How do strategy? (Archailist)

[Alexander Faircroft]

13th Winter 515AV Sleep. Blissful ever loving sleep. Another night deprived of it. Alex’s eyes snapped open bloodshot and blazing with pain. An order from his patron the night before had rung out through his mind. Read, learn. You need to learn how to lead men and how to take inspire them. Alex groaned loudly. And stumbled through the Squires barracks leaving a good few hours before dawn. Alex stumbled down the streets not drunk not entirely awake either. Sweet merciful Nysel please let me find sleep. Please. Over the course of fifteen days he’d had around three hours of sleep a night. The loose bricks of his mind were starting to come a little loose. He snapped his eyes to attention entering the archive. The large open rows of books lined out before him. Alex slid softly by the clerk at the front of the archives light footed and delicately stepped he slipped into the archives. His training of how to slip as soundlessly as possible helping him here. Though with no excessively loud noises. It took a lot more patience than it usually did. A few minutes of sneaking, he eventually found his way to a narrow aisle lined with books. Scribes filled the pages before him with knowledge. A stiff yawn escaped him he shook his head trying to push the light of the day into his head. Flittering his fingers over the tomes before him he sifted through the books. Finally he found something that looked promising. A thick dusty leather bound tome, entitled: Basic battle strategy for soldiers and commanders. Straining with the thick bound tome Alex hauled it onto a table. The large bound volume hitting the wooden desk with an audible thunk on bench. Alex winced, the loud sudden notice quite clearly alerting the fact he was there to people and possibly disturbing them from their duties. Great dumbass, you’re that tired that you can’t even focus on a simple task? He shrugged lightly and flipped over the thick leather bound tome and sank into reading. His eyelids beginning to grow heavy as he followed through the tomes words, the monotonous tone of the books wording didn't suck him in but instead started to grant him that which he’d been deprived of sleep. Glorious sleep.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

When he awoke, he nearly jumped out of his non-existent skin. Looming high above yet inches from his nose was Ser Iros, gently prodding at his stomach and mumbling to himself with a concerned expression. "Arch? You awake?" The knight seemed peerless in his ability to break the boundaries of personal space on a daily basis. However, never had he felt more terrified and enraged as that moment - to think, his patron knight actually had the audacity to sneak into his dormitory and prod at his sleeping body! Instinctually, a knee jerked up and collided with the knight's chin. The curtains were still drawn, dousing all but the faintest slivers of morning light managing to penetrate the innermost depths of the dorms, but that was enough to reach out and grab a handful of cheek-flesh in a hand and drag it back again before the knight could completely recoil.

"For the love of Syna and Leth you'd better have a good explanation for what the petch you think you're doing, pervert." he whispered harshly, painfully aware of the other squires that were just as eager to remain in their beds as Arch was right now.

"I'm not a damn pervert! You need to watch your tongue.. and the time too, I told you to meet outside the Archives nearly two bells ago!" He'd forgotten about that. Or half-forgotten; he had absolutely no wish or intention to wake while Leth was still high in the sky, only to read.. ugh, books. At least the Hall of Robes in Nyka had shown some interesting pages to study. All it'd taken was one bell of scanning through the books in the Archives to learn that there was absolutely nothing interesting stored in those heavy books. No matter how Ser Iros had always tried to convince him that, perhaps, it would take more than a bell of blindly scanning the covers of the books on the bottom shelves and spending nearly half a bell sleeping to know these things.. but Arch begged to differ. "And besides, I thought you were dead. Since when do you sleep without closing your eyelids.. or breathing?!"

No, he was certain now. Ser Iros' idiocy truly knew no bounds. "The reason I don't sleep with my eyes closed is because I don't have eyelids!" he whispered back with an exasperated tone. "Or lungs." The recoil he got physically tore the little squirrel-shaped clay statue out of the warm embrace of his tiny bed and nearly off the edge altogether. "Ugh.. fine. Since you're so eager to go sit in a corner and bury yourself in books on ancient bodybuilding techniques, let's go already."

".. Actually, about that. I've been called in to help package and store the last remainder of crop surplus gathered from last season, before the first snows fall and turn it any worse." Oh sweet Sylir, he didn't mean... "Which means you'll be doing your studying by yourself today. I've already made a list of books I'd like you to read and report to me on by tomorrow. Happy reading!"

A couple of bells and a lengthly talk with Ser Otryn later, here he was. The Archives. Most of the information he was intent on reading about was restricted to only the rank of knight.. and he had a feeling that no matter of persuasion was going to make Ser Otryn change his mind on this. Best to just get this over with. Although, perhaps Ser Iros hadn't thought his plan through. Most of the books, as it turned out, were on the higher shelves. Of course he could climb up to meet most of them, grappling onto spines and bookshelves. But once he was up there.. how was he supposed to pull out a book so thick, tall and heavy without damaging himself, the book, or more likely both?

There was only one book he needed that he could actually reach, possibly even read.. if it wasn't for some guy taking a nap and drooling all over the pages. Judging by the lack of insignia on his breast, likely a squire too. He climbed up the legs and slid over the edge of the seat, hopping up onto the table.. where he could give a firm kick to the other squire's cheek. "Mind moving your head there?"

[Alexander Faircroft]

Dreams, finally a swelling of realization a multitude of experience gained over the last fortnight began to fully sink in. A swirl of colours and scenes and full solid rest. The flicker of a candle. The whistling of the wind through trees. The soft crash of waves breaking along the shoreline. The sweet nectar that was dreams. Within an instant it was shattered. Smashing like a pain of glass, Alex’s eyes flittered awake the bloodshot redness still evident. He glanced around him feeling a sting in the side of his cheek and having bolted to attention. How long had it been? How long had he succumbed to slumber? The realisation smacked him like a hammer as he looked at the nearby candle he’d lit to read and saw it more than halfway burned through. Not to mention the bright light of the day now filing the room. Four possibly even five bells of wondrous rest. He placed his fingers into his mouth running them lightly along his tongue before pressing the dampened digits into the base of the flame snuffing it out. A trick his father once taught him. Shaking his head awake he shot his eyes back down to the book and glanced over the pages the small damp spot left. This was going to get him in trouble. He then caught sight of something that wasn’t there when he drifted off. A small clay squirrel. Cocking his head to the side he nearly leapt out of his skin when it spoke. TALKING SQUIRREL! The PETCH! Wait you idiot. Pycon. Take a moment to yourself and calm down. Only now did the small voice from earlier set in. Shaking his head now in surprise and rubbing his cheek a little more. “Sorry about that…” A softness and rasp of sleepiness still to his tone. What’s a pycon doing in the archives…only squires or higher are allowed in he- He cut his own thoughts off and then it hit him. Well done genius the pycon’s a squire or higher. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep sir…Simply resting my eyes.” A definitive look of nervousness held him something which happened often when he was unsure of a situation but knew how to follow through. “Sorry to pry but were you looking for this book also?” He’d gotten here earlier, much earlier. He could have been done with it by now but the sleep deprivation and exhaustion had gotten the better of him. He could have just handed it to him and carried on his way if he’d just not fallen asleep. “Tilting the book to the side slightly and pressing the damp spot with his sleeve to trya dn dry it slightly he looked at the pycon again. “I’m sorry but I kind of need to read this at the behest of my patron Ser Greyheart. I can however flip through it with you if that would suffice?” It had better he was not going to get scolded for another squire despite how much of a weed he was the past half-year had been torture on his soul as far as scolding and learning had been involved.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

The Pycon waited patiently, arms folded over his chest, as the squire slowly came back to reality. He seemed to nearly faint when he spoke up, but hey, that was practically normal by now. At least he seemed to be wide-awake now. "You can apologize to the scribes when they get to rewrite over your drool-stains," he replied barely above muttering. He could only imagine what the lad's patron must be doing to let their squire slack off in the middle of the Archives. Ser Greyheart? He'd keep that close in mind, in case he ever had the privilege of meeting such a man. Wait.. what was he doing with a candle, still lit? Surely he'd not been here since Leth's light? No wonder the boy was sleeping on the job. He couldn't imagine being canned up in the Archives since before even the crack of dawn, head buried in books on the dullest of rudimentary tactical technqiues.

"Yes, actually, I was looking for that book. The book that, despite this so-called need to read, as ordered by your patron.. you were busy using as a makeshift pillow." He met the other squire with a level gaze. "Now do you actually need that book, or are you bullshyking me so that I'll go away and you can return to defacing Order property with your dribble?" He didn't mean to be so harsh with the poor boy; it was obvious he didn't really deserve it. Everyone had odd days. In fact, this already classified as a pretty damn strange one when it came to Arch's books. He sighed.

"Sorry." Forefinger and thumb pressed down on the bridge of his own nose and squeezed until he could feel the clay ridge deform between the claws. "If you need to read that book, I'll flip through it with you.. and if you have any questions or issues, I can help you with that stuff too, if you want." Well, he supposed he sort-of owed the poor lad for snapping so harshly at him. Besides.. judging from what parts of text he could make out while standing at its side, he could tell that most of this stuff, if not all of it, seemed like common sense and little more. If Ser Iros ever asked any questions on the contents of the book, he could pretty much just throw his weight into it and come out fine.

"Just try not to fall asleep again, all right?"

[Alexander Faircroft]

Alex rolled over the Cutting words in his head. He’d had worse so he could bear it. He really was going to have to apologize to the scribes now wasn’t he? The mere thought of that visibly shrunk him by a good inch or two. Still he could hope they would go light on him seeing as this was his first time ever doing something like this. Smacking his hands to chis cheeks lightly he jolted himself further awake. “I am sincerely sorry about that…And I feel awful about it.” His voice shrunk a little at least to meek ness but held the same soft tone to it if a little more solid to its volume. He’d been here since almost half a bell past mid night. It was almost seven forty five in the morning now. Turned out though as well the pycon was also looking for the book. So his idea to at least split it with him was at least a good one. And then to torrent of berating came. Each word hitting with a dull thud on the semblance of self-esteem he had. The split second where his eyes held with the pycon’s ones was something that was just too much for him as he turned down to look at the table. Even as the apology hit him. He simply took a deep breath and bore it. “No you’re right I should have been able to hold myself together better than this.” You dumb bastard. Hold yourself awake. You’re going to be sleep deprived in the future you need to hold yourself alert more you need to be able to snap to attention at a MOMENTS notice. His hand lifted to the loop of icons around his neck again gripping the purple-heart wood blue flame tightly and asking Wysar for forgiveness as to his lack of discipline. As he listened to the pycon continue he brightened a little getting a hand from another always helped his learnings and taught him more than he could understand by himself. “Thank you…And sorry for taking you time away from things that you could otherwise be doing…” An honesty escaped him he was trying to be genuine in his actions but couldn’t get over the feeling that he was wasting someone else’s time with his ineptitude. “As for falling asleep again I’ll try not to. I haven’t gotten more than one or two bells really over the last couple weeks. So with the…” A short moment to break the talking with some mental arithmetic. “…five or so hours I've gotten should sustain me for quite some time.” He didn’t smile just let a half grin cross his lips as he turned into the book wincing slightly as he saw he’d pierced more than one page with moisture…Thankfully it wasn’t a large amount. “I do have a couple of questions though.” He looked at the small squirrel like entity and and mulled the question over carefully in his head before asking. “I’ve read through, over half this behemoth tome and I’ve understood a good chunk of it…But something keeps cropping up when it talks about engaging a greater force with a smaller host. It seems like a counter-productive military decision But then goes on to talk about why sometimes smaller groups of forces are better than a large sweeping force…I was wondering if you could help me understand why or how this is the case.” Alex knew this would be difficult to explain mostly as he was having a hard time understand it. But he had a small spark of hope that the seemingly more experienced squire might be able to give him a glimmer of insight.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

A hand waved about in front of Alex's face, prompting him to stop talking. "Don't.. give me silly apologies or excuses. Doesn't matter how sorry you are or how little sleep you've got." If his voice got any meeker he'd have trouble hearing the boy. Better to just try and move ahead, focus on something else, keep the mind rushing forwards.. that was always the best way to avoid these awkward small-talk situations, or worse, another nap. Seeing as how he probably wouldn't even need to bother with reading the book, he sat cross-legged on the space opposite, looking down at the book from above. Looking at the words upside-down and back-to-front was a little disorienting but he was sure after a little accustoming he'd have no trouble reading through the pages if he ever actually needed to.

"Hmm? .. Well, it depends on the size difference that decides whether or not it's counter-productive. If you've got a team of fifty up against an army of five hundred on an open battlefield then yes, you've got a bit of a situation." He was trying to think of a way to illustrate his intentions but without so much as a piece of chalk to his name, that didn't seem feasible. "But, I guess the basic answer is.. smaller forces can react quicker. If you've got a massive group of armoured soldiers and you're trying to give orders.. well, frankly, even if you string it out into several groups then you're having to pretty much micromanage each one, directing them around. The smaller the group, the more tightly-strung they are. A small team of warriors can react much faster and will have a much greater harmony." At least, that was Arch's view on the matter.

"This means that.. if you've got a larger group trying to take on a smaller host, if the smaller group are using something like poison-coated weapons, it's going to take a lot longer for information to pass all the way through the ranks.. by which time, obviously, it's going to be far too late to react and they're going to lose a significant portion of their men. If the larger group is using poison-coated weapons and one person gets hit, everyone in that small group is going to know, and they're going to retreat immediately." He could only hope that his rough explanation was actually.. able to be understood. His hands were gesturing, making little people with other little people surrounding them. "Are you.. err, do you see what I'm saying, or do you want me to go through it again?"

[Alexander Faircroft]

Alex now watched the small squirrel like person plop himself down on the table opposite him and Wave off anything that Alex said in even a slight defence of his actions. Fair. Excuses were something that were frowned upon. He knew that he’d have to just accept it. Alex shifted in his seat a little in order to face the small pycon before him and try and keep them on equal footing. And before he could even prep himself for the response to his question a vehement torrent of words cascaded his way, crashing into his mind like a waterfall. Casting aside the waters of murk and confusion. And illuminating them with crystalline clarity. Smaller forces had better stability easier co-ordination and quite possibly even better teamwork. However the battlefield it appeared according to the pycons words was something, that mattered largely too. Not to mention his reasoning behind the chain of command and relaying information. The book offered little explanation alongside the simple statement however the pycons understanding far outstripped his own. Any information that carried up the chain could get lost in translation and fall upon the right ears far too late for anything to be done about it. Alex must have looked partially like a deer in headlights for the pycon to ask if he understood and was able to retain the information. Parsing it through his mind he shook his head lightly. “No, no. I’m good I understood but.” Alex shifted his attention to an earlier point the pycon had made. “Before I became a squire I was a hunter of sorts. And I learnt that working with the land around you was important. I take it choosing a staging ground for a battle is just as important with this?” Alex let the words twist around in his mind before following up with further questions. “If the number of the host is something that matters that vastly then why are battles waged with large numbers of troops when smaller squads of men seem by far the better option for battles.” Alex actually paused in thought. There were roughly seven thousand knights and almost the same number of squires. That made the total host of able bodied men in syliras around fourteen thousand. That’s a lot of manpower. “Further back in the book, it mentions something about tactics against larger forces such as ambushes and other deception tactics. Are these more effective than they seem or do they have little use?” Alex now leaned into the table with great intent fully bent on absorbing anything he could from this smaller teacher. Only then did he realise he might be bombarding him with too much. “Sorry…I’m asking too much too quickly.” He seemed to shrink back down after growing a little from his curiosity and desire to have his learning thirst sated.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Well, apparently I'm better than I thought. Or he'd been giving the sleepy squire less credit than he actually deserved. Who knew, perhaps he should sleep a little more often too. Well, he would any way, if not for his frankly bizarre patron that seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable to watch while he slept. Someday he'd report Iros. The Akalak needed some mental health assessment, of that much he was certain. For now he quickly raised a hand for a second time, stopping the squire. "No you're not. Ask as much as you want. I'm not here to tell you how curious you should be." A tiny smile cracked the corner of his mouth, without prompting. Man, I definitely need to do this stuff more often.

"Choosing the battlefield is very important. In some situations it can completely turn the tide of battle. I mean, what's stopping Eyktol from invading Avanthal? Apart from the obvious distance they'd have to cross." He paused, but not long enough to let Alex form a reply. "If the soldiers in Eyktol wanted to invade Avanthal, they'd have to fight them in the freezing cold.. and being used to the hot desert sands, you can tell they're not going to be ready for that. The weather alone will freeze them solid, destroy the morale of the soldiers. The soldiers living up in Avanthal, they won't be fazed in the slightest.. they've lived up there for their entire lives in most cases, they know the cold and they know how to beat it. Likewise if Avanthal turned around and tried to wage war on Eyktol.. they don't know how to cope in sand, they know how to deal with snow. They'll get sunstroke and bake themselves alive in their own clothes." Then he raised both arms in a casual shrug. "Obviously normal battles won't be like this.. but you get what I'm saying. The battlefield can play to your strengths or take advantage of your weaknesses."

"Second. Why do we use large forces when small ones are more effective?" This one took a few ticks of thought before he could come up with a good answer. After all, the other squire was very correct.. smaller forces were better co-ordinated and in the right hands could take down larger forces with ease. Then, it hit him. "Well, because although a small force, backed by a good leader, can take down a much larger one.. a larger force, backed by a terrible leader, can still take down a smaller one. An extremely large force, even when run by a horrible leader, can easily wipe out a small one manned by a very skilled leader." At the end of the day, there were some forces that were simply too large to be taken down by smaller ones. Funnily enough, the knights seemed to be one of them. He'd long since forgotten just how many knights there were.. but there were plenty. "So, I guess the reason we use larger ones is mostly just to make sure we have more than the opposition."

On to the last question. "Deception tactics.. definitely good. The biggest advantage any army can have is information. If you know what you're up against, you can prepare for it. If you don't, then you can't. If a small group, for example, re-trampled their steps several times over to make it look like there was more of them, then it could scare the opposition into leaving, believing that there are too many to take on. Or if they made themselves look smaller by holding two soldiers to a horse, they could draw the opposition into battle believing they're up against a smaller group and therefore are certain of victory.. only to be met with a larger force that then turns around and attacks, dealing significant damage and removing the threat." The squirrel-shaped statue nodded, more to himself than anything. "And as for ambushes... the best advantage that anyone can have. An ambush catches an enemy off guard. With a well-organized ambush, a small group can take out almost a third of a larger group before they even have time to react. It disorients an opponent, making them all but useless in the time it takes them to organize.. and constant, unrelenting attacks can practically blind them until it's too late. Ambush a larger party and concentrate focus on the leadership... well, that's pretty much it, you know?"

After what had felt like an eternity of talking, Archailist sat back again and watched Alex. The squire must be new.. he'd talked about how he'd been sleep-deprived only for the last few weeks. Did that mean his patron had only started doing serious work with him around that time, or was that when he'd actually come and joined the Order? He could ask.. but, by now, he felt like he'd talked more than enough. Better to just let the boy continue with his questions.. likely he'd find out one way or another by the end of them. "Still following me there?"

[Alexander Faircroft]

Another cascade of information. Raining from the heavens like a storm. Subconsciously one of Alex’s hands found its way to the Mobius strip icon around his neck and thanked Eyris for this tiny teacher he’d had find him, though not for the circumstances. He wasn't asking too many questions which was a good thing. He let out a small smile and listened with intent. The information about battlefields was something he had a small grasp on already but extrapolated it made more sense than he gave it credit. Changing the weather the footing even the temperature of the very air could have a dramatic effect upon the battle as an entirety. Being used too as many environments as possible was a good thing to do as it could provide the most variation for skills in the field. Alex’s other hand rubbed the now burgeoning scruff on his chin almost in thought as he ticked over what the pycon was saying. He was right normal battles wouldn’t be to this extreme but it would still have an effect on their physiology. Rolling the words around in his mind and before he could even ask a follow on question the pycon continued with his second question as for why large forces were used as opposed to just small ones. The answer was obvious but a blatant one. Sheer force often made up for the lack of commanding skill. A good reason why all knights had to learn how to act autonomously of their commanding officers. Alex nodded and placed his fingers back on the table his hand holding the icon moving to the book to scan through for another point of reference to talk about. Even as the pycon finished with the fact of simply using a larger force to overwhelm and crush the opposition. The small pycon continued further divulging and delving into the murky swamp that was deception tactics. Only able to take in as much information as possible to fight with. Alex listened. It was not about leaking information it was about which information was being leaked. Information was key to a battle and deception tactics were but another way to throw off an opponent. However the continuation into the tactics of an ambush was something that drew his attention. Take out the leaders and the structure falls. As the squirrel asked him he cocked his head to the side and responded with a slightly louder voice but still soft. “Yes I follow.” He smiled lightly and then followed on. “So in essence what you’re saying is that the difference between a host’s sizes can be circumvented through the use of deception and information feeding. An ambush can be useful as a distraction whilst allowing for the smaller force to pick off one or two key elements of command.” He looked back across to the book thumbing through the pages. “So in theory then applying these tactics to a single soldier could be possible if it was one man against say…Ten or possibly more?” A subtle change hit Alex straightening his form slightly as he thumbed through the tome before rising to reach into the towering wall of books pulling out a smaller leather bound tome. A smaller book labelled: Inspiration through leadership. Alex placed the book onto the table next to the larger grimoire. Flipping it open alongside it. “So a good leader could potentially lead a smaller unit to victory over a much larger one if the leadership is superior?” Alex held himself to an idea or three. If this is the case then perhaps one day I could command my own squad…Though given my lack of influence and ability to inspire it seems a long way off. “I’m so sorry I forgot to introduce myself before even asking for your assistance in this matter. My name is Alexander Faircroft. I only really became a squire as of the last half season.” Alex let out a small sigh showing just how new he was to the whole state of affairs. Alex set his hands to work crossing both against each points of interest in each tome before him. Flipping pages and dizzying speed he sought out the key points of reference between them. “I see the knights roaming around its rare anyone other than your prospective patron take an interest in you as a squire isn’t it?” Alex was primarily talking about himself however the phrasing of the question was a little open ended and could be taken a different way.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He nodded in agreement. "That's correct." Although that wasn't always possible. Good information could open up opportunity for the best scenario - which would be picking off high-priority targets first before dealing with the surrounding forces, while they were still organizing themselves. However, that was rarely the case, from his experience.. often, it'd just be a matter of surprising a majority of the forces and then wiping them out while they were still unsheathing their swords. Destroying as much as possible before they woke up and smelled their own arses cooking on the fire. While the other squire was busy flipping through the pages of his book, the squirrel begun his reply. "Applying this tactic when one soldier is against ten? I'm unsure." It took him longer than a few ticks to think this one over, that was for sure. "For one person to take out ten, alone, you're looking at a very large difference in skill. One person can't take out ten in just one ambush.. not unless they're setting up some serious traps to stun, disorient and immobilize a majority, if not the entirety of the enemy.. which is highly unlikely. In theory of course it's possible.. but there are a lot of things to take into account and in a vast majority situations I'm going to say no, one person likely couldn't take out ten by themselves."

Though, leadership? That he could answer more securely. "That's if the warriors under their command are equally skilled. I mean, there are a lot of things to take into account in the battlefield. Even the most talented of leaders isn't going to manage much with a group who struggle to handle their own weapons.. while a terrible leader at the helm of powerful battle-forged warriors isn't really going to need to do that much, you know?" There always seemed to be a bigger picture, some little piece of information, a certain variable that had influence in the tides of battle. The competency of the soldiers, the competency of their leader, the sizes of armies and their backgrounds.. it all came together, one way or another. "At the end of the day, I don't think anyone can map out an entire battle perfectly.. no matter how much information they have on the opposition. There are just too many things to account for.. but we can make an educated guess, at the very least." The rest of it, however, would be mostly guesswork and intuition. A terrifying thing, when so many lives were at stake.

"Hmm? Ahh. Well, 'sa pleasure to meet you, Alexander. I'm Archailist, been a squire here for.. about a year, maybe more? Maybe it has been a year. Can't remember." He stuck his tongue out in jest at his own stupidity. "Huh? Well, not really.. not if you purposefully make yourself interesting to them. I mean, they're knights, not sharks. Some of them can be a little meaner than others but generally they're nice people. Just talk to them. Work alongside them. One way or another you'll get to know them and they'll get to know you, so don't sweat it just now, okay?"