Plumes

A group rebelling against the Black Throne, the Plumes are a group of fighting men drawn from peasantry, defected Legionaries and various other sources. So called for their only piece of identifying uniform, a large and often colourful feather attached somewhere to their clothing.

The War of the Black Throne
Originally conceived by Gregory Grafton as a means to oppose someone's attempt to seize the Black Throne by force, the idealism which instills men and women to join the Plumes had long been slowly seeded throughout Wyreswan and Viosan through paid bards and heralds.

By the time Edward Lloyd seized the Black Throne, all that was needed for was a semi official call to arms. Gregory Grafton declared the now Emperor Edward V a traitor, and called for all men loyal to the values of the Empire to rally around his banner. Within a week, the Plumes had grown larger than any single Legion.

The Siege of Vassas
The earliest sign of the true scale of the Plumes came during the Siege of Vassas. Lord Gregory Grafton held the palace when Edward V was elected, the fled the city to the safety of the outlaying woods with the help of the Order of the Flame. Quick to surrond the city and declare siege until Edward gave up the throne. The Plumes proved capable enough to throw back both attempts by Edward to sally forth and break the siege line, and was only broken by an unexpected attack from the rear by the entire 7th Legion. After the rout from the 7th, Lord Gregory was able to rally enough men in a camp outside the city.

The March on Carlscourt
Forced to fight a conventional war, the Plumes were quick to reorganise. A strong core of light horsemen drawn from civilian militia and hunters also were tasked with harrying all Legion's in the Heartlands that attempted to use the Roadways to reinforce Cariandor. Hoping to keep the 7th pinned in Vassas, and Lloyd fearful to allow the force to once more leave the city undefended, Grafton held a sizeable contingent of the Order of the Flames Knights ready to reinforce this group as needs saw fit. Leaving command to his Son, Master Fredrik Grafton, the Plumes marched on Cariandor and Carlscourt in hopes of using the region and city to force a surrender from Lloyd.

Organisation
The Plumes are roughly split into five broad categories:

Ex Legionaries
Legionaries, despite their professional pay rate and oftejn fine standing within the Empire, have defected to the Plumes in numbers which are only increasing. Lord Gregory could boast upto ~5000 Legionaries before the Siege of Vassas, all reformed into a sort of Legion. Lord Gregory himself began the creation of his own "loyallist" legions since the War began in earnest, giving the Plumes a solid core of trained and disiplined warriors.

Knights
The Order of the Flame aligned themselves with the Plumes as a whole when Edward V siezed the throne, and the core of armoured cavalry has been a welcome addition to their battlelines.

Professional Mercenaries
To supplement the number of trained men-at-arms, the Plumes has a large selection of mercenaries from around the world.

Civilian Militia
Civilian Militias in the Plumes are mostly made up of peasent heading the call to arms, to true idealists. Either way, the Militias lack the training, equipment or disipline of the Legionaries, and have thus far only been used in none combat roles.

Traitor Militia
So named by men loyal to Lloyd, Traitor Militias are civilians inside towns and cities who start riots and brawls, often with the iconic feather. Protected and armed where possible by the Plumes, these forces generally either die quickly or melt away into the crowd, not to be seen again