The House Of Ellison

The House Of Ellison

Flag of The House Of Ellison
Motto: Fear Denies Faith
The Territories of the House of Ellison
Region	Red Vs Blue
Capital	Aerius Castellum
Official Language(s)	Gothic
Leader	Emperor
Population	18 million
Currency	The Imperial Credit
NS Sunset XML

The House Of Ellison

Rather than a country as such, the Holy Empire is comprised of the territories of the family of Ellison, the victors of the regional religious civil war which had kept the area divided and ravaged by war for some time. Initially this consisted of a small province called Ellison (from which the family derives its name) on the west coast of Red vs Blue's western continent, but during the civil war, the House of Ellison was able to conquer not only the surrouding territory but bring large amounts of land further south under its control as well. Having crushed the opposition, the head of the family, one Garikus Ellison became Prime Minister of the United Ellison Territories, but his reign was short-lived. Elements in the army and Divine Church, dissatisfied by Garikus' moderate policies, staged a coup, establishing his brother Harkon Ellison as Emperor.

However, if the religious and military leaders hoped to be able to control Harkon, they were mistaken, for he proved himself a consumate politician. In the aftermath, he revealed the extent of his fervent belief in the Divine Church, and had the Grand Cardinal and the highest ranking generals in the army executed for heresy, unleashing the Clerics for the first time in the process. Following the purge, Harkon filled the top posts in government with his own supporters, and has since been secure in his position as Emperor of the Holy Empire of the House of Ellison.

Government

The Holy Empire of the House of Ellison is a militaristic theocracy- military service is compulsory for seven years for all males between the ages of 18 and 25. Society is organised along militaristic lines and justified with Divine Church propaganda. At the very top of the hierarchy in the tallest tower of Aerius Castellum sits the Emperor, both head of state and supreme spiritual authority. His immediate subordinates are the Lord Templar, highest ranking general in the Holy Empire, and the Grand Cardinal, in charge of confessional affairs. Slightly lower in rank come the Cardinal-Ministers, the heads of the Ministries of Enlightenment, Foreign Affairs, the State, Transportation, Health and Commerce, of which the first three are the most powerful. These men are the heads of their respective departments, and below them lies a morass of governmental bureaucracy dedicated to the upholding of the rule of the House of Ellison.

Ellison, the northern province of the Empire, is ruled from Aerius Castellum, the seat of the Emperor. Maynard, the southern province, is ruled from the city of Arx Meridianus. Each has a regional council, responsible for governing aspects of the province, which report the the city's governor, who in turn reports to the Cardinal-Minister of the State.

</div>

The Divine Church

When the military staged its coup, it did so with the help of the Divine Church, a fundamental religious denomination which believes that only the strong are righteous and will ascend to meet God. It was the Divine Church which devised the nation's motto, "Fear Denies Faith," which showcases their aggressive nature and endears them to the military. The link between the Divine Church and Ellisonian society is now such that to suggest the seperation of Church and State seems absurd- indeed, suggesting such a thing can lead to the swift disappearance of the one who had such a heretical thought. The House of Ellison has fused the Church with government to make use of its all-pervasiveness in Ellisonian society, and has combined fervent religious belief among the populace (instilled through a rigorous system of childhood education and indoctrination) with loyalty to the state, making its grip on power seemingly un-challengable.

"Heresy is like a tree, its roots lie in the darkness whilst its leaves wave in the sun and to those who suspect nought, it has an attractive and pleasing appearance. Truly, you can prune away its branches, or even cut the tree to the ground, but it will grow up again ever the stronger and ever more comely. Yet all awhile the root grows thick and black, gnawing at the bitter soil, drawing its nourishment from the darkness, and growing even greater and more deeply entrenched. Such is the nature of heresy, and this is why it is so hard to destroy, for it must be eradicated leaf, branch, trunk and root. It must be exorcised utterly or it will return all the stronger, time and time again, until it is too great to destroy. Then we are doomed."

- Galan Noirgrim, Prelude to the Adominatus

The Military

The Imperial Army

The Imperial Army is comprised of 100,000 medium infantry. Standard armament is the S-5 assault rifle, but squads can be issued with limited specialist equipment including anti-tank and anti-personnel weapons (e.g. missile launchers, flamethrowers). Training is of an average quality- the Empire places strong emphasis on military ability and has compulsory military service, but this is tempered by the fact that recruits’ length of service in the Army is seven years before they are discharged and become reservists. This means that (short of a protracted war) Imperial infantry will have a maximum of seven years training and, most likely, no combat experience, making it less dangerous then it perhaps would be otherwise. Initial morale is usually high thanks to the presence of Battle-Preachers, but it cannot be stressed enough that lack of experience is the Imperial Army’s biggest weakness.

</div>

The Imperial Army is broken down thus: 50,000 men to a Crusade (Brother-Marshal) [comprised of 2 Divisions]; 25,000 men to a Division (Brother-Colonel) [comprised of 5 Legions]; 5,000 men to a Legion (Brother-Captain) [comprised of 10 Companies]; 500 men to a Company (Brother-Major) [comprised of 10 Platoons]; 50 men to a Platoon (Brother-Lieutenant) [comprised of 5 Squads]; 10 men to a Squad (Brother-Sergeant).

The Imperial Army also has 5,000 Battle-Preachers who fight with the men, exhorting them on the greater deeds with their chanting of hymns and inspirational presence, and ensuring that they do not retreat.

The White Templars

The White Templars are the elite within the Imperial Army, and were initially drawn from veterans of the House of Ellison’s fighting in the Imperial Civil War. The best recruits into the infantry who have proven themselves in combat are awarded the Templar Cross, and then</div> given the finest training, the finest weapons and the finest armour, as well as the most intense system of religious conditioning the Empire can offer. As a result, they are superb troops, disciplined, obedient and fanatically dedicated to the Divine Church. Thorough training means they can handle nigh-on any situation they are called on to deal with: they can be relied upon to storm strong points, hold off vastly superior numbers of inferior quality troops, take objectives, hold their ground and even perform limited special-ops missions (although the Clerics usually take a dim view of other units encroaching on their territory). Unlike the Imperial Army, Artillery and Cavalry, which all falls under the Brother-Marshal’s authority, the overall strength of the White Templars is controlled by the Lord Templar and is rarely all committed at one point- a commander would be rash to risk such fine troops in one encounter.

The White Templars are broken down thus: 5,000 men to a Chapter (Templar-Master) [comprised of 5 Battalions] 1,000 men to a Battalion (Templar-Colenel) [comprised of 2 Companies] 500 men to a Company (Templar-Captain) [comprised of 10 Platoons] 50 men to a Platoon (Templar-Champion) [comprised of 5 Squads] 10 men to a Squad (Templar-Sergeant)

The Imperial Artillery

</div>The Imperial Artillery is in the process of being modernised after a period of being largely ignored in the predominately-city based fighting of the Imperial Civil War. The government’s objective is to provide it with an image of being as credible an arm of the war machine as the Imperial Army and Cavalry, since at present it is looked down upon by other soldiers as a very un-Divine profession. Being unable to sustain personnel turnover in the same way that the Army can, those in the Artillery serve out of choice and for a career. Given time, this will hopefully ensure an efficient and destructive Artillery Corps; for now, the lack of personnel and modern equipment means that the Artillery remains a substandard part of the Imperial forces.

The Imperial Cavalry

If not quite giving the close-combat opportunities of the infantry, the Imperial Cavalry’s capacity for swift sledgehammer blows endears it to the Divine Church. The specialisation of the job, combined with considerably depleted ranks following the Civil War, means that the Cavalry is in the process of returning to full strength, although the Church’s favour ensures that it does so considerably quicker than the Artillery. Armoured assault fits with the Empire’s doctrine of ‘Smite hard, smite fast’, and so the Cavalry receives a considerable amount of attention, with the net result that modernising is taking place quickly. Funding has recently more than doubled, so it can be held in no doubt that the Imperial Cavalry will be at excellent operational capacity, sooner rather than later.

The Imperial Navy [loading+++ +++ +++]

The Imperial Airforce [loading+++ +++ +++]

International Relations and Foreign Policy

Governed by the Imperial Ministry for Foreign Affairs under the eye of the Cardinal-Minister for Foreign Affairs, the international interests of the House of Ellison are currently relatively limited. Keen to make friends in the international community, the present Cardinal-Minister, Benedict Ellison (cousin to the Emperor) has already fashioned the Western Alliance (so far comprising the House of Ellison, the Commonwealth of Gremlinonika and the Community of Lars Lanster), opened good relations with Gryphonisia, Depptopia and Insane Hunter and has also committed the Holy Empire to assisting Kratloctastan in its civil war. This has been possible because Benedict, unlike many others, understands that an uncompromising fundamentalist stance can only alienate the community, leaving the Holy Empire isolated.