Aundair — Military & Security
"The Thrane archers had range on us. Two hundred yards out, they could put a shaft through your eye and never break a sweat. So we stopped trying to match them with crossbows. We put wands in the hands of every soldier who could hold a thought and a focus at the same time, and we built staffs long enough to hit the far side of the valley. That is the Aundairian way: when the old tools fail you, build better ones." — Colonel Enna ir'Halas (ret.), 3rd Arcane Dragoons, 942 YK
Doctrine
No army in Khorvaire leans harder on magic than Aundair's, and no army has less choice about it. The kingdom entered the Last War without Karrnath's conscription, Breland's industry, or Thrane's reserves of zealous volunteers — and survived a century of fighting by treating every problem as a problem of insufficient spellcraft. During the war, Aundair fielded the greatest number of wizards of any nation, embedding arcane personnel at the unit level rather than holding them in reserve. The Arcane Congress served as the military research arm throughout, developing the war staff, battle rod, and arcane dragoon doctrine.
Aundair has not demobilized to the degree that its diplomatic posture suggests. The standing army is smaller than Karrnath's or Breland's, but more arcane-dense per capita, and the officer corps assumes the next war will be won by the side that brings the best spellcasters.
The Wandslinger Tradition
Aundair pioneered the wandslinger — a soldier who fights with wand and arcane focus, casting damage-dealing cantrips as their primary attack. The war staff, a common magic item extending cantrip range to four times standard distance (disadvantage past 240 feet), was developed specifically to match the range of Thrane's archers. The battle rod fills a similar role at closer range. Both spread across Khorvaire within years, but Aundair still produces more wandslingers than any rival.
A wandslinger is anyone capable of casting a damage-dealing cantrip — but it is as much about attitude as aptitude. You carry your wand of Fernian ash with pride. You twirl it between engagements. A scholarly wizard who despises conflict is not a wandslinger, even if equally capable. The identity is part of the weapon.
New battle spells emerged from Aundairian research: force blast, a cantrip with greater range than a longbow and a rarely resisted damage type, and concussive burst, designed against massed infantry. The Knights Arcane — eldritch knights combining full martial capability with arcane spellcasting — serve as the kingdom's elite ground unit, deployable from direct assault to behind-lines interdiction.
Arcane Artillery
Arcane artillery — oversized foci powered by breath of Siberys, a refined dragonshard solution — played a decisive role during the Last War and remains active.
The primary weapon is the siege staff: fifteen feet long, engraved with sigils and inlaid with dragonshards. Three actions to fire (prime, aim, release); teams can distribute these across a single round. Bombardiers — specialist operators — may know spells like cloudkill that they can only cast through the focus. Models include blast staffs for area bombardment, force staffs for focused strikes, and focus staffs that amplify a caster's own magic — a fire bolt through a focus staff reaches 1,200 feet at long range. Long rods (eight feet, 350 pounds) serve as mobile alternatives.
Blast disks — nine-inch metal disks holding a stored spell, triggered by time, proximity, or impact — were used by all nations, but Aundair was infamous for dragonhawk squads delivering cloudkill disks from the air. Today, under the Code of Galifar, blast disks are illegal for civilian possession.
"An Aundairian general does not count her soldiers. She counts her spellcasters, and hopes for the best." — Karrnathi military intelligence assessment, 991 YK
Aerial Forces
The dragonhawk — a creature similar to a giant eagle — is Aundair's national symbol and the foundation of its aerial cavalry. Riders serve as scouts, strike elements, and rapid-response forces. House Vadalis supplies hippogriffs and griffons to supplement the contingent; House Tharashk began brokering gargoyle and harpy services in 988 YK, too late for full wartime integration.
Project Dragonhawk was a cooperative venture between the Arcane Congress and House Vadalis that blended transmutation magic with magebreeding to permanently transform volunteers into aarakocra bearing dragonhawk features — an elite aerial unit that was successful but developed too late in the war to have a lasting impact; instead it exemplified the level of extreme magical applications when pushed by desperation.
Aundair's most distinctive aerial innovation was the skystaff rider — called "broom riders" by other nations, though the devices are short wooden hafts with folding handles and a seat. These elite units operated as squad-level aerial strike forces, a capability no other nation matched. Whether they persist postwar is not publicly disclosed.
INTERCEPTED FIELD ORDER — THRANE BORDER COMMAND, 993 YK (declassified): "All units in the Thaliost corridor: treat any Aundairian flight element as hostile until confirmed. Do not engage broom-rider squads below company strength unless supported by at least two templar archers carrying radiant-blessed ammunition. Their wandslingers outrange our bowmen and their blast disks do not discriminate."
The Royal Eyes of Aundair
The Royal Eyes are the crown's intelligence service, originally established by the Princess Aundair herself as her personal spy corps tasked with watching the leaders of the other nations — her own siblings. Nearly every agent carries an arcane advantage, with particular expertise in divination magic. Where Breland's Citadel fields rogues and Karrnath deploys warriors, the Royal Eyes are wizards. They operate across Khorvaire as part of the postwar Shadow War between national intelligence services, and in their specialties — magical surveillance, scrying, divination-enhanced analysis — they are without peer.
The Eyes maintain active presences in foreign cities. In Sharn, the diplomatic mission includes Helais ir'Lantar, who officially serves as ambassador but functions as one of Aurala's intelligence assets. The ir'Lantar family's actual loyalties are more complicated than they appear, and the queen's trust in Helais may be significantly misplaced.
Noble Forces
Many noble families retain private security forces ranging from ceremonial guards to trained spell-dueling units. These are legally subordinate to the crown but act with considerable independence — particularly along the Eldeen frontier. A countess introduced as a Diviner of the Fourth Circle likely maintains spell-capable household forces organized around her personal expertise; some noble lines hold Archfey pacts spanning generations that can make individual houses into formidable military assets.
Active Theaters
The Thrane border remains fortified and tense. Dariznu's brutal management of Thaliost keeps the situation from settling. The Crying Fields run along this frontier — travelers crossing at night report sounds that might be wind and might be something worse.
The Eldeen frontier sees raids, surveillance, and smuggling in both directions. The Reachers have cultivated alliances — including with Karrnath — to complicate any reconquest. The Wardens of the Wood are not a conventional army, but they have demonstrated repeatedly that they do not need one.
Karrnath remains the most capable direct rival. Any offensive requires either aerial transit or a rebuilt overland corridor — and you cannot rebuild the White Arch Bridge without solving Thaliost, and you cannot solve Thaliost without risking a war that leaves your flank open to Karrnath.
Postwar Posture
Aundair is built to win short, decisive engagements through arcane shock — not to hold conquered ground indefinitely. Whether that doctrine is realistic against opponents who have spent a century learning to absorb exactly that kind of punishment is the question that keeps the War College arguing past midnight.
Aurala's public posture favors diplomacy. The Arcane Initiative tells a different story: ongoing investment in battle magic, covert operations in neighboring states, and support for movements in Breland designed to weaken the Brelish crown. Whether this is long-term positioning or preparation for something more active is the defining question of Aundairian security policy. The Mourning holds everyone at bay — for now.