Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="seasong" data-source="post: 802398" data-attributes="member: 5137">Vignette: Decision of WarThe Council had convened to Menelaos home in the north end of Tartwater. An hour from Theralis, they had marked it as a day-long holiday in the record books, a social function for them to blow off some steam, get happily drunk, and debauche themselves in the time honored fashion of Council Members under the immense stress of war, politics, and leadership.When Alleras confirmed that they had privacy, the gaiety of their manner dropped from them like shed water. Ukeles, true to his nature, was the first to speak, "The tribals will keep coming back. The only way for us, for our civilization, to survive... is to kill them before they kill us."Phitios allowed a moment of shocked silence, then interjected, "At the very least, we must make certain we are safe, although I am not certain that Ukeles' solution is the best way to insure that."Daelas smiled, "It is not possible in any case. There are too many, over too vast a land. We do not have the army needed to wipe them all out."Menelaos and Furimenes were already jumping to their feet to attack the idea, when Daelas waved a hand, "I said, it's not possible. I doubt Balthas would ask of me to devise a plan that would wipe out our worldy possessions just to let us survive. Such a life is not worth living."Ukeles, shook his head, "We must do something."Heads nodded all around. The wars had been costly, both in the city's coffers and in terms of lost youths. Furimenes said, more quietly, "Daelas, the second year of Service is expensive. Are you certain it will be worth it?"She shrugged, "As I have said before... At the very least, it will allow us enough manpower to, once we rout the Breaking Cat orcs, send a contingent to damage them severely enough that they can not come back for a generation or three. But that will be costly, as well, and I don't expect that we can do this twice - if there are worse tribes coming from the east, this may cost us our civilization."Furimenes nodded, "I ask because many children of merchants, craftsmen and vineyards have re-entered Service. If we keep it up, in a few years we will not have the foundation of our society. I am not sure we can afford the cost even once."Phitios, judging the mood was right for some strategy, added in, "If every citizen of Theralis marched this summer, we would have enough soldiers to march... Daelas?""We could crush perhaps four hundred miles worth of orcs, but there would be a swift shove back to fill in that gap - we would be as a brushfire, only ensuring that the strongest thrived better.""...Just so." Phitios paused, "We need a longterm solution. We need to be able to maintain our vineyards, but we also need to be able to field a massive force, consistently. We need those extra years of Service, but we also need to avoid them."Heads nodded again - with limited human resources, the classic attrition between soldier and farmer was well known to all.Balthas then offered, soft-spoken but deadly, "Put the tribes to work in the fields."Within an hour, the decision was made, and the remainder of the day was spent planning the best way to present it to the people. The tribes would provide the manpower needed to maintain civilization while the people of Theralis marched to war.</blockquote>

Verification