Despite Nashaki's policy of strict neutrality, they are aware of the need for trade and to keep control of the hotlands, thus it keeps a small but strong military force. However, the bulk of their military might is kept within the city itself to make use of Nashaki's high walls and defensive armaments. The main army is divided into five primary types of unit, the function, equipment, and tactics of which are detailed below. The one universal thing about the Nashaki military is how promotion is handled. While command is solely the purview of the Tower of Military Affairs, any of the Towers can offer a soldier a promotion. Whether a soldier chooses to accept is up to them, however, in many cases accepting a promotion means protection from other Towers while refusing one can mean persecution from the Tower who offered.
Infantry Soldier
The smallest of the Nashaki military forces, infantry soldiers are primarily found manning Nashaki's defensive fortifications, whether in the city itself or in one of the forts stationed throughout the desert to maintain the cities control over the Hotlands. Due to this, they are poorly trained compared to many other infantry soldiers in Idalos in regards open-field combat and are primarily used as bait by the Towers.
Arms
Nashaki infantry soldiers wield scimitars and bucklers as their primary weapons, the light shield allowing for more freedom of movement in combat than heavier, albeit more defensive, options would. They each carry three javelins to use as throwing weapons, but the accuracy of these vary greatly from soldier to soldier and are thus unreliable as a means of attacking a large enemy force.
Armor
Nashaki infantry soldiers wear light plate armor over light brown cloth. The armor primarily protects the soldiers torso, shoulders, and head, with the arms and legs only lightly armored compared to the rest to allow for more freedom of movement to accommodate the raid-style tactics preferred by most Nashaki commanders. As such, they tend not to last long against more heavily armed or armored foes in pitched battle, but can usually keep them at a distance or exhaust them.
Infantry Archer
If the two Nashaki infantry forces, the archers are the larger and better trained force. However, they are still primarily defensive units frequently stationed alongside the soldiers at forts at the city itself. However, instead of manning the artillery used to defend the forts and cities, infantry archers instead make use of the advantages their walls give them to rain arrows down upon attacking forces.
Arms
The bow used by infantry archers is different depending on where they're fighting. When fighting from forts or city walls, they utilize the deadly range of the longbow, since the walls offset the lack of mobility the longbow is saddled with. However, in the field they use the more mobile shortbow, allowing them to utilize the raid-style tactics preferred by the Nashaki commanders. In either situation, they also carry shortswords in case they have to fight at melee range, but they are usually poorly trained at best with these weapons.
Armor
Much like the infantry soldiers, infantry archers use light armor that protects the torso, head, and shoulders. However, instead of plate armor, they wear chain mail that doesn't weigh them down quite as much, allowing them move faster should it be necessary for them to change firing positions or retreat from enemy infantry or cavalry. Due to this, they tend to go down very fast once actually engaged by enemy forces and only rarely manage to win a battle at melee range.
Cavalry Soldier
The cavalry soldiers are Nashaki's primary melee force in the field, their superior speed and maneuverability allowing them to slice chunks off of the flanks of enemy forces and retreat before they can hammered into the ground by superior numbers or more heavily armed and armored forces. As opposed to the horses favored by most of Idalos's cavalry, Nashaki mounts its cavalry soldiers on camels as they much better suited to the desert than horses are, their humps allowing them to stay hydrated well past the where a horse would have collapsed or even died, as well as their hooves being far more suited to shifting sand of the desert.
Arms
The Nashaki cavalry soldiers use lances and kite shields as their primary weapons, the mobility granted by their camel mounts allowing them to wield heavier weapons than their infantry compatriots. The range allowed by their lances allows them to attack enemy infantry without getting into the range of most swords, though claymores and the like are still a threat to deal with. In addition, if their lance breaks or gets caught on something, they also carry sabers as a backup weapon, though they are less trained with this weapon and are, in general, unused to fighting at the shorter range of the saber as opposed to their lancers.
Armor
Due to the mounts, the cavalry soldiers are afforded heavier armor than the infantry soldiers are, wearing light plate over chainmail. The combination is still light enough not to be an extreme burden upon the camel, but is heavy enough that they can last longer in pitched battle than their infantry comrades. Their armor protects the arms and legs as well as the shoulder, torso, and head, making them much more difficult to fell than the more lightly armored infantry, conversely however, they are almost useless without their mounts in the soft desert sands and blistering heat.
Cavalry Archer
Nashaki's primary archery force, the cavalry archers are what truly allowed Nashaki to gain control over the desert, as their superior range and mobility allowed them to crush any opposition to their control during the cities early years, and have allowed the to remain superior to any foe in the desert in terms of equipment and mounts. They use the same camel mounts as the cavalry soldiers, but make even better use of their mobility. The cavalry archers are, by far, Nashaki's most well trained units.
Arms
Cavalry archers use a recurve short bow as their primary weapon, the combination of mobility and power it gives, when combined with the advantages given by their mounts, giving Nashaki cavalry archers a huge advantage over most any opponent in desert terrain in terms of range and mobility. In addition, they also carry sabers to be used should an enemy manage to engage them in melee range, but their training in such a situation is to fight to escape the foe rather than fell them.
Armor
Nashaki cavalry archers wear scale mail designed not to interfere with their movement or weight them down too much, as their primary tactics involve shooting while moving, a tactic best aided by light weight and freedom of movement to adjust to any turns made. This means they are only slightly better armored then the infantry archers and, again, don't last very long in a melee fight. However, their light weight armor allows them to make good use of their mounts so it is difficult to actually engage them at melee range.
Tower Agent
Tower Agents are the espionage and assassination arm of Nashaki, mostly working at night and in secret. Most members of the other branches, and indeed the regular citizenry, live in fear of these agents. This partially because no one has any idea who any of them are, as they are all masked and shrouded, operating in complete secrecy and with complete authority. It is often said that hear the voice of a Tower Agent is to hear the voice of death, as they are known never to speak in public. In addition, Tower Agents also serve as the "collection arm" of the Tower of Flesh, bringing that sinister Tower new product at whim.
Arms
Tower Agents primarily use long daggers as their weapon. These are frequently coated in lethal poison and can allow the wielder to kill foes with even light scratches. In addition, they also carry throwing knives that are likewise coated in poison, meaning they are just lethal at range, albeit short range, as they are in melee range. Finally, they frequently carry vials of poison they use on enemy water or food supplies, allowing them to take out entire camps with a bit of luck and skill.
Armor
Tower Agents wear light brown leather armor covered by black silk robes to help them blend into the desert at nighttime. In addition, their masks are made out of black leather and have dozens of minuscule holes to allow for proper breathing. They also have glass lenses built into the eyes of the mask to prevent dust from getting the in agents eyes at an inopportune moment. However, while this provides solid aid in their stealth, this armor is not designed for a fight and if one manages to engage a Tower Agent, they will rely more on acrobatics and agility to avoid death than their armor.
Defensive Artillery
In addition to its very high walls, Nashaki utilizes a variety of defensive emplacements designed to cause maximum confusion and damage to an attacking enemy force. Most of these can be found at all but their most distant forts as well.
Catapults
Catapults are a common artillery weapon on both offense and defense, but Nashaki gets more use out of theirs than just flinging boulders at their enemies. In fact, catapults are rarely loaded with a single large stone, as instead they are used more to achieve a large spread of smaller items. Such items include: Poisoned caltrops, molten glass, boiling pitch, rocks, and flaming pitch.
Trebuchet
Trebuchets are commonly considered to be little more than an even bigger and stronger catapult. And this is mostly true. Nashaki primarily uses these to launch boulders, usually with the aim of taking out enemy artillery, such as catapults, ballista, and trebuchets. They are also very effective at taking out siege towers.
Ballista
Ballistas are functionally large crossbows that fire bolts that are usually as thick as a mans arm. These are of limited use to Nashaki, but they still keep them on hand in case of an attack by a large monster or to help deal with siege towers. Occasionally, they are used to take out enemy commanders who are out of bow range, but this is exceedingly rare.
Cauldrons
Cauldrons are a very short range defensive weapon, usually used to pour boiling pitch and tar, or flaming pitch and tar, on enemies scaling the walls. Nashaki uses them for this same purpose, but have also been known to pour molten glass upon their foes, as this is something they can procure and make with ease.
Common Tactics
Nashaki primarily uses raid tactics that take advantage of their light armor and superior desert mounts. In the field, they'll use their infantry soldiers as bait to lure in their enemies before raking them with arrows from infantry archers. At this point the cavalry soldiers will hit the enemy in both flanks while the cavalry archers rake the enemies rear with arrows. The infantry forces will then retreat under the cover of the cavalry attacks. Once the infantry is safely away, the cavalry will goad the enemy into a pursuit and retreat, with the cavalry archers raking the pursuing forces with enemy arrows until the enemy gives up the pursuit. They will attempt this again the following day.
When defending a city or a fort, they will have the infantry soldiers man the defensive artillery while the infantry archers use the height afforded by their walls gain extra range while firing on their opposition. The cavalry forces will camp outside the city, doing quick attack on the enemies flanks or rear before retreating away from the walls. The combination is akin to a grinder and it is very rare for besieging forces to last long.
