Lashkar-e-Yazatá

Lashkar-e-Yazatá (Babkhi: Army of the Pure Divinity) was a Zurvanite paramilitary organisation active in eastern and south-eastern Eura. It was founded in 1691 AN by Ardashir Ghul with funding from the House of Suren and the All-Union Revolutionary Front, and manpower and arms contributed by the Suren Confederacy. As of 1692 AN it received a generous stipend to transfer from Kapavia to the distant shores of Eastern Benacia to participate in the Second Elwynnese Civil War on the side of the legitimist government. After 1704 AN the various warbands which had survived the horrors of the Scouring were incorporated into the Land Forces of the Military of the Suren Confederacy. As serving as a holding formation for slave and volunteer regiments raised during Operation Jungle Bolo, the Lashkar would assume the main burden of holding the Norashti frontier against the Confederacy of the Dispossessed during 1718 AN–1720 AN whilst the Popular Levy was reorganised into the Surenid Armed Forces.

Organisation

• Lashkar-e-Yazatá
  • Artesh-e Gharbi
    • Berīgād-e Shir-e Abad
    • Berīgād-e Bādgir-e āftabi
    • Berīgād-e Ātaš-e Āshiyān
  • Artesh-e Markazī
    • Berīgād-e Shab-e Sitārā
    • Berīgād-e Shām-e Javānid
    • Berīgād-e Rāh-e Zamān
  • Artesh-e Sharqi
    • Berīgād-e Bād-e Dīvāne
    • Berīgād-e Roshanfekr
    • Berīgād-e Darvāze-ye Ma'āref

History

Mehrshahr

By 10.III.1691 AN, a Surenid expedition to southern Eura, dispatched in the final months of the preceding year, to investigate and where possible reverse the northwards advance of a colonial settlement that was occupying portions of the former Babkhan satrapies of Parestan and Vipia, had established a forward base outside the Constancian city of Mehrshahr. As the status of Eura was being discussed by a "concert" of the continent's major and indigenous powers at Fontainebleau, the force of 17,000 Suren, supported by armoured cars, artillery pieces, and a spotter plane, made no further move towards the south whilst the Home Guard garrison in Mehrshahr made no attempt to expel their unexpected guests. Instead the Mehrshahr Regiment of the Home Guard fortified the ruins of the ancient Babkhan Imperial Shahyiar Palace whilst the Surenids raided the surrounding countryside, gathering in provisions, and a corvée labour force of captured locals set to work digging three star forts, linked by three parallel anti-tank trenches, all surrounded by a sand berm and an outward-facing series of sangars. Between these two fortified positions soon emerged a community of bazaar merchants, camp-followers, and enterprising individuals of negotiable virtue, all selling their services equally to both sides.

Ardashir Ghul: Founder of the Lashkar-e-Yazatá

Amongst these three groups were individuals whose zeal for deeds of honour and sacrifice in the name of Zurvan exceeded that of their commanders, who were evidently content to wait for the moment upon events for so long as they were able to buy from the bazaaris whatever they could not snatch from the surrounding communities. One such individual amongst these was Ardashir Ghul, a ghilman or slave-soldier in the Surenid host, belonging to the Division of Zahedi Khan.