You have been taken by the Mists

Author Topic: The Poetry of War  (Read 1002 times)

Pagliacci

  • Undead Slayer
  • ***
  • Posts: 191
  • Vesti la giubba
The Poetry of War
« on: January 03, 2017, 06:47:51 AM »
"I stand upon the mountain
and gaze upon the sea
And as the sun sets I see the world
as it truly is;
One whole thing."

I am Hakim abd al-Salib ibn Khaldun min Immol min Alzzalam. I pen these words to give guidance to those who would write the poetry of war.

I have fought in war and observed war and made war, and I share this so others may wage war with proficiency.

I was not a warrior born; I was born to a miner, the son of miners, and miners we had been since the time of Christ, or perhaps longer. I was not taught the art of war formally; instead I was taught the ways of the mine, and they have served me in my life of war since.

"The sea laps upon the shore and the birds cry overhead,
and here I yet remain, my gaze forever
staring at a clear blue sky,
my armor remaining long after I"

All war is divisible into the personal, the military, and the grand. Just as two soldiers on the battlefield clash arms and exchange blows, so does the general trade blows with his opposites, with his army as his body. But a general must serve a prince, and it is the prince who makes the grand strategy, which the general works to execute in favor for his prince.

The first shall speak of the grand, for it is in this that the general must ultimately dedicate all his strategy and acumen to; without the guiding hand of his prince, he becomes little more then a bandit of opportunity. The princes goals legitimize the generals strategy, and his troops combat.

So the general must understand these principles;

Why does the prince wage war?
Who does the prince feel loyalty to?
Where does the princes influence end?
How much can the princes lands sustain?
What is the makeup of his lands?

The first is the hardest to answer, for no man may know another mans heart so truly. However it is important to understand; if a prince seeks war for personal gain, then the generals strategy must reflect this.

The second reflects the first; is the princes loyalty to his people, his land, his coffers? What drives him forward to send the general into war? The generals strategy must reflect his princes loyalty.

The third is most easily discovered, for if you venture into a land and never hear the princes name, then his influence is not great, and your strategy must  reflect this.

The fourth is the matter many generals fail to understand, for it is the land itself, the earth, that sustains us with its plants and animals. A general who has a prince with much wheat will often win a war, while he with better soldiers but no bread will lose. The generals strategy must reflect his ability to sustain his army.

The fifth is most practical, for knowledge of the land you will fight for is key. If you fight for a land where the men run swiftly, why would you set them in heavy armor and slow them? If you fight for a land where the men are strong, why would you give them weapons of finesse? I saw this strategy used by my own general and prince, and saw that it was good; for he understood the strengths of his men, and made his army to reflect them.

Upon assessing these questions, the general is then prepared to begin his planning of strategy for the campaign.

Pagliacci

  • Undead Slayer
  • ***
  • Posts: 191
  • Vesti la giubba
Re: The Poetry of War
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2017, 08:01:36 AM »
"I laid me down and slept;
I awaked;
 for the Lord sustained me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people,
 that have set themselves against me round about" - Psalm 3:6-7

With the secure knowledge of the ways and means of his prince, the general is put forth to set out his campaign. This then is the most important of things, for without this every battle shall be lost and his princes ambitions crumbled.

Every man in the army must eat, or he shall perish in battle; he must be equipped in a manner which suites his people, or he shall perish in battle; his horses must be rested properly, or he shall perish in battle.

By the generals poor planning shall he fail, but by his good planning he may be given a chance to succeed.

So in the campaign, there are three key elements to the poem; the land, the soldiers, and battles.

"An ancient land stands before me,
its people rich with history and gold,
and yet I can only think of my grumbling stomach
 and the terrors that come foretold."

The land of the campaign is of utmost importance, for as in all things the land is the foundation upon which all rest. Not only your own forces disposition but the disposition of your enemies relies on the terrain they fight in. I have fought in deserts of sand, where water is scarce but for those who know its secrets. I have marched through blazing rocks where the ground is as hard as the strongest baked brick. I have marched in pleasant lands, where cool breezes from the sea bring relief and lightness to the heart. I have seen the corpses of men ill-prepared, roasted inside their own armor.

Know that all men have a land they call their own, a land in which they are born and raised. Some men may travel abroad, but for a majority of soldiers, they know little beyond a few miles of their home villages until the mill of war must be fed by them.  How then does the general temper his soldiers for terrain they are unprepared for? As always, the answer is in knowledge.

Before any campaign, the general must understand the land he marches into. If it is a campaign of aggression, he must understand the land he sends his men into. My own prince was well learned but where his knowledge failed he relied on other men who had known the area they marched in (I am humbled to note I myself was asked for advice on the lands around my own home, and aided the prince during his campaigns there).  Pride is every generals greatest undoing, as I will demonstrate in speaking of the Siege of Antioch, one of the sacred cities of my people!

Therefore I advise any general to study the land in all its forms, by books, maps, and observations. Find those loyal to you who know of the land and heed their advice and do not let pride blind you to victory, for no thing snatches from the jaws of victory a defeat then a general blinded by pride.

Pagliacci

  • Undead Slayer
  • ***
  • Posts: 191
  • Vesti la giubba
Re: The Poetry of War
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2017, 06:57:20 AM »
"Let us take this man,
who marches towards foreign lands,
and reforge him in the fire,
that he may return home someday."

Turning from the land the general must then consider his troops, for in his troops lays one of the keys to victory. This may seem obvious, but many generals, especially those with great pride, ignore or abuse their troops to the point where they become useless as warriors in the name of their Prince; but the Prince, who is often without time to worry about an individual Generals specifics, cannot always react promptly to poor generals who create poor soldiers.

For ultimately the Generals duty not only includes executing the Princes will, but in creating troops who are of worth to the Prince, and can be used in the pursuit of the goals laid before him.

What then is the measure of a man, and how can he be molded then from a man of peace to a man of war?

"The trumpets of the recruiter rang,
and I stood forth and spoke my name;
Now I march under foreign sky,
and all I can ask is why"

it is no easy thing to turn a man into a warrior. For while I man may fight to defend his honor, or the honor of his family, how then do you convince him to leave his home, and his family, and fight for a cause he might not understand?

First, all men have duty to their prince. This is part of the covenant between the ruled and their rulers. For some men, especially of the higher orders, this loyalty is more then enough to spur them towards war for their lords.

Second, all men must earn for their families. A man who is taken from his family, whether he is a boy of his fathers household or a father himself, is a pair of hands who do not work the fields, or the crafts. Therefore a compensation to the warriors and their families during their time of service is not only necessary to maintain the society at war, it can be a powerful draw to make men loyal, for it shows that the Prince cares for his people enough to watch over their families while their providers march under His banner.

Finally, all men must eat. A sad state of affairs and often of the soldiers of the least quality but perhaps the fiercest loyalty. In my time serving my Prince I witnessed the soldiers of another general, recently raised from another province, fall upon the food stores of our camp with ravenous hunger. On an occasion I had to speak with them later, I asked of them their princes name. To my surprise they spat upon him, and swore loyalty to my own Prince, and told me that their princes taxes were arduous, and hunger their constant companion. The generosity of my Prince secured their loyalty more firmly then any shining coin or ancient pledge.

These points demonstrate yet a larger one, for your forces will often be drawn from a swathe of different people of different trades and skills and means. Yet all must be forged the same. Regardless of their reason for loyalty, their loyalty to the prince must be assured, and no one type of loyalty is necessarily better then any other, as long as it is firm.