URA Rank Structure

Overview:

The Army's officer corps is divided into four primary ranks and a number of specialized secondary ranks. Every officer graduated from one of a handful of military academies, specialized universities which prepared their candidates for the role of leading soldiers in battle.

Strategic Officer Ranks:

Praetor: Overall commander of an army group. They command all legions and independent units assigned to their army group with the help of their staff and protected by an elite security force, known as praetorians. The Praetor reports directly to the Senate, and is a member of the War Council, which helps set military policies and objectives.

Legate: Responsible for the command of a legion and reports to the army group's Praetor. The Legate is supported by a host of junior officers who assist with the administrative functions of the Legion. When multiple legions are detached for a specific mission or assignment, the senior most Legate will take over responsibility for the task force.

Tactical Officer Ranks:

Prefect: A Prefect was a senior officer who outranked Tribunes but was below the rank of Legate. Many specialized formations which did not conform to the standard legionary structure were led by a Prefect in lieu of a Legate.

Tribune: The Tribune is a veteran officer who has advanced through the ranks and has been assigned to a headquarters unit. A legion's Tribunes are responsible for logistics, local intelligence, planning, and communications, and assist the Legate with the day to day operations of their command.

Junior Officer Ranks:

Primus: The Primus is responsible for leading a cohort. Each Primus is graded into one of four bands, and when multiple cohorts must coordinate to achieve their objectives, the Primus of the highest band and longest length of service is responsible for local command.

Centurion: The Centurion is the entry level rank in the Republic Army, and is responsible for maintaining a century, or a force of a hundred men. As first level tactical officers, the Centurion was responsible for maintaining their legionnaires' readiness and leading them into battle. As such, there is a high mortality rate for Centurions.

Aviation Officer Ranks:

Alari: A commander of a wing of atmospheric fighters, bombers, or transport craft. The wing composed of three squadrons, the commanders of each reporting to the Alari. While not equivalent, the Alari was afforded the same station as a Tribune in the structured hierarchy of rank.

Decanus: The Decanus was responsible for leading a squadron of atmospheric fighters, bombers, or transport craft. Officer candidates who expressed an interest in flight operations received specialized training starting their third year in the academies, and were considered equivalents to Primes upon graduation, higher in the rank hierarchy than their peers who graduated as centurions.

Non-Commissioned Ranks:

Optio: A warrant officer, usually a soldier with specialized skills or extensive experience. Optios could be found throughout the legionary structure, supporting higher ranking officers. Centurions, Primes, and Tribunes would all have one or more Optios who reported to them, while the senior most Optio of a legion would report directly to the Legate.

Legionnaire: The rank assigned to all non-officer soldiers, Legionnaires would be organized into base units of one hundred soldiers known as a century. A legion would consist of one hundred centuries. While the majority of legionnaires served as mobile infantry, specialized disciplines existed to cover specific disciplines such as armor, artillery, or engineering.

Banding:

Given the small number of ranks used, the Republic Army needed to develop another method of providing hierarchy to the dozens or hundreds of similarly ranked individuals in the various units and subunits of the legionary organization. Bands could be quickly denoted by their color, starting at the bottom with bronze and proceeding from silver to gold to platinum. These bandings would apply to non-commissioned, junior officer, and tactical officer ranks, though in practice they meant little once an individual reached the rank of Prefect.

The four bands used as of 31155 are:

Principal: Reserved for a single individual within each hierarchical unit, those individuals holding the principal band were subordinate only to their immediate commander, and were charged with taking command should their leader fall in battle or otherwise be incapacitated.

Maniple: Considered amongst the top quarter of a given rank, individuals of the maniple band often held positions in command staffs or other sensitive functions within the legion and its sub units.

1st Class: An individual who had distinguished themselves in service and had been promoted.

2nd Class: The lowest member of any rank level, usually newly promoted or fresh from training.