Barrayaran Imperial Military Service

Last updated October 07, 2019

In Lois McMaster Bujold's sci-fi series, The Vorkosigan Saga, the Barrayaran Imperial Military Service is the national military force of the planet of Barrayar.

Lois McMaster Bujold is an American speculative fiction writer. She is one of the most acclaimed writers in her field, having won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record. Her novella "The Mountains of Mourning" won both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award. In the fantasy genre, The Curse of Chalion won the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the 2002 World Fantasy Award for best novel, and both her fourth Hugo Award and second Nebula Award were for Paladin of Souls. In 2011 she was awarded the Skylark Award. In 2013 she was awarded the Forry Award for Lifetime Achievement, named for Forrest J. Ackerman, by the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society. She has won two Hugo Awards for Best Series, in 2017 for the Vorkosigan Saga and in 2018 for the Chalion series.

The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. The first of these was published in 1986 and the most recent in May 2018. Works in the series have received numerous awards and nominations, including five Hugo award wins including one for Best Series.

<i>Barrayar</i> novel by Lois McMaster Bujold

Barrayar is a science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold. It was first published as four installments in Analog in July–October 1991, and then published in book form by Baen Books in October 1991. Barrayar won both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1992. It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the seventh full-length novel of the series, in publication order. Barrayar is a direct sequel to Bujold's first novel, Shards of Honor (1986), and the two are paired in the 1996 omnibus Cordelia's Honor.

History and organisation

The service appears to have originated from the feudal armies of Barrayar during the Time of Isolation, until their dissolution by the reforming emperor Dorcas Vorbarra. Originally, the Service's officer corps was dominated by the Barrayaran aristocracy; its class-based militarism was reminiscent of nineteenth-century Prussia or of Meiji-era Japan. However, the Emperor Gregor Vorbarra, and his Prime Minister Lord Aral Vorkosigan, reformed the admissions process, creating a modern Service Academy with competitive admission from all classes.

Prussia was a historically prominent German state that originated in 1525 with a duchy centred on the region of Prussia on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It was de facto dissolved by an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government to German Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932 and de jure by an Allied decree in 1947. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised and effective army. Prussia, with its capital first in Königsberg and then, in 1701, in Berlin, decisively shaped the history of Germany.

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south.

An emperor is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife, mother, or a woman who rules in her own right. Emperors are generally recognized to be of a higher honour and rank than kings. In Europe, the title of Emperor has been used since the Middle Ages, considered in those times equal or almost equal in dignity to that of Pope due to the latter's position as visible head of the Church and spiritual leader of the Catholic part of Western Europe. The Emperor of Japan is said to be the only currently reigning monarch whose title is translated into English as Emperor.

Uniform

The Barrayaran uniform consists of four different sets. Ranging from informal to formal: Black fatigues, a Green Undress uniform, a Green Dress Uniform and a Parade Red and Blue uniform. Fatigues and Undress Greens are generally worn during regular duty, while dress Greens are for meetings with superior officers and Red and Blues for formal functions. Except for fatigues, the uniforms are accompanied by black cavalry boots, evidence that the military is descended from a cavalry-based ground force.

Rank

Space and Ground Force Officers

Rank is indicated by a set of collar tabs. The color of the tab represents the rank.

**Officer Ranks and Insignia**
Collar Tab Color	Space Forces Rank	Ground Forces Rank
Yellow	Admiral	General
????	Vice Admiral	????
????	Commodore	????
????	Captain	Colonel
????	Commander	Major
Blue	Lieutenant Commander	Captain
Red	Lieutenant	Lieutenant
Pale Blue	Ensign	Ensign

The flag officer rank of Vice Admiral is mentioned in Memory as Captain Illyan's pay grade as head of ImpSec. Whether this rank has the same or different insignia as Admiral is not mentioned.

Enlisted Ranks

The only enlisted ranks mentioned in the books are Private, Corporal and Sergeant. There is no descriptions of enlisted rank insignia, nor are we told whether Space and Ground forces share rank names and/or insignia. That Sergeant Bothari, for example, is apparently a Space Force non-commissioned officer may suggest that both services do share enlisted ranks.

Imperial Security

Imperial Security, while a quasi-separate branch of Barrayaran military service, draws its personnel indiscriminately from both the Space and Ground Forces, and ImpSec personnel retain their service-of-origin rank progression. Responsibility within ImpSec depends more upon assignment than upon rank, with for instance, Captain Illyan being Chief of Imperial Security but commanding men well above him in nominal rank (generals and admirals). As Emperor Gregor pointed out when offering to medically retired Miles Vorkosigan the command of ImpSec, the post is traditionally held by a serving officer, but the Emperor can appoint whomever he chooses, regardless of military status.

Other Insignia

Other insignia indicate branch of service as, for example, the Imperial Security silver Eye of Horus pins. Pins are worn in a set and are individually custom-made with a unique serial number on the back.

Hierarchy

By definition, the Imperial Military is under the overall command of the reigning Emperor or Regent as commander-in-chief. Consequently, in his role as the Emperor's Voice, any Barrayaran Imperial Auditor can command military forces as he sees fit. Only the Emperor (or Regent) and possibly other Auditors as a group could override him. Otherwise, the hierarchy of command is very similar to current military forces, in that officers command the enlisted men. Ranks are very similar to American/British military ranks.

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References

Lois McMaster Bujold, The Warrior's Apprentice, Memory, Komarr

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