Look, as a vassal, we're not an officer in a strict command structure. We have obligation of honor to react, but we are not a modern military. The moment kaian began talking about modern militaries, he invalidated everything afterward.
Not so; it's a nice analogy. And, consider, the modern military officer isn't part of a structure where officers sending soldiers to fight the soldiers of other officers is a fairly common concern. Certainly, marching our troops to the Count's land might be explainable...but I'd imagine the Count and his troops could see it as Sir Rock getting fed up and deciding to end this nonsense.
It's a common sense thing. Kaian has got my vote in this case.
I look at his posts and see a lack of anything interesting or worthwhile as a plotline. "He stayed home" is not the plot summary of many books.
Because acting like a book character is smart?
Take any book, any tale of adventure and excitement. In more chapters than not, there's likely some action taken by the characters that would be VERY foolish to do in the real world.
And, anyways, many books are, in fact, set at home. They just do stuff there.
I could argue him point by point on merits. I could draw out the Constitutio Pacis of 1215 that enjoined nobles to allow free travel on public roads. Legally, going down those roads with lawful retainers is not construable as rebellion. We're a knight openly displaying his heraldry, fulfilling his duties as a guardian of the land. A king's justiciar would not confuse that with rebellion. Would the Count attack, anyway? Maybe. But we're mounted on horses for a reason. We're not even planning to immediately engage without observing the conditions for ourselves. This "send scouts and wait a month" thing gets really old, and it is also reacting rather than acting.
1. You know how Sir Stone exists in the real world? Neither do I. Don't cite real laws for a game explicitly set in a constructed world.
2. "...the
Constitutio Pacis of 1215 that enjoined nobles to allow free travel on public roads..." Or, to emphasize the important part, "
nobles," not
armies.
3. What makes you think the Count will care if we march into his lands with our soldiers? Likely as not, he'll interpret this as an invasion, especially since we're not exactly on friendly terms right now.
4. What makes you think we'd wait a whole month? We've had interruptions midmonth before.
But that's pointless. The "law" that he can't actually cite is merely his screen to play a low-risk game. This story is a real homebody so far. Robert the Bruce famously went before the armies at Bannockburn and, in light armour with only a handaxe, beat a fully armored knight charging at him with a lance by dodging his lance and splitting his helmet in one blow. We'd never get to that decision, would we? We're actually a much less worthy knight than most in history.
Have you considered the fact that A. We've had precisely one war so far in our knightly career, B. we've still got plenty of time ahead of us for glory, C. there's nothing stopping us from taking action if we learn about the action we're taking first, or D. you don't hear as much about the knights who followed the doctrine of discretion being the better part of valor, nor those that
died from doing foolhardy deeds which would have been considered "noble" or "worthy" had they succeeded?
Kaian can radio the Duke, I guess. This is a modern army. We're a "unit" with a "sergeant" that goes to a "frontline" so we can just radio in an arty barrage if things get hairy.
Don't strawman him. There's law and order, which has parallels to the military.
You assume we can outrun them. However, if they are indeed more than bandits, and heading for our town, it's highly likely it's the Count. The very same Count who specializes in Cavalerie forces, and has no reason to love us. If he kills us at that moment using his overpowering forces and mobility, and then blames the thing on us, not many'll care. Dead men speak no tales, so he owns the truth.
Precisely. It doesn't hurt that there is a legitimate reason of why we'd be invading...
Plotline?
He sat at home He took nothing and made something. This story is pretty good so far....
Look before you leap.
Have you looked at our army? Dragoons? We have mostly archers. We only got horses a lil bit ago.
You are assuming a lot of things....
Caution? yes. Yes, because though it isn't real, we are pretending that it is. There aren't hit points here.
Robert the Bruce didn't have hitpoints, either, when he faced down Henry de Bohun charging at him in full armour. He had heart.
Do you have heart, or is there just a big pink marshmallow there?
Do you have brain, or is there just a big white marshmallow there?
For every Aragorn, Harry Potter, or Beowulf, to pick three random examples, there's hundreds of Damrods, Colin Creeveys, Onelas, and people so minor they never got names. What makes you think Sir Stone is the one in a hundred who does something impossible and not the other ninety-nine who dies in the process? And if you say "Because he's the focus of the game," I swear I will...actually, I'm not sure what I'll do, but that's a stupid response.
You assume we can outrun them. However, if they are indeed more than bandits, and heading for our town, it's highly likely it's the Count. The very same Count who specializes in Cavalerie forces, and has no reason to love us. If he kills us at that moment using his overpowering forces and mobility, and then blames the thing on us, not many'll care. Dead men speak no tales, so he owns the truth.
The count has heavy cavalry. Destriers are meant for carrying heavy riders into short charges, not cantering for miles. The lesson here is actually illustrated in the example of Robert the Bruce, who was on a light palfrey, maneuvered past the knight's lance and struck him a mortal blow with amazing agility.
However, those charges could well finish off our forces before we can do much about it. Especially since our "dragoons" are archers who own horses.
You know what I mean.
That's three times you cited this example. I would like to name heroic lightly armoured heroes that got messily killed for being too reckless, but unfortunately the more common a thing is, the less it is put down with details like names in the annals. Chronics take note of unusual things.
Chronicles are an attempt to tell history, but in the end, they really are just stories about great figures doing unusual things. This is not only because readers find more interest in that, but also because larger-than-life characters really do succeed more and stir more people to their causes in reality as well as in fiction. What then does that say of your apparent strategy to play this game like a character as unworthy of note in the chronicles as possible? Read about Oda Nobunaga and his decision to fight the Battle of Okehazama, then tell me if the way you steer this character would have him making the same bold calls that put Oda in the Shogunate. What are we striving for the character to achieve in this story? This is a story, and all stories everywhere subscribe to one universal rule: Rule of Cool. If our character dares, anything is possible.
Especially if by "anything," you mean "death."
And, actually, I could name some lightly armoured "heroes" that died as a result. Harald Hardrada and his forces were killed without their armour on, and Julian the Apostate also died chasing a fleeing Parthian after a victorious battle without any armour. If you're gonna argue a side, then try to do it with a certain depth and command of facts, rather than "I would like to name someone like this, but I'll pretend it's impossible, because I really am not up to the task of doing it personally" Just because you didn't read about them doesn't mean that they didn't exist, or that their courage won them no glory before their end. They may have died from rash boldness, yes, but their daring and out-sized personalities where the reason they had the chance to be known in the first place, rather than dying unknown in a farm cottage.
Frankly, I don't see why dying in battle is so much better than living in a cottage.
But that's not the choice. The choice is between charging in unprepared and bothering to gather some intel before charging in, nothing more and nothing less.
Dying in battle may be glorious, but life and victory even more so.
And in closing, I will write you something from Beowulf:
Each of us all must face life's ending,
so win who may, glory ere death!
That is the warrior's worthiest doom.
Interesting line of thought, but I'd rather face life's ending at a later time.
I will say one thing, our precious little town builder is going nowhere fast in a feudal society if we get a reputation as battle-shy. They were kinda manly man like that. Not that you'd know enough about chivalry to understand.
Does chivalry include the ability to cast
raise dead? Because that's what we're objecting to--going into battle
without preparing first, not going into battle
per se.
You don't have to say he is an expert, or even agree with him, but you can stay civil with your disagreements.
So he makes a crack about my arguments being nothing more than "I-wanna-be-a-MANLY MAN", and you're jumping on me for saying he doesn't know chivalry, and I meant that in the literal historical sense?
Get a load of yourself.
Have you considered the possibility that he has a point?
Many of your posts and arguments have focused on the honor and assuming that we're the Heroic Knight who Defeats the Evil Count and Such, rather than that we're just a knight, rather than considering how the Count would react. Heck, after a while you even dropped that this would allegedly be allowed in real-world Europe.
It's a good story. Please continue, I'll read eagerly.
I'm just frustrated. No battles since 9th of February. Even participating in the tournament was a narrow decision. Not sure that we'll ever get a chance to distinguish ourself in a non-building way, not because of your story-telling or lack of story hooks in that direction, but lack of player interest in seizing those hooks.
I might need to step back for a while. Producing more heat than light.
Stop thinking like a fictional hero and start thinking like a peasant who's a little out of his comfort zone and still getting accustomed to everything, and we'll be closer to the same wavelength.
Anyways, my vote? Prepare for battle but don't send more than scouts. Avoid sending armed men through the Count's land if possible. Try to send messengers to the Duke without passing through the...affected area.
But we might need to prove that it is edible, not some trickery.
