Re: KoW

From: Sandy Petersen <sandyp_at_idgecko.idsoftware.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 95 14:36:26 -0500


Peter Metcalfe
>I don't think fighting is much like Dragon Pass in which wars last
>30 days at the most. The Kingdom of War acutally does most of its
>conquests by raiding and attrition. Eventually people flee the
area >and the Kingdom of War expands.

        What Peter is describing here is a variant on the technique used by the English earls of the Welsh Marches to slowly conquer Wales. I think Peter is close to the KoW's technique, but I'd like to expound on it a bit. There are two steps to such conquest.

FIRST STEP: THE RAIDS
        When the KoW decides to conquer a region, it does so gradually. First raiders harass the area, extorting taxes, killing teachers and leaders loyal to the old king, and gathering promising recruits. The KoW's initial raids can't be stopped by the enemy -- a regular army can't easily catch raiders, and so they can raid to their hearts' content, thus destroying their foe's credibility as a protector. Anyone who speaks out for the old ways is killed by the KoW's men. The KoW extorts taxes, and burns the homes of anyone who has paid taxes to the old king recently -- thus the hapless peasants are really caught in a bind. If they pay their lawful taxes, they're killed. If they _don't_ pay the taxes, the old king's men punish them. If the old king is kind and good, his men won't kill the peasants, but the KoW's men have no such scruples, so the peasants pay off the KoW, and not the old king. This generally causes the good king to become grumpier and more and more harsh. If the old king is cruel and wicked (or has become so through his peoples' non-payment of taxes), then his men kill the non-paying peasants. The eventual result is that the peasants come to fear the old king and his men as much as the KoW. The old king has become indistinguishable from the KoW's raiders. At this point, the question becomes whom the peasants believe can protect them better from the other side. In the end, the people have no one to turn to but the KoW.

STAGE TWO: CONQUEST
        Now that the enemy's political base has been destroyed, the KoW declares the land annexed, and builds a network of mutually supporting fortresses. Now, the people living within the fortress network are part of the KoW. Now their produce builds up the KoW, while it is lost to the foe. Thus the foe weakens, while the KoW grows. The next expansion by the KoW will be fought all the more feebly, for the foe is weaker by the size of the land stolen, while the KoW is that much stronger. Eventually, the KoW owns so much of the land (and has weakened the defenders enough) that it can take on the remainder of the foe, crush them, and take the whole land.

        Then the peasants are Tapped beyond ability to rebel, promising youths are recruited into the army, and the KoW moves on.

THE FOE'S POSSIBLE RESPONSE
        RAIDS: If the enemy counter-raids into the KoW's land, the network of fortresses thwarts such an attempt. In effect, an annexed portion of land is nigh-immune to counter-raids. If the land is not yet annexed, raids do nothing but antagonize whatever remaining part of the population is still loyal.

        GIVE BATTLE: If the foe sends an army to fight the KoW, the KoW gathers its forces and defeats it. If the foe tries to besiege the KoW's fortresses, the fortresses are typically strong enough to hold out long enough for a relief force to arrive. After the fight (typically won by the KoW), the foe must retire and lick its wounds. During this hiatus in combat, the KoW quickly builds extra fortresses and annexes land at a higher-than-average speed.

        BUILD CASTLES: The KoW marches up to the first castle, besieges it, kills all the defenders, and takes it over. If the enemy sends a relief army, the KoW fights and defeats it. Now that the foe has no army of maneuver, the KoW can conquer their castles one after the another without interference. Soon the land is theirs. They don't even have to go through the raiding stage of conquest in this case, because the standing fortresses enable them to suppress the peasantry without wresting away political control.

WEAKNESSES OF THE KINGDOM'S TECHNIQUE: it relies on an absolute military supremacy in open-field battles. When an enemy army comes, the Kingdom must be able to reliably defeat them. So far, this has not been a problem.

        If the Order of the Swallow comes to fight the KoW, the KoW will eagerly seek battle. A defeat of the Loskalm army would mean that hosts of people between the two lands would lose heart and be vulnerable to conquest. A defeat of the KoW would, of course, inspire many of these same people. However, it would not put the KoW itself at threat -- they have lost no land, and can withdraw behind their fortresses and gather strength for a renewed effort. In essence, the KoW reasons that if Loskalm is defeated, the Kingdom will grow apace. If the KoW is defeated, then it will not lose any territory -- merely slow its expansion rate. It's a win-win situation, as far as they can see.

        The Kingdom does not admit the possibility of a successful invasion of their land, with some justice. The peasants will not rise up to help an invader -- they are Tapped beyond all power of rebellion. The forts ensure that any invasion will be a prolonged series of sieges, giving the Kingdom plenty of time to muster armies or garner allies and send them against the foe.

Sandy Petersen


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