Sepoy

The Sepoy is a native Indian musketeer unit in the employ of the British East India Company. It has less range and less attack than other Musketeer units, but has more hitpoints and a bonus against cavalry, even in ranged mode. The Sepoy can be trained at the Barracks.

By definition, the “sepoy” is an indigenous soldier serving in the armed forces of a European power. The most commonly known example is a native Indian fighting for the British occupational forces in India, starting in the sixteenth century. The rank of sepoy is the lowest enlisted rank in the British India army, similar to that of a private. Sepoy soldiers were the driving force behind the 1857 uprising associated with the British East India Company, the commercial trade empire that had occupied and exploited the territories of India since as early as 1610. The mutiny erupted when a group of sepoys refused to use their new Lee-Enfield rifles. Loading the rifles required the soldiers to bite off the ends of greased cartridges, and rumors that the cartridges were greased with the fat of cows and pigs had circulated through the ranks. This outraged both Hindus, who regard cows as sacred, and Muslims, who regard pigs as unclean. After years of British mistreatment and disrespect, the sepoys found they had endured enough.