​Battlefield Role: Medium-Range Infantry
Weapons: An arbalest (a heavy steel crossbow) white a quiver carrying 42 bolts. A mace and shield for close quarters.
Outfit: A cloak, tactical gear and plate pieces over a steel cuirass and a padded gambeson. Reinforced gloves and boots.
Skill level: Proficiency at both range and melee.
Affiliation: Eulenfeld, in the Kaiserin Lands
Doctrine: Persephone's Way of the Redeemer
Strengths: Their heavy steel crossbows are powerful enough to pierce through armour and shatter shields. So are a their maces.
Weaknesses: Slow rate of fire. The weapon's power is so strong that they depend on a detachable lever to be able to reload it.
Eulenfeld Arbalesters
Eulenfeld is a city very well known for its great toymakers. From the cutest stuffed animals to the fanciest and most intricate fully-articulated dolls, the highly-skilled eulenfelder craftswomen simply know how to craft the most responsive and durable miniature mechanisms you can ever find in Arandolia. Many of them got to become clocksmiths or trinketeers to expand their businesses, while others yet expanded their toy manufacturer skills to the weapon industry.
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As odd as it may sound, the very best arbalest mechanisms of Arandolia are made by the very same skilled women who make toys for little children, so the hands that make little girls laugh also arm up the bulk of the Eulenfeld infantry regiments. This is surelly a hell of a contrast, but if you stop to think about it, it's also thanks to the poweful Eulenfeld Arbalests that those same little girls can sleep easy at night, because they are the main weapon of the soldiers who so devotely protect their cities from any danger.
And speaking of the great Eulenfeld Arbalesters, they are by far the best crossbowmaidens of the nation. They train a lot to hone their accuracy, while the special detachable lever device which they use for reloading their high-quality arbalests makes it quite easy to pull back the powerful steel prod of their weapons without too much of a physical effort.
Their bolts can therefore pierce anything but the thickest armours, while the armour that the arbalesters themselves use is quite a good one nonetheless. That's because they also train a lot to fight in close quarters, wielding maces that are just as deadly as their arbalests in crushing enemy bones and shields alike.
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Many Arbalesters also venture outside of their peaceful county in order to earn some easy money working as mercenaries by fighting other people's wars. Most of the time accompanied by entire regiments of highborn Doppelsöldners from their homeland. As they are quite well disciplined and efficient in combat, their services are always highly sought after, making their steel-piercing bolts present in all the major military confrontations around the Southern Royal Lands of Arandolia.