The Lotus Eaters (74 page)

Dux, Duque:

indefinite rank, depending on position it can indicate anything from a Major General to a Field Marshall, Duque usually indicates the senior commander on the field.

Legate III:

Brigadier General or Major General. per the contract between the Legion del Cid and the Federated States of Columbia, a Legate III, when his unit is in service to the Federated States, is entitled to the standing and courtesies of a Lieutenant General. Typically commands a deployed legion, when a separate legion is deployed, the air
ala
or the naval
classis
, or serves as an executive for a deployed corps.

Legate II:

Colonel, typically commands a tercio in the rear or serves on staff if deployed.

Legate I:

Lieutenant Colonel, typically commands a cohort or serves on staff.

Tribune III:

Major, serves on staff or sometimes, if permitted to continue in command, commands a maniple.

Tribune II:

Captain, typically commands a maniple

Tribune I:

1st Lieutenant, typically serves as second in command of a maniple, commands a specialty platoon within the cohort's combat support maniple, or serves on staff

Signifer:

2nd Lieutenant or Ensign, leads a platoon. Signifer is a temporary rank and signifers are not considered part of the officer corps of the legions except as a matter of courtesy.

Sergeant Major:

Sergeant Major with no necessary indication of level

1st Centurion:

Senior non-commissioned officer of a maniple

Senior Centurion:

Master Sergeant but almost always the senior man within a platoon.

Centurion, J.G.:

Sergeant First Class, sometimes commands a platoon but is usually the second in command

Optio:

Staff Sergeant, typically the second in command of a platoon

Sergeant:

Sergeant, typically leads a squad

Corporal:

Corporal, typically leads a team or crew or serves as second in command of a squad

Legionario, or Legionary, or Legionnaire:

private through specialist

Note that, in addition, under Legion regulations adopted in the Anno Condita 471, a soldier may elect to take what is called "Triarius Status." This locks the soldier into whatever rank he may be, but allows pay raises for longevity to continue. It is one way the legion has used to flatten the rank pyramid in the interests of reducing careerism. Thus, one may sometimes hear or read of a "Triarius Tribune III," typically a major-equivalent who has decided, with Legion accord, that his highest and best use is in a particular staff slot or commanding a particular maniple. Given that the Legion—with fewer than three percent officers, including signifers—has the smallest officer corps of any significant military formation on Terra Nova, and a very flat promotion pyramid, the Triarius system seems, perhaps, overkill. Since adoption, regulations permit but do not require Triarius status legionaries to be promoted one rank upon retirement.