Recruitment
An all volunteer military, Betoros attracts would-be soldiers much the same way the Adventurer’s Guild incentivizes more talented or capable warriors, mages, and the like: with pay, social advancement, and fame. Soldiers as young as 12 can enlist, though younger volunteers are typically trained up in supportive functions and kept away from more dangerous tasks. With so much of their former leadership perished from the Calamity, the army as a whole trends younger in age – it’s not uncommon for generals to be no older than their late twenties. While a draft has been repeatedly considered to swell numbers, it's ultimately been shot time and again in favor of monetary incentives. A happier, more grateful soldier would be a more competent one, or so the leadership insists.
Structure and Leadership
A rank and file Betorosian soldier is unlikely to know magic nor have much in the way of a martial background, with those particularly well suited to combat, strategy, or leadership quick to promote to positions of authority. Proper mages, Paladins, and Clerics are commonly commissioned to serve as both field and administrative officers. Clerics and mages are expected to spent 2 years in Beteros's military academy to learn proper military etiquette and procedure before assuming leadership roles, though some with a background akin to proper military training can forego this after passing a comprehensive test demonstrating their understanding of protocol and procedure.
It’s rare given the training required to become one of the aforementioned professions, but from time to time one will start from the bottom as an enlisted soldier, perhaps to prove a point. Their general lack of experience makes your average Betorosian squad somewhat ill suited to combat anything more powerful or better organized than a few unruly bandits. The army’s leadership strives to combat this lack of experience with constant training missions and collaboration with the Adventurer’s Guilds more capable associates, but this has lead some to believe them somewhat impotent in and of themselves.
Public and Criminal Relations
Convicts accused of some crimes – typically nonviolent ones such as thievery, though it’s not unheard for things as severe as manslaughter to be considered – may serve the army in place of other forms of punishment under strict probation and surveillance. Some of the city’s most trusted lieutenants were former convicts, and rehabilitation in this way is often lauded by its people. This policy has had an interesting effect on Betoros’s criminal elements. Bigger, more influential gangs and organized crime families have little animosity towards the organization, with their officers and high ranking members often having personal ties to officials of the army, and vice versa. A general understanding between both keeps the city largely free of turf wars and other skirmishes that threaten to draw civilians into the crossfire. These same ties mean high ranking Betorosian soldiers can also call on thieves, forgers, and other less savory types to assist in bigger threats the city might face. Smaller gangs and up and coming crime families on the other hand challenge both sides of the law from time to time in an effort to further themselves, though it’s rare for this to lead to much of anything more than some minor skirmishes in back alleys and poorer parts of the city.
Their liberal views towards recruiting criminals has lead to rumors of corruption in the army, though the people as a whole have a cavalier attitude towards their military – the general consensus is that they mean well, and keep the peace decently enough, even if the Calamity has left them somewhat short staffed and unprepared for major threats. Their primary function in the world’s current state of affairs is as a vigilant police force pivoted primarily to keep raiders from outside the city and more ambitious criminals from preying on the city’s more vulnerable citizens, and in that capacity, they function about as admirably as can be expected.
