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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr. Strangemonkey" data-source="post: 431598" data-attributes="member: 6533">War HooksMedieval Western European warfare has some unique plot hook aspects of its very own.In the middle middle ages pitched field battles between armies were extremely rare.  The majority of conflicts were sieges and skirmishes.  Major component of the strategy of warfare were forcing the allegiances of local nobles, moving to occupy fortified positions before the enemy did, raiding to acquire/deprive the enemy of precious and pivotal resources, and counter raiding.Sieges:Offensive:-defending siege equipment-going in through the tunnels-scouting/harrasing relief forces-disinformation campaigns against same-taking and holding positions in no-mans land for honor-raiding for supplies-protecting supply lines-politics among the participating nobles and even captured noblescamp politics-moments of faith - happened a lot during the sieges of the first -crusade and afterwardsDefensive:-defending the walls-scouting enemy movements-destroying enemy siege equipment-raiding camps and positions-detecting and destroying the tunnels-getting messages through to relief forces-keeping up morale-politics among the defenders-camp discipline-raiding for supplies and against enemy supplies-negotiating with besiegers-evacuating positions-fighting along inner walls-moments of faith - see aboveSkirmishes/Raiding-killing scouts/couriers-destroying crop land/peasants-creating rumors of false troop movements-looting for the faction paychest-following rumors of supplies-kidnapping enemy nobles - Eleanor of Aquitane and John Marshall won the dynastic wars after Henry II's death by kidnapping most of the nobility of Southern France with a highly mobile and very small elite force of knights-fighting off fellow skirmeshers and raiding units-occupying fortified outposts-scouting-running messages-killing the tax infrastructure-performing acts of charity for the sake of pr-crazy acts of daring and chivalry since this was where reputations were made and broken-diplomatic work with neutral nobility-wiping out bandits who might affect your own lines-harrasing the supply lines of sieging forcesFirst level adventurers would likely make their debut by defending a local alligned lords lands against raiding forces.  First level characters who want to live, that is.  Raiding gets you killed by the woods and sieges are d-e-a-t-h.For reference, I highly recommend reading the Alexiad by Anna Comnena or The Life of St. Louis by Joinville(?).  Both have amazing descriptions of how wild medieval combat was and are filled with adventure hooks.  They are also pretty available, particularly through college book stores, and VERY easy to read.Plus Anna is one of the few ancient women to write history in a grand style.  Dune borrows liberally from the feel of her histories.Dumas's Three and Four Musketeers are both very good as well.  Sure they're way out of period, but they perform most of the same military activities knights and adventurers would expect to see.Note that Medieval Warfare also included a very bizarre set of rules of warfare that it was extremely bad to develop a reputation for violating.Siege:-You always allow a fortified position to surrender and keep nearly all of its resources, save maybe exiling armed forces not belonging to the fortification and killing some ringleaders.  Fortified positions that were taken by siege forfeited their rights.  By the laws of Meditteranean warfare everyone in the city could be killed.-Though violating sanctuary was a no-no and there were wierd situations where one faction in a city would surrender but not another.Skirmish:-Killing peasants was pretty proscribed.  It was the point of a lot of the raiding, but the church hated it and put down lots of rules to give the peasants some safety.  There were days when it raiding wasn't allowed to give peasants room to move around.  Pretty strict sanctuary laws.  And codes similar to those talked about with sieges.  Peasants, in return, couldn't attack soldiers with certain weapons or under the same circumstances.-All the normal chivalric stuff about taking people prisoner and ransoms and duels and not raiding churches.And a general rule was that if the church had revoked its protection from you most of these rules didn't apply.The Albigensian Crusade wasn't so much declared as a whole population lost what would be their 'rights of citizenship' today and the whole world came to kill and loot them.  The "Kill them all, God will know his own," came from a legate who was asked to interpret one of those weird instances in siege warfare.  A Catholic town with a significant Albigensian population had fallen to siege and the army wanted to know if the Catholics, who presumbably would have 'surrendered', still had rights under the rules of war.  As I recall, the legate did not have so great a career after this incident.Oddly enough, most of these rules did apply to opponents during the Crusades.  That's why the initial sack of Jerusalem was so shocking to the Middle Eastern world.</blockquote>

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