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Terminology and Names

ABC (Aeronautics and Bombardment Command) This is the Kantarian department that positions, directs during battles, resupplies, and generally oversees all of Kantaria's ground-based aircraft and most of its ground-based artillery and missile launchers. This department is the parent to the VEC (Vertical Envelopment Corps), the divisions of airborne troops and their transports. This department and arrangement was established to maximize the efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of weapon types Kantaria was numerically substantially inferior in and struggled to keep supplied. It was deemed more advantageous to centralize oversight of assets critical for tactical and operational offense and defense than to have them diversified in various departments.

Armies (Field, Panzer, Reserve, etc) The most often spoken of and featured formation is Army. The numbers of troops and various types of machinery and equipment vary greatly between the various types. Field, Reserve, and Maritime are predominantly infantry and have approximately 100k troops at full strength. The Panzer and Heavy Cavalry Armies are armies of tanks and thus they have many fewer personnel and many more tanks and associated equipment- something like 4-6k panzers. Armies comprised of mounted infantry or a mixture of them and panzers will have different numbers of personnel and vehicles. All armies are comprised of 10 divisions of (when all are at full strength) equal numbers of troops and equipment.

Field Armies are the standard Armies which are properly equipped to engage in offensive operations (AKA "the field") and in general. They and other properly equipped formations are supposed to spearhead offensives and large-scale counteroffensives. In contrast, Reserve Armies are less combat-effective in general due to lower personnel and equipment quality, and the level of outfitting with heavy weapons. They are, as the name alludes to, generally kept in the rear as reserve formations, used to respond to breaches and reinforce endangered parts of the line.

Artillery: Difference Between "Field" and "Fortress" The Takomenians use both mobile and static howitzers, whereas we Terrans- aside from some ceremonial and historical relics- ONLY have mobile artillery. "Field" is rather self-descriptive: centuries ago these were artillery batteries that were deployed to "the field". They tend to be smaller and shorter in range than those cannons emplaced in fortresses and coastal batteries both IRL and on Takomen. The Takomenians refer to the static guns as "fortress" or "static", the former category usually only encompassing the larger calibers.

Attrition Threshold This is in reference to a nation's capability of sustaining casualties, loss, and damage. Above this threshold, a nation starts to lose a theoretical war if those rates remained constant. This is a much simpler concept to understand if the asset in question is people, since any deliberate production would only become accessible in 20 years (the standard age of adulthood for virtually all purposes). The asset or concept in question can also be industrial output or material. So, if one nation produces 5m tons of weapons and is losing 5.5m a month, they're going to run out of things eventually and will suffer progressively worse degradation in the interim. It can also refer to a type of weapon, such as panzers or bombers, though adjustments can be made to increase production of things a nation is losing more of. I found no RL term for this measurement besides 'war of attrition', so I made one up.

Baseship These are plane-carrying warships, usually of the large variety. We call them 'carriers'. Baseships are more protected than Terran carriers and their plane launching designs are different. Often planes are catapulted through openings below the top deck, much like those in Battlestar Galactica are. They generally do have flat top-most flight decks, and if they're not being peppered with ordnance, planes can land on top there and be taken down to the hangar below via elevators if that is more efficient and/or safer. They can also can be launched through the same mechanism if somehow that would be faster. These and the planes which they house generally are built with somewhat less or the same priority as battleships, or what the Takomenians call capital gunships or Tier 4s (baseships are also Tier 4, though they have few or no heavy cannons and bristle with point-defense weapons).

Capital Artillery/Cannon/Turret This is the category of super-heavy cannons that fortresses and battleships are equipped with. Anything at or over 500 mm is generally referred to as 'capital'. What we call 'battleships', they would consequently call 'capital gunships' since their main method of attack is capital artillery. The Kantarian Navy both fields more of this type of ship proportionally and outfits them with larger cannons for maximal range, at the expense of armor.

Cavalry This is actually a term we use, referring to units of combat vehicles. The Takomenians also use the term in this way, a catch-all phrase for tanks and armored cars and personnel carriers. Though, they call their tanks 'panzers', and the infantry units that are mechanized/motorized (armored/unarmored, respectively, in RL military jargon) are 'mounted infantry'.

Combatant Commands Kantaria has four of these departments: one for each front, and one for intercontinental operations when assisting Likuria. They direct, oversee, and coordinate most combatant (intended to be used in combat) units in their assigned area, whereas logistics is generally addressed by a specialized logistics department. Units that by default belong to another department generally remain under their jurisdiction but coordinate with the CCs as needed and ordered. I was not aware that the US military calls its equivalents the same things when I chose the name. I believe I heard or read the name before, sub-consciously remembered it but consciously thought the term was one I invented, and went with it because I like the phonetic attributes. Yeah, I'm weird as fuck, aren't I?

Fleet This is the rough naval equivalent of the ground-based Army, though there are far fewer fleets than there are standard Armies. The numbers of warships in general and of each type vary wildly between the fleets, ranging from 50-100, the 1st Fleet generally being the strongest and most numerous. The vessels each side fields in a particular battle/invasion comprise a temporary formation called Armada.

Grand Army This is equivalent to what were called "army groups" and "fronts" (the latter being the Soviet term), a formation consisting of several standard Armies, mostly of the Field type. I haven't pondered how the other three nations would name theirs, but Kantaria named theirs after a proximate major geographical feature, city, or region upon the formation's creation. I imagine numbers for Kantarian Grand Armies would fluctuate between 300-700k troops. There are one or two of these for each Front, and in preparation for an offensive either another Grand Army would be formed or more armies added to those which already existed.

Great War This is the world war on Takomen. This period is defined as starting the moment Wesitaria declared war on Likuria (25 November 2012) and thus became the last nation on the planet to enter the war. This is generally in contrast to the preceding Kantarian Revolutionary War, usually defined as ending on the aforementioned date and starting on 1 March 2012.

Hybrid (warplanes) Here on Earth, we have models of planes which are highly capable of both intercepting planes and bombing targets on the ground, but don't utterly excel at either. We tend to call them 'fighter/bombers' or sometimes 'tactical bombers'. Takomenians often call theirs 'hybrids', as they are a cross of two different categories of planes.

Interceptor This term generally refers to the types of aircraft we call 'fighters'. They are the fastest and most nimble category of warplanes, intended to combat other planes and intercept ordnance but can generally to some degree attack surface targets with explosive weaponry.

Kaleusthes This is the name of a small archipelago upon/within which the Kantarian naval base and attendant fortifications are situated. The main island and the secondary ones are situated within a mere ~400 km from the Wesitarian strategic naval base of Kalobol, and used to be part of Wesitaria's outer naval defenses. Kantaria's seizure and consolidation of it would both necessitate massive investment and be a constant colossal frustration to the enemy. Kantaria was confident that its level of strength was sufficient to adequately protect the base while its fortifications were built and restored and service structures erected, a conclusion they barely proved to be correct ultimately. During Kantaria's and Likuria's 2016 campaign on the Western Front, Kantarian marines assaulted the archipelago and set off a battle that was very reminiscent of Terra's Iwo Jima. The new Pathforger class of panzer and other factors saved lives and reduced the duration of the battle somewhat, but it still required over a week of desperate and costly fighting to capture the base. Very significantly and fittingly on a psychological level, the complex was fully seized on Kantaria's Revolution Day, 1 March.

Continuing the trend of him choosing names based on personal preference and to the exclusion of any other considerations, he named the island chain and complex after his plushie, which is indeed named and modeled after mine IRL. Kaleusthes is a corruption of the Greek nautical term 'keleustes', the type of officer on the ancient warships who apparently was responsible for setting the rowing speed and motivating the oarsmen to keep such paces. I think the literal translation is "the exhorter". I inadvertently mangled the spelling (I think the corrupted version looks cooler, anyway) and realized this only afterwards, though Roketsune deliberately did this. I named him after this because I had intended for him to be a tactile and visual reminder to try to not speak too rapidly, but he never served that role because it requires so much mental capacity to speak that I rarely remember he's with me, even when I hold him.

KMO (Kantarian Military Organization) This is the Kantarian equivalent to what we often call the 'Armed Forces'. It is the parent organization of every martial department, led by Roketsune and the Strategic Council. This organization has jurisdiction over industrial facilities and output which have been deemed militarily important or related, and can assert authority over anything of an industrial or logistical nature if they deem it pertinent to the war effort. This means, theoretically, Roketsune could decide to bring dildo factories under his control under the pretense of such products being needed for troop morale, though he seems to not be prone to stunts which are THAT outrageous. Parliament decides on funding for the military and has authority to decide such matters as declarations of war, and can make whatever other decisions about the military it sees fit, though they allow Roketsune and his loyal staff manage as they see fit without interference.

MAC (Maritime Assault Corps) This is the sub-department of the Kantarian Navy which is their equivalent of America's USMC. Boasting a combatant strength of over 200k veteran personnel and many thousands of panzers and other weapons, they are far and away the strongest of all the specialized branches of all the militaries. When they are unleashed upon an objective, they are rarely denied it for long.

Marietta This is one of the Strategic Bases (see definition below) of Kantaria, the first primary/home base of the Kantarian Navy. Lying within historically Kantarian territory not very far from the Bengarian border, it was captured from Bengaria in 2013. As it was geographically a good naval base location and they were in dire need of a forward primary base, the Kantarians began a massive expansion and fortification project which never really ended until Kaleusthes was seized and made serviceable.

The great naval complex has been the site of several major battles, including two during the winter of 2016 when the two alliances fought to establish indisputable naval supremacy. Two of the largest naval battles in Takomenian history took place in the general area of Marietta, the first resulting in a Kantarian/Likurian victory. The second one was a rather serious defeat for Kantaria, its Likurian allies having had to deploy its fleets elsewhere and thus leaving Kantaria to fight the bulk of both enemy navies alone. Unable to fully overcome the enemy's overwhelming numerical supremacy with its qualitative superiority, the Kantarian 1st Fleet and other elements had to mount a very bitter fighting withdrawal to escape encirclement and destruction even with Marietta's coastal artillery joining in. The Likurian naval victory against the Wesitarians three days later at Brekmaere more than reversed the disaster and paved the way for the landings at Kaleusthes and elsewhere later in the month.

Marshal This is a Takomenian rank very synonymous with 'general'. In Terran nations, marshals were/are the highest ranks, equivalent to 4-star and 5-star generals. The Takomenian variant has four or five levels just as the 'general' rank in America. I just wanted the senior ranks to be known as something else.

Mirukan This is the capital of Kantaria, home of something like 12-15m people as well as both the national parliament and one of the supreme HQs of the military. Due to the greater urgency to be efficient relative to the other three nations, and the metropolis naturally being in several ways a national center of gravity, its population has sharply risen (and that of surrounding areas fallen) since the Revolution. This city well to the rear of the current war sustained moderate damage and heavy depopulation around the time Kantarian militia units attacked the city and wrested control of it from Bengaria, and thus city planners and the subsequent National Parliament had a daunting task ahead of them. While Roketsune usually keeps to his own colossal organization and purpose, he exhorted the government to make the capital an example of prosperity and efficiency for the rest of the nation to be galvanized by and attempt to emulate, and this the national and local governments have done well. One of Roketsune's civilian homes is within Mirukan and thus he and Lucien can periodically be seen cavorting around the revitalized metropolis.

Mounted/Vehicular Infantry These are infantry units that are transported and protected by vehicles, named so because they are on a 'mount', only the vehicular rather than equine kind. Full divisions of mounted infantry tend to be placed in the same armies the panzers are and provide mutual support.

Panzer The Takomenians refer to their heavy armored vehicles as panzers. Honestly, the only reason they use this term is I really like the way it sounds. Even in casual conversation nowadays I will unthinkingly refer to RL tanks as panzers. The word is German for 'armor', and they continue to use the term. While Nazi Germany caused the term to become well known due to their rampages across Europe and Russia, that is certainly not why I favor the term.

The Kantarians have several models of panzer, each with distinct sets of attributes and intended roles. The Skirmisher is arguably more of a field howitzer than a panzer, being extremely nimble and having a large turret with a wide range of motion, but having very weak armor overall. The Cavalier is a well-rounded medium panzer with perhaps speed as the strongest trait, designed to rapidly outflank and envelop armored and infantry formations while also being able to trade fire with their enemy equivalents. The Commander is a heavy panzer which favors armor and firepower, intended to assault difficult areas and survive the trek to its objectives (generally in the enemy's rear or flank) while also being able to get there at a respectable speed. The Pathforger is a super-heavy panzer with highly advanced armor and energy generation/allocation technologies, designed with massively fortified beaches and river banks in mind. It has extremely high survivability and saves Kantaria many vehicles and personnel who otherwise would have been lost from carrying out the attacks themselves, but consumes massive industrial capacity and money to construct and isn't suitable for rapid maneuvering.

Prancer A prancer is a male Takomenian who dresses effeminately and conspicuously, and who shamelessly and proudly flaunts himself and his fashion preferences. Roketsune is the stereotypical and quintessential prancer, the precise sort of male envisioned when the term was coined. This is largely synonymous with 'femboy' and is a neutral/positive term for such people. Feminine males on Terra are unusual. On Takomen, they are relatively commonplace, even within the average military ranks.

Procyonidae This is the flagship of Kantaria, one of the very few super-battleships of Takomen. Roketsune often leads major naval operations as well as the military in general from the bridge. Roketsune being the delightfully conceited and vain prancer that he is, he elected to name it after his derivative species's family name rather than some ideal or battle, a decision that must have displeased many officers but was ultimately tolerated. The ship was designed with a primary focus on offensive firepower rather than mobility or armor, giving it the capability of bombarding ships and coastal fortifications from extreme ranges and overwhelming firepower. It always has top-priority for upgrades and repairs, which consumes huge amounts of resources and shipyard capacity due to its size and the frequency of such work.

The flagship and its welfare are a sort of representation of my bodily health in general, and my bodily and mental health while in the field. If I am injured or fall ill, or am upset while out of the house, it's generally envisioned as severe damage to the flagship or a similarly substantial malfunction. I also frequently envision major and/or tense interpersonal efforts online as naval sorties, though sometimes they're represented as something else.

Strategic Base/Fortress This refers to a very important installation, something that would cause harm on a strategic level if destroyed or otherwise neutralized. The term is used to differentiate these from other places which may well be important locally, but their loss wouldn't by itself hurt the nation's warfare capabilities appreciably (though it might undermine a nation's defensive strategy if such a gap was made). The naval bases of Marietta and Kaleusthes are within this category since they provide such massive levels of naval service capabilities and are forefront in the minds of the Kantarians in general. Given this category's level of importance, the defenses and buildings are hardened enough to withstand multiple atomic strikes and still serve their purposes.

Strategic Council This is what might just as well be called "Grand/High Council" or something similar. It is a group of highly senior officers who propose, discuss, and vote on matters of great importance to the military and the nation. They are thus the 'strategic officers' who are commonly alluded to, those who regularly discuss, contemplate, and make decisions on the strategic level.

Tiers (warships) The Takomenians classify warships under a tier system, ranging from 1 (smallest) to 5 (largest). What we might call destroyers/frigates, light cruisers, heavy/battlecruisers, battleships and super-carriers, and dreadnoughts (not the older term for battleships, but the modern fictional connotation)/super-battleships, they call Tier 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. The Takomenians collectively call the Tier 4s and 5s 'capital' ships, using the term synonymously with the Terran usage. Many of the Tier 3s are fitted with low-end 'capital turrets' and thus can provide offensive long-range fire support, but overall the capital ships are designed and intended to be the offensive bombardment vessels of modern Takomenian fleets. The remainder generally provide defensive services of various types depending on their class, or offensive when they're called on to provide shore bombardment.

The super-capital Tier 5s are very few in number and are largely meant to serve as highly advanced and prestigious command-and-control platforms, though they also are stronger than several Tier 4s combined. Even the Kantarians seem averse to building more than the one they have, as they require special facilities for repair work and consume a massive level of naval resources and funding proportionally to keep state-of-the-art. I might add a new Tier 5 relatively soon to the storyline. Maybe a carrier-type with battleship secondary characteristics rather than the other way around.

VEC (Vertical Envelopment Corps) This the elite airborne infantry and cavalry of Kantaria, numbering around 100k in personnel, 1k in panzers, several thousand other vehicles and heavy weapons, and assorted aircraft to transport and support them. Their level of training, morale, and combat effectiveness as a whole exceeds that of even the MAC. Per capita, the most money and resources are spent on training and outfitting these troops. Even with such care and preparation, they tend to take the worst casualties in percentages since their objectives are so hazardous. Despite the severe losses they usually incur, they cause the enemy great fits when deployed in substantial numbers to facilitate main ground offensives, as they greatly exacerbate the enemy's logistical problems and help engender panic as they cut off routes of escape.