Ishgard's military

[Haprimac]

Was wondering if there might be information on this that I simply forgot/overlooked/didn't notice.

I know there's the temple knights that serve Ser Aymeric and the Vault and there's the knights that serve each of the four High Houses. But my question is how do the ranks go? Some of the High House knights wear fancier gear, but what are they referred to as? They're all knights, but do they have their own titles?

And what of dragoons? Are they the elite of the temple knights or their own sect that only handle dragons and ignore the city's politics? I recall Estinien saying something like that at some point, but I'm not sure.

Is there only a handful of (elite?) dragoons (= artifact geared) since we don't really see more than five during the whole Heavensward story?

Are there low ranked and high ranked dragoons? In the lvl 30-50 dragoon job quest, two dragoon NPCs that witness your trials are wearing only temple knight armour, but later in Heavensward are seen in artifact dragoon gear. I also recall seeing temple knight NPCs, probably at Steps of Faith, that are identified as dragoons.

And then there's the Heaven's Ward. I recall Count Edmont saying something like Ser Grinnaux's accusation of Alphinaud+Tataru will be difficult to counter because of his high position. Speaking of Heaven's Ward... How does one even get to such position? Are they all from High Houses like Ser Grinnaux or from other noble families? Can someone like Ser Aymeric who's not "of noble stock" become one?

[Kaiser-Ace]

Don't know about any of the other parts, But The Brotherhood of Dragoons is an independent branch of the Ishguardian military specifically dedicated to Anti-Dragon Warfair.

However, their Draconic Powers may have some Origen in the anchent "Dragon Knights" that protected the Landlord and Skylord Colonies of The Churning Mists thousands of years ago. (Presumably The DRG ESO Gear is based off their armor and Lance)

[Kaiser-Ace]

Also, you have "Dragoons" like the normal Lance Wielding masked NPCs that are just that, Generic Dragoon NPCs.

Then there are Unique NPCs like the Quest NPCs who are given AF1 gear (Though only Eistenian has a Gae Bolg.) And Umungst the Unique NPCs, Eistenian is also "The Azure Dragoon" of which "The Eye of Nidhogg's" only picks one at a time. (Or two thanks to Chosen One Syndrome) Only an Azure Dragoon is granted a Replica of The Gae Bolg which was Haldrith's legendary Lance.

[Belhi]

Gae Blog wasn't Haldrith's lance and the design is pretty common among Dragoons as the fins aid the Dragoon in controlling direction mid jump, making their attacks more accurate. Gae Blog actually belonged to a saint, who was a woman, who took up the lance after her husband was killed by a dragon. Cant remember her name though. Regardless, after she slayed the dragon she abandoned the spear and basically took up tending to the weak, sick and poor.

Anyway, Dragoons are an elite unit of knights that technically are part of the temple knights but operate separately mostly, specialising in Dragon slaying. They are rarely involved in other conflicts and such don't tend to get involved in politics. Prior to the end of 3.0, Estinien was their leader. When he got caught up with us Heustienne took command. However she too left command (DRG Job story) so no idea who leads them now.

The Dragoons are a knightly order but that doesn't exclude low born. Estinien himself seems likely to have been low born. I suspect that most lowborn suffer the same challenge getting into the ranks of the Dragoons as any other knightly order though. In both Heustienne and Estinien's cases both were orphans of dragon attacks adopted by former dragoons. Since they and their adopted parents are the dragoons we know best it gives a somewhat limited perspective.

While an elite force I suspect there is a decent number of Dragoons. However they are probably almost all out on missions. You obviously met a few in the DRG story quest both prior to and in HW.

As for the rest of Ishgard's military, you have the Temple Knights which serve the Church directly and are under the command of Aymeric. In addition to that, each High house has its own standing forces drawn from their ranks and any lower houses that serve under them. The Holy See places responsibilities for particular missions and such on each house and those houses can likewise request aid from the other High Houses. Since the ability to provide defence of Ishgard greatly effects political standing the high houses take their ability to take those responsibilities very seriously. Failures, such as the fall of the Stone and Steel Vigils, can have very bad political ramifications.

The Lowborn hold no standing armies traditionally. Slaying a dragon can earn a Lowborn standing and Lowborn can be recruited by the houses as leves. That has changed somewhat recently with the rise of the Machinists and with the establishment of Hilda's watch.

[Kaiser-Ace]

Oh yea, I think that's Saint Danith's Statue (maybe spelled that wrong) holding Gae Bolg in The Pillars.

Sorry bout that. Been quite some time since I did Gae Bolg's relic Quest. Lol

[Belhi]

The design is so common its pretty easy to make the mistake.

[Frederick22]

Don't know about any of the other parts, But The Brotherhood of Dragoons is an independent branch of the Ishguardian military specifically dedicated to Anti-Dragon Warfair.

However, their Draconic Powers may have some Origen in the anchent "Dragon Knights" that protected the Landlord and Skylord Colonies of The Churning Mists thousands of years ago. (Presumably The DRG ESO Gear is based off their armor and Lance)

I didnt knew that. Where did you find it? o.o

The design is so common its pretty easy to make the mistake.

Well to be honest. I dont know if that tale is true. Based on how twisted is the ancient story of Ishgard.

Also beacuse didnt we saw Haldrithad with a Gae Blog in our Echo vision? Maybe the design of the weapon its from him, but the name doesnt.

[myahele]

I think being a Scholasticate graduate (as well as having battle experience) helps in becoming a member of the Heavens' Ward. I think it was said said that some Scholasticate graduates eventually become members of the Heavens' Ward.

Additionally, does each Archbishop personally select members (kinda like a president's Cabinet, etc) or are they assigned separately? I'd imagine that the Archbishop selects the members they want considering how close they are to each other

[Kaiser-Ace]

The part about the "Dragon Knights" is more an infrence made from one of The Churning Mist's sightseeing logs, a side Quest taken in the same area, and the far more Draconic apearence of AF2 over the AF1.

The sightseeing log directly references "Dragon Knights who rode astride Dragons 1000 years ago"

[Nalin]

The Dragoons are a knightly order but that doesn't exclude low born. Estinien himself seems likely to have been low born. I suspect that most lowborn suffer the same challenge getting into the ranks of the Dragoons as any other knightly order though. In both Heustienne and Estinien's cases both were orphans of dragon attacks adopted by former dragoons. Since they and their adopted parents are the dragoons we know best it gives a somewhat limited perspective.

Apparently, according to an Ishgardian levequest for leatherworkers, children who lose family members to dragons are molded into Dragoons, even undergoing special training to achieve a solidified hatred.

So I'm going to say its safe to assume that the dragoon rank is not blood or titled locked, but generally open for anyone willing to brave such a path.