Military of the Imperial Territories
Organisation
The Adanan structure of nobility has military service as a core tenet and obligation. Even the most minor of nobles, perhaps with an estate of only a few hundred people, is still expected to provide a few soldiers. The exact numbers of soldiers a noble will provide to their liege are a matter which depend on a web of verbal and written agreements and on the politics of the day.
Not all Adanan nobles are soldiers and not all Adanan soldiers are nobles. However, houses prefer to fill the ranks of their armies with noble warriors, deeming the security of the empire to be a key noble duty.
Well armed cavalry with excellent horses make up the core of the typical Adanan force. The Imperial Territories are characterised by relatively flat land with an abundance of pasture and better country for raising and using horses than in much of the rest of the empire. Horses suitable for war are still exceedingly expensive, but when the core of the Adanan military is noble, they can and are expected to bear the expense.
When commoners are employed, they are always well-trained professionals. Archery is not popular among the nobility except for hunting, so common archers are in high demand, particularly for the garrisons of fortresses. It is virtually unthinkable for an Adanan noble to employ mere part-time soldiers or, worse, to try to raise an untrained militia. Certainly, it would be deeply embarrassing for an Adanan noble to do so, and point to a failure in their fundamental duty as nobles to provide security. They might tolerate it in other parts of the empire, but never without some scepticism. Adanan armies are consequently small in size even in times of crisis.
Mercenaries are tolerated in the Imperial Territories, provided they are of good quality and kept in good order by their commanders.
Doctrine
Adanan armies are small and highly mobile. Besides their warhorses, nobles always bring a spare riding horse. Even commoners with an army ride a horse to travel, although more rarely into battle. Trains of packhorses or mules are favoured, with carts and wagons being shunned.
When Adanans go to war, traditionally, their goal is to draw the enemy into the open field and have a battle. This aspiration is rather spoiled if their enemy decides to sit inside a castle instead, and Adanan forces don't typically have the numbers to invest a castle nor the supplies to keep their armies in one place for a prolonged period. An assault may be considered in some cases, but can be deeply perilous affairs. Instead, the preferred approach in years past has been to loot unfortified settlements and seize nobles for ransom until their enemy comes out to face them. However, closer to the current day, during the Greenwood War, House Salfeld's coalition moved directly on fortified positions and besieged them, relying on professional sappers drawn from beyond the Imperial Territories, and left the Duchy of Greenwood itself largely unscathed. It has not necessarily caught on, yet, as a more widespread idea, but it left the land far more intact as a place to rule and with a far less hostile population.
In the event that their enemy does offer battle, ideally on a nice, flat plain, then the Adanans are in their element. Their core tactic is to have their cavalry, elite as they all aware, charge directly at the enemy. This is in fact exceedingly effective, assuming that the Adanans are able to manoeuvre their foe into such position, but that is rather easier said than done. Even in less ideal circumstances though, Adanan soldiers remain formidable; there just aren't very many of them.
Other elements of an Adanan army, most often archers, are to be used entirely at the commander's discretion. They have historically been deemed wholly secondary to the cavalry.