Navarr military concerns

“Die today? By Ambition, I hope not! We are the Thorns of Navarr, and my story is not yet finished.”

Brynn Mourne’el, Brand before the Battle of Gulps Deep

Most Navarri warriors have little interest in forming battle lines and engaging their enemies in a honourable battle. Their nature is pragmatic, and favours war through guile, sabotage and skirmish. War is not a game, it is a life-and-death conflict. They disdain heroic charges and single combat with enemy leaders - better to fade back and draw the enemy into a trap, or to surround the champion and kill it quickly before dealing death to its companions. This attitude sometimes sets them at odds with the warriors of Wintermark and Dawn, but can create a degree of shared respect between the Navarr and their counterparts in Varushka and the League.

Donning warpaint – often embelished with the stylised thorn motif that runs throughout Navarr art – before going to battle is an important ritual and most Stridings work together to paint each other. This shared preparation often includes checking each others' weapons and armour, and is important for bonding the warriors together before they face death in the upcoming battle.

“You can’t betray your enemies.”

Those Navarri who make a study of war are called Thorns. Leather and chain mail are favoured along with the ubiquitous barbed spear, which honours the original spears wielded by the Navarr forebears. Shields, when used, are narrow and fluted, barely wider than the wielder and often heavily decorated with the thorn motif. The Navarr consider surprise to be one of the most effective weapons to use in battle, so they are particularly wary of being caught unawares.

The Thorn philosophy is one of constant preparedness. Rather than a paranoid assumption that attack is imminent, they maintain a resonable vigilance and ensure that they are prepared to defend themselves when the time comes. They ceremonially don warpaint each day as a ritual that helps to ensure that they remain focussed regardless of where they are, and reminds others that they are ready to fight.

The military leaders of the Navarr are called Brands, for their habit of ceremonially branding a mark on to their skin when they are chosen. The practice is not ubiquitous, but the Navarri believe the Brand serves as a constant reminder of the need to consider the safety of others. It is customary for larger Stridings and Steadings to appoint a single Brand to take responsibility for defence and to lead the Thorns in battle. Whenever Stridings come together, the Brands select one amongst their own number to lead, but the Navarri are flexible in warfare, as in life, choosing which Brand they want to follow into battle where the choice exists. Brands are usually Thorns, but it is not unknown for a Navarri blood mage, a Vate, to become a Brand if such is their interest.

Unlike their political counterparts Brands are not known for their temerity and reserve. Archbrand Isabella, the most infamous Brand in Imperial History, murdered Mad Emperor Nicholas in 319 and is also responsible for codifying a lot of Navarri military doctrine. Known as the ‘Irrevocable Blow’, it attempts to educate the reader that war should be fought swiftly, without mercy or doubt.