Purple Dragons of Cormyr

The Purple Dragons consists entirely of volunteers who are willing to swear an oath of loyalty and service directly to the Crown of Cormyr. There are no conscripted Purple Dragons; conscription is used only for local militia. Those who wish to join the Purple Dragons must meet tough standards of physical fitness to simply be accepted, and these standards are enforced through rigorous training. Most Purple Dragons are men due to these physical requirements, but there is no prohibition against women joining up if they meet and maintain the same standards expected of men and there are indeed some women Purple Dragons. Do not underestimate these women when encountered; they are no less tough or skilled in combat than the men.

Purple Dragon Ranks

One of the most basic ways in which military forces are organized is by rank. Each and every member of the Purple Dragons has is given a specific rank that determines his relative authority and leadership ability within the Purple Dragon hierarchy. There are three distinct categories of rank: enlisted men being the lowest, with commissioned officers being above the enlisted and general officers being above the commissioned officers. These ranks, and their rough earth/U.S. equivalents are as follows:

Enlisted Ranks

• Blade (Private, Corporal)
• First Sword (Sergeant, Staff Sergeant)
• Swordmajor (Master Sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant, Sergeant Major)

Commissioned Officer Ranks

• Swordcaptain (Lieutenant)
• Lionar (Captain)
• Ornrion (Major - Lt. Colonel)
• Constal (Colonel)

General Officer Ranks

• Oversword (Brigadier General - Major General (1-2 stars))
• Battlemaster (Lieutenant General - General (3-4 stars))
• Lord High Marshal (General of the Army (5-star) + Chairman of the JCS)
  • Although the Lord High Marshal is indeed a rank, it is also more than just a rank. It is also a specific position within the command structure of the military. There is only one Lord High Marshal at any given time, and he is the commander of all the military forces of Cormyr and is second only to the King in matters of military authority.

As one would expect, enlisted men and women make up by far the largest proportion of Purple Dragons. The body of enlisted men are entirely commoners, and of these most of them will spend their entire careers as blades — common soldiers. The higher enlisted ranks are non-commissioned officer ranks, and there is no guarantee that a blade will ever be promoted. Enlisted promotions only occur as needed when vacancies arise due to retiring, mustering out, or casualties, and such enlisted promotions are offered to those blades that show the most potential for leadership and initiative, and whenever possible who are also literate.

Those who achieve the NCO ranks are usually the career soldiers, or "lifers," who serve until age renders them unfit. These men and women are truly the backbone of the Purple Dragons; without these dedicated soldiers the Purple Dragons would not be the professional force they are. Officers issue orders, but it is the NCOs who see to it that things get done — that all the details not mentioned in the orders but required by them get done — and insure that the blades are properly trained and fit.

The commissioned officers are those who personally lead the men in the field. They are responsible for getting their men to where they are supposed to be and implementing the designs and strategies of the general officers. Purple Dragon officers can be either commoners or nobles, but regardless of social class all start out as swordcaptains. Purple Dragon commissioned officers must meet all the same standards for physical fitness and combat skill as the enlisted men and in addition must also be literate and display some amount of intelligence or wit.

Normally, commissions are bestowed as needed directly by the King and occur either as a result of actions of leadership that catch his personal attention or, more commonly, at the sponsorship of a higher-ranking officer. It is long standing tradition that commissions are only granted as the military hierarchy needs them and are not granted as mere favors to noble families, the reason being to preserve the professional nature of the force. When vacancies are not open, then young nobles desiring military service have to settle for leading the house troops or attempting to hire into a mercenary group.

Once a vacancy occurs for a swordcaptain, a head of a noble house can often make a deal with another noble who is a senior officer to sponsor a commission for a young scion. The officer will then introduce the scion to the King and if the king is impressed and the scion meets the requirements the commission is granted. High-ranking officers may also sponsor commoners they think are worthy of a commission. The King may also grant the commission to a commoner who catches his attention through some act of valor. These latter cases are most commonly battlefield commissions granted to heroic enlisted men.

Although being of noble station is not a requirement to gain a commission, it is an aid to promotion. While commoner swordcaptains are moderately commonplace (no pun intended), with each higher rank the proportion of the officers of that rank that are commoners decreases. Although some commoner officers are granted knighthoods or noble titles if they are worthy, and for promotions little distinction is drawn between the noble-by-birth and the noble-bestowed, few commoners who remain commoners achieve the rank of constal and if they do their career stops there.

General officers are the field commanders of the Purple Dragons. They command units in the field, devise strategies and plans, and issue orders to the commissioned officers to carry them out. General officers generally will stay to the rear of the fighting line so that they can better direct the maneuvers of their units and exercise command and control, although they will not hesitate to fight if an enemy turns up in range of their sword and they usually will join the fighting at the climax of the battle once all orders have been issued and all that's left is the fighting. The group of general officers is an exclusive club; one must be a constal and of noble standing before the king will promote one to the rank of oversword. All promotions of general officers are done directly by the King himself; the Lord High Marshal may as needed give brevet (temporary) promotions but these must be confirmed by the King before they are permanent. Usually general officers are nobles by birth, although nobles who were born commoners then ennobled occasionally attain these ranks.

Knights and the Military

Knights are often seen as noble warriors, as soldiers in the service of the King. While there is some truth to this, there is no direct correlation between knighthood in general and membership in the Purple Dragons. The King can knight anyone he wishes and knighting him will not make him a member of the Purple Dragons. At the same time, one can serve as a Purple Dragon, even as a commissioned officer, without being a knight or any sort of noble (with exceptions for certain special units).

Although this is generally true, there is a specific order of knights that is directly associated with the Purple Dragons — the Knightly Order of the Purple Dragon, more commonly known as the Purple Dragon Knights. This order of knighthood is specifically for commissioned and general officers of the Purple Dragons. These knights are the core of the leadership of the Purple Dragons. This knightly honor is not gained simply by promotion; like any other knighthood, it must be granted by the King himself with a formal dubbing ceremony. All Purple Dragon Knights are officers; no member of the Purple Dragons can be a Purple Dragon Knight and an enlisted person at the same time. An enlisted person may be knighted for exhibiting great valor or honor, but such a knighting always comes with a commission as an officer.

See the Purple Dragon Knight (prestige class) for more detail.