations, escorting messengers, supporting Ranger patrols, maintaining stores and rallying points and providing a permanent trained presence where one is required. Some may eventually become sergeants, scouts or instructors. Particularly talented individuals may be encouraged towards further Ranger training. Joining the Sisterhood of Anwyn, however, is an entirely separate matter. The Greenward is open to men and women; the Sisterhood remains female. There is no expectation that a Greenwarden should remain in service. Going home after twelve weeks is the normal course.
The Greenward Muster
The real strength of the Greenward lies not in the fifty people currently undergoing training, but in everyone who has already completed it. Another fifty volunteers can begin when the previous group moves into active service. Then another fifty can follow them. Over time, trained Greenwardens return to communities throughout the Golden Woods. They know the same signals, understand the same basic commands and know where to assemble when the muster is called. They are not veteran soldiers. They are farmers, foresters, craftspeople, hunters, herders, labourers and tradespeople who have been taught how to wear armour, use weapons and fight alongside one another. Dîmeril does not regard them as an army. She wants farmers to remain farmers and craftspeople to remain craftspeople. She wants the young people of the Golden Woods to grow up with lives which do not revolve around war. But she has lived through enough wars to understand that peaceful people do not always get to decide whether somebody attacks them. The Greenward exists to make certain that, if that day comes, the people of the Golden Woods will not be helpless.
