The Service and Loyalty Act of 953

In the 950s OC, during the peak of the Red Grain period, the Imperial Army had an unprecedented and undeniable upper hand in the Border Wars. The tactic employed by the queen following the victory at Alamodour, however, required a large number of Imperial troops to overwhelm and cut off rebel bases.

As more successes followed, it became clear that army needed to attack and contain compounds in multiple areas simultaneously - it also became clear that the Empire needed substantially more troops in order to achieve this. In a desperate move, with little input from her cabinet of advisors, Queen Lilhelndine wrote the Service and Loyalty Act of 953, which ordered that able-bodied Elothninian man was required by law to serve a term in the Imperial Army, and that punishment for refusal was death.

Very little else was explained in the document¹ - Lilhelnndine did not specify what, in particular, qualified one as 'able-bodied' or how long 'a term' was. thus, the actual implementation of the draft was left in the hands of the army itself. Informally, the rules of conscription developed over the next 50 years: any of-age man who could walk reasonably well, see out of at least one eye and use at least one arm could be drafted. There need not be a clear or regular system which conscription occurred in, instead garrisons coulc (and should) draft from the locals whenever they needed bodies. And a term tended to be the length of whatever campaign a battalion happened to be partaking in.

Due to the lack of oversight or standardizaation, the border provinces of the Fethil and Perejin were affected much more severely by the Service and Loyalty Act than the other areas of Elothnin. Generally, this is thought to be a matter of convenience, though rabble-rousers claim that it is yet nother demonstration of the classism pervsavie throughout the empire.
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¹The only other peices of information included were that spies should wear purple when not actively engaged in acquiring new information and that mush should be served for breakfast because, as she put it, "and army travels on its stomach."