Membership in the Terra Nova military is voluntary, and though there are laws allowing for conscription in crisis situations, this legislation has never had to be called into action due to a healthy supply of eager recruits. These recruits are enrolled in the Terra Nova Academy, the premier institute of not only military training but higher education as a whole. The campus is sprawling, a veritable city in itself on Caertanos, and there are barracks for the enlisted as well as dormitory housing for non-enlisted students.

Recruits must pass the initial grueling week of boot camp before entering a year of basic training. This covers all branches of service and every school of military thought in line with the Terra Nova belief in versatility and adaptability. After all, there is no telling when a ground soldier may be called to commandeer an enemy starfighter, or when hostile troops might board an officer’s navy vessel. Basic training also must be passed with very high marks to continue.

The next two years are spent in specialty classes based on which branch a recruit plans on entering: Army, Navy, or Aerospace. While trainees can generally select their own branch of service, they are occasionally shuffled if there are especially skilled at another area – or especially unskilled at their chosen one. Intelligence officers are weeded out at this point and sent to a separate training facility on Easpor.

The Army is composed of infantry soldiers, armor divisions of tanks and other heavy machinery, and the elite Pteros dragon riders. The Pteros are an elite unit of humans and their dragon mounts, but it is not a matter of simply riding a dumb animal. Both rider and dragon must bond their minds and souls, a sometimes risky process that requires great mental abilities on the part of the human. Full-blooded Terrans have been shown to have the greatest potential in this area. Currently the Pteros are commanded by Senior General Alexandrex, a large black dragon with royal blue wings.

Terra Nova’s space-based Navy is huge, the largest in Aesgar due to their large swath of territory. This conversely means that their navy is one of the oldest in Aesgar; it is prohibitively expensive to replace such a large fleet on a regular basis, and so most Terran ships are slightly more aged craft with one or two refits under their hoods. However, the versatile nature of Terra Nova ships and their tendency toward smaller, faster vessels that operate in twos and threes makes their Navy a feared force.

But by far the most famous branch of the Terra Nova armed forces is their Aerospace division. Not only are Terran starfighters the best in Aesgar, but their pilots can fly circles around anything else out there. Credit for winning the Durson War is often attributed not only to Admiral Bulloc but also to the squadrons of brave Thresher pilots under his command. Squadrons are either independent units and given a name, or backup units attached to a vessel or planet and given a letter designation from the Old Elurian tongue.

Terra Nova Intelligence is less valued but no less important. Little about the information-based division is declassified, but is obvious that Intelligence agents are both very smart and very capable in combat as well.

The highest military award available is known as the Talonstryke – a medal featuring a dragon eye and talon in tandem. It is often given posthumously.

Though Terra Nova’s military is very competent and a source of national pride, it is not the foundation of their society (as the Nebulan military is to their society). The military exists not because it is the best and most glorious career, but to safeguard those who are able to choose other, more peaceful professions.

MILITARY RANKS

• Cadet (enrolled in Academy)
• Basic Rank (varies by branch)
  Crewman (Navy)
  Trooper (Army)
  Pilot (Aerospace)
• Ensign
• Lieutenant
• Major
• Lieutenant Commander
• Commander
• Colonel
• Captain
• Master Rank (varies by branch)
  Admiral (Navy)
  General (Army)
  Ace Major (Aerospace)
• Department Head (one per branch)
  Grand Admiral (Navy)
  Senior General (Army)
  Baron Ace (Aerospace)
• Supreme Commander (Second-in-Command)
• Draco (Commander-in-Chief)