To Wage Righteous War
by Reine Arlynson
The mission of the righteous is the defense of those who cannot defend themselves. To fail the needy and the defenseless is the darkest charge which can be laid to a paladin or a knight of the helpless.
In truth, such matters are not always as simple as they first appear. Were this a realm without suffering, without evil, ego, pride, malice, pain or vindication, it would be an unthinkable crime to allow suffering to go unanswered.
Sadly, we dwell not in such a celestis. As such, those of holy orders are no more departed from the mundane matters of state, war, battle and prayer than the lowliest commoner or the highest noble. Our understanding of our realm must be tempered thus: we are exemplars and examples, not avatars. We are limited by our powers, our people and our laws. I write this treatise for the consideration of others of holy orders - to enable them to see war as others see it. To be able to effectively serve their orders. I add this appeal only to convince those who read this that the advice and direction contained within does not fall upon deaf ears.
The rest of this tome is a series of lessons I have learned during my years of battle, my failings, my successes, those around me and my faith.
Yours in service,
Reine Arlynson (Ilmatari and venerant of the Red Knight)
**As you read through the tome, it goes from page to page, offering advice in specific situations, drawing up battle plans, dealing with your church, dealing with people under you. It seems to be drawn from a number of relevant texts. However, your eyes are drawn to the section where the author offers short, swift bits of advice for those who need words to live by. It is written as if it were within a holy text**
A retreat is only cowardice if others suffer for your decision. Consider wisely before committing to a battle you may lose.
All training begins first in the mind and ends in the muscle.
A prayer on the eve of battle is only as powerful as the faith of its speaker.
A battle is decided first between commanders and then between soldiers. A pack of lions led by a sheep is at best the equal of a pack of sheep lead by a lion.
A swift and relentless execution of duty is the most merciful end to a war.
Death is neither reward, nor peace. Seek neither on a battlefield other than to silence it once and for all.
A commander's duty is first to their people, then to their faith. It is their duty to reconcile both. A fool may lead an army only to an end of their own devising.
The grandest mercy is that which alleviates the most suffering. Do not choose the battlefield as a mount for a redemptive tale.
- - -
The deaths of the innocent separate the paladin from the despot. Weight not innocent lives in the balance, but seek to protect and preserve as long as you are able.
Honor the departed, savor the victory, offer freedom, grant mercy to the vanquished. Hesitate not in battle for these things.
- - -
Do not allow yourself to be convinced that war may be honorable, clean, or safe. It is none of these things.
**Further on, the book begins to describe specific acts that a commander or a sergeant might take. It launches into a description of a deep fugue the author once found herself in**
On Guilt
The greatest enemy of the leader of soldiers is guilt. I have spoken to a number of my fellow soldiers, leaders and followers alike. Books ranging from the Dwarven treatise "Steel Caves" to the elven treatises on sylvan warfare agree on one matter. A commander is lost if they give in to their guilt.
As a commander of soldiers, it is your burden to send people you know and care about to their death. This is doubtly true of those engaged in the warfare of the righteous. We often must die so that others may live. Yet, as a commander, you may find yourself responsible for more than a simple charge to the death.
This is the burden of command. There will be times when you live where others die. Your decisions, your views, your mistakes will weight heavy upon your soul. To surrender to guilt and suffering is to surrender your charge. It will fell as cowardice. It will reduce you to hatred of yourself. How dare yo make decisions that reduce people that you trust to little more than husks, bound for whatever heaven awaits them. Such decisions are those of Gods, not of mortals.
The simple truth of such matters is that you can only fight the battles in front of you. Eventually, no matter how great a skill you have, no matter how great your scouting, how strong your fighters, how great your magecraft, you will lose. It may end you then, but it will more likely end others, should you take into account my advice earlier on the matter of retreat.
Consider only these words. When the time comes to quit the battlefield, make that your decision. Do not allow your people to break - their morale and their own faith does so as well as when they do. The only faith that should be challenged on the field of battle is your own.
On Tactics
A functioning chain of command is only functioning if the chain of command makes decisions based upon more than its own whim. A commander of competence must first acknowledge that they know only as much as they are informed by those of greater knowledge.
Despite this, a firm decision even if wrong is a far greater boon to a force than a well made decision made at the wrong moment. To drive forward in a moment of retreat may result in casualties, but done with enough vigor may win the day. A commander who questions themselves endlessly will miss the moment entirely, for a battlefield is lived from moment to moment.
Tactical command should be distributed to men and women of good heart and trust. They are responsible for their own people. Overrule them if necessary, but seek not to command their people for them. Instead rely upon the trust you have placed in their competence. They too share the burden of command and must understand its heavy weight.
To those who fight with their comrades, understand that those who command you must often make decisions based upon the information only they have. Their approach may seem foolish and it may yet be foolish, but if they have garnered your trust before, rely upon that now.
Instead, care for your own people. Make decisions that make sense to you. Do not stand and fight to exhaustion simply because you have been told to do so lest you understand why. Down such a road lies morale collapse and failure. Do not commit to a battle which may not be won unless there is a greater goal in mind.
A martyr may only be a martyr if they died in pursuit of a greater goal. No martyr dies for their own pride and honor.
On Strategy
The greater races of Faerun each have their own wargames to teach their young the tenets of battle and strategy. The knights and priests in lanceboard have their own strengths and those strengths are represented in their tactics. Strategy instead requres that one take in the whole board.
Advance when the enemy is weak or is unprepared.
Retreat when the enemy is strong.
Seek to flank at all times when your flank is strong.
Protect your flank at all times.
A fortification should be passed by, surrounded, weakened or forced into surrender. Seek diplomacy before surrender, seek surrender before annihilation, seek annihilation before capitulation.
Take advantage of the land around you. Do not assume that others will not.
Know your people. Attempt to know theirs.
Your duty above all else is to protect the innocent. A blackguard may torch a castle to kill its lord. You must find another way.
When engaging a force of equal size, seek first weaknesses, then position. Only then rely upon individual strength.
Never underestimate the cleverness or stupidity of your enemy. Never mistake one for the other.
Assume the enemy knows all you know and if they appear not to, assume they have deceived you.
On Righteous War
Our charge as paladins and knights of the righteous orders is often mis-stated. It is assumed we must fight until the death for any cause we see fit, that we must remain long past the point of sanity, fighting a hopeless battle. Even that we must be outnumbered by a shattering degree before we may even consider retreat.
None of this is true.
There is a true honor to martyrdom and self sacrifice. The willingness to give ones life for a cause or for your oaths is the highest call of service. However, such sacrifice should always be in aid of a grander goal. It is not simply enough to believe that one must die an honorable death and seek it as a result.
The honor is not yours to give. It is the choice of others to make and a test of their character. Further, honor is not something which is abstract. One does not have honor simply due to their deeds.
Their reason for their deeds, their ideas, even their very soul determines if one has honor. You cannot make an honorable man by killing him in an honorable death. You simply kill a dishonorable man honorably.
A war is not won with honor. It is won with thought, strategy, tactics and might. Simply holding honor will not win the day. It may even restrict you.
Further, do not confuse treating war with the respect it deserves with playing a game of war. We use games to understand the grand schemes and brutality of war. We do not see the war as a game and never must. We must only seek to end it, cleanly.
**After pages of translated accounts and opinions, the book finally ends with a dedication**
I only hope that your consideration of this material is as illuminating to read as this was to write. In the name of the Lord on the Rack, I hope I have convinced you to end suffering decisively. In the name of the Red Knight, to end it with strategic insight.
Yours, Reine.