Lancelot Seat
From Acw
Lancelot Seat is one of the New Seats, split from Percival Seat as the Arthur approached New Iowa to facilitate a ground invasion. Like Percivals, they are martial, but the character of their current Prime has influenced their character to become something more cold and ruthless.
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History
Adjunct to Percival
The Department of the Ark Ships saw fit to equip the Arthur with a company of infantry in cryogenic storage, just in case. In year 146 of the journey, they were thawed out and armed against an unknown threat. Originally this company was put under the command of Percival-2.
The Return is Marred
When the Arthurians realised that New Iowa was already occupied, panic ensued. The Round Table convened in year 369 debated for three days over the merits of invasion. At first the Table was split while Taliesinn Prime abstained, then on the second day, Colgrevance-2 abstained from the vote. Eventually the motion was revised by Galahad Prime, so that a ground force would be made ready, but would only invade if the Arthur was first fired upon.
Lancelot Seat is formed
However, the plan decisively changed when Colgrevance Prime mooted his plan for pre-implants in year 372. At this late stage the ground forces were re-tasked with a full-scale invasion. It was decided that Percival-2 was not up to the task on his own, so he and the ground forces were split from Percival Seat and renamed Lancelot Seat. Percival-2 was to serve under the then Colgrevance-3, who was renamed Lancelot Prime. It was believed that the planning abilities of Colgrevance mixed with the martial prowess of Percival Seat would produce the best results.
Restructuring and the creation of Sagramore Seat
The Excalibur Server
In order to co-ordinate the growing and ever more complex Arthurian military, Lancelot Seat commanders requested that an extra battle Server be created alongside the Merlin Server, allowing Percival, Lancelot and Sagamore Seats to co-ordinate operations at a much higher level. The idea was that this Server would allow each unit leader in the Arthurian military to patch into the larger battle-plan through it. Taliesinn Seat took twelve DPUs from the Merlin server (just under one tenth of the remaining processors) to create the second most powerful computer in the galaxy, and the Excalibur Server was born.
Structure
There are six Lancelot Divisions, which have recently been re-organised. Their order of battle is as follows:
- A Division, consisting of three Battalions, headed by a Seneschal and his Seneschal-Errant
- A Battalion, consisting of three Companies, headed by a Knight Commander and his Knight Commander-Errant
- A Company, consisting of three platoons, and led by a Knight Captain
- A Platoon, of ten men each, including a Knight Sergeant
- A Company, consisting of three platoons, and led by a Knight Captain
- A Battalion, consisting of three Companies, headed by a Knight Commander and his Knight Commander-Errant
This innovative structure reveals much about the young Arthurian military. American and British military intelligence were impressed by the fact that this structure allowed the powerful Arthurian battle-armour to make up for a lack of troops, turnign small numbers into increased operational flexibility. An entire Arthurian Division is only 287 men, and only contains 17 officers and 81 NCOs. Moreoever, to make up for the lack of experienced field commanders, the 'errant' system was developed to allow greater movement between levels of command. As his name suggests, and officer-errant is never still, travelling along the line at all times to fill gaps in the chain of command. How it will work in battle is yet to be tested.
The Excalibur Server
Every Officer in the Arthurian military is now part of the Excalibur Server, which is controlled by the 'Stone', a sort of Joint Chiefs of Staff made up of one representative from each of the three Military Seats. Through the Excalibur Server, officers can perceive the entire line as one, and through a sophisticated interface, communicate with every level of Lancelot, Sagamore and Percival troops. Though it has yet to be tested in combat, the Excalibur Server is considered by the UIS miltary to add a 6.2 combat effectiveness modifier to the Arthurian military, meaning that while connected to Excalibur, any Arthurian unit in the field is considered to be the equivalent of a terrestrial unit six times its size.
