Izeryk Realm Guard

The Realm Guard (Izersprek: Rykskyld) is the national of Izeryk, responsible for its defense and consisting of four service branches. Izeryk's monarch, currently Empress Anika II, is the commander-in-chief of the Realm Guard, although responsibility for the direct administration of its constituent services varies branch to branch. The Realm Guard consists of 1.98 million active duty personnel and 8.23 million reservists at varying readiness levels. All Izeryker citizens without an exemption (including health limitations, tertiary education or civil service) are required to serve in the Realm Guard via a system of competitive universal conscription.

The military is a foundational aspect of Izeryk society, simultaneously reinforcing separation in its almost confederal union of lesser monarchies while also solidifying the federal monarch's monopoly over power projection abroad. The force was originally formed in the 12th century when the Izertelt Queendom conquered the entire subcontinent and constituted the Union of Izeryk, hence integrating the of competing duchies into its army. Initially, the Realm Guard was equiavlent to the modern day Duchal Armies, but was conceptually separated from just land warfare when the permanent Realm Armada was formed in 1294.

Duchal Armies

 * See more: Izeryk Duchal Armies

The Duchal Armies is the primary ground warfighting service of the Realm Guard, sharing overlapping responsibilities with the Territorial Army and the Realm Armada's Expeditionary Brigade. It is the largest of all service branches, with 1.1 million active duty and 8.0 million reserve duty personnel at varying readiness levels. Unlike the other service branches, which are administered directly by the federal Secretariat on War and Crisis at all times, the Duchal Armies are only placed under the control of the Secretariat on War and Crisis during wartime. Even then, this may only be authorized after a majority of the Congress of Nobles endorse federalization and individual Princesses and Duchesses relinquish control of their regiments. During peacetime, the Duchal Armies are only regulated and subsidized by the federal government, and are mustered, trained, and maintained by Izeryk's divisions (executive Principalities and Duchies). As such, the Duchal Armies are relatively decentralized, split into 13 armies of varying sizes (accounting for Rykhern, seven executive principalities, and five divisional duchies). As a result, the Duchal Armies as a whole rarely function as a federal force for operations abroad due to the political cost it takes to federalize them. This has led the service to evolve into the de facto invasion defense and public order branch, ceding its historic expeditionary roles to the Territorial Army and Realm Armada Expeditionary Brigade.

Due to its modern operational role and the role it plays within Izeryk society—a key part of each citizen's civil education that instills nationalistic values—the vast majority of Izeryker conscripts are inducted into their regional Duchal Army by default. With a two year conscription term, plus two years of semi-active reserve, and four years of inactive reserve service, the Duchal Armies are theoretically capable of mobilizing a much larger force in the case of invasion. However, the branch has been derided as being of much lower readiness when compared to the Territorial Army and Realm Armada, which provide units for Izeryk's Rapid Intervention Force and deploy regularly overseas. The active duty portion of the Duchal Armies is centred on a relatively small mechanized force. The majority of maneuver units are footmobile static defense units with little mobility intended to fix an invading enemy in place to be destroyed by the mechanized core. Federal funding for mechanized forces is centered on divisions in Izeryk's west and south due to their proximity to Valkoria, leaving those in the north (particularly the smaller duchies north of the Elektiband Mountains where the risk of invasion is remote) chronically underfunded and less capable.

Territorial Army

 * See more: Izeryk Territorial Army

Realm Armada

 * See more: Izeryk Realm Armada

Aero Guards

 * See more: Izeryk Aero Guards

Factionalism
Within the Realm Guard is a complex intersection with Izeryk's royal government and civil bureaucracy, operating under a highly fragmented command structure with competing interests. Izeryker military officers—who may serve directly under the Izeryker monarch and her federal secretariats or under a lower princess or duchess as part of a Duchal Army—are known to possess highly polarized views as to the strategic purpose of the Realm Guard, particularly with regard to imperial expansion. As a result, no single element of government has complete control over the means to use force and the military is an entrenched element of Izeryker politics. At the operational level, this factionalism has been widely criticized as increasing inefficiency, volatility, and cutting the effective deployable manpower of the Realm Guard by 60%. Historically, it has resulted in several attempted coups d'etat at the hands of lower nobles, although this has not occurred on a large scale since 1913.

The largest incident of military insubordination as a result of factionalism was the Arensloz Confrontation in 1883, when the Duchess of Arensloz—under the advice of her early Revinist officer corps—refused to federalize her Duchal Army to take part in the colonial Acaltic Expeditions (1880-1902). This insubordination resulted in her being deposed when Empress Ingel II used colonial troops within the Territorial Army, supported by undeployed elements of the the Realm Core's army, to force Arensloz to comply. A brief battle ensued in Elektivoud between the revinist 1st Elektivoud Gate Guards (1° EVSR) and loyalist 55th Territorial Riflist Regiment (55° IGR), before a loyalist officer part of the Arensloz Duchal Army ordered the surrender of insubordinate Aresnloz forces. Although seen largely as a result of ethnoreligious tensions between the Izeryker royal family and the Arensloz noble family, the Arensloz Confrontation was is now regarded as watershed moment for factionalism in the Realm Guard.

Revinists
The Revinists, meaning "reclaimers", center their military policy on the invasion of Continental Avinia. Revinism has its origins decades before the last war with Valkoria—Izeryk's primary rival on Continental Avinia—when it was championed by officers serving under duchies representing Izeryk's largest ethnoreligious minorities. Many of these duchies are ruled by noble families who were forced off of Continental Avinia by an eastern invasion that result in the formation of Valkoria. Thus, Revinism can be interpreted as a form of. However, since the 1960s, the ideology has grown in popularity among junior officers in all of the Duchal Armies. They wish for a more important and aggressive role for their service. It has been commented on that Revinists often invoke an idealized interpretation of Izeryk's more expansionist past, contrasted with the status quo which they view as stagnant and contradictory to Izeryk's national values.

Being primarily oriented towards the home islands of Izeryk, the Duchal Armies has always had a more regional viewpoint, as opposed to the Territorial Armies which has primarily concerned itself with operations overseas. In the Aero Guards, Izeryk's strategic air force and air defense service, a smaller but vocal Revinist element advocates for increased investment into a wider range of strike aircraft. As all of the Aero Guards' combat aircraft are interceptors for homeland defense and strategic bombers, tactical strike capabilities are largely centralized in the Realm Armada's air branch.

Revinists see great power conflict against the large nations on Avinia to be the only worthy mission of the Realm Guard, while the colonial exploits of the Territorial Army are seen as distractions that result in a weaker, less cohesive army due to the integration of colonials into the military. They believe that the conquest of Avinia is the real unifying purpose behind Izeryker society, and that civil society should thus be dominated by the military due to its pivotal role in achieving that purpose. Connected to this viewpoint, Revinism has elements of Izeryker exceptionalism, militarism (more so than other factions) and xenophobia in its ethos.

Due to the outsized influence of junior officers on lower ranks, the fact that all Izerykers without an exemption must serve in the Realm Guard in some capacity, and the marginal increase in right-wing nationalism's popularity among the common class, Revinists command a fair amount of popular appeals despite not being embraced by upper echelons of the military or the royal government. The most recent policy victory for the Revinists was in 1986, when the first amphibious mechanized rifle regiments and task organized Amphibious Battle Group were formed within the Duchal Armies with the expressed doctrinal purpose of conducting cross-channel operations.

Zonvegists
The Zonvegists, meaning "way of the sun", believe that the primary task of the Realm Guard should be to project Izeryk's power around the globe and force potential conflicts to occur as far from its shores as possible. Zongevists typically believe that Izeryk bears the burden of humanely civilizing the "uncivilized" world, and protecting them from other powers who they view as cruel. This is a unique political view within the Izeryker military. This compares to the Konservists, who see overseas conquest merely as a means of feeding Izeryk's economy and bringing prestige to the Nobiliat class, and the Revinists who view colonial action as a distraction from the necessary preparations for great power conflict. The Zonvegists are the dominant voice within the Realm Armada and Territorial Armies, which are Izeryk's main expeditionary warfighting services. High ranking leaders in the Realm Core's Duchal Army—the army with the Empress as its commander-in-chief—also espouse Zonvegist values, as Empress Anika II's primary foreign policy imperative is maintaining Izeryk's overseas empire. Due to this direct control, regiments of the Realm Core are among the few within the Duchal Armies to deploy overseas regularly in tandem with the Territorial Army. As a result, Zonvegists are typically also federalists, supporting the centralization of state power in the hands of the federal monarch.

Konservists
The Konservists, meaning "conservatives", are a loose ideological group that believe the Realm Guard should not be used for military intervention abroad when the home islands are not directly threatened. Unlike the Revinists and Zonvegists, the Konservists are not a semi-organized entity. Rather, they are composed primarily of senior officers serving in the Duchal Armies serving the principalities ruled by the Izeryker royal family and ethnically Izeryker duchies. Many are nobles themselves, holding minor land titles, or influential members of the untitled gentry. The Konservists are primarily concerned with the military's role in Izeryker civil society and instilling nationalistic values into its inductees. Generally, they are opposed to federal overreach into princely and duchal affairs and are wary of the growing power of overseas territorial governors over Izeryk's economic prosperity. This places the Konservists as the traditional rivals to the Territorial Army. At the same time, they view the Revinist faction of the Duchal Armies as radicals who, if they got their way with an attempted invasion of Avinia, would bring ruin to Izeryk.