Vysii

In a corner of the Basking Turtle tavern in Beznov, Adria, a half-conscious Ahren Jaeger fought what was perhaps his hardest battle in years: the struggle to finish the next of many essays. Dark bags formed beneath bloodshot eyes. Veins pulsed all over his brain. His heart thumped against his ribcage. His body swayed back and forth as the weary and ageing siege engineer struggled to stay upright, anchored to his table only by the marginal pressure his now-smoking quill still exerted on the paper. All he could do to stave off collapse was take a swig from his nth Euler Max bottle and pray he’d still be conscious by the end of the current paragraph. It was not the first he drank, nor would it be anywhere near the last. It was clear just from the clusters of empty Euler Max bottles littering his table that he spent no few consecutive all-nighters writing this essay. He wanted it done as soon as possible. But at the same time, he put off its completion for far too long. He lost count of how many energy drinks he poured down his gullet in the process of writing the essay. But it was a high-enough number to convince him that sleep deprivation and liver failure would probably kill him long before any Spook could run him through. But so long as his efforts ended up helping his fellow Descendants in some meaningful way, then it all would have been worth it. An indeterminate amount of Euler Maxes, whale steaks, and salted wyvern jerky later, Ahren would publish the following essay. He would later travel to Nevaehlen and personally distribute copies to the local Greenblades and any other allies involved in the Vale’s defence before finally passing out at the bottom of a sinkhole somewhere in the city. Ahren needed all the energy he could muster. For he had a lot more work to do but very little time to do it. On the defence of the Vale Part Two: Weaponizing terrain Preface My name is Ahren Jaeger, a siege engineer of Adria. In this turbulent era where Darkspawn run rampant across the world, my backstory is far from unique. Long-story-short: Darkspawn toppled the walls of my hometown and ate my mother. The scene still haunts me nearly four decades later. Today, Darkspawn continue to sow tragedy and chaos wherever their unholy ilk are permitted to fester, stamping down on Descendantkind’s freedom to thrive and prosper in peace. I pray every day that good Descendants will emerge victorious in the struggle against evil, but we can’t expect God to do all the work. It has thus become my mission to exterminate the Darkspawn menace from this world, or at least help pave the way for those that will. As of the time of this essay’s publishing, a powerful Darkspawn entity known as the Harrower has enthralled the tribes of Ailmere and set out on a warpath against all of Descendantkind. One of the realms he’s currently targeting is the Vale of Nevaehlen. In response to a request for help, I deployed to the Vale as part of a small military advisory team led by Cathan, one of Aevos’s foremost experts on combating Darkspawn. Simply put, our goal is to help the Valefolk defend themselves against the Harrower. I haven’t known the people of Vale for long, but, in my book, they have proven to be good people. They do not deserve to become puppet-slaves like the Ailmerian tribes, who now exist only as walking blood sacrifices. I wish only for the Valefolk to live happily in peace. Cathan and I have been helping the Valefolk prepare against the Harrower for just over three years now, and I’m happy to report they are making good progress. I also noticed after publishing my previous essay that the On the defence of the Vale series’ readership grew beyond the Vale. So with this expanded readerbase in mind, going forward I will mainly aim to give general tactical advice while using the Harrower War and the Vale as primary examples to help illustrate my points. This essay is the second part of my On the defence of the Vale series. This, along with future entries, will compile a number of ideas brought up in discussions by myself, Cathan, the Valefolk, and their allies on how the Vale’s terrain can be weaponized to optimal and devastating effect against potential invaders. If at least the important ideas get implemented, Nevaehlen is sure to become a veritable bulwark against the Shadowtide along with any other threat that dares threaten its people. I sincerely hope this helps. Illustration A: Nevaehlen’s eastern cliffs from across the river. The Isle of Nevaehlen makes for a very imposing target for most would-be attackers, largely in thanks to its natural terrain being very troublesome to overcome through most ordinary means. Weaponizing terrain The Vale of Nevaehlen benefits from some of the most defensible natural terrain in Aevos. It sits on a lightly forested plateau atop a mountainous island separated from the mainland by a deep, wide river and a near-complete ring of steep cliffs. Geography like this should put off all but the most creative, well-prepared, and determined invaders. But of course, as history keeps proving time and time again, deterrence never guarantees lasting peace; war always breaks out sooner or later. And when that happens, the Vale’s natural geography will not drive out an attacking force by itself; Nevaehlen’s Greenblades will still need to stand and fight. The enemy will likely bring overwhelming numbers of manpower and equipment to balance out the Valefolks’ control of key terrain. Optimal use of the island's terrain, both natural and man-made, will prove key in winning against such overwhelming odds. ‘Terrain’ is defined as an area of land when considering its features. For example: a flat and mostly empty mountain plateau can be described as flat terrain, heavy rainfall can turn vast areas of soil into muddy (and sometimes even impassable) terrain, and the more heavily built-up areas of a city can be described as dense urban terrain. The terrain can play a big role in deciding the course and outcomes of battles, campaigns, and even entire wars. It determines how an army can move its troops, their equipment, and their supplies through an area. It determines how easily troops can capture and hold an area. It determines how a battle may be fought in an area all the way down to the thought process and actions of individual soldiers. Terrain analysis should be a fundamental key skillsfor any soldier, whether they be a rank-and-file grunts or a top-level commander. To neglect sparing a thought for terrain ahead of an upcoming battle is to invite disaster. Considering that the preeminent threat currently facing Nevaehlen is the Harrower (at least at the time of this essay’s writing), the Valefolk likely can not afford too many such military disasters before their nation simply ceases to exist. The Harrower is a supernatural extra-dimensional entity who commands a legion of dedicants and beasts enthralled by a curse simply called the ‘Mark’. He grows his powers through the spilt blood of the Marked. Should he conquer a city, its inhabitants will, at best, be ritually sacrificed on an altar or forced to help spill more blood for the Harrower until the day they die. The Valefolk face a fight for their nation's very survival; it would be thus be in their best interests to take the threat seriously and weaponise every advantage at their disposal. This should especially include their island’s natural terrain; after all, it is one of the Vale’s strongest defensive assets. The practicality of terrain analysis and usage still remains even when considering the existence of things that are not bound by the spatial limitations of ordinary human movement. Aevos has no shortage of threats with the capability to casually bypass or outright ignore most unfavourable natural terrain and man-made fortifications. For example: There are many threats that fly, teleport, phase through solid walls. Counted among the Harrower’s dedicants are: soldiers who can ride wall-shattering Northern Mammoths, high-flying Thundermaw Ravens, and highly-mobile Goat Cavalry; his First Zenith, a white-haired woman who can summon a fog of magical darkness and open gateway portals within said fog; and his elite corps of Chosen, each of whom is a mighty spellblade who can teleport between shadows. With such foes at the Harrower’s disposal, it is not completely unreasonable to think at first ‘why bother caring about optimal terrain use when the Harrower has so many things that don’t have to?’ This is because the threat of things that ignore terrain does not preclude the threat of things that do not ignore terrain. For all the Harrower’s powers, the bulk of his legion is composed of more-or-less ordinary human ‘Thralls’ who still need to use their own two feet to move around. When people go off to war against the Harrower, the vast majority of fighting typically comes down to locking swords against the common Thrall. The Chosen, the Mammoth riders, the Thundermaw Raven riders, the Goat riders, the First Zenith — for all their strengths, they are neither numerous nor powerful enough on their own to destroy the Harrower’s enemies entirely by themselves; their actual tactical purposes all boil down to supporting the ‘main push’ of the Thralls. The Harrower’s elite forces can also be countered rather straightforwardly, without needing to take too much focus away from preparations against the less extraordinary Thrall. In short: Thundermaw Ravens can be shot down with ballistas and their lightning attacks safely redirected by tall structures and lightning rods. Mammoths are big targets for artillery. Goats ridden as cavalry can not scale steep slopes anywhere near as easily as unencumbered ones can, owing to their riders greatly weighing them down and shifting their weight distributions and centres of gravity significantly further upwards; without the factors that enable mountain goats to traverse mountainous terrain, the Goat Riders would realistically come crashing down the cliffs should they attempt to scale it, so the their movements can be restricted similarly to the legion’s heavy infantry. Furthermore, even the First Zenith and the Chosens’ shadow-based portal and teleportation powers have limitations, and can be countered and mitigated to manageable levels by upgrading Nevaehlen’s lighting infrastructure to be more comprehensive and reliant on magical lighting sources. This will be expanded on in later essays in this series. While the ‘Shoot the Mage First’ rule obviously still applies, anyone fighting the Harrower must recognise that the common Thrall still remains a main threat on the battlefield; to neglect preparations against the rank-and-file Thrall in order to focus on the Harrower’s more elite, magical, and special forces is sheer folly. It is perfectly doable to acknowledge and plan around the existence of things that ignore terrain without neglecting to acknowledge and plan around things that do not ignore terrain. Even though there exist dragons that can fly and breathe fire, does that make people who bother adding walls, gates, and towers to their settlements complete morons? It does not. This is because most people still recognise that the threat of ordinary Descendant bandits and armies killing them and razing their homes is still very much a thing. And it is a threat very much worth preparing against, lest their settlements collapse long before a dragon has the chance to. People still fortify their cities and castles with full awareness that ordinary walls won’t stop every conceivable threat in existence. However, by placing down basic, fundamental defences, they get the security, freedom, and peace of mind to prepare more specific counters to things that can not be stopped by normal fortifications. The same logic applies for using fortifications and natural terrain against the diversity of threats within the Harrower’s legion. No matter the opponent, any soldier worth their salt should always study the terrain of battlefields, potential and imminent, and think about how the terrain could potentially impact a coming battle. A combination of basic terrain knowledge and a bit of critical thinking can go a long way towards achieving tactical and strategic success. To pull off the best possible defence of the Vale, each and every defender must at least: Have basic knowledge the lay of the land, Have a decently formed idea of how the natural terrain is incorporated into their defence plans, and Actually physically move to exploit the terrain when the time to fight approaches. If nobody has the faintest clue where to go and what to do when the enemy comes knocking, they are in for a bad time. It will be even worse if they do actually have all this information floating around in their heads but still end up standing around, twiddling their thumbs, and doing jack-all the whole time as enemies make landfall on the island’s shores, scale its slopes, overrun half the island, and start battering down the city’s walls unopposed. Everyone in the Vale must take action and play at least some kind of active role in the defence of their own community. This fight involves everyone, whether they like it or not. The contents of this essay should help them in that regard. The main purpose of this essay is to give Nevaehlen’s commanders, Greenblades, and allies a more in-depth and scientific understanding of how to weaponise the Vale’s natural and artificial geography. This will let them hold better-informed and more active defence discussions, which should in turn lead to better tactical and strategic decision-making. It should also help guide the Vale’s architects, engineers, and builders in considering the terrain as they expand their budding civilization beyond the ruins of Talar'nor to other parts of their island. The security the people of the Vale will get from a more optimal and defence-minded approach to construction and terrain usage will pay massive dividends in future prosperity. Of course, to obtain that security, the Greenblades actually have to physically go and study their nation's terrain with more conscious thought put towards defence. Staring at squiggles of ink on paper is no substitute for real-life experience. Illustration B: A simplified and ‘lightly’-annotated map of Nevaehlen’s natural defences. This was developed over the course of a few walks along the cliffs and boat rides along the shores. How to study the terrain: A crash course Terrain analysis can be largely the same as taking a casual stroll and appreciating the scenery. It just involves a bit more critical thinking. When doing terrain analysis, the first thing to think about is the mission: to what end is all of this effort going to achieve? For example: In the context of the Harrower War, the mission is basically to defend Nevaehlen against a siege by the Harrower’s legion. The success criteria is that Nevaehlen is not destroyed and the Harrower’s troops are forced to leave the island and the Vale alone. The Greenblades can probably achieve this goal by decisively defeating the Harrower’s forces with attrition; if the defenders kill enough of the enemy’s troops, the Harrower may just decide conquering the Vale isn’t worth the cost, back off, and maybe find an easier target to convert into blood sacrifices. Defenders should try to identify the follow things: Avenues of approach and withdrawal — What routes and methods could attackers possibly take to attack the Vale? Should things go south for the defenders, what routes can they take to retreat back to safety? How will the features of these routes specifically affect the way people move through it? Cover and concealment — What natural and artificial terrain features, magical abilities, or tactics could attackers use to protect themselves from being fired upon by defenders or hide their approach from sentries? Likewise, what can the defenders use to protect themselves from enemy fire or keep their own movements hidden from the attackers’ scouts? Obstacles — What terrain features, natural and artificial, could block, hinder, or funnel the movement of the attackers and defenders? Observation spots and fields of fire — Where are the most convenient spots for the attackers and defenders’ scouts and commanders to observe the course of battle from? What would be the most practical possible spots to observe the important parts of the battlefield from? From which advantageous positions can defenders set up the best possible angles and lines of sight to rain down the most effective possible fire on approaching attackers? From where can the attackers best fire back at the defenders? Key terrain — Which specific areas can the attackers and defenders fight at a considerable advantage over the other? Which areas of the battlefield would be crucial for either side to control in order to assert dominance over the island and achieve military success? If possible, the best way to go about identifying these things is to personally familiarise oneself with the terrain. A nice, long stroll around the battlefield long before the fight even begins is an effective way to get the above information. For many people, actually seeing things with their own eyes sticks in the mind better than looking at words on paper or lines and colours on a map. If personally surveying the terrain is not feasible for whatever reason, studying detailed military maps can also work. Such maps show details like grids with XYZ coordinates, accurate terrain contours, and the precise height of the terrain above or below sea level. But on the other hand, these kinds of maps are not very common; Aevos has a dire shortage of the geographers, land surveyors, cartographers, and so on with the needed knowledge, skills, and motivation to produce them. Most maps in circulation are rather stylised and only show a basic overhead view of an area; to use these simpler maps effectively, it must be combined with personal knowledge from surveying the terrain. Once knowledge of terrain is gathered, that information should be noted down somewhere as soon as possible. It is only natural for people to forget things. It is generally useful to keep a notebook around to write things down or draw quick sketches in. Even obvious or seemingly insignificant observations should be put on paper, for even the little things can end up being significant or useful to remember much later down the line. Doing this allows oneself and the people they are working with to easily and conveniently visualise the terrain in their heads without having to keep walking around the battlefield over and over again every time they forget and want to check back on something. Aside from writing down the information in text, it also helps to draw and annotate maps. These can be shared with others and helps everyone to visualise the information in word-heavy discussions. An example would be Illustration B above, which marks terrain obstacles and various potential avenues of approach. A picture paints a thousand words. Doing at least some basic terrain analysis should give combatants a good clue on how things will probably go in an upcoming battle. The more potential enemy actions that defenders anticipate and prepare contingencies for, the lower the chance of the defenders getting caught off-guard and forced to fight at a severe disadvantage. The more of a general idea people have of what to do when something happens, the better battles will generally go for them. While it is definitely crucial to be able to think on one’s feet and adapt to a changing battlefield (as no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy), this is no excuse to not bother coming up with any plan at all and simply wing everything. Failure to plan is planning to fail. Illustration C: Nevaehlen's eastern walls built atop the island’s cliffs. The combination of cliffs and tall, solid walls in close concert makes for an extremely difficult obstacle for attackers to overcome, likely forcing them to seek other ways of breaching the city. Terrain and construction Nevaehlen’s fairly spacious, flat, and defensible mountain plateau provides a lot of prime real estate for the civilisation to expand into. But as spacious as it is, none of that space should be wasted. The world can be a violent, brutal, and merciless one at times. Therefore, it would be wise for any new upgrades and expansions to the Vale to be built with the defence of the nation and its people as a high priority. As soon as invaders land on the Vale's shores, houses turn into forts, garden fences become barricades, canals become moats — any and all civilian infrastructure will suddenly become military infrastructure, every aspect of the environment suddenly becomes part of the defence. Failure to plan and build with defence in mind may lead to pain and regret later down the line. As a general rule: before building a new settlement or fortification, it would be wise to consider the ways in which the locale’s natural terrain can make the task of defending it easier or harder. On a similar note, when planning the layout and placement of streets, alleys, buildings, and decorations within a settlement, it is advisable to think about the ways the specific arrangement of urban terrain being created might affect the course of potential battles that could be fought at the site later down the line. Even seemingly minor design choices can end up playing a significant role in the defence of the nation. For example: Two opposing rows of connected houses can act as a funnel for enemy troops, making them more vulnerable to traps, artillery fire, and thrown potions. The canopy of an inconveniently placed tree can block line of sight for friendly archers firing down at street-level enemies from a settlement’s walls, towers, and rooftops. A settlement’s curtain wall built too close to a large rock or the branches of a large tree on the outside could be easy for enemies to parkour over. A curtain wall placed too far away from a nearby cliff might buy time until coastal erosion drags it into the sea, but this would come at the cost of opening up more viable space for enemies to set up raid ladders; this would force defenders to further spread themselves out to protect these still-vulnerable walls from infiltrators, thereby negating the defensive advantage of building by the cliffs in the first place. Because almost any aspect of the environment can end up acting as part of the Vale’s defensive infrastructure, construction going forward must be built with more practical consideration to defence. If engineers can incorporate advantageous terrain features into a defence, they can end up with very strong fortifications while saving a lot of time, effort, and resources. It would be much cheaper and easier to build a strong defensive position using what is already provided by Mother Nature than if they were to try and accomplish the exact same thing while also doing extra terraforming, building everything from scratch, and compensating for a location’s inherent weaknesses. For a case in point: The former Principality of Talar’nor, whose territory the Vale of Nevaehlen inherited, is a textbook examples of people seamlessly incorporating advantageous natural terrain into their nation’s defence. The Talar’nori picked a very defensible spot to build their main city. It sprawls across the northeastern half of the island with over three-quarters of its perimeter naturally protected from direct assault by tall, steep, and rocky cliffs. The city’s northern, eastern, and southeastern walls (except in one certain area) complement the natural defences by keeping out mountain climbers and parkour artists. All this makes the city a rather tough nut to crack, even in its ruined state. The result of this rather clever defence-minded approach to city building is that it leaves an invading army only a few vaguely viable avenues of approach with which to invade the Vale. This includes the narrow and crumbling old Talar’nori bridge on the east side of the city. It also includes two narrow slopes on the north and south sides of the island, which are only marginally less steep and hazardous than their adjacent cliffs. All of these approaches make for advantageous key terrain for the Vale’s defenders, and can be blocked off rather easily. The bridge can be blown to deny the enemy an easy river crossing or stepping stone for teleport jumps. And the slopes can be made even more hellish to scale by strategically placed forts, fortified settlements, or field fortifications. It should also be noted that defensibility does not have to be mutually exclusive with aesthetics either. It is perfectly possible to build a place that both looks good and is practical to defend. While making actually defensible architecture would require a bit more thought than usual, the Vale’s people will surely appreciate the increased security and safety. It also saves on time and effort compensating for weak defences at the last minute when invaders actually come knocking. It is typically better to do things right the first arounds rather than try to fix things later. A useful thought exercise for anyone defending anywhere is to put themselves in the shoes of an attacker and challenge themselves to think up ways to conquer the location themselves. If defenders walk around imagining themself as the one actually having to besiege or assault the place, it makes it a lot of easier to identify what weaknesses the enemy can potentially take advantage of for an easier win; what obstacles might make it less easy to win the fight; and brainstorming how they would exploit these weaknesses, overcome these obstacles, and achieve victory in the easiest and most efficient way possible. With all these considerations in mind, defenders can then think more effectively about how to address weaknesses in their defences and better deal with potential enemy approaches. If the mind still comes up blank for ideas, it is worth visiting a library and studying the past. There is a whole world of revelation to be seized just from reading up on historical battles and commanders. Alternatively, one can also consult the experience and wisdom of people in other nations who have been in a similar boat. When it comes to warfare, no one should care about plagiarism if it helps them win. The Vale’s natural terrain is a massive force multiplier: if properly utilised, it would effectively grant the island’s defenders the combat effectiveness of a force much larger than their actual size. Well-thought-out fortifications are another big force multiplier, which grant the defenders the ability to take on much larger forces with significantly less difficulty compared to fighting a pitched battle on a field. Smartly combining advantageous natural terrain with decent fortifications would allow the Vale’s defenders to fend off invading forces many times larger than their own. Adopting a more tactical and strategic mindset towards the expansion of the Vale will, over time, result in a much safer, more secure, and more prosperous nation. Illustrations D and E: A 1-metre-thin section of curtain wall on the south side of the city. It is likely that enemies will immediately identify it as a weakness and topple it with a trebuchet, thus opening up what most would think to be an easy path directly into the heart of the city. This can be either a good or a bad thing depending on how the Vale’s defenders prepare for the scenario. On intentional ‘weak points’ There is a (rather concerningly) common military and architectural philosophy in Aevos that people should intentionally leave big, glaring weaknesses in their defences ‘tO mAkE tHiNgS mOrE fUn’, ‘bEcAuSe iT iS mOrE aEsThEtIc’, or 'iT wOuLd mAkE fOr A bEtTer sToRy'. If anyone were to seriously and unironically suggest such an idea in the middle of a planning session, immediately kill that person on the spot before they can contribute another word to the discussion. This will, in most cases, be doing the entire defence a big favour; such people end up helping no one but the enemy. It should always be assumed the opposing team will actively do their best to win. One should never plan a defence as if the enemy will hold back for childish and silly reasons like fun and fairness. Not every potential opponent out there is so honourable and chivalrous. When most people identify a weakness in any fight, it stands to reason that they will try to exploit the hell out of it. To fail to take potential enemies seriously is to invite disaster the moment a smart, cunning, and unchivalrous opponent comes along and takes advantage of this mindset. A settlement is a huge investment for everyone involved in its founding and expansion. It is where they live, work, and relax. It would be a painful waste to establish a settlement, nurture its growth, and see it rise to prosperity, only for someone of reasonable intelligence to come along and destroy it with minimal effort, all because someone's dumb opinion was not ignored. Losing something one has a significant stake in seldom ever ends up being fun anyway. However, there are times it is tactically advantageous for defenders to not build fortifications to be too strong or optimal. While these may seem like weak links in an otherwise strong defence, they are in fact bait meant to entice the enemy into acting in a predictable manner that can be planned around or lure the enemy into a trap. This approach can often prove more effective than chasing the fantasy of a truly invincible fortification. To quote a certain famous Li-Ren general: 'All warfare is based on deception'. Competent attackers will generally try to make the best possible moves to achieve victory without wasting too much manpower and resources. For example: if they can bloodlessly starve a fort’s defenders into submission without worrying about time or an enemy relief force, they likely will not bother losing massive amounts of troops and equipment by launching an assault on the fort. If they do need to assault a fort, they may try to undermine the walls or concentrate artillery fire to create a wide breach for troops to flood through rather than scaling the walls a few men at a time with ladders and siege towers. If they do need to scale the walls, they will try to avoid more strongly defended wall sections in favour of weaker ones. For an attacker to fight less than optimally when doing something as difficult and costly as assaulting a competently defended fortification will only incur great losses. It is also worth noting that, no matter how strongly one may build a fortification, someone will always eventually think up a creative and unexpected way to overcome or bypass the obstacle. For example: the Harrower’s First Zenith is likely Aevos’ foremost expert at thinking with (shadow) portals and can probably find or create an obscure gap to exploit in even the most thorough of magical lighting infrastructure. Likewise, the Chosen can probably find similar opportunities to infiltrate the Vale and sabotage the defence from the inside. Another potential bypass they may likely try to exploit is through the sewer or cavern networks beneath the Vale. Other enemies besides the Harrower can probably think of countless other ways to pierce the Vale if given enough time. It is simply impossible for the human mind to conceive of every possible idea to conquer a place and put into practice a fool-proof way to totally invalidate it. One should never underestimate human creativity and ingenuity. This is why dangling seemingly easy and straightforward options in front of attackers’ faces often turns out rather effective. Attackers will generally try not to make life any harder for themselves than necessary. Most commanders would rather do what is easy, obvious, tried, and tested than hurt their brains or waste time brainstorming elaborate and unconventional schemes. This is typical human psychology, and it can be observed throughout the rest of Descendantkind as well. Of course, this bait is not guaranteed to work on everyone. A novice enemy commander may rush headfirst into a trap, hook, line, and sinker. But a wiser, more well-studied, and overall more competent commander would probably be fully aware of this tactic and hold back their forces until they think of a better approach. In any case, the wise commander does not seek to create insurmountable obstacles, but dilemmas. If attackers face only obstacles that each seem too difficult to tackle head-on, they will simply hold back until they eventually think of an unexpected and creative solution. Defenders should instead want the attacker to act suboptimally and make mistakes. This can be achieved by just crossing out most of the enemy’s ‘easy’ options and leaving as remainder the ones where the defenders can most readily turn the tables on the attackers. Attackers should ideally be incentivised to act in predictable ways the defenders have already prepared contingencies for. This is not necessarily saying that trying to create a good all-around defence is folly. All parts of a defence should be fairly solid. The point is that defenders should never permit a weakness in a defence without first crafting a solid and cunning plan to punish the enemy for moving to exploit it. Illustration F: The Northern Slope from the top. It is perhaps the steepest and most perilous of the two slopes permitting entry to the Nevaehlen plateau from the shoreline. Illustration G: The Southern Slope from near the shoreline. There is a fairly defensible ridgeline at the top of the slope, though a curve on the slope blocks line of sight between the shore and ridge. Further development at and around the slope will be needed to make it harder for invaders to conquer. Conclusion The Valefolk have much to gain and little to lose by adopting a more tactical mindset towards the development of their civilisation. Though the Greenblades are capable fighters who have done well to maintain the Vale’s freedom and independence thus far, the defences they inherited from the Talar’nori and Mother Nature will be nowhere near enough to weather a serious assault by the armies of the Harrower or larger Descendant realms – or at least not in their current state. The people of the Vale must take immediate action to improve on their homeland’s defences before the enemy makes their move. To this end, it would greatly benefit them to take another, more critical look at their island's terrain and seriously review the state of their defences. It would also greatly benefit them to do so with firmer understandings of terrain analysis and terrain exploitation in mind. If they instead just leave things till last and haphazardly panic-improvise field defences just as an invasion force is about to make landfall, they will most likely end up losing the war. Wisely thought-out preparation will be key to victory. The Vale of Nevaehlen has the potential to grow into a veritable fortress-nation, one of the most fearsome strongholds in the entire continent, even. Surrounded on all sides by towering cliffs and deep water, the Vale has the natural geography to make it happen without too much cost or effort. All it would take is for the Valefolk to achieve this is to the initiative and make more active and optimal use of their home field advantage going forward. The Vale’s natural terrain is its strongest defensive asset. To not properly expoloit it may as well be shooting themselves in the foot.

{!} Hot from the printing presses of Beznov, Adria, Ahren would submit this essay for peer review by the Vale of Nevaehlen's Greenblades and any other allies involved in the Vale's defence. {!} On the defence of the Vale Part One: Countering the Chosen Preface My name is Ahren Jaeger, a siege engineer from Adria. I set foot in the Vale of Nevaehlen a while back along with Cathan ahead of an upcoming siege by the Harrower. I have absolutely no connection to Nevaehlen, nor do I know any of its inhabitants on a personal level. But I’m going out of my way to help ensure the good people of the Vale win this battle anyway. My reasons why aren’t very complex. Long-story-short: Darkspawn tore down the walls of my hometown and ate my mother. And today, they continue to threaten Descendantkind’s freedom to prosper peacefully on this continent. So I made it my life’s mission to exterminate Darkspawn from this world. The Harrower, with the literal and figurative shadow he is casting across the continent, is one such blight. So GOD Willing, I shall see to it that the Harrower and his legion of darkness are driven off this island (or die trying). Although, I will admit that I am not much of a fighter. I don’t have the strength of an uruk, mastery over the Void, or the blessing of a god. Nearly all of my weapons are completely mundane in nature. And neither am I particularly proficient in using them compared to the average Adrian. My presence on the front lines as a combatant won’t matter much at all. But what I can do is lend my knowledge and writing ability (or lack thereof) as a scholar. Even just a bit of knowledge sharing should go a long way towards turning the Vale into a great bulwark against the encroaching darkness. I spent months intensively surveying Nevaehlen’s urban and natural terrain to assess the Vale’s defensibility. I walked along the city’s walls, climbed its towers, descended into caves and sinkholes, and clambered into the ruins of the civilisation that preceded the Vale. I also sought insights from the local townspeople, who kindly took the time to show me the important places around town. My conclusion is not optimistic. The fortifications Nevaehlen inherited from the civilisation before it aren’t very defensible, and the entire Vale could be overrun by one serious assault by any vaguely competent and determined attacker — and that’s without even considering the teleportation and shadow magics possessed by the Harrower’s forces. Nevaehlen’s defences need some serious overhauling if it is to hold off a siege without extreme difficulty. Everyone in the Vale needs to mobilise and act together to improve on their home's defences, or else barely anything will get done by the time the Harrower launches his first big assault. This isn’t a burden that just a tiny few individuals can shoulder on their own. This essay constitutes ‘Part One’ of a short series of essays suggesting how to make the Vale easier to defend against the shadowy forces of the Harrower. It is addressed to Nevaehlen’s Greenblades along with any other allies they enlisted in the Vale’s defence. It will compile as many ideas as I can personally recall being brought up throughout the various small discussions between the Vale’s defending forces. I sincerely hope it helps. And any feedback is appreciated. Countering the Chosen The successful defence of Nevaehlen hinges on many factors, with one of the most important being how well the Vale’s defenders can restrict the teleportation capabilities of the Harrower’s Chosen. To recap, based on information kindly provided by Anatoliy Ilya Silveira of Kaethul in the 'War on Ailmere' missive and Liriel Alhanavir of Nevaehlen in the recent moot on defence against the Harrower, the ‘Chosen’ are an elite group of warriors who can use dark shadow magic to teleport between shadows, replicate themselves as ‘shadow clones’, and even turn into shadows themselves. Their abilities make them exceptionally good infiltrators and saboteurs; they are likely to be deployed ahead of large-scale Thrall assaults, creating vulnerabilities in the defence that the more mundane main force can exploit to great effect. They are very, very dangerous opponents whose capabilities need to be specifically planned around. The Chosen can undermine the security of any fort or city with minimal effort. This is not particularly because of the rare metal weapons they wield, the heavy armour they wear, or their skill in combat; their most dangerous aspect by far is their ability to teleport between shadows and to other individuals branded with the Harrower’s Mark. Their teleportation capabilities might even surpass those of Aevos’ greatest Translocation mages as the Chosen can teleport great distances and might not even need a clear line of sight to their destinations in order to do so. Defenders must acknowledge that every square metre of unlit ground or rooftop permitted to exist is a potential teleportation gateway for the Chosen, and that the Harrower can exploit this in all sorts of creative ways. For example: A single Chosen infiltrator can appear in an obscure dark spot anywhere in the Vale, sneak into a strategically important area that is actually very well-lit, and let other Chosen teleport into that area en-masse using their Mark as a teleportation beacon (just as Descendants can translocate to bound soul pillars with their soulstones). Once in position, Chosen can then aid the rest of their legion by lowering ladders, opening gates, and undermining walls so much larger numbers of ordinary Thralls can flood into the city proper. They could also covertly sabotage the defence by burning food supplies, releasing pests, poisoning wells, spiking artillery equipment, starting fires, blowing up gunpowder caches, collapsing entire sections of the Vale by making sinkholes from the underground caverns and sewers, and so on. Though they have the equipment and skills to fight, they do not need to engage in combat at all in order to doom a defence; their most effective use would be paving the way for larger-scale assaults by the Harrower's main force of Thralls. The Chosens' potential to undermine the Vale’s defences (literally and figuratively) from the inside is virtually limitless. The defenders of the Vale must undertake extensive preparations to restrict the Chosens’ ability to teleport. If they fail to adequately prepare for this security risk, it doesn’t matter how strongly Nevaehlen’s walls are built up, how wide a moat its people dig, or how many cannons they can bring to bear; the Chosen can render even the strongest and most elaborate fortifications meaningless if they are permitted free reign to teleport whereever they please. The Chosens’ teleportation capabilities probably can not be completely nullified, but they can at least be mitigated to manageable levels. From various discussions about the defence of the Vale, the three most practical ideas for preventative measures that have emerged thus far appear to be as follows: Dividing the Vale into multiple fortified holdout positions or defensive zones, Lighting up the Vale so the Chosen have fewer places to teleport to, and Introducing mandatory checks for the Harrower’s Mark on everyone entering the Vale. If at least these three ideas are put into practice, even if in small ways on the individual level, it will be a lot harder for the Chosen to infiltrate Nevaehlen and totally undermine its security, and the Vale will be a lot safer for it. The peace of mind everyone will get from not having to worry too much about getting stabbed in the back at any given moment should be well worth the effort. Defensive Zones To avoid spreading Nevaehlen’s forces and resources too thin, Cathan proposed pulling out of areas the Vale likely lacks the time, resources, and manpower to thoroughly light up and defend. These areas included most of the isle beyond Nevaehlen’s walls, the farmlands, and the northern walls and northeastern quadrant of the Vale. By shrinking the area defenders have to protect, the Vale’s resources may be concentrated more densely on just the important areas where the denizens of the Vale live, work, and socialise. These areas would thus become much safer from the threat of Chosen infiltrators. To further mitigate the threat of Chosen infiltrators, Cathan also proposed dividing the Vale’s city sectors into fortified and self-reliant sections or ‘forts’. This way, if the Chosen suddenly appear in one part of the Vale and overwhelm the defenders responding to the breach, the rest of Vale won’t immediately follow because then the Chosens’ advance would be blocked by even more fortifications. This would also give defenders the freedom to wrestle for control of the Vale block by block rather than as one big zone all at once. The above map divides Nevaehlen into multiple defensible zones based on their importance and how easily their local urban and natural terrain features can be integrated and built upon for fortification. The map is meant to help coordinate the construction of defences, but this essay will focus on how it specifically pertains to mitigating the threat of Chosen. The zones marked in Red are the most critical areas to defend. They should be defenders’ first and foremost priorities for fortification and lighting resources. They include: 1) The Campitol district. This will be Nevaehlen’s main defensive line against any attacks coming from the West and South. It will also be the likely location of the defenders’ main military headquarters and artillery batteries. It will likely be hit the hardest by the brunt of the Harrowers' forces. It is crucial to protect this zone because it prevents the Harrower from threatening the interior of the city with his main force. 2) Nevaehlen's Town Square. This is the social and economic hub of Nevaehlen, where its denizens congregate most of the time — essentially, it is the Vale’s beating heart. It would be a devastating blow to the defenders’ morale if their main place to gather and relax was occupied and razed by the Harrower. Therefore, this zone must also get a high priority for fortification. The zones marked in Orange are important buffer zones that, if even lightly fortified and garrisoned, limit the Harrower’s ability to directly threaten Nevaehlen's Campitol district and Town Square. The main Orange zones (which are designated on the map as ‘Forts’) includes groupings of houses that the Vale’s builders should easily be able to convert into defensible self-contained ‘forts’. Some ruined walls and floors would be repaired. Ground-floor windows that would grant attackers an easy means of entry into the fort would be barricaded. Barricades and roadblocks would be set up on the streets. Roof-level walkways and platforms would give archers a safe means to shoot directly down at street-level enemies. Each fort would also be given their own distinct alarm bell so that the rest of the Vale can know when they come under attack. Fortifying the residential districts should give their residents a fighting chance to defend their homes should Chosen appear nearby. The people living in here should be especially invested in lighting up their homes and the streets just outside their doors, as it would prevent Chosen from simply teleporting inside and slitting their throats in their sleep. Other orange zones includes a series of moats, trenches, and other defensive outworks beyond the Western and Southern walls of the Campitol district. It is expected that the outworks would fall early on (as they are mainly meant to delay enemy forces from reaching the Vale’s main walls), so only just enough lighting resources should be invested to prevent Chosen from just completely taking over the outworks and planting explosives at the base of the walls within the first few minutes of an assault. A few Orange zones not included on the map would be the sewers and caverns running just underneath Nevaehlen. It is important that these areas, or at least the entrances to them, are well-lit and constantly monitored so that Chosen infiltrators can not easily bring down the Vale from beneath its defenders’ feet. The zones marked in Yellow are places that can not be so easily converted into self-contained forts but are still worth lighting up with lanterns, torches, bonfires, braziers, bioluminescent plants, luminosity pots and so on. It would greatly help the defence if Chosen are unable to just casually teleport into these areas. These areas include: 1) The Intersection(s) at the centre of the Vale connecting the Campitol, Town Square, and the various Forts together. This place is strategically important as it lets the defenders of the Vale easily move around to wherever they need to go at street level. If it is occupied and blocked off by Chosen infiltrators, they can splits up and isolate the city’s defenders and create a staging area from which the Harrower’s forces can threaten nearly every part of the Vale at the once. 2) The (Western) Bridgehead. It is important to light this area up to deny Chosen infiltrators a potential stepping stone for teleportation jumps into the Town Centre. To put this idea into practice, even without the effort of extensive fortification work: the residents of each residential district should at least get organised and form a ‘neighbourhood watch’ of sorts. Just as many cities, armies, and wilderness rangers maintain fire lookouts to prevent fires from destroying large areas, all denizens of the Vale should act as watchmen, stay vigilant for signs of Chosen activity, and report anything that seems out of the ordinary. The battle is not just being fought at the ramparts, but also in and around their own homes. ((OOC: In case Nevaehlen's builders RPly set up these fortifications but don't have the time to actually place them down on the map before the start of an event involving one, the ST can still try to represent them. I would recommend containing events within individual defensive zones and, should players lose control of one, give players the chance to retake them in future events. If the front lines can change gradually to reflect back-and-forth battles over city blocks, then Nevaehlen's players can develop a more natural sense of progression as the event line goes on.)) Lighting It is important that the Vale, or at least the sectors most crucial to its defence, is thoroughly well-lit. Upgrading its lighting infrastructure by placing down torches, lanterns, braziers, luminescent plants, luminosity lanterns, and faery fire everywhere practical would heavily limit where Chosen can appear and wreak havoc. The less places they can appear from, the easier their movements are to anticipate, the more easily they can be planned around and countered. The Vale is a massive place so it’s practically impossible to light up literally every square metre. Instead, defenders should strategically position their limited lighting resources in important locations. For example: around the Campitol and Town Square districts, along high-traffic pathways, and around other places the people of the Vale really, really do not want Chosen to suddenly surprise-attack them from. If there are enough lighting resources, the sewer and cavern systems beneath the Vale should also be thoroughly lit up to prevent the Harrower from exploiting them. Defenders must be acutely aware of the locations of any left-over dark spots, and make plans that let them effectively respond to and contain any Chosen infiltrators that teleport to them. In lighting up the Vale, it is recommended to make liberal use of faery fire; luminosity potions or lanterns; bardmancer amphitheatres; and other magical, holy, and deific light sources. This is because the Harrower can summon a fog of darkness capable of ‘snuffing out mundane light sources to dim flickers of flame’. He already did this to much of Aevos's northern tundra, and at some point he might try to do the same to other places his forces attack. Normal means of lighting, like conventional torches and oil lanterns, would be rendered impotent. By making heavy use of non-mundane light sources, a fog of darkness, with all the potential teleportation locations it creates for Chosen, would not be as dangerous to the city’s security. It should also be acknowledged that there are some areas that can not be lit. An example would be the Starlily in the cavern on the southeastern corner of the Vale, which thrives in darkness. To protect the Starlily without compromising the security of the Vale, it would be recommended to enclose the Starlily in a dark box with breathing holes on the top side. The box should be big enough to let the plant live without giving space for Chosen to teleport into. The surrounding area outside the box can then be lit up to safe standards. With this, the Starlily can survive without the whole cave becoming a massive security vulnerability. Meanwhile, for Nevaehlen denizens who do not have the building permits or construction skills to add new lighting installations around the Vale, they can at least stockpile and carry around luminosity potions or produce faery fire lanterns wherever they go. They can also help maintain light sources by patrolling around, refuelling them, and ensuring they don’t flicker out. The defence of the Vale is one big team effort, and this is one simple way anyone can take part in. The more manpower Nevaehlen's fighters can dedicate to holding off the hordes of Thralls battering against its walls, rather than constantly watching or patrolling areas Chosen may or may not appear in the end, the better. Maintaining good lighting infrastructure for Nevaehlen is just as important as maintaining its walls. Manipulation and exploitation of shadow is crucial to the Harrower's military strategy, and ensuring there is as few possible shadows for him to weaponise will do a lot towards levelling the playing field. ((OOC: If a creeper can feasibly spawn on a block, so can a Chosen. If we do have to mechanically light up the Vale like we’re playing Minecraft Survival, anywhere we really, really don’t want Chosen to suddenly show up should be illuminated to at least light level 8. However, it's not guaranteed that we can organise mechanically lighting up most of the Vale before the next event is scheduled. While we could procure the necessary amounts of lighting items and faery fire for it, putting all of that onto the RP map and doing a good job of it could take A LOT of time out of people’s schedules. And then there is the issue of handing out build perms to new volunteers and the hurdle of coordinating the construction of lighting infrastructure OOC. Alternatively, the ST can just use this post as a reason to not have the Harrower’s Chosen pull a ‘*teleports behind you* "nothing personnel kid"’ on the Vale’s defenders during the event line while the Vale's lighting infrastructure is still intact. At least this would give STs a good excuse to put more spotlight on mundane Thralls and their siege tactics.)) Mandatory Mark Checks Greenblades must inspect everyone who enters the Vale for the Harrower’s Mark as a matter of routine. According to the missive ‘The War on Ailmere’ by Silveira, the Mark is a curse that essentially turns its victims into spies for the Harrower, teleportation gateways for Chosen, and potential saboteurs. Allowing even just one person with the Mark inside the Vale is a massive security vulnerability that lets the Harrower casually bypass every other defensive measure the Vale may set up. It is imperative that a small station be built after the front gate where gate guards can thoroughly inspect people for the Mark before allowing them into the city proper. The Mark used to be identified by a marking on a person’s back depicting an open palm with an eye in the centre, but more recent Marks are invisible to the naked eye and can only be detected through Arcana Flow goggles as a ‘constant, ominous aura that clings under [a Marked individual’s] clothing.’ This necessitates more thorough vetting than just eyeballing a prospective entrant from the usual guard window at the gate. This additional layer of entrant processing can simply be called the ‘Mark Inspection Station’. It should at least have 1) three processing rooms or tents where guards can conduct inspections in private and 2) a surrounding wall with a gate that lets guards immediately seal off the Mark Inspection Station area should a Marked individual actually show up and Chosen teleport inside. Inside the processing rooms, guards should ask prospective entrants to remove any clothing items or armour pieces that could be concealing a Mark. Many people will not be comfortable with the idea of being vetted by the opposite gender. With this in mind, there should be two guards – one male and one female – available to conduct inspections. There should also be at least three processing rooms: one exclusively for men, one exclusively for women, and another gender-neutral room for people who identify as neither and also to increase the station’s processing capacity. A Mark Inspection Station would be just as important for the Vale’s defence as any of its walls. The Greenblades should not neglect constructing and running one if they don’t want the Harrower’s elites teleporting in and decapitating them from behind. ((OOC: For the sake of conserving time and effort, and to keep safely in line with LOTC’s rules on Prohibited Roleplay (as effective Mark inspections may realistically involve strip searching people), nobody should have to actually go through the time-consuming process of fully RPing out strip searches on every single person who wants to enter the city for a bit. It should be sufficient for the gate guard to stay at the usual window at the gate, post one short emote basically saying they would thoroughly inspect the entering person at the Mark Inspection Station with Arcana Flow goggles, get the player’s OOC assurance that they don’t have the Mark, and then let them into the city as normal. The ST could also represent this by having Marked NPCs be unable enter the city proper via the front gate without getting stopped by the guards, so the Harrower’s forces would probably have to consider alternative ways to infiltrate the Vale where their agents would have a higher chance of success.)) Conclusion The Chosen pose a grave threat to the security of the Vale, but at the very least they are a threat that can be mitigated. And unlike constructing and manning fortifications, countering the Chosen is something anyone can easily get involved in. No engineering degree, fancy magics, or flashy swordsmanship required. For the average civilian, this could be as easy as staying vigilant of one’s surroundings, volunteering to patrol the streets, relighting lanterns when they start to dim and flicker out, and ringing alarm bells when the enemy is spotted. Those with the mina or technical know-how can also procure luminosity potions and produce faery fire. And guards can be a bit more thorough in their vetting of strangers who enter through the front gate. With at least some basic idea of what the Chosen can do, people can probably think of countless other ways to deal with the threat of infiltrators. Doing these things makes it a much, much harder and riskier task for Chosen to infiltrate the Vale and undermine its defence from the inside. If Nevaehlen's streets are at least monitored, patrolled, and well-lit enough, the Harrower may just decide that infiltration via teleport jump is too dangerous and failure-prone an operation to send some of his most valuable assets on. Each Chosen, given their elite capabilities, is probably the product of thousands of man-hours of indoctrination, training, education, and combat experience. The equipment they use is made of rare and valuable materials. And there are probably not too many of them to throw around to begin with. The loss of even one Chosen would be a terrible blow to the Harrower's forces. So the Harrower, as an entity who is arguably capable of intelligent and rational thought, would probably be far more reserved in putting his Chosen at risk than he would be with his rank-and-file cannon fodder Thralls. If the people of the Vale can work together on measures that will make the Harrower think twice about deploying Chosen on infiltration missions, the Vale can be assured a level of security far surpassing that bestowed by any wall or cannon. None of the ideas compiled in this essay — which basically boil down to 'limit the areas the Chosen can feasibly teleport into and strike ' — is some genius game-changing revelation. Everyone in Nevaehlen has an important role to play in protecting their home. Everyone can contribute. Everyone matters.

• Remove CRP Lock inside settlements but keep it in the wilderness • Extend CRP Lock timer in the wilderness to 30 minutes • Remove post-Lock invisibility Towns and cities actually become the places of relative safety they are meant to be. Guards are no longer pointless and actually get a decent chance to react to threats as they realistically should. People will feel safer logging on and actually sticking around to RP, especially in non-peak hours, increasing overall RP and server activity. People's IRL time and commitments get more respect. RP spaces are still usable when fights happen. Nobody has to deal with the jarring situation of watching their buddies get jumped right in the middle of the town square in broad daylight and pretending to not notice or be bothered by it at all. The RP and commerce block of cities closing their gates is much less of an annoyance. CRP can still happen. Bandits and raiders just need to consider that there are obvious risks to attacking people in what are supposed to be populated and defended areas. Lessening the CRP Lock is a compromise that benefits and is supported by the majority of players. And its benefits way, way outweigh any drawbacks. This should not be that hard of a decision.