So, before I go and dive into the short that got me started back up on this setting, I'll go back over cavalry.
Rider: Even the best-kept of their mounts tend to end up looking a little scruffy and hardscrabble - they're lean and even spindly, with long, sharp muzzles, like a cross between a greyhound and a coyote. They're fast, they're stronger than they look and their endurance is excellent; probably the only downsides are that their tempers can be uncertain and they're, ah, not the geniuses of the dog world. Still, they're better than anything the other nations've managed to breed, and the Riders spend a lot of effort protecting their bloodlines.
River: Broad and big-boned, with thick fur of varying length and a tightly curled tail - like a giant malamute or a steroid-abusing akita that's been crossed with a mastiff. Their most notable trait is that they're smart, to the point that many of their handlers will swear up and down that many individuals can figure out that, one, humans are smarter than they are but not nearly as strong, and two, that smarts are more useful than muscle, and therefore choose to obey. Their downsides are that, strong as they are for their size, they're rather smaller - and hence slower and weaker - than the breeds found elsewhere... which isn't so much of a downside when they're pulling something rather than carrying it.
Mountain: The Dynasty's cavalry forces are limited to whatever the local mercenaries' guild has on offer. Even their royalty march into battle.
Island: 'Ah ain' nuthin' but a hound dog...' ...yeah. Essentially a big frackin' bloodhound. In absolute terms they're the largest and strongest riding dogs, but their typical combat load is heavy enough that their battlefield endurance is lousy. The Deltans use a closely related breed that's a little stockier and not as jowly.
Viking: The Vikings have no tradition of using dogs as anything but scouts and emergency food supplies. What they do have as cavalry is probably worse - a truly domesticated pachyderm rather larger than the earthly elephant. Full war gear consists of enough chainmail to cover a largish room, selected metal plates over the most vulnerable spots, and three lightweight fighting platforms, one atop the back and the other two hanging down the beast's sides like saddlebags. Fighting crew, I'm not sure... besides the mahout, somewhere between six and ten; sidemen have axes and halberds, topmen have slings. The good news (for everyone else) is that they breed slowly.
The classical Rider 'saddle' is a complicated net of straps that has more in common with a seeing eye dog's gear than a war-horse's. Allowments for the rider consist of a thin pad along the top and four loops sticking out - hold two, stick your toes through the other. The stance is crouched, like a jockey or the rider on a crotch rocket, and there are no reins; a cooperative mount is absolutely required. The Islanders adopted it without modification, and the Riverine version is recognizably adapted from the same source.
How does one shoot from the saddle? Very carefully, and from a well-trained dog.
The modern Rider cavalryman goes into battle equipped much as his umpty-great grandfather was: bow, quiver, sword, loincloth, a few hawk feathers, and a shitload of chutzpah. His Islander counterpart ditches the feathers, has either a rack of javelins or a lightweight lance in place of the bow, and wears lightweight armor of laminated linen, as does his mount. A Deltan lord will be much the same, but his armor will be hardened leather. All three fix their gear to the harness, rather than their bodies - so that they'll be able to tuck and roll if they're thrown.
A River chariot is mostly heavy-duty wicker; only the frame, axle, and wheels are actual hardwood. It carries two crew, who maneuver by shifting their body weight and passing vocal instructions to their dogs; much more like a dogsled than what we think of as chariot. The men will wear the heaviest version of the standard River armor pattern; the dogs, still better gear fashioned by the same methods. Each crewman has a small sword or large dagger strapped to either thigh, and has a heavy lance (fixed to the car by a short chain), an axe, an atlatl and a plentiful supply of darts racked close at hand.
'Great Dogs' are almost always hand-raised by their masters; mostly this is a practical measure that pays off in increased coordination on the battlefield. The usual River team will have a noble-born driver who raised both of the dogs, and battle-tested veteran promoted out of the infantry as 'crew' and (usually) de-facto commander.
Ja, -n
===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"
Rider: Even the best-kept of their mounts tend to end up looking a little scruffy and hardscrabble - they're lean and even spindly, with long, sharp muzzles, like a cross between a greyhound and a coyote. They're fast, they're stronger than they look and their endurance is excellent; probably the only downsides are that their tempers can be uncertain and they're, ah, not the geniuses of the dog world. Still, they're better than anything the other nations've managed to breed, and the Riders spend a lot of effort protecting their bloodlines.
River: Broad and big-boned, with thick fur of varying length and a tightly curled tail - like a giant malamute or a steroid-abusing akita that's been crossed with a mastiff. Their most notable trait is that they're smart, to the point that many of their handlers will swear up and down that many individuals can figure out that, one, humans are smarter than they are but not nearly as strong, and two, that smarts are more useful than muscle, and therefore choose to obey. Their downsides are that, strong as they are for their size, they're rather smaller - and hence slower and weaker - than the breeds found elsewhere... which isn't so much of a downside when they're pulling something rather than carrying it.
Mountain: The Dynasty's cavalry forces are limited to whatever the local mercenaries' guild has on offer. Even their royalty march into battle.
Island: 'Ah ain' nuthin' but a hound dog...' ...yeah. Essentially a big frackin' bloodhound. In absolute terms they're the largest and strongest riding dogs, but their typical combat load is heavy enough that their battlefield endurance is lousy. The Deltans use a closely related breed that's a little stockier and not as jowly.
Viking: The Vikings have no tradition of using dogs as anything but scouts and emergency food supplies. What they do have as cavalry is probably worse - a truly domesticated pachyderm rather larger than the earthly elephant. Full war gear consists of enough chainmail to cover a largish room, selected metal plates over the most vulnerable spots, and three lightweight fighting platforms, one atop the back and the other two hanging down the beast's sides like saddlebags. Fighting crew, I'm not sure... besides the mahout, somewhere between six and ten; sidemen have axes and halberds, topmen have slings. The good news (for everyone else) is that they breed slowly.
The classical Rider 'saddle' is a complicated net of straps that has more in common with a seeing eye dog's gear than a war-horse's. Allowments for the rider consist of a thin pad along the top and four loops sticking out - hold two, stick your toes through the other. The stance is crouched, like a jockey or the rider on a crotch rocket, and there are no reins; a cooperative mount is absolutely required. The Islanders adopted it without modification, and the Riverine version is recognizably adapted from the same source.
How does one shoot from the saddle? Very carefully, and from a well-trained dog.
The modern Rider cavalryman goes into battle equipped much as his umpty-great grandfather was: bow, quiver, sword, loincloth, a few hawk feathers, and a shitload of chutzpah. His Islander counterpart ditches the feathers, has either a rack of javelins or a lightweight lance in place of the bow, and wears lightweight armor of laminated linen, as does his mount. A Deltan lord will be much the same, but his armor will be hardened leather. All three fix their gear to the harness, rather than their bodies - so that they'll be able to tuck and roll if they're thrown.
A River chariot is mostly heavy-duty wicker; only the frame, axle, and wheels are actual hardwood. It carries two crew, who maneuver by shifting their body weight and passing vocal instructions to their dogs; much more like a dogsled than what we think of as chariot. The men will wear the heaviest version of the standard River armor pattern; the dogs, still better gear fashioned by the same methods. Each crewman has a small sword or large dagger strapped to either thigh, and has a heavy lance (fixed to the car by a short chain), an axe, an atlatl and a plentiful supply of darts racked close at hand.
'Great Dogs' are almost always hand-raised by their masters; mostly this is a practical measure that pays off in increased coordination on the battlefield. The usual River team will have a noble-born driver who raised both of the dogs, and battle-tested veteran promoted out of the infantry as 'crew' and (usually) de-facto commander.
Ja, -n
===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"