Being cultured is diferent again and is usual only in societies which have the luxury to _be_ cultured. The KoW does not have that luxury, indeed, its apparatus of governement and control precludes such a possibility.
I don't see anything wrong in defining their culture in the sense of describing their organisation, demographics, government and religion. To describe their poetry might be amusing but it would be rather terse. Kind of like the Nadir from David Gemmels books:
Nadir we,
Youth born
Blood Letters
Axe Weilders
Victors Still.
LDoaH might scribble such things or the KoW adepts might well circulate such anthems of destruction among the warriors to psyche them up even further but its not prevalent and not really considered important.
There has been some debate on _why_ the KoW is doing what it does. I believe that during the Ban, they were divided into their religious groupings which warred for scarce resources to a ritualised level. It became a society of need, warring at all times for a barn full of wheat or a herd of cows. They kept artificially high population levels simply to support the large Warrior cult orders which in turn protected them from the others needs.
Presumably such an evolution would have caused social collapse eventually either to a stonage level or to a combined state. Something that was happening as the ban lifted, Death on a Horse ad pretty much combined the major Warrior Cults under his authority, allowing them individuality within a common framework. Perhaps in this LDoaH was uniquely insightful.
The ban lifts and the scarcity of resources that constrianed their violence to survivable levels was also lifted. At first, they would have been fearful, seeing the unknown lands as a threat to their own feeble reserves. LDoaH would have used this fear to form a united front, under his authority. I would think that he leads his own Humakt Order which is possibly the biggest of all of them and his "military Police" in a way.
With this united front they began to probe the areas around. What they found was a joke. Weak people, no defences, fat, unskilled in the warrior arts and bountiful in their wealth. Lord Death would preach caution, after all had many warriors not shown weakness to lure the unwary into a trap?
The raiding begins and becomes increasingly joyous as the warriors experience wealth beyond their dreams. But Lord Deaths caution proved correct for several raiding groups are found in a drunken stupour and slaughtered by enraged local defenders. The counter-attack wipes them out and their skulls are left as a warning, but the lesson has been learned. Not all the people in the Bounty lands are fat and weak.
From that point on the real KoW was born. United under a single command which grows stronger and more despotic with each passing year the hordes push on, grabbing new territory and peoples to support themselves and living on the fat of the conquered.
Here is where LDoaH meets his quandry for the man is no idiot. He will be a lethal warrior, true, mad by most definitions, yes, but no idiot. He knows his control is tenuous over the orders and much of his time is devoted to keeping them in balance and maintaining his own power.
His main tactic for that, as with many dictators, is the Outside Threat. Orwells "War is Peace" concept fits his policies well. A the same time, to defeat the Outside Threat he must maintain his military preponderance. If his forces are consistantly defeated then his own position becomes just as untenable as if there were no unifying force. His warlords will look for a replacement.
Therefore the constant maintenance of the army and in fact its_ expansion_ must be a central policy of LDoaH. The army will actually need to grow for two main reasons:
(1). To hold down conquered territory while the Adepts tap the conquered into
submission and to protect the borders from counter-attack many troops will be
needed. A good point to note is that the KoW is without a "safe" frontier. It
has no coast or impassible mountain range guarding a frontier for it. It has to
do that itself and it is surrounded by foes. Given this, the best defence for
long frontiers is not to let your opponent threaten them, but to push into his
territory instead. Which is yet another motivating force behind the outward
push. The problem is that once you've taken the enemies territory, then you
have to hold that too......
(2). Because of the threat from the KoW, the weaklings are arming up. Though
poor and inefficient, they nevertheless have great numbers and reserves to call
upon. Loskalm in particular, dreamers though they are, can field a large force
and the defences of the lands yet to be attacked are increasing. They must be
attacked _before_ they can fully mobilize.
To do all this Lord Death is stepping up his Jannissary program and ordering his warriors to bring more lands under their sway to feed the war machine.
Its a cycle of conquest that is oth the Kingdoms means of expression and means of support. War is indivisible from their whole culture, created and financed as it is by even more war.
How to beat it? Stop it cold. Contain its conquests until it falls apart or burns itself up from the inside out. To my mind thats the only way. A strategic defensive with the aim of denying them resources, even a scorched earth policy if necessary.
Martin Laurie
Powered by hypermail