Military Forces

The Confederation fields a smaller military than any of the other great powers of the Human Sphere. The Confederate Armed Forces is capable of mustering between 40 and 50 regiments of battlemechs, plus a proportional number of aerospace fighters. The Confederation relies more heavily on `mechs and fighters than the other militaries; Confederate conventional units are few, and those that do exist are usually part of planetary garrisons.

Structure of the CAF

The CAF being a relatively new organization, its basic structure is still undergoing evolution. Also, due to the CAF's basic nature as a conglomeration of smaller, pre-existing forces, the organization of units varies widely from one portion to another. There are six major units, the six legions of line regiments, each with its own command structure and make-up. There is also a multitude of small units called the Confederate Regulars. Though the Regulars vary even more widely than the line units in their characters, their basic layouts tend to remain quite similar.

High Command

The Confederate High Command is the force that binds together the diverse units of the CAF. The CHC, as a group, however, is practically without power. It derives its influence from the powers of its individual members, the commanders of each of the six Confederate legions. Each of the legion commanders retains full control of their legion, and neither the CHC nor anyone else can regulate the orders they give their legion. The exception to this is the Legion of Andurien's commander, Major General Sir James Coker, who takes orders from Dame Catherine Humphreys, head of the Duchy of Andurien's civilian government.

With no official powers to bind together this group of warlords, the CHC relies on the common consensus of its members to keep things from falling apart. This is not to say that the High Command is always in full internal agreement. However, when a general consensus is reached, the minority members are usually willing to go along with the decision. The CHC very seldom actually votes; the direction of its will is usually obvious after some discussion. In these discussions, the words of the more senior members are generally given more weight than those of the newer members. The one action that does require a vote is the decision to add a new member to the High Command, which must be unanimously agreed to by the current CHC members.

This consensus method of running the CAF works well given the current group of leaders. Should there be a significant disagreement within the CHC, however, it could result in the breakup of the Confederation, or even civil war, should the dispute become violent. This is unlikely at this point, for the current CHC members get along well and cooperate freely. The only possible wild card is, again, Major General Coker, representative of the often unpredictable Dame Catherine.

The six current members of the High Command, in order of seniority, are Lord John Campbell, commander of the Dark Knight Legion, Lord Peter Rowe, of the Black Knight Legion, Magestrix Emma Centrella, of the Legion of Canopus, Major General Sir James Coker, of the Legion of Andurien, General Candace Liao-Allard, of the Legion of Saint Ives, and Överbefälhavare Christian Månsdottor, of the Free Rasalhague Legion.

Line Regiments

The Confederation has 39 battlemech regiments that make up its front-line fighting force. They are referred to as "line regiments", or, simply, "the legions". These units are the ones that conduct offensives and bear the brunt of fighting off enemy offensives. The line regiments are organized into six legions, each under the control of one of the members of the Confederate High Command. Each of these legions has a different character and structure. Though, as currently organized, each legion has a theoretical maximum size of 27 regiments, actual sizes vary from the 12 regiments of the Dark Knight Legion, to the single regiment of the Free Rasalhague Legion.

Dark Knight Legion

The Dark Knight Legion is the largest of the six legions, and arguably the most powerful. It began life as a small mercenary unit, and still reflects its origins. The attitude of the entire unit is more free-spirited and egalitarian than most military forces.

The Dark Knight Legion's command structure is somewhat unusual, being cascaded rather than hierarchical. Higher level unit commanders also have responsibility for and direct command of the first subunit of their command, and of the first subunit of that sub-command, et cetera, right down to the lance level.

This unusual command structure is designed to promote understanding between the various ranks and levels of command. It is based on the understandable assumption that it is far easier for a commander to identify with his troops when he lives and fights basically the same way they do, and that, conversely, it is easier for soldiers to trust and follow a leader who, when push comes to shove, climbs into his `mech cockpit and fights alongside them in a regular combat lance.

Regimental structure is the standard powers-of-three layout popular throughout the Inner Sphere, with extra levels added on above regimental. Three regiments form a brigade, three brigades form a division, and three divisions form a legion. These higher level commands are often ignored, for most CAF actions do not involve units larger than regimental size. Those that involve multiple regiments very seldom use regiments from the same brigade, or even the same division.

In part because of this, the regimental level is the level at which auxiliary units are attached to the basic regiments. Each Dark Knight Legion regiment consists of 108 battlemechs, with a squadron of 18 aerospace fighters attached for air support. Each pair of fighters is assigned to support a particular company, although, since the fighters do not come under the direct command of the company leader, this is, in practice, more the exception than the rule. The fighter lances tend to end up supporting the regiment as a whole rather than any particular company.

Most Dark Knight Legion regiments also have an armored company attached, usually six to eight heavy tanks and four to six hovercraft. Many also have helicopter gunships or conventional fighters for the vehicle company's air support. Artillery lances and small infantry groups are also not uncommon, as well as groups of light recon vehicles, and the various non-combatant vehicles necessary to any regiment's operations. Each Dark Knight regiment also has an attached dropship and jumpship group, capable of transporting the entire regiment in a single lift.

Black Knight Legion

The Black Knight Legion shares the Dark Knight Legion's mercenary origins.

Legion of Canopus

Legion of Andurien

Legion of Saint Ives

Free Rasalhague Legion

Confederate Navy

The Confederate Navy has recently undergone major reorganization. Traditionally, there was no real Navy. The dropships and jumpships necessary to transport the mech legions were assigned to mech regiments and operated under regimental command in much the same way as techs, ammunition transports, and other such support groups did.

With the growth of the Confederation into a sphere-wide power and the corresponding growth of the CAF's theatre of operations, this organizational model has proven to be insufficient.

Sector Regulars

Ranks in the CAF

The CAF has an extremely complex system of ranks. The six component legions each have their own set of rankings that bear few similarities to each other. The Legions of Andurien, Saint Ives, and Canopus still use the traditional systems of the armies they derive from. The Dark Knight and Black Knight Legions have systems developed during their tenures as mercenary units. The Free Rasalhague Legion developed a system appropriate to their culture during their period as an underground resistance and expanded on it after coming into the open.

Although units from the different legions seldom operate on the same battlefields, they still interact enough that it's necessary to clearly delineate the relationships between the various ranking systems. Even outside direct combat situations, there are times when Confederate soldiers need to know that an Andurien major outranks a Dark Knight major by four grades, while, for a Saint Ives commander and a Dark Knight commander, the situations are reversed. Not only that, but Confederate troops need to be able to identify the insignia and uniforms of all the different branches of their army.

The FWLA has very similar problems, but to a much lesser extent. Where the FWLA has only three systems (one of them being the Andurien system that the Legion of Andurien uses, which serves to further complicate matters), all of which are very similar, the CAF has six vastly different ones.

	Dark Knight Legion	Black Knight Legion	Legion of Canopus	Legion of Andurien	Legion of Saint Ives	Free Rasalhague Legion
O-9 (Legion)	Imperator	General	Magestrix	Major General	General	Överbefälhavare
O-8 (Division)	General	Lieutenant General	General	Lieutenant General	Lieutenant General	General
O-7 (Brigade)	Brigadier General	Brigadier General	Senior Colonel	Colonel	Senior Colonel	Generalmajor
O-6 (Regiment)	Commander	Colonel	Colonel	Major	Regimental Colonel	Överste
O-5	Lieutenant Commander	Lieutenant Colonel	Major	Flag Captain	Major	Överste-Löjtnant
O-4	Colonel	Major	Commander	Force Captain	Captain	Major
O-3	Lieutenant Colonel	Captain				Kapten
O-2	Major	First Lieutenant	Ensign	Lieutenant	Commander	Löjtnant
O-1	Lieutenant	Second Lieutenant		Master Banner	Subcommander
E-7	Sergeant Major	Sergeant Major	Banner Sergeant	Banner	Force Leader	Fanjunkare
E-6	Sergeant	First Sergeant	Command Sergeant	Serjeant	Assistant Force Leader	Sergeant
E-5		Master Sergeant		Junior Serjeant
E-4		Gunnery Sergeant	Star Corporal	Thegn	Lance Sergeant
E-3		Sergeant
E-2	Corporal	Corporal	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Lance Corporal	Korpral
E-1	Private	Private	First Ranker	Private	Recruit	Menig
E-0	Recruit		Volunteer

Lord Confederate/General/Magestrix/Major General/Överbefälhavare

The six legion commanders - Lord John Campbell, commander of the Dark Knight Legion, General Peter Rowe, commander of the Black Knight Legion, Magestrix Emma Centrella, commander of the Legion of Canopus, Major General James Coker, commander of the Legion of Andurien, General Candace Liao-Allard of the Legion of Saint Ives, and Överbefälhavare Christian Månsdottor, commander of the Free Rasalhague Legion, are the highest ranked officers in the Confederation. Each exerts complete control over one of the component legions of the CAF.