Classification: Orders & Factions
Origin Era: Fourth Shaping — Age of Arcane Warfare
Associated Entity: Battlefield Mage Corps of Serathorne
Current Status: Active Military Doctrine across Multiple Nations
Last Confirmed Location: Military Armies throughout Serathorne
Archive Source: Amariin Divine Records
Preservation Tier: Confirmed
Archive Record
The Protectorate is a specialized military order formed to safeguard battlefield mages during armed conflict. Their existence arose from lessons learned during the devastating arcane wars of the Fourth Shaping, when armies across Serathorne discovered that the survival of even a single mage could determine the outcome of an entire battle.
Commanders soon recognized that while mages possessed extraordinary destructive capability, they were also among the most vulnerable individuals on the battlefield. If enemy forces succeeded in killing or disrupting them before a spell could be completed, entire strategies would collapse.
In response, elite infantry units were trained to act as living shields for arcane casters. These soldiers came to be known collectively as the Protectorate.
In organized armies, mage companies were often built around a specific battlefield structure. A typical formation consisted of approximately fifty infantry soldiers supported by six battle mages and guarded by twelve Protectorate warriors. These guards operated in pairs or tightly coordinated shield teams positioned around the mage line.
Their singular purpose was direct and uncompromising: keep the mages alive long enough to cast.
Protectorate soldiers are easily identified by the equipment they carry. Their most distinctive tool is the heavy pavise shield — a large tower shield designed to absorb arrows, shrapnel, and magical backlash. When locked together in formation, these shields can create a portable defensive wall behind which mages are able to prepare and release spells with relative safety.
Alongside the pavise, Protectorate warriors typically carry polearms or war hammers to repel enemies attempting to break through the shield line. Their armor is reinforced to endure extreme battlefield conditions, including arcane shockwaves and magical debris.
Unlike conventional infantry, the Protectorate rarely operate independently. Their role is entirely defensive and revolves around maintaining formation around mage squads. On the battlefield they serve as arrow barriers against ranged attacks, bodyguards against charging infantry, interruption forces against enemy spellcasters, and emergency escorts capable of extracting wounded mages from collapsing battle lines.
The discipline required of these soldiers is absolute. Breaking formation, even momentarily, can result in catastrophic losses among mage ranks.
Because of the immense strategic value of arcane warfare, the death of a mage is often treated as a disaster equal to the fall of an entire battalion. For this reason, Protectorate soldiers are trained with a doctrine that places the survival of their assigned mages above their own lives.
Amariin Annotation
Different nations of Serathorne have adapted the Protectorate doctrine according to their own military traditions. In Miradorn, arcane wardens are trained to combine shield defense with counterspell techniques. Velmara fields heavy defensive units known as Spellwalls, whose massive pavise formations create near-impenetrable barriers during arcane sieges. In Indrestes, mobile guard detachments protect relic mages and battlefield scholars whose knowledge is considered strategically irreplaceable.
Despite these variations, the central doctrine remains constant across all armies that employ the order.
Magic wins battles.
The Protectorate keeps magic alive.
Related Records
- Fourth Shaping — Historical Record
- Miradorn — Nation Record
- Velmara — Nation Record
- Indrestes — Nation Record
- Battlefield Mage Corps — Orders & Factions Record