tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87022444742123520642024-03-16T11:52:56.828-07:00The Big IdeaThoughts on stories, the universe, and everything.Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.comBlogger163125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-26866661056803035142021-03-13T16:10:00.000-08:002021-03-13T16:10:53.986-08:00Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, part 19: War Costs: Soldiers’ Pay<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The Travis’ are back with another installment of our series on Warfare. We’ve been analyzing a writer’s perspective on calculating the cost of war, developing some tools and thumbrules you might start with when calculating the cost of war in your story, and seeing how this mundane task can yield helpful ideas for your writing. At the very least, your effort to make your warfare come across as thoughtful and realistic (by your story world’s gauge of consistency) will be appreciated by the discerning uber-fans your serving. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis C here. Last time we left off with a detailed approach to calculating how much food both human and non-human fighters might consume and began a illustration using those calculations to gauge the financial impact of war in a fictional world. Our purpose wasn’t to delve into all possible fine details, but to give you an example where doing a bit of math can provide some values for you to work from.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><strong>This week we’re going to dive into another significant expenditure of the army: pay.</strong> Travis P early in our series described different martial cultures and types of soldier through history. We also discussed some of the reasons a nation and a soldier might go to war. To begin this post, let’s list some of the reasons a warrior might be in the army and heading off to combat:</p><ol style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 10px 10px -15px;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Obligatory service enforced by cultural norms (drafts and conscription)</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Obligatory service enforced by negative consequences (slave soldiers, indentured servants, the draft)</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Voluntary service driven by internal resolutions (national pride, personal convictions)</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Voluntary service driven by external benefits (both immediate and long-term, promptly realized or speculative)</li></ol><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">In the cases of obligatory service, the benefits of being in service might be woefully small, but it’s an obligation that must be served out regardless. As the executor of such a system, I either need a big enough consequence to ensure fear keeps the soldiers going and not deserting, or I need sufficient positive reward to keep them from turning against or away from the system of service. Recent historical examples include American emotions surrounding the drafts during World War II versus Vietnam, and nations that still practice mandatory conscription (for instance, Norway).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">In the cases of voluntary service, we can expect some degree of difference between those driven by altruistic feelings, and maybe wanting/needing less compensation for their time and effort, as opposed to those in it for the cheddar. I posit that it is highly unlikely, and therefore needs to be justified to the reader, for a person to serve with no expectation of any reward or remuneration of any kind. At a minimum, the expectation of basic needs being met should be presumed. Because there are opportunities elsewhere the soldier could be pursuing.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Keep that in mind as we discuss historical cases and speculative examples. In most situations there’s an opportunity cost at work–if those soldiers weren’t going off to war, they could be doing something else. Maybe working in a different job, earning more (or less), enjoying their individual freedoms (or not), and living a satisfied and whole life with harmonious relationships (clearly “or not”). The reward and compensation system you put in place needs to withstand your readers’ scrutiny and meet that basic test, or at least acknowledge why it works contrary to our experiences.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Before we looks at the wavetops of historical examples, let’s outline<strong> three basic characteristics of a military pay system:</strong></p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">It must be sufficient</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">It must be consistent and/or assured</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">It must be in a useful form</li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Sufficiency was described earlier. There will also be problems if that pay doesn’t come with some regularity or at least with assurance some form of compensation will be provided. And the pay must be useful. If you told me I wouldn’t receive my regular salary in the currency of U.S. dollars but instead would receive it all in the latest digital currency (LoreCoins? BitHavens?) I would likely have something to say about that. That’s been true of every economy over time and should hold true in our fictional worlds. If the soldiers aren’t paid enough, regularly, with something that holds value to them, there will be problems. They will desert, or loot, or steal from one another, or find some way to make it work out that will likely cause further challenges. (For example, the army that fought under George Washington during the American Revolution had continual problems with deserters because soldiers were paid with paper currency that did not have the value that precious metal coins had during that period.)</p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiqua, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 30px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Biblical Armies & Plunder</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis P described various historical soldiers through primitive times. To capture one snapshot of the period leading into the more organized Greek and Roman forces, I want to pull examples from the Bible. The forces of the Israelite tribes, especially early on, existed as a militia-type force, drawn from the men, age 20 to about 50, of the tribe and operating together when the collective Israelite interests were aligned, such as against an invading kingdom. Over time, through the judges and later the kings, we see Israel form a standing army through the king’s guard and develop tribal regiments that rotated duty through the kingdom. The Bible does not specify pay for those performing this duty. Those serving were expected to provide their own equipment and supplies. There was precedent for the nation to support their military forces through the giving of supplies in exchange for protection, as we learn in 1 Samuel 25. <strong>What also existed was the expectation of war booty.</strong></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><strong>The practice of looting, pillaging, sacking, plundering, and despoiling was common long before the Bible was written (and continued long afterward).</strong> By comparison with many contemporaries, the Israelites were relatively mild. Other than in the case of Joshua’s initial conquest of Canaan, Israelite forces normally:</p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">A besieged town would be given terms. If accepted, the town might be put to forced labor, but not enslaved or killed and the Israelites would occupy it.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">If the city rejected the terms and the Israelites won the ensuing siege/battles, the men might be put to death, but the women and children would be taken as spoils and divided.</li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><strong>The spoils that came from victory would be distributed among the Israelite militia, including shares for those who stayed behind to guard encampments. Rewards trickled down from the top with officers receiving special shares</strong>, often for acts of heroism and might. Lastly, while one-time spoils from a city could be distributed among the soldiers, it was not uncommon for occupied cities to pay annual taxes or indemnities to the victors, providing another source of national income. These expectations existed across many cultures at that time, including the <a href="https://www.realmofhistory.com/2017/06/28/10-facts-hittite-warriors-bronze-age/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Hittites</a>, Egyptians, Assyrians, and later the Persians.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">It feels uncomfortable to write about the <strong>spoils of war,</strong> but that <strong>was a reality of conflict</strong> and in some ongoing wars (particularly <strong>among poorer nations) is a reality up to present times</strong>. What Travis P called “barbarian” armies in fact fought primarily for plunder, <em>all </em>of their pay stemming from what they took from conquered enemies. Even as paid professional soldiers were incorporated into various nations’ defenses, the basic pay of warriors for a long time only marginally sufficient to meet their basic needs. Higher wages could be earned in many different non-military occupations, so the aspiration for gaining wealth through spoils was very real and necessary tool to maintain an army.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiqua, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 30px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Roman Era</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Rome represents an organized military example with a systematized method of compensating soldiers at different levels. According to <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Stipendium.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Whiston</a>, we see the rise of regular pay around 405 BC with a stipendium (from stipem and pendo since copper by weight was the common coin before silver was minted) for soldiers paid out from the Roman general tax (tributum) about three times per year. At times <a href="http://cimsec.org/lessons-late-roman-army/11667" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Rome also provided pensions for those who completed careers in military service</a>, called a praemia militare after 20 years of service (this number grew through Rome’s history to 25 years or more of mandatory service). These pensions sometimes included lands, working animals, roles in local governance, and exemption from certain taxes. <a href="http://cimsec.org/lessons-late-roman-army/11667" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Steve Wills</a> has a lot of great connections between this system, how it eventually fell apart, and the role of pensions in modern militaries.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-33451 alignright" height="213" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Arch-of-Titus-350x213.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Arch-of-Titus-350x213.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Arch-of-Titus-400x244.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Arch-of-Titus-500x305.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Arch-of-Titus.jpg 509w" style="float: right; height: auto; margin: 10px -402.448px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" />Spoils remain a significant motivating factor for those serving in the Roman army. Striping the dead of their valuables was common. The hope of riches was a useful tool for recruiting the next generation of legionnaires, and certainly commanders could be expected to inflate the likelihood of gaining such wealth in order to draw more candidates into the ranks. Though in general, Roman soldiers primarily lived off their salaries.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Lastly, <a href="https://www.saltassociation.co.uk/education/salt-history/roman-times/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">some sources</a> indicate portions of a Roman soldiers pay came in the form of salt (and to be fair, it’s also <a href="http://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2017/01/salt-and-salary.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">commonly considered a myth</a>). C<a href="http://www.legendsandchronicles.com/ancient-civilizations/ancient-rome/ancient-roman-currency/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">oinage was expensive</a> to produce and may have represented a hurdle to use in more common low-price purchases, salt would have represented a valuable commodity that could be exchanged for other goods. Hence our connection to any form of <strong>military compensation</strong>: it <strong>must be useful.</strong></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiqua, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 30px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Middle Ages & Feudalism (and the Crusades)</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Since many fantasy story worlds share medieval roots, it’s appropriate to look at this period for examples of military pay systems. We don’t have space to unpack all of feudal society and the variations of society that existed across this period right now. In fact, many parts of the world that interacted with one another during this time operated under different socio-economic systems. Feudal obligations were discussed in our earlier post covering knights. I do want to dive into a few specific elements of this system. If you are looking for something with more depth (especially for specific definitions), <a href="http://home.olemiss.edu/~tjray/medieval/feudal.htm" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">this is one great resource to help authors out.</a></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Across our medieval countryside we have various divisions of land (hides, leets, hundreds, yokes, sulongs, etc.) that were worked by folks of varying social levels. Yeomen, who were freemen, were men-at-arms that held land (often 60-120 acres) in return for their military service. Yeomen would likely be vassals to a noble lord or knight, holding their land as fiefs and submitting to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudal_duties" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">certain obligations</a> to include their military service and financial aids. Working up the social ladder, lords would pay their respective obligations all the way up to their king. Knights could come from the noble ranks above yeomen and hold their lands as knight’s fee for their service or as a reward for exceptional service after rising as a commoner.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">When a lord called upon his vassals for military service, it typically involved specific terms and conditions. <strong>Due to the agrarian culture, military campaigns tended to happen between planting season and harvest (which was also true for most but not all ancient armies</strong>–the Assyrians pioneered fighting year-round, as the Romans also did), and fighting seasons certainly dictated many obligations. Traditionally this consisted of 40 days per year for martial duties due to one’s lord. Feudal maintenance was the money payment made to those soldiers fighting for their lord’s interests executing such duty. And let’s not forget the reality that such small wages could be (were expected to be) supplemented with booty. From one of my favorite period pieces:</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33452" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.448px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 189px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33452" class="wp-image-33452 size-medium" height="300" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 189px) 100vw, 189px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/The-White-Company-189x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/The-White-Company-189x300.jpg 189w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/The-White-Company-252x400.jpg 252w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/The-White-Company.jpg 299w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="189" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33452" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Image credit: Project Gutenberg</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">[Asked to Samkin Aylward, Archer & Recruiter]</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><i>“And where got you all these pretty things?” asked Hordle John, pointing at the heap</i> [of loot]<i> in the corner.</i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i>“Where there is as much more waiting for any brave lad to pick it up. Where a good man can always earn a good wage, and where he need look upon no man as his paymaster, but just reach his hand out and help himself. Aye, it is a goodly and a proper life. And here I drink to mine old comrades, and the saints be with them! Arouse all together, mes enfants, under pain of my displeasure. To Sir Claude Latour and the White Company!”</i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/903/903-h/903-h.htm" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company</i></a></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">As the period progressed the system changed to relieve many vassals of their military obligations via <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutage" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">scutage</a>, or the payment in kind for military service. For a prosperous fief it would make sense to pay money or goods to meet their obligations rather than provide service in the field. Another unique form of taxation for military purposes was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudal_aid" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">feudal aid</a>. These existed as one-time financial duties paid from vassals to their lords as part of their feudal obligations. Four common milestones included the knighting of the lord’s eldest son, the marriage of his eldest daughter, ransom in case of capture, and when called upon to support a lord during a specific campaign like a crusade. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The Crusades are a good place to end our Middle Ages discussion. The perceived spiritual rewards of joining a crusade were substantial enough to draw many participants. Early crusade planners like Pope Urban II recognized that financing such ventures would be critical: “<a href="http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/HistCrus/0001/0006/reference/history.crussix.i0017.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>If the money be not wanting, the men will not be wanting</i></a>.” Individual crusaders had to pay their own way, and many sold their lands, goods, inheritances, or financed their participation via loans and with gifts from their families and friends in order to participate. Why would a soldier put themselves under such obligations? Certainly the promise of heavenly rewards was strong, but the reasonable expectation of temporal reward in the form of prizes and new lands was a powerful motivating force. If you are interested in an easily read reference on such matters, I highly recommend <a href="http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/HistCrus/0001/0006/reference/history.crussix.i0017.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">this resource from the University of Wisconsin by Zacour & Hazard</a>.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiqua, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 30px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Transition From Feudal to Modern Militaries</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Looking at the periods after the Middle Ages up into the 19th century (when many of our modern military pay structures were maturing), we see a transition to consistent pay with reduced reliance on plunder. Ashore, the armies of Europe transitioned from service as part of feudal obligations toward a more formal pay system executed by central governments. Using the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_soldiers_in_the_eighteenth_century#Pay" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">British Empire as an example</a>, soldiers had clear gradations in pay based on rank like we see today. Varying levels of skill and perceived risk impacted take-home pay as well; the drummer and trumpeter in the foreranks might actually receive more than a common foot soldier, and neither as much as a dragoon or standard cavalry. Recruiting efforts were creatively designed to draw in those in need with the promises of regular pay and recruiting incentives, starting with the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/wars_conflict/soldiers/soldier_trade_in_world_fact_file.shtml" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">King’s Shilling</a>.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33453" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.448px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 183px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33453" class="size-medium wp-image-33453" height="300" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 183px) 100vw, 183px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/King-George-poster-183x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/King-George-poster-183x300.jpg 183w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/King-George-poster-427x700.jpg 427w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/King-George-poster-244x400.jpg 244w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/King-George-poster-500x820.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/King-George-poster.jpg 600w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="183" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33453" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Credit: redcoat.org</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><i>“If any gentlemen soldiers, or others, have a mind to serve Her Majesty, and pull down the French king; if any prentices have severe masters, any children have unnatural parents; </i><i>if any servants have too little wages</i><i>, or any husband too much wife; let them repair to the noble Sergeant Kite, at the Sign of the Raven, in this good town of Shrewsbury, and they shall receive present relief and entertainment.”</i><i><br /></i><i>From the play </i><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/wars_conflict/soldiers/soldier_trade_in_world_03.shtml" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>The Recruiting Officer, by George Farquhar</i></a></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Soldiers were expected to pay for certain portions of their kit from their wages. While basic rations might be supplied through the quartermaster, the cost for additional supplements like beer may have been borne by individuals. For those in the cavalry, this could include the feed and forage for their horses. Officers were expected to provide their own uniforms and generally provided for themselves in most respects. An officer’s appearance was truly a reflection of their financial state. Some nations also practiced the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/wars_conflict/soldiers/soldier_trade_in_world_05.shtml" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">purchase of commissions</a> as a means of generating national income (limited) and helping to assure loyalty to the nation they served. Such an economic decision would be weighed against the likelihood of receiving a positive return on the investment through social influence, prizes, ransoms, or other compensation. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><strong>Pay was certainly a strong influence on the sailors of the day.</strong> Volunteers for sea duty were often scarce and “<a href="https://www.britishtars.com/2017/07/seamans-wages-in-revolution.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">The Evil Necessity</a>” of <strong>impressment,</strong> that is, capturing crews of other ships and forcing them to sail for your military, was used to crew military vessels of the British Navy (among others). While individual wages were generally low (and not adjusted for inflation from 1653 through about 1797!), crews could be eligible for <strong><a href="http://sarahs-history-place.blogspot.com/2011/09/prize-money-and-pensions-in-royal-navy.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">prize money</a></strong> based on participation in successful combat. Like all things, it trickled down from those of higher rank taking the lion’s share, but contributed a not insubstantial amount of a <a href="http://sarahs-history-place.blogspot.com/2011/09/royal-naval-pay-from-1793-to-1815.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">sailor’s compensation</a>.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33454" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.448px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33454" class="size-medium wp-image-33454" height="243" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/HMS_Blanche_and_Pique-350x243.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/HMS_Blanche_and_Pique-350x243.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/HMS_Blanche_and_Pique-768x534.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/HMS_Blanche_and_Pique-700x487.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/HMS_Blanche_and_Pique-400x278.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/HMS_Blanche_and_Pique-500x348.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/HMS_Blanche_and_Pique.jpg 800w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33454" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Credit: Painting by Robert Dodd, Royal Museums Greenwich</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">How could nations during this post-medieval period afford such militaries? To some degree, it was access to capital, growth of centralized governments, and expanding their reach into new markets and gaining access to previously unrealized resources. In a circular argument, the need for greater resources required the use of military power to conquer and then hold those colonies against internal and external threats. Hence you end up in situations like the British paying Hessian forces to serve in the Americas, and the American upstart government offering lucrative terms for Hessians to defect (I mean, I don’t know what <a href="https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/08/8-fast-facts-about-hessians/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">I’d say to farmland, two pigs, a cow, and citizenship</a>? Sounds pretty good.)</p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiqua, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 30px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Modern Military Pay System</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Most modern nations have implemented consistent pay systems for their military forces as a means of providing assured defense for their people. The <a href="https://militarybenefits.info/2019-military-pay-charts/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">United States</a> and other industrialized nations have systems that generally follow these practices:</p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Pay and allowances are based off of some combination of rank, seniority, time-in-service, with a differentiation between officer and enlisted service.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Certain allowances may be treated more favorably for a soldier than a civilian (e.g., some portions of military pay are tax-free).</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Pay is issued with regularity and predictability. Honestly though, ask a service member for a good pay story and they will certainly have some example where “the system” caused challenges due to delays, overpayments, underpayments, recoupments, etc. There is a lesser degree of uncertainty today than we’ll see in past generations.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Generally, there are no financial incentives for military performance other than through structured promotions in rank. You won’t see a general receive a cash award for how well they executed a campaign. You might correlate a major rising to lieutenant colonel a little faster because of her performance and therefore receiving that pay raise earlier than her peers.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Pay is issued in the currency of the nation.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">There are often other tangible and intangible benefits that are used to promote volunteering for service. Tangible benefits such as healthcare, education opportunities, housing, training, and retirement pensions continue to be used across services and nations as a way of attracting talent. Intangible benefits such as the sense of camaraderie, service to a greater mission, and national/collective defense wax and wane with circumstances, but each generation has had something to point towards as an internal positive benefit of service.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Taking loot is actually <em>forbidden </em>and is in some cases a crime under military law.</li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">To some degree, modern military pay systems operate against internal competition with non-military employment opportunities. In order to attract and retain talented people, the military must offer compensation that reflects a similar opportunity for the person serving. Otherwise, at some rate, fast or slow, people would migrate away from service into other roles in society and fewer would join the ranks to replenish them. <a href="https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2004/RAND_MG108.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">One current challenge the U.S military faces is attracting and, more so, retaining those with significant information technology (IT) skillsets</a>. The civilian market for such talent is strong and aggressive, with many perceived benefits the military cannot guarantee. Why maintain a computer system while deployed far away for long periods when you can maintain such systems here and go home at night? Military leadership has been forced to consider new ways to compensate those technology specialists it gains and trains to avoid shortfalls in those unique capabilities.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Looking into the recent past of the United States, both the Union and Confederate forces come across as having military pay systems similar to today. As this <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/military-pay" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">source suggests</a>, the regularity was likely much different as quarter and paymasters had to catch up with moving military units, causing delays in payment. The pay period of every two months is also shocking to our modern expectations. We see a differentiation between enlisted and officer ranks, some disparity between the two forces, and a significant reliance on variable allowances for rations, forage, and fuel, along with support for horses and attendants. We also see the disparity between ethnic backgrounds when it came to pay.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiqua, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 30px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Future: Where Are We Heading?</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">We can certainly look around and see the future unfolding. Pure digital currencies? A return to standard-backed currencies based on other rare (or limited) resources? Either of those may come to pass and factor into how an organization (nation-state or otherwise) might choose to compensate those who serve. Stories like <i>Avatar </i>suggest access to advanced technologies (like medical treatments) might motivate individuals to provide martial services when such capabilities are beyond the reach of the masses. <i>Avatar</i> also provides an interesting viewpoint on the role of private security forces that are effectively self-contained armies used for corporate, non-governmental purposes. To some degree the future is here with the <a href="https://bpr.berkeley.edu/2017/10/25/soldiers-of-fortune-the-rise-of-private-military-companies-and-their-consequences-on-americas-wars/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">increased presence of paid professional security forces (i.e., contractors) in modern conflicts</a>.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33455" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.448px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33455" class="size-medium wp-image-33455" height="197" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Quaritch_security_instructions-350x197.png" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Quaritch_security_instructions-350x197.png 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Quaritch_security_instructions-400x225.png 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Quaritch_security_instructions-500x281.png 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Quaritch_security_instructions.png 640w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33455" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Credit: Vignette Wikia</p></div><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiqua, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 30px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lady Katie Illustration Part II: Paying for an Army in the Field</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><a href="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/speculative-fiction-writers-guide-to-war-part-18-war-costs-exercise-1-food-for-the-army/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">We left off with our illustration</a> as the Lady Katie needs to fund 2200 archers, 3300 foot soldiers, of which 1000 are mercenaries drawn from other lands, 400 knights and their attendants, 12 war wolves, and a dragon. All to stand up a field army to fight against her neighbor, the Mad King Crabcakes of Old Seaside, who threatens invasion. We made some simple assumptions and determined her cost for food for a six month campaign would run nearly £19,605 which we pegged to the value of the pound around 1400 A.D. and representing nearly 2/3 of her demenses’ annual income.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">My<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2849068?seq=8#metadata_info_tab_contents" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"> first reference</a> will be to payments of wages during Edward III’s reign and the Hundred Year War. My favorite fictional knight, Sir Nigel Loring, served on campaign during this period, and his contemporary the Earl of Salisbury was paid:</p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">£933 for services rendered over three months</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">£2003 for his wages, 23 knights, 106 men-at-arms, 30 mounted archers, 50 Welsh footmen, and 63 sailors aboard ship.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">£38 for siege engines and other works</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">£37 for sundries</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">£155 for the loss of 8 horses</li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">That gives me a ballpark figure when thinking about subcommanders and their smaller units. But it doesn’t help me differentiate between the types of soldiers and their expected pay levels. I found some helpful information that did break down, by day and by role, some common pays:</p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Foot Archer: 2-3d/day</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Mounted Archer: 6d/day</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Knights: 2s/day</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Cavalry: 18d/day</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Infantry: 2-8d/day (2d/day for foreign soldiers) depending on rank</li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Using our earlier estimates of personnel, that gave me a figure near £32000. That’s about the annual royal incomes from Edward III’s period and for Lady Katie will represent a huge obligation to meet. That doesn’t count for paying off her dragon or the war wolves. So where does that leave us as the author?</p><ol style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 10px 10px -15px;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">I need to consider a reason why the dragon would serve in her army. Gold? Jewels? Avoid being hunted? Probably getting a bunch of cows as food will be insufficient to satisfy her during the six month campaign. I need to really dig into a dragon’s motivations for aligning with a human-centric cause.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Mostly because I’m cheeky, I think the war wolves will demand payment in salt. What use would they have, being sapient mammals, with coins? They can trade the salt with foresters in exchange for venison jerky to last them through winter. Similar to the dragon question, we need to think through a legitimate compensation for this non-human entity in the story.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Lady Katie will need to determine what military obligations she’s willing to take in the form of scutage. If some of her baronesses have lucrative economic situations, it’s likely they may balk at providing people for military service. Rather than fight an internal battle at home and against them, Lady Katie may concede to receives funds in exchange.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">If she receives funds in exchange for service, she still needs to find sufficient soldiers to fill the ranks. If not filled via feudal obligation, are there enough fighting men and women inside her realm to serve as freefolk? Or will she need more than her 1000 mercenaries?</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Maybe Lady Katie has been in this place before and demonstrated she can’t meet her financial obligations to her troops, and there’s a strong current of distrust among her subjects. Once they hear the tax collector coming around and word of feudal aid being taken up, they will react.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Maybe it’s not Lady Katie who is the concern, but her own leaders who have taken advantage of their roles distributing pay in previous campaigns. If corruption is rampant in the paymasters and noble leadership, how will the fighting forces react? We saw this in <i>Braveheart </i>as the Scots recognized their leadership would parly for new lands and titles while commoners would likely see nothing.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">If Lady Katie can’t come up with sufficient funds from her coffers, where will she get them? Loans from other nations? Loans from banks? Taxes? The expectation of gaining new lands when she marches into Old Seaside and attacks King Crabcakes? I think, as we noted earlier, she needs to manage expectations as far as looting goes. Maybe she’s altruistic and wants to prevent looting, so she promises extravagant wages and will set up strict discipline again such actions; she knows innocent people will suffer due to her army crossing lands (friendly and foe) and seeks to prevent negative reactions. Maybe she decides this is all Old Seaside’s fault and they deserve to be plundered for making her have to go to war. Maybe she decides to blindly not ask questions of what her soldiers will do. In any case, there are clearly some plot points to be developed from her decision.</li></ol><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiqua, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 30px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Conclusion</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Any of those factors could provide a seed for tension in the story. They also represent opportunities for authors to use mundane topics like figuring out the pay schedule as vehicles for deeper characterization.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">We hit several historical wavetops, but hopefully gave you a starting point to explore further how various pay structures impacted the militaries of nations through time. The reliance on plunder to supplement no wages, followed by limited sustenance-only wages, ultimately shifted toward a regular salary comparable to many related professional fields.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">As writers of speculative fiction coming from the faith, we have guidance concerning not only military compensation, but pay in general. God provides us His perspective on wages in a few places, but his command in <a class="rtBibleRef" data-purpose="bible-reference" data-reference="Deut 24.14-15" data-version="esv" href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Deut%2024.14-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Deuteronomy 24:14-15</a> says it well:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><i>Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. You are to pay his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he may cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.</i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">And in the later part of <a class="rtBibleRef" data-purpose="bible-reference" data-reference="Matt 10.10" data-version="esv" href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Matt%2010.10" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Matthew 10:10</a>: “<i>The worker is worthy of his wages</i>.”</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">We have a visceral reaction to cases where work is performed but inadequate wages are paid. Anytime you monkey with this equation, you should expect a consequence:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Effort x Time = Internal Reward + External Reward + Spiritual Reward</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">As an author you have all the power in your world to leverage that equation and drive the emotions of your characters, and therefore, your readers as well.</p>Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-10595588288752674432021-02-18T01:50:00.000-08:002021-02-18T01:50:40.287-08:00Speculative Fiction Writers Guide to War, part 18: War Costs Exercise–Food for the Army<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis P. here. I'm continuing re-posting this old series with the intent of eventually finishing the entire thing. This week's post is based on my previous<a href="https://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/2021/02/speculative-fiction-writers-guide-to.html" target="_blank"> post on how much food a combatant needs</a>. This week runs through the numbers as a practical exercise, giving you an example of how, if you ever chose to do so, to calculate what an army needs. My fellow Travis is lead the way for this post:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis C here. As you saw last post, this topic is huge, and rather than try and combine informational content with illustration, we’re going to split things up for a bit. <strong>Travis P introduced us to food supplies over the ages.</strong> He covered a spectrum of periods and practices from ancient days till modern times and speculated upon futuristic scenarios in sciences fiction and fantasy environments.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><strong>This week, I want to build an example calculation using data that he provided along with some other resources.</strong> I’ll keep the story going as we discuss varying forms of supply and support, capital costs, and other cost-of-war-related themes. This post will accomplish two purposes: first, to give you a story context and second, to develop a relative cost estimate based on Travis P’s food post last week and how that might influence a story.</p><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">My entering assumptions:</h4><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Fantasy worlds are often modeled after the Middle Ages as we perceive them, ranging from the Dark Ages through the High Middle Ages. Because of the interesting data available for this time period, I used the time of the Hundred Year’s War, the 1415’s specifically. Several factors impact these calculations that don’t necessarily “scale,” but it was a place to start from. (Note that futuristic science fiction story worlds would be better modeled based on the needs of armies from our own times.)</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33317" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.448px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33317" class="size-medium wp-image-33317" height="255" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Agincourt-350x255.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Agincourt-350x255.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Agincourt-700x510.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Agincourt-400x291.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Agincourt-500x364.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Agincourt.jpg 747w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33317" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Morning of the Battle of Agincourt, 25 October 1415, painted by Sir John Gilbert in the 19th century</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">For medieval warfare, two types of activity dominate: putting armies in the field, and castle warfare (i.e., occupation politics). For castle warfare, we have both a defensive mode, building castles to preserve or hold a condition, and an offensive mode where castles are used as a strong base of operations from which to launch expeditions. We’ll start with fielding an army.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The purpose of this exercise is to develop enough information about the logistics of an activity in warfare so my story can be told without the reader assuming unbelievable events and to see if the logistics of a war can be used to develop interesting plot points, tension, and conflict. This exercise might be a starting place if I were to write a military fantasy, but as we’ll see, this will be insufficient to satisfy the superfan of that genre.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">When we get to it, we’ll base our currency off the English system and maintain similar relative values to the 1400’s:<br />1 pound (£1) = 20 shillings (20s)<br />1 crown = 5 shillings (5s)<br />1 shilling = 12 pence (12d for denarius)</p><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">Scenario: Lady Katie and the Mad King Crabcakes</h4><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The Queen of New Landia, the Lady Katie, is in trouble. The neighboring realm of Old Seaside has made a claim on the throne of her realm and rallied their banners to wage war against her own baronesses and herself. She has firm control of lands surrounding the capital city, Awesomeness, but her border with Old Seaside is relatively unprotected and vaguely defined by a forest. Wide rivers defend her remaining borders.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Rumors from her spies indicate the Mad King Crabcakes can field an army of 500 horse, 3000 foot, and 2000 archers plus attendants and that he plans to launch a major campaign within a year while testing New Landia’s defenses in the meantime. The strength of King Crabcakes’ forces drops significantly away from his stronghold on the coast, but there are at least 6 minor and 3 major fortifications between her border and King Crabcakes’ stronghold.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Clearly there’s a lot left missing, but let’s go with this until we need to create more. Lady Katie must face a hard choice to begin with: does she meet the Mad King in the field, or does she put up a strong defense through building or capturing castles? Either method will cost her time and money and she’s limited in both. She gathers her advisers to assess the situation. For this post, we will only look at the first of her options.</p><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">Fielding an Army</h4><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Like all good rulers, noble Lady Katie knows her baronesses and the condition of their lands. Clearly, Lady Katie needs to draw forces if she meets Crabcakes in the field. Her advisers suggest she wants at least a 10% greater force to assure victory, so she’s trying to field 550 horse, 3300 foot, and 2200 archers. Plus all the support services necessary to remain afield for no less than 6 months (we’ll assume the fighting season lasts 6 months and then, by traditional obligation, she allows vassals to return home, necessitating the length of the campaign.) We’ll exercise our endothermic assumptions by fielding a dozen sapient war wolves, and to further challenge our ectothermic assumptions, she gains access to a dragon to lock up her chances.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">I think we’ll delve into this in future posts, but let’s make a couple of assumptions to get us an army to put in the field, and some conditions she and her advisers will consider when calculating the cost of food:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">1) When we say 550 horse, we’ll assume 400 knights and 150 skirmishing-capable riders (for pickets, scouts, messengers, and skirmishing duties.) Each knight has at least two attendants (squire/pages) in the field, and three horses (a warhorse, a riding horse, and a pack horse). At this point, we’ll assume the attendants will not have their own mounts. The skirmishing force each require two horses for their duties.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Total knights: 400<br />Total attendants for the knights: 800<br />Total skirmishers: 150<br />Total number of horses: 1500 (we’ll un-conservatively assume a horse is a horse, of course. That’s not true, as a charger’s needs will vary compared to palfreys, coursers, and pack animals.)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Lady Katie gets these through her baronesses as a feudal obligation. We’ll discuss their cost later.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">2) The 3300 foot come from various sources. Some are her standing forces that occupy her lands’ castles and fortifications, which she draws down to provide soldiers for the army (let’s assume 300 of them). 2000 will come from feudal obligations from her baronesses’ lands. Another 1000 will be paid soldiers from other lands performing as mercenaries. She’ll pay for these via scuttage that we’ll discuss when we talk wages. While the majority of these soldiers will travel afoot, some portion do have horses to be used for their unit’s obligations. Let’s assume that’s 5% of the non-garrison force.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Total foot soldiers: 3300 (1000 mercenaries)<br />Total number of horses: 150</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">3) The 2200 archers come from her land’s feudal obligations as well, as every person is expected to shoot on Sundays by tradition. Half of this force have horses (one per soldier) to enable rapid deployment across the battle space, the remainder are afoot.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Total archers: 2200<br />Total number of horses: 1100</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">So just the regular fighting forces, not logistics support or engineers or anything else (other than squires), we end up with:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Total soldiers to feed: 6850<br />Total horses to feed: 2750</p><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">How much food?</h4><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Let’s look at the horses first. We may revisit this topic, and I don’t intend to provide a rigorous analysis of horse use in combat at this point, but <strong>according to a World War I</strong> source on horse care, I’ll use a median value of <strong>11 lbs of oats and 10 lbs of fodder for each horse every day</strong> (irrespective of type; clearly an incorrect assumption, but sufficient for now).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">2750 horse x 11 lbs oats = 30,250 lbs per day<br />2750 horse x 10 lbs fodder = 27,500 lbs per day</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">At 2500 lbs per wagon drawn by a brace of oxen, that’s about 12 wagons a day for oats, and 11 for fodder if it’s not available. Let’s assume she wants to have the horses forage for fodder to the maximum extent possible to extend her supplies. If I use a simple assumption that we can look at in more detail later that an acre of grass can produce 2000 lbs of fodder in a year, with a 9 month season it can be relied on for fodder, we can consume about 7.5 lbs per day per acre without leaving the land decimated. Lady Katie’s horses could consume as much as 3700 acres per day (about 5.8 square miles per day). Historical accounts suggest swaths of up to 10 miles wide being destroyed by a passing army, and now we can understand why.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Since in today’s market, wheat is about twice as expensive as oats, I’m using this reference to estimate my cost of oats at 4d/bushel, and a bushel of oats is about 32 lbs, so my daily cost of oats is:<br />30,250 lbs x (1 bushel / 32 lbs) x (4d / bushel) = 3781d, or 315s or £16/day<br />= ~ £2900 for a 6 month campaign (I’ve also found references that suggest this could be at least twice as high!)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">For the people, let’s start with the simpler scenario: humans.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Using Travis P’s estimates from last week, I made some simple estimates for how much a person will consume per day:<br />1 loaf of bread @ 800 grams (this is higher than necessary)<br />⅕ of a chicken @ ~150 grams<br />1 qt of ale<br />1 qt of milk<br />Modify the costs by a factor of 150% to account for error, any supplements like sauces, etc.<br />Modify that result again by 150% for the knights assuming they will eat better fare<br />Estimate this all weights in around 5.5 lbs/person/day</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Based on a mix of 1300’s prices (which we will share later), that works out to:<br />0.3 pence for bread<br />0.4 pence for chicken<br />0.2 pence for ale<br />0.05 pence for milk (assume ¼ the cost of ale)<br />Total: 0.95 pence x 1.5 = 1.425d (let’s round to 1.5 pence per soldier per day)<br />And lastly, 1.5 pence x 1.5 = 2.25d for nobles and knights</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">So with our merry band of 6450 human soldiers and 400 knights, we get:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">1.5d x 6450 soldiers = 9675d, or 806s, or £40.<br />2.25d x 400 knights = about £4.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><strong>Let’s round that to £45 per day. In 2019, that seems cheap. If I use a simple relative conversion though, we see it’s pretty significant:</strong> in modern times, a loaf of bread alone costs about £0.25, or 60 pence a loaf, compared to our 0.3 pence. So that army costs a modern estimate of £9000 per day, or £1.6 million for our 6 month campaign! And think of everything we didn’t factor in:<br />Transport of the foodstuffs<br />Actual variability in the menu we purchased<br />Preparation, cooking, serving, clean-up<br />Any of our camp followers and support staff<br />Whether that food is immediately available when we want it</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><strong>I want to check my math here</strong> and use a different measure, from a resource we will share in a future post:<br /><strong>Price in 1380 to feed each member of a household: lord, 7d; esquire, 4d; yeoman, 3d; and groom, 1d.</strong></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">400 knights x 7d = 2,800 pence/day<br />6,450 soldiers x 3d = 19,350 pence/day (I lumped my squires into the yeoman category)<br />= 22,150d, 1,845s, £92/day (about twice what I estimated first)<br />= £16,600 for a 6 month campaign!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">I’ll assume the higher amount for now to be conservative.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><strong>Endothermic Creature Calculation</strong></p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33319" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.448px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33319" class="wp-image-33319 size-medium" height="175" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Dire_Wolf-350x175.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Dire_Wolf-350x175.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Dire_Wolf-768x384.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Dire_Wolf-700x350.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Dire_Wolf-400x200.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Dire_Wolf-500x250.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Dire_Wolf.jpg 960w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33319" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Dire Wolves (an extinct species of very large wolf). Source: US National Park Service</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Bear in mind that our standard Medieval figures only apply to creatures who actually lived in the medieval era. So <strong>how do we account for fictional creatures, like Lady Katie’s war wolves?</strong> I think we’ve got two possible approaches. She’s bringing a dozen in the field with her, and let’s say they weight in around 200 lbs (a little larger than the extinct species of dire wolves that once lived on Earth). <strong>The first thing we could do would be to scale up the average consumption of the closest living animal to our fictional creature, in this case a real wolf:</strong> our war wolf is a little more than 100% larger, and wolves consume around 10 lbs of meat per day (not necessarily in a single day though), so we can assume the war wolves will need twice that amount.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">12 war wolves x 20 lbs meat/day = 240 lbs of meat per day</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Based on assumptions about cows that follow, I can anticipate 1 cow lasting 3 days, so we need another 60 cows for a cost of about £25 for the campaign to feed the wolves. Alternatively, I could use Travis P’s recommendation on BMR and attempt to scale the caloric intake for our war wolves. Since the 200 pound figure I’ve been using equals about 90 kilograms, a BMR for a war wolf would amount to approximately 90 kilograms ^.75, but such a figure is so general that it would have the wolf wind up with the same approximate BMR as a 200 pound human!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">While a war wolf weighs in near the size of a large man, for whom Travis P listed a figure of 2,500 calories per day as a reasonable calorie per day intake, my sense is a wolf will have higher caloric intake than a man. Travis P may have accounted for this by mentioning that creatures with higher metabolisms use more calories per hour than creatures with lower metabolisms. One way we would know if a creature has a higher metabolism is if its internal body temperature were higher than a human beings. Is that the case for wolves? <a href="https://mignonviljoenthearcticwolf.weebly.com/internal-and-external.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">According to one online source</a>, the answer is no, because humans and wolves have the same internal body temperature, 37<strong>°</strong> C / 98.6<strong>° </strong>F.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The other way Travis P may have accounted for this was by mentioning that while humans rarely exceed more than twice BMR while active, many other creatures have a much higher multiple for their BMR when energetic. He stated the BMR for a healthy adult human male is “about” 1800 calories–let’s round up to 2000 for simplicity. A human working hard may double that caloric intake a day or possibly even go over double by a significant degree, but an active wolf may go much higher, perhaps as high as 4 to 5 times that amount, based on a comment Travis P made in the previous article. That would mean a war wolf would use approximately between 8,000 and 10,000 calories per day.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Based on the figure of approximately 1,100 calories in a pound of meat from the list of Colonial rations in last week’s post, that would mean a war wolf would require between 7 and 10 pounds (3.2 and 4.5 kg) per day of meat. Which is about half the figure obtained from the simpler calculation based on what wolves eat per day, though that figure came from a source that may have referenced what wolves eat when given the chance as opposed to their minimum needs.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">In any case we now have two figures, one pointing at a minimum of about 10 pounds a day and the other at 20. To conservatively ensure we have enough food, we’ll use the figure of 20 lbs of meat per day.</p><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">Ectothermic Creature Calculation</h4><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Since in the story world of Lady Katie a dragon is an endothermic creature rather than an animal with a minimum BMR like a wolf, the kind of calculation we just did won’t really work here. Thankfully Travis P gave us some relief when considering ectothermic creatures. Since they cannot regulate their internal body temperature and rely on the environment, we have some thumb rules for how to calculate their caloric intake. We’ll use those estimates to gauge our dragon’s consumption costs.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">I’ll approach this the simpler of two ways: using the example of the 300-some kg crocodile Travis P gave (as opposed to more thorough calculations using his breathing rates). I also will assume out of that 6 month campaign that the dragon is lazy (for which I will use the SMR for 10<strong>°</strong> C /50<strong>° </strong>F that Travis P gave) and active for 3 months (for which I will use the SMR for 30<strong>°</strong> C / 86<strong>° </strong>F), respectively. If it were our crocodile:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">3 months x 30 days/month x 180 calories/day = 16,200 calories<br />3 months x 30 days/month x 720 calories/day = 64,800 calories<br />81,000 calories (the sum) x ~720 calories/300 grams of meat = 194.4 kg, or about 430 lbs.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33320" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.448px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 199px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33320" class="size-medium wp-image-33320" height="300" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/winner-shien-volly-catches-a-cow-199x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/winner-shien-volly-catches-a-cow-199x300.jpg 199w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/winner-shien-volly-catches-a-cow-768x1160.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/winner-shien-volly-catches-a-cow-463x700.jpg 463w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/winner-shien-volly-catches-a-cow-265x400.jpg 265w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/winner-shien-volly-catches-a-cow-500x756.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/winner-shien-volly-catches-a-cow-100x150.jpg 100w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/winner-shien-volly-catches-a-cow-280x420.jpg 280w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/winner-shien-volly-catches-a-cow.jpg 818w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="199" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33320" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Source: Naominovik.com</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Now for my crocodile-to-dragon conversion: I’ll assume a 15 tonne (15,000 kg) dragon based on Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series and assume that caloric intake scales directly. Our crocodile weighs in at the upper end of the scale at 390 kg, so:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">430 lbs of meat x (15,000 kg / 390 kg ) = ~16,500 lbs of edible meat</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">From my earlier reference, a good cow costs about 9s and we’ll assume I get ⅔ of the ~1300 lbs average weight of a range cow down our dragon’s gullet.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Number of cows for the six months = 16,500 lbs / 867 lbs/cow = 19 cows<br />Cost of cows = 9s/cow x 19 cows = 171s or about £8.5</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">In practice, this looks like 1 cow every 9 days or so. I suspect Lady Katie’s dragon will exert more energy because he will be more active in combat and require a full cow per day (if I were a dragon I wouldn’t work for any less).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Cost of cows for the dragon = 6 months x 30 days/month x 1 cow/day x 9s/cow = 1,620s or ~£80</p><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">Total Cost for 6 Months Afield</h4><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Let’s wrap this up and do a quick analysis:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Total food costs:<br />Soldiers: £16,600 (I’m going with our higher end estimate for conservatism)<br />Horses: £2,900<br />War wolves: £25<br />Dragon: £80</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Total £19,605</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Again, remember that Lady Katie has paid no wages, hired no combat support, nor provided for any form of logistics to get this food to the army, and this assumes she allows the horses to forage for fodder every day. <strong>This is therefore an estimate based on the cost of food alone, not including anything else.</strong></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">This feels like a long nerded-out math problem that has little direct relevance to us as authors. I certainly don’t suggest that we all need to have spreadsheets capable of doing this math, nor that we must be highly accurate when doing it. You are all likely great Googlers and can do research relevant to your story. But some things stand out in my mind:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The cost/horse (£1.05/horse) for food is lower than the cost/person (£2.50/person). This surprised me, and gave me a rough estimate that a horse-born soldier costs about 40% more than a foot soldier to support (in cost of food alone). It’s also much lower than £80/dragon but comparable to £2.08/war wolf.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Changes in food sources, especially access to grazing for horses and good range cows for dragons, can have a significant impact on the food budget; no surprise there.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Assuming a wagon can carry ~2500 lbs of goods, this army needs at least 20 wagons to support the horse feed alone, and nearly 13 to support the soldier’s food <em>per day</em>. Once we factor in drovers and teamsters, I have an entire storyline just related to the potential transportation of foodstuffs.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Inflation will impact these figures, so I should have some measure of relative worth to compare to. We’d call this something like useful purchase power, which we will address in a future post.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Any of those can be exploited for world building exposition or for a unique plot point. Maybe even a great secondary character like the drover for wagon number 17. We’ll keep delving into Lady Katie’s fictional war as we explore paying for her soldiers and later with the costs of castle warfare.</p>Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-83989107433374448062021-02-05T08:55:00.000-08:002021-02-05T08:55:21.399-08:00Speculative Fiction Writers Guide to War, part 17: War Costs: Food per Fighter<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis P here. Since Travis C did an excellent job giving an overview of the costs of war essential to providing for a military, I think it’s time to give the math-lovers out there some hard data that can actually be used in formulas to make generate specific data on what an army might need, starting with the most basic possible cost of war–the cost of putting food in the bellies of war fighters. Which starts with a look at how much food per day a war fighter needs. You as a writer may never need these resources, but if you ever do, we’ve compiled some data to indicate just how much food it takes to keep an army fighting in the field. (</span><strong style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Note this post wound up being longer than normal, but I’ve used bold text to highlight key ideas</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"> </span><strong style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">for those who will skim</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">this article rather than read every word.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><strong>The place to start with this kind of analysis is based on historical data</strong>, what real world armies have already done and then to expand from there to discussion of imaginary armies composed of fighters who are literally not of this world. We’ll also in future installments cover some of the issues regarding what it takes for a nation to produce sufficient food, which relates to the transportation of food and other supplies. Which will segue nicely into future posts that will provide some formulas that relate to transportation (and more).</p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiqua, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 30px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><b>How Much Food Per Human War Fighter</b></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><strong>The first numerical summary I’ll share</strong> here of how much food an army needed per day was<strong> from the records of the Colonial Army </strong>prior to US independence from Great Britain (<strong>1775</strong>). What they listed as their daily needs surprised me in its last item (source, a US Army Quartermaster piece entitled <a href="https://www.qmfound.com/article/the-history-of-rations/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>The History of Rations</i></a>):</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33272" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33272" class="size-medium wp-image-33272" height="197" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/soldier-rations-time-0_00_3906-350x197.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/soldier-rations-time-0_00_3906-350x197.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/soldier-rations-time-0_00_3906-400x225.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/soldier-rations-time-0_00_3906-500x281.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/soldier-rations-time-0_00_3906.jpg 640w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33272" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Credit: Savoring the Past.net</p></div><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">l6 oz. beef (probably salted)(about 1100 calories) (193 grams)</span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">18 oz. flour (about 900 calories) (510 grams) </span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1.4 oz. rice (about 150 calories) (40 grams)</span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">16 oz. milk (about 300 calories) (454 grams)</span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1 qt. spruce beer (about 450 calories) (907 grams/ml)</span></h4><h5 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Total: roughly 3,000 calories per day (caloric value of food varies according to exact type, which is partially unknown), weighing 5 pounds 10 ounces or 2.56 kilograms. While the beef, flour, rice, and beer could be stored over a long period of time, the milk would have to have come from fresh-milked cows, due to a lack of refrigeration at that time.</span></h5><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Note that the members of the Colonial Army often enough did not <i>receive </i>this much food. But <strong>this list,</strong> even though a bit idealized, <strong>took into account the higher calories a person needs when marching from battlefield to battlefield,</strong> a number significantly higher than the roughly 2000 calories per person that’s considered an ordinary caloric intake in our time. The variety of food reflects a rudimentary understanding of nutrition–spruce beer, made from a brew that included fresh spruce tree needles, was intended to prevent scurvy (which it did because the needles added a certain amount of Vitamin C to the beer). (Spruce beer was the surprise item on this list, because I’d never heard of it before!)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Note also that the average size of a Colonial soldier was less than a modern American–and smaller people on average require fewer calories. A modern US Army MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) has approximately 1250 calories, so three per day would equal 3750 calories, which is a more appropriate calorie count for larger people. More on MREs and calories per size a bit later.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">To further illustrate the issue of people<b> needing a different number of calories in accordance with the work they perform</b>, let’s look at the <strong>German rationing system for food during WWII</strong> (cited in the Wikipedia article <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrison_ration" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Garrison Ration).</a></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The <strong>Germans used 4 different levels of allotments for food</strong>, based on how hard they perceived a person was working and how much food they needed. Note this system was based on a number of scientific measurements. The food supplied was specific to what Germany was able to produce, but it covered all nutritional needs for their military well–even at the lowest calorie level, these were not starvation rations (sadly the Germans applied starvation rations elsewhere).</p><h5 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ration I (</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Verpflegungssatz I</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">) was for troops committed to combat, for those that are recuperating from combat, and for troops stationed in Norway north of 66° N. Latitude (because living in extreme cold requires a higher caloric intake).</span></h5><h5 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ration II (</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Verpflegungssatz II</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">) was for occupation and line-of-communication troops.</span></h5><h5 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ration III (</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Verpflegungssatz III</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">) was for garrison troops within Germany.</span></h5><h5 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ration IV (</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Verpflegungssatz IV</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">) went to military office workers and nurses within Germany.</span></h5><table style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><tbody><tr><td><b>Food Item</b></td><td><b>Ration I</b></td><td><b>Ration II</b></td><td><b>Ration III</b></td><td><b>Ration IV</b></td></tr><tr><td>Rye bread</td><td>700g (1.54 lb)<p></p><p>1590 calories</p></td><td>700g (1.54 lb)<p></p><p>1590 cal</p></td><td>700g (1.54 lb)<p></p><p>1590 cal</p></td><td>600g (1.32 lb)<p></p><p>1360 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Fresh meat with bones</td><td>136g (4.8 oz)<p></p><p>About 250 cal</p></td><td>107g (3.7 oz)<p></p><p>About 200 cal</p></td><td>90g (3.17 oz)<p></p><p>About 170 cal</p></td><td>56g (2 oz)<p></p><p>About 100 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Soybean flour</td><td>7g (0.24 oz)<p></p><p>280 cal</p></td><td>7g (0.24 oz)<p></p><p>280 cal</p></td><td>7g (0.24 oz)<p></p><p>280 cal</p></td><td>7g (0.24 oz)<p></p><p>280 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Headless fish</td><td>30g (1 oz)<p></p><p>About 40 cal</p></td><td>30g (1 oz)<p></p><p>About 40 cal</p></td><td>30g (1 oz)<p></p><p>About 40 cal</p></td><td>30g (1 oz)<p></p><p>About 40 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Fresh vegetables and fruits</td><td>250g (8.8 oz)<p></p><p>About 100 cal</p></td><td>250g (8.8 oz)<p></p><p>About 100 cal</p></td><td>250g (8.8 oz)<p></p><p>About 100 cal</p></td><td>250g (8.8 oz)<p></p><p>About 100 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Potatoes</td><td>320g (11.29 oz)<p></p><p>150 cal</p></td><td>320g (11.29 oz)<p></p><p>150 cal</p></td><td>320g (11.29 oz)<p></p><p>150 cal</p></td><td>320g (11.29 oz)<p></p><p>150 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Legumes</td><td>80g (2.8 oz)<p></p><p>64 cal</p></td><td>80g (2.8 oz)<p></p><p>64 cal</p></td><td>80g (2.8 oz)<p></p><p>64 cal</p></td><td>80g (2.8 oz)<p></p><p>64 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Pudding powder</td><td>20g (0.70 oz)<p></p><p>About 470 cal</p></td><td>20g (0.70 oz)<p></p><p>About 470 cal</p></td><td>20g (0.70 oz)<p></p><p>About 470 cal</p></td><td>20g (0.70 oz)<p></p><p>About 470 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Sweetened condensed skim milk</td><td>25g (0.88 oz)<p></p><p>83 cal</p></td><td>25g (0.88 oz)<p></p><p>83 cal</p></td><td>25g (0.88 oz)<p></p><p>83 cal</p></td><td>25g (0.88 oz)<p></p><p>83 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Salt</td><td>15g (0.5 oz)</td><td>15g (0.5 oz)</td><td>15g (0.5 oz)</td><td>15g (0.5 oz)</td></tr><tr><td>Other seasonings</td><td>3g (0.1 oz)</td><td>3g (0.1 oz)</td><td>3g (0.1 oz)</td><td>3g (0.1 oz)</td></tr><tr><td>Spices</td><td>1g (0.03 oz)</td><td>1g (0.03 oz)</td><td>1g (0.03 oz)</td><td>1g (0.03 oz)</td></tr><tr><td>Fats and bread spreads</td><td>60g (2.11 oz)<p></p><p>422 cal</p></td><td>50g (1.76 oz)<p></p><p>352 cal</p></td><td>40g (1.41 oz)<p></p><p>282 cal</p></td><td>35g (1.23 oz)<p></p><p>246 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Coffee</td><td>9g (0.32 oz)</td><td>9g (0.32 oz)</td><td>9g (0.32 oz)</td><td>9g (0.32 oz)</td></tr><tr><td>Sugar</td><td>40g (1.4 oz)<p></p><p>135 cal</p></td><td>35g (1.23 oz)<p></p><p>118 cal</p></td><td>30g (1.05 oz)<p></p><p>101 cal</p></td><td>30g (1.05 oz)<p></p><p>101 cal</p></td></tr><tr><td>Supplementary allowances</td><td>2g (0.07 oz)</td><td>2g (0.07 oz)</td><td>2g (0.07 oz)</td><td>2g (0.07 oz)</td></tr><tr><td>Total Maximum Ration in grams / pounds</td><td>1698 / 3.74</td><td>1654 / 3.64</td><td>1622 / 3.57</td><td>1483 / 3.26</td></tr><tr><td>Total Maximum Ration in Approximate Caloric Value<br /><i>(Note calories are approximations due to exact foods used being unknown)</i></td><td>3584<p></p><p>About 3600 calories</p></td><td>3447<p></p><p>About 3450 calories</p></td><td>3330<p></p><p>About 3300 calories</p></td><td>2994<p></p><p>About 3000 calories</p></td></tr></tbody></table><h5 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">(Note under some circumstances, such as a soldier being very large, or extreme cases of long marches, the calorie intakes listed would be insufficient–but the system did work for most people under most circumstances.)</span></h5><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">More <b>ancient sources that list rations </b>are, not surprisingly, not as nutritionally balanced. According to the online source <a href="https://www.alimentarium.org/en/knowledge/military-rations" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Alimentarium</a>, during the time of the early Roman Empire, <strong>each Roman soldier was allotted 2 Roman pounds (1 pound 5 oz or 657.8 grams) per day of bread,</strong> plus an unknown amount of meat, olive oil, and sour wine. Salt and the kinds of fruits that would stave off scurvy are not included in this daily ration at all. Though we should note that Roman soldiers ate fruits when available. (Romans always ate from local cuisine in addition to what they were rationed.)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-33273 alignright" height="300" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Roman-Army-225x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Roman-Army-225x300.jpg 225w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Roman-Army-525x700.jpg 525w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Roman-Army-300x400.jpg 300w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Roman-Army-500x667.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Roman-Army.jpg 600w" style="float: right; height: auto; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="225" />The Romans would march with cows and wagons full of bacon, grain, olive oil, and sour wine as part of their baggage train. An individual soldier might carry some hard biscuits, bacon, and sour wine on his person, but most of the food was provided for the entire army at once, based to a large extent on what the local civilian economy supplied. Which was to a certain extent how all ancient and many medieval armies operated. Food supply was for the entire army, not really for soldiers as individuals. <strong>Without cooks</strong> (almost always civilians until WWI) to process the food, <strong>the army would go hungry.</strong></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The reason this was true was because of <b>spoilage</b>. Fresh food doesn’t usually keep for very long but live animals obviously don’t normally get eaten by bacteria due to their own immune systems (fresh milk will clearly not keep long, but if you keep the milk cows with you, you can provide fresh milk on a continual basis). Certain foods like grain or flour resist bacteria because they are dry. Dry cheeses also resist bacteria and have been used to supply some ancient and medieval armies (olive oil, while not dry, contains no water and as a result resists bacteria). Alcohol also resists bacteria and was for a long time in various forms part of the supply ration for many militaries (a ration of rum was common for colonial-era navies–a ration of whiskey was allotted to the men of the Lewis and Clark expedition).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Another advantage of <b>alcohol as food supply</b> is that some types, such as beer and wine, have water within them, which means they can help supply the <b>body’s need for hydration</b>. Whiskey and rum cannot do that effectively on their own, but when mixed with water, they serve as a purifier for water, since many ancient water sources were contaminated with bacteria or other microorganisms that alcohol kills. (While this article is barely touching on the issue of hydration, please note that military operations requiring a lot of marching may require on average about 6 liters, or 6 quarts, of water or other liquid containing water, per day.)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Pastoral nomad warriors of the past, who were able to sustain themselves off their herds, would simply drive the herd with them if going into a battle that would take a long time (and leave the herd in a safe place if going on a raid). Though of course the professional armies in world history have been supported by sedentary agricultural production. Since most agricultural nations have primarily produced grain (whether that be wheat, barely, oats, rice, or corn/maize) and secondarily livestock <i>along with the fact that </i>grain at least needs to be boiled in water if not baked into bread to be edible, while livestock needs to be slaughtered, butchered, and cooked to be edible, that meant that soldiers mostly could not carry their own food on their person. They were either dependent on what they could obtain from the civilian economy (which, especially if they were invading enemy territory, probably meant stealing from civilians) <i>or </i><b>soldiers</b> <b>required an entire army camp apparatus to provide their food</b>. Or some of both.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Since it’s possible for soldiers to be cut off from the field kitchen feeding them or it may be necessary for them to spend extended periods of time away from such a kitchen in a combat operation (this can happen to sailors, too, but is not nearly as common at sea), <b>militaries over time have worked to make rations more compact and easier to carry</b> on a person in combat. An early step in this direction came in the late Eastern Roman Empire, a.k.a the Byzantine Empire, which eventually changed its philosophy on supply (along with the introduction of the <a href="https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory/chapter/the-theme-system/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Theme system</a>). Each individual soldier was required to supply himself with 20 days of food, usually in the form of grain. The <b>Byzantines</b> carried a <i>paximadion, </i>a hand mill, to grind their own grain to make a rough bread that was their primary sustenance in battle, a bread the soldiers would make themselves, providing them a measure of independence in food supply that didn’t exist for most armies of their time.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">It wasn’t until <b>World War I</b> that it became possible to feed a soldier a complete set of rations while separated from a field kitchen. That’s because of the invention of <b>canning</b> (“tinning” in the UK) allowed food of sufficient nutritional value to be stored in a way that would keep it safe from spoilage. World War II also used canned (tinned) foods for soldiers who could not easily be fed in field kitchens.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33274" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 320px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33274" class="size-full wp-image-33274" height="258" loading="lazy" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Freeze-dried-foods-from-Mother-Earth.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="320" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33274" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Freeze dried food. Credit: Backdoor survival</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Post-World War II, the practice of <b>freeze-drying food</b>, which actually had been pioneered by the Incas in South America (circa the 1400s), provided the most compact form of food currently known. <b>With freeze-dried food, it’s possible to carry 3000-4000 calories per day at a weight of only 1.5 to 2 pounds per day </b>(680 – 907 grams)<b>. </b>(Of course you still have to add water.)<br /><br />While freeze-dried food is the most compact form of food in common use, many militaries have moved away from using it, because freeze-dried food isn’t particularly tasty and in wartime, the supply of water isn’t guaranteed and may have to be carried by soldiers–so you might as well include the water in the food in the first place. In fact, the infamous US Army ration of modern times, the “<b>Meal Ready to Eat</b>,” <b>(MRE)</b> is “ready” because it <strong>ISN’T freeze-dried</strong> (though some early versions of MRE’s included some freeze-dried food, none do now).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Generally, a MRE contains the following items (from <a href="https://www.goarmy.com/soldier-life/fitness-and-nutrition/components-of-nutrition/meals-ready-to-eat.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">GoArmy.com</a>):</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33275" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33275" class="size-medium wp-image-33275" height="250" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/MRE-350x250.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/MRE-350x250.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/MRE-400x286.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/MRE-500x357.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/MRE.jpg 522w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33275" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Credit: Amazon.com</p></div><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><h4 style="font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Entree – the main course, such as spaghetti or beef stew</span></h4></li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><h4 style="font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Side dish – rice, corn, fruit, or mashed potatoes, etc.</span></h4></li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><h4 style="font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cracker or bread</span></h4></li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><h4 style="font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Spread – peanut butter, jelly, or cheese spread</span></h4></li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><h4 style="font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dessert – cookies or pound cakes</span></h4></li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><h4 style="font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Candy – M&Ms, Skittles, or Tootsie Rolls</span></h4></li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><h4 style="font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Beverages – Gatorade-like mixes, cocoa, dairy shakes, coffee, tea</span></h4></li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><h4 style="font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hot sauce or seasoning – in some MREs</span></h4></li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><h4 style="font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Flameless Ration Heater – to heat the entree</span></h4></li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><h4 style="font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Accessories – spoon, matches, creamer, sugar, salt, chewing gum, toilet paper, etc.</span></h4></li></ul><h5 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Each MRE provides an average of 1,250 calories (13 percent protein, 36 percent fat, and 51 percent carbohydrates) and one-third of the Military Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals.</span></h5><h5 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Each MRE weighs between 18 and 26 ounces depending on the specific meal (510 to 740 grams), so an entire day’s provisions would weigh between 3 pounds 6 ounces (1.53 kg) and 4 pounds 14 ounces (2.22 kg). Which is heavier than freeze-dried food, but not a great deal and they are easier to consume.</span></h5><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><b>Futuristic food is not likely to get any more efficient than freeze-dried/MRE-style meals. Star Trek fans may cite the replicator at this point</b>–which can transform energy, which in theory weighs nothing, into food. This would seem to be the ultimate way of making food lightweight, right? Of course, speculative fiction authors are of course free to invent what they want; <b>however</b>, you should be aware that <b>a food replicator is an unrealistic type of technology</b>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><b>Directly transferring energy into food </b>(Star Trek replicator style) <b>would use a </b><b><i>lot</i></b><b> of energy</b>. More than you might imagine–that is, if a replicator is truly thought of as directly converting energy into food. That process would be covered by the formula E=MC^2, or to flip that around for creating mass, M=E/C^2. Since “C” is the speed of light and that’s about 300,000 kilometers per second (186,000 miles/sec) that means C^2 is “only” roughly 90,000,000,000,000,000 (9×10^16). Which means if you decide to make 1 kilogram worth of spruce beer in your replicator (because you’re curious what it would taste like) (one kilogram, by the way, is about what the US Colonial ration of one quart of spruce beer would weigh), assuming 100% efficiency of the energy to matter transfer, it would take you a mere <b>90,000,000,000 megawatts to produce</b> that <b>one kilogram</b> of spruce beer. And since <a href="https://www.quora.com/How-many-megawatts-of-power-does-America-need-per-day" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">by one online source</a>, the entire United States uses about 317,000,000 megawatts per month, it would only take a “mere” <i>23 years 8 months </i>of all the electric production <i>of the entire United States </i>(as it currently is) to produce enough power to quench your curiosity about what spruce beer tastes like.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33276" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33276" class="size-medium wp-image-33276" height="243" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Replicator-problem-350x243.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Replicator-problem-350x243.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Replicator-problem-400x278.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Replicator-problem.jpg 461w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33276" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Credit: YouTube</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Yeah, I don’t see energy-to-matter food replicators happening. Not ever–even if a future society mastered the technology, it seems incredibly wasteful. That’s the kind of thing you’d save for rare engine parts made of out platinum or whatever other very rare mineral. You wouldn’t waste such a technology on food production. <b>Even an advanced food generator that would allow you to replace cooks would make more sense if it used actual matter</b> that’s already around instead of generating it directly from energy. Why not have a kind of advanced digital printer for a replicator instead, that could squirt together food components from a bank of proteins, fats, sugars, starches, and liquids to make your custom food? Much more practical! Though maybe not as tasty…but note that while this sort of technology would allow you to replace field kitchens, it would do nothing to make field rations any smaller.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">So any realistic version of a future society will include them needing to pack and supply field rations as much as past ones have done. (In fact, <b>even Star Trek itself at various times references the existence of field rations!</b>)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Of course a story set in <b>a fantasy world can have magical rations</b>. The Lord of the RIngs features <a href="https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Lembas" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Lembas Bread</a>, a bread baked by elves (no, not Keebler elves! <img alt="😉" class="emoji" draggable="false" role="img" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/svg/1f609.svg" style="background: none !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; display: inline !important; height: 1em !important; margin: 0px 0.07em !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: -0.1em !important; width: 1em !important;" /> ) that tastes sweet and when in use, one small loaf will provide enough energy for one person for an entire day. The exact weight of a Lembas loaf is unknown, but it does weigh something. Let’s estimate half a pound (227 grams) per Lembas loaf–that means <b>Lembas Bread at maximum is only about 4 times more efficient than freeze-dried food</b>. Though Lembas may have the additional benefit of reducing thirst, note that even an army of elves would have to think about how much Lembas they need versus how much they can carry–and for a long campaign, even magical bread would require wagons of some kind to move it.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33277" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33277" class="size-medium wp-image-33277" height="197" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lembas-bread-350x197.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lembas-bread-350x197.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lembas-bread-768x432.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lembas-bread-700x394.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lembas-bread-400x225.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lembas-bread-500x281.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lembas-bread.jpg 910w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33277" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Credit: Sorted Food</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">And of course one would have to consider the resources required to make Lembas or other magical food. Please understand I’m not saying good worldbuilding requires you to calculate all of these things out in every case. But nothing should be free in a story world. Not even magic. You should consider the fact that <b>an army marching to war, even a magical army, will need to plan how it’s going to feed itself </b>when you create your story world. (Of course, spells that generate food from non-food–say rocks into bread–could be one way to solve this issue.)</p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiqua, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 30px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><b>Food Per Non-Human War Fighter</b></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Ok, we’ve talked about the amount of food a human warrior has needed and various means to supply it. But what if we don’t want to write humans? How much food will a non-human need?</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">While <strong>androids/robots</strong> may sustain themselves with mostly energy and a small supply of replacement parts (including replacement hydraulic or lubricating fluid if applicable) and while we can imagine <strong>more exotic aliens</strong> who perhaps lay out in the sun to gain energy from photosynthesis or magical creatures who derive energy from proximity to crystals or similar notions, these kinds of creatures will be the exception in most stories. Because<b> most inhabitants of speculative fiction stories will need to eat food, just like we do. </b>And while some aliens/magical creatures might be able to consume food humans would get no nutritional value out of, it’s generally useful to think of these beings as eating food the way we do, but needing different amounts.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">There are <b>two basic factors that influence how much food a creature needs to survive</b>. The first is <b>metabolic rate</b>, i.e. how much a creature burns per hour at rest. The second is <b>size</b>, with larger creatures needing more food in general than small ones. With the important caveat that larger creatures almost always have lower metabolic rates than smaller ones, so while an elephant may need much more food than a mouse, each bit of tissue in the mouse is actually using far more energy per period of time than the same amount of elephant tissue. While it is true that an elephant eats much more food than a mouse, in proportion to its weight, <strong>a mouse burns more calories in proportion to its body weight than an elephant,</strong> nearly 12 times as much. So however many mice it would take to weigh as much as an elephant, that number would eat far more than an elephant does!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">As explained in an article by <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/principles-of-physiology/metabolism-and-thermoregulation/a/metabolic-rate" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Khan Academy</a>, <strong>our planet has two kinds of creatures</strong>, endothermic (they produce their own heat) and ectothermic (their body temperature matches their surroundings). Birds and mammals are <strong>endotherms</strong> and pretty much everything else is an <strong>ectotherm</strong> (note most but not all dinosaurs are now considered to have been endotherms).</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33278" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33278" class="size-medium wp-image-33278" height="248" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lizardmen_vs_Chaos-350x248.png" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lizardmen_vs_Chaos-350x248.png 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lizardmen_vs_Chaos-768x544.png 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lizardmen_vs_Chaos-700x496.png 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lizardmen_vs_Chaos-400x283.png 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lizardmen_vs_Chaos-500x354.png 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Lizardmen_vs_Chaos.png 920w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33278" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Lizardmen vs. Chaos. Credit: Warhammer Wiki</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><b>Ectotherms:</b> A pure <b>ectotherm’s metabolism is defined as a Standard Metabolic Rate (SMR)</b>–and the thing is that this rate changes with temperature. So the SMR of any cold-blooded (ectothermic) creature is like an algebraic variable that has a different range for every species–a <i>range </i>and not a fixed value. When it’s colder outside an ectotherm moves slower and uses less calories. When it’s warmer, an ectotherm moves faster and uses more calories. Since an ectotherm is not using its own energy to raise or lower its internal body temperature, it <b>uses much less energy</b> overall than an endotherm, at times <b>as little as 10% of an endotherm’s </b>energy needs. So <b>your army of lizard men</b> can probably skip their breakfast…and carry far fewer supplies…but they are gonna march super slooooow in the morning…though they might get hungry in the afternoon after a quicker pace marching in warm sunlight.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Since the baseline food consumption of an ectotherm is a variable by temperature (not to mention activity), it will be difficult to account for it fully in this post. To provide some means to account for the effect of size alone on ectotherm metabolism, I’ll make reference to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233901613_Scaling_of_standard_metabolic_rate_in_estuarine_crocodiles_Crocodylus_porosus" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">an academic paper</a> that says the relationship of size of <b>crocodiles</b> to its SMR is <b>SMR = 1.01 M^0.829</b><strong> at</strong> the standard temperature of <strong>30°C (86°F)</strong> (where M=equals weight in kilograms). For many readers this equation will not be meaningful. The following diagram will be better:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-33261 alignright" height="171" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Croc-size-to-calorie-chart-350x171.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Croc-size-to-calorie-chart-350x171.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Croc-size-to-calorie-chart-768x376.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Croc-size-to-calorie-chart-700x343.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Croc-size-to-calorie-chart-400x196.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Croc-size-to-calorie-chart-500x245.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Croc-size-to-calorie-chart.jpg 813w" style="float: right; height: auto; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">An unfortunate thing about this chart is it measures metabolism in oxygen consumption per minute. It’s possible to convert that to calories but the conversion factor itself is, in truth, a variable. But about 5 calories (we’re talking “calories” as the term is discussed with food and diet, which are actually “kilocalories” in scientific talk) equal one liter of oxygen consumed. But a really big crocodile weighing around 300 kg / 660 lb. uses about 1/10 liter of oxygen in a minute. Which means in ten minutes it burns 1 liter or uses 5 calories energy or 30 cal per hour. That means in a day, <strong>doing absolutely nothing, a big (300 kg) crocodile needs 720 calories to stay alive (at 30 degrees C).</strong> Since it can get that much from around 300 grams of meat (10.5 ounces), the food needs of any ectotherm/reptilian are very, very low as long as they aren’t doing anything (and are significantly lower when it’s colder outside!).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-33262 alignright" height="152" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Temperature-Vs-Metabolism-350x152.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Temperature-Vs-Metabolism-350x152.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Temperature-Vs-Metabolism-400x173.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Temperature-Vs-Metabolism-500x217.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Temperature-Vs-Metabolism.jpg 630w" style="float: right; height: auto; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">To get a handle on how much temperature affects ectotherm metabolism, let me include a chart from <a href="http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/labbench/lab10/temprate.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">The Biology Place</a>. The chart applies to a specific organism, but shows the general trend for ectotherms to use more energy with higher temperature up to a certain point, above which high temperature causes the ectotherm to begin to shut down–and need to cool off. Note that <strong>at 40°C (104°F) an ectotherm uses twice as much resting energy as at 30 C (86°F), but that at 10°C (50°F) it uses only 25% of the energy at 30°C</strong>…so our crocodile from above only needs about a measly 180 calories per day to stay alive at 10 C/50 F. <strong>This probably would also be true for reptilian humanoids</strong>, if such a thing were to actually exist. They can’t warm themselves, but their need for food when their activity is minimal is very, very low! (Of course, when actively moving over an extended period, they need to eat much more.)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><b>Endotherms: </b>Calculating the food needs of an endotherm is actually somewhat easier. An <b>endotherm has a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) </b>that reflects the basic amount of energy it needs to regulate its body temperature. That means, laying around, doing nothing, an endotherm burns a certain minimum amount of calories just to stay warm. That number of calories can be thought of as a fixed minimum number per species, though it increases per muscle mass of an individual (which is why human men, who usually have more muscle mass than women, burn more calories per day). </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Note that while this post will not provide a specific formula to track it, it’s true that the <strong>BMR is higher for creatures prone to heat loss by living in a cold climate</strong> <strong>(including humans</strong> needing more calories in a cold zone than a warm one). <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2010.01672.x" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">As one scholarly article said</a>, “All other things being equal, a polar mammal living at −10°C has a body temperature ∼2·7°C warmer and a BMR higher by ∼40% than a tropical mammal of similar size living at 25°C.” Polar land animals would have to eat 40% more (in their environment).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-33270 alignright" height="252" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/dolphin-size-vs-respiration-chart-350x252.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/dolphin-size-vs-respiration-chart-350x252.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/dolphin-size-vs-respiration-chart-400x288.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/dolphin-size-vs-respiration-chart-500x360.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/dolphin-size-vs-respiration-chart.jpg 558w" style="float: right; height: auto; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Likewise, you may not realize it, but <strong>living in water causes sea mammals to lose heat much fas</strong><strong>ter than land mammals</strong>. While fat under the skin helps slow their heat loss, the BMR of any given sea mammal is much higher than a land mammal of the same size. <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.171280" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">One study showed at least some species of dolphins weighing around 100 kg/220 lbs to use about 1 liter per minute of oxygen when resting</a>. Since there are 1,440 minutes in a day, times our rough conversion factor of 1 liter of breathed O2 equaling 5 calories, that means<strong> a dolphin of that size (100 kg) and species needs 7,200 calories per day just to stay warm</strong>–ten times as much food as a 300 kg crocodile at 30 degrees C. Note a 100 kg human male at rest uses about 2,500 calories a day–a dolphin of the same size to stay warm in water uses nearly three times as much energy and so needs to eat three times as much food. (<strong>Merpeople would need to eat a lot!</strong>)</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33279" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33279" class="size-medium wp-image-33279" height="231" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Merpeople-350x231.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Merpeople-350x231.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Merpeople-768x507.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Merpeople-700x462.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Merpeople-400x264.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Merpeople-500x330.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Merpeople.jpg 1024w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33279" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Credit: D’nalsi Wiki</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">While scientific studies note a relationship between a creature’s internal body temperature and its base metabolism–a higher body temperature indicates a higher metabolism–usually this factor is something scientists ignore. They often calculate typical BMR based on the mass of a creature alone, as this generally accounts for observed caloric intake needs. Roughly speaking, though there are variations among orders of mammals and birds (the most important variation being sea mammals and extreme cold weather mammals as already noted, but it’s also true that creatures with bigger brains burn more calories at rest than smaller animals), it’s generally true that the <strong>BMR</strong> = <b>M^0.75 </b>(where mass equals weight in kilograms–for small mammals and birds this number is more like BMR = M^0.67).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">What that math relationship looks like on a chart I’ll show you from an article taken from the <em><a href="http://jeb.biologists.org/content/208/9/1611" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>:<img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-33271 alignright" height="300" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Mammal-chart-289x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Mammal-chart-289x300.jpg 289w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Mammal-chart-768x797.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Mammal-chart-675x700.jpg 675w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Mammal-chart-386x400.jpg 386w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Mammal-chart-500x519.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/Mammal-chart.jpg 1234w" style="float: right; height: auto; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="289" /></em> Note that the bottom of the chart tracks mammals while hibernating or “torpid”–i.e. many mammals can enter a state where their metabolic rate plunges and they use far less calories than normal (when they are “entheric,” as the chart puts it).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">An important point to remember on the subject of calculating how much a mammal (or likewise an alien or demi-human) needs to eat is that having to <strong>work can greatly increase the amount of calories a living creature will need</strong>, beyond the BMR. Human beings rarely double our BMR (the BMR for an average sized American woman is estimated at 1,400 per day and 1,800 for the “average” man), yet for most living creatures who live in the wild, doubling their BMR is the <em>minimum </em>they do on a daily basis. Some animals use up to six times their BMR when active (to give one example, while a dolphin may need roughly 7,000-8,000 calories per day resting, they on average need up to 33,000 calories per day in the wild!) <strong>Whether your non-human species typically does between 1.5 and 2 times BMR like a human or 4 to 5 times BMR like a dolphin has to do with how active your species is</strong>–if they are using 4 to 5 times as much energy as their BMR, they would pretty much be moving constantly, like dolphins do.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Ok, I’ve given a lot of data here as resources. It may not be immediately clear how to apply this data to world building, but Travis C is going to step in next week to help you put it all together. <img alt="🙂" class="emoji" draggable="false" role="img" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/svg/1f642.svg" style="background: none !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; display: inline !important; height: 1em !important; margin: 0px 0.07em !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: -0.1em !important; width: 1em !important;" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis C here. I’ve watched Travis P develop this section through the week, building in detail upon detail of good stuff! Rather than pile on more this week, our next installment will work through an example using Travis P’s research and some of my own to show how a story might evolve via each of our Cost of War considerations.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Stay tuned next week as I unpack Lady Katie’s war against the Mad King Crabcakes as she fields a fantasy army!</p>Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-51505681131981101272020-09-01T07:07:00.000-07:002020-09-01T07:07:37.899-07:00Speculative Fiction Writers Guide to War, part 16: The Costs of War<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis P here. Since our last post of our Guide to War covered Combat Support Training, it seemed natural to segue into another type of support for combat–those things a nation needs to do in order to support and field an army. That is, the costs of war, as Travis Chapman is about to explain in general terms (future posts will provide some guidance on how to compute war costs):</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis C here with a continuation of our post series The Speculative Writers’ Guide to War. As Travis P and I discussed where we wanted to head next, we knew that we needed to address the cost of war. We’ve discussed why a nation (or other entity) might chose to go to war, where their military forces might come from and how cultural and social factors might influence how they experience combat and how they might train for it. Lingering in the background is cost. War costs us something. We’ll spend some time dissecting how those nations will consider the cost of war before we move on to how planning and operations work.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">We could go to several sources to frame a dialogue on the costs of war. I propose the Bible. Not surprising at all, Jesus gave an expert analysis of the cost of war. His statement in and of itself is worth our analysis:</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33205" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33205" class="wp-image-33205 size-medium" height="212" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/800px-The_Return_of_the_Ten_Thousand_under_Xenophon-350x212.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/800px-The_Return_of_the_Ten_Thousand_under_Xenophon-350x212.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/800px-The_Return_of_the_Ten_Thousand_under_Xenophon-768x466.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/800px-The_Return_of_the_Ten_Thousand_under_Xenophon-700x424.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/800px-The_Return_of_the_Ten_Thousand_under_Xenophon-400x243.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/800px-The_Return_of_the_Ten_Thousand_under_Xenophon-500x303.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/800px-The_Return_of_the_Ten_Thousand_under_Xenophon.jpg 800w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33205" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">“The Return of the Ten Thousand,” Public Domain image by Herman Vogel</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit don first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.” <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+14%3A28-33&version=ESV" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Luke 14:28-32 ESV</a></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis P used this verse earlier in our series, but I think it’s worth returning to. In no particular order, a few things stand out to me looking through this lens of “costs of war”:</p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Offensive (going out) and defensive (build a tower) actions may require different analysis</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">The time to count costs is while sitting down, not after the foundation is laid</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">When it comes to towers, a finished product matters</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Better to make terms before the war begins</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Numbers mean things</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Costs may be material, human capital, and even pride</li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Those last two strike me as a author. It’s not that ten thousand can’t defeat twenty; we’ll spend some time discussing force ratios in future posts. It’s that disparities like that should strike us as odd, and the emotions of those involved should reflect that. Our king who sends the smaller force, and the soldiers in that force, should recognize the dire circumstances leading to the decision to march, or the ace in the hole they are relying on to overcome the numerical deficiency, or the ineptitude or lack of foresight on the part of commanders to order forces into such a situation without knowing the enemy strength ahead of time. The leaders of the superior numbers should display confidence, even bravado, or maybe disdain for the smaller forces.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">That’s when you can turn things on their head.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Or let things play out as expected.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The other point of note is in the types of costs that Jesus identifies:</p><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Material costs</span></h4><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">It’s no surprise that going to war costs money. As authors, we get to decide what exactly that means. Many of the material costs of war can be categorized as sunk costs (made one time, but never again thereafter), recurring costs (on some periodicity), and emergent costs. A nation may pay for those out of existing materials, purchase them from the coffers, capture them, or take them by other means. Consider the following examples:</p><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sunk costs</span></h4><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">The king re-purposes a frontier lodge into a watch tower, rather than pay for new construction (existing stock)</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">The king raises taxes and drains the treasury to fund construction of a new wall</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">The warlord captures key castles along a river to build a defense network</li></ul><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Recurring costs</span></h4><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">The king’s soldiers require food and spare leather for a campaign. Every village is required to provide a levy of grain each month and a grown cow per year.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">The king purchases weapons from a guild of craftsmen through taxes</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Soldiers forage for food and glean off the fields of conquered lands</li></ul><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Emergent costs</span></h4><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">After losing many battles and being driven to the sea, a lord must bargain for passage on merchant ships to return home</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">After losing many battles and being driven to the sea, a lord lays claim to a merchant fleet and takes the ships by force, treachery, or charming good looks</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">The imperiled lord, frustrated by his attempts to get ships and desperate,… you get the idea.</li></ul><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33206" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33206" class="size-medium wp-image-33206" height="248" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Cost-of-War-MNLF-350x248.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Cost-of-War-MNLF-350x248.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Cost-of-War-MNLF-768x544.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Cost-of-War-MNLF-700x496.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Cost-of-War-MNLF-400x283.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Cost-of-War-MNLF-500x354.jpg 500w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33206" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">This chart analyzes the cost of a specific war: The civil war in the Philippines between the government and MNLF rebels</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">You certainly don’t need to micromanage every grain of corn, every silver buckle, each force grenade holster in black leather, and the annual fuel supply for your hyperlight drives. That may be interesting and help with your worldbuilding and plot. It might be a way to introduce tension or uncertainty into the plot (our supply of hyperlight drive fuel was waylaid, now we’re stuck on this planet). At least a tacit acknowledgement that everything came from somewhere, at sometime, even if miraculously, will keep the realism going.</p><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Human costs</span></h4><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">If you are writing about war, then you probably have an existing point of view on the human costs. We’ve discussed some of the psychological and physiological impacts on a soldier in combat, but this lens looks at things little differently. Generally, we expect people, soldiers and/or civilians, to die in war. That covers a wide spectrum: non-combatants, participating combatants, combatants drawn into the fight but not aligned either way, innocents, collateral damage, etc. The following thoughts may stir up other possible human costs of war:</p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Those maimed in war but not killed</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Those disenchanted and disenfranchised, who change sides or work against their initial cause</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Family relationships wrecked by war: divorce, separation, emotional distancing, trouble reintegrating</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Lost future opportunities. Since the soldier is off doing “war,”they aren’t pursuing something else, like art or commerce</li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">There’s many more, and each of the ones given here could be expanded into thousands of possibilities. Some of those possibilities might actually be positive ones (ex. I’m glad Boramir went off to war because he was a jerk and we didn’t like him around here anyways). Many will be viewed as negative of course. Whether acknowledged or not, there is always a cost.</p><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pride or Belief in a Cause</span></h4><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">I’ve added this one in from my interpretation of sending delegations for peace terms. A wise ruler would recognize when to fold and find a non-combat solution that saves his or her people. We’d identify a ruler who fights in spite of that recognition as pursuing war out of pride, spite, or hubris. A familiar trope is showing us the haughty ruler pursuing victory through combat at the expense of soldiers, as if from the soldier’s vantage the war is purely for vanity and no material purpose.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33204" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33204" class="size-medium wp-image-33204" height="202" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/wheeloftime-350x202.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/wheeloftime-350x202.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/wheeloftime-400x230.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/wheeloftime-500x288.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/wheeloftime.jpg 637w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33204" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Credit: Crop of original artwork by Darrell K. Sweet for A Statistical Analysis of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Of course, some causes are worth fighting for, no matter what the human or material costs. Existential evil tropes rely on this belief. Sauron must be defeated. Thanos must be stopped. The seals holding back <a href="http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/characters/s/shaitan.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Shai’tan</a> must never be broken. Of course, each of these adversaries have their own justification for bringing war upon their world, which must be considered. In the <em>Wheel of Time</em> series we see many nations ally together when past experiences of war among each other must be overcome for a greater good. Those rulers must submit themselves at the cost of their pride to a greater authority.</p>Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-64533821522544624382020-08-14T05:42:00.000-07:002020-08-14T05:42:02.368-07:00Speculative Fiction Writers Guide to War, part 15: Combat Support Training<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis P here. Our last two posts have discussed training, the last one on the topic of combat arms training and the one before that on high-end capabilities, which are particular types of weapons that require a team (usually a large one) working together in a complex way to make an individual weapons system operate. This week we will discuss the training of combat support specialists, people who wear military uniforms and are trained in the basics of combat, but whose primary job is to support the war fighters rather than fight themselves. (Note that modern military studies distinguish between “combat support” and “combat service support”–I’m rolling both those terms together under the name of “combat support.”)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The earliest imaginable form of combat support would stem from ancient tribal warfare in which warriors (let’s be honest, they were almost always men) went out to battle and the wounded among those who survived to return home would be bandaged and given herbal remedies by village healers (who were, again, simply telling the truth, usually women). This generic type of scenario that played itself out throughout tribal societies across most of the globe is based on non-professional warriors, what I’ve previously called “barbarian” warriors (with no insult intended).</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Early human literate civilization, the Mesopotamians, were the first to specifically train warriors to fight as a full-time profession. There’s no direct evidence I know of that they also incorporated combat support specialist into their military. Yes, by the time of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, a military we know a great deal about, it’s evident the Assyrian Army marched with various types of combat support personnel, to name only some of them: cooks, baggage handlers, chariot wheelwrights, healers, scribes who managed supplies and record keeping. But these activities were handled mainly by slaves or free non-military personnel. It wasn’t soldiers in combat armor, with combat training, performing these tasks, with one likely exception.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33076" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 236px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33076" class="size-medium wp-image-33076" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 236px) 100vw, 236px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Siege-of-Lachish-236x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Siege-of-Lachish-236x300.jpg 236w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Siege-of-Lachish.jpg 250w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="236" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33076" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Assyrians attack the Judean fortified city of Lachish. Note the tower where Jewish bowmen are shooting down at the Assyrians, who are driving up a complex weapon with a long pole (a siege engine), which is itself riding on a ramp that was constructed by Assyrian engineers while defenders shot at them. (In this time-compressed image, Judean prisoners of war are shown impaled on stakes in the background, while women and children are shown peacefully leaving the tower to be exiled to Assyria, events that probably happened after the battle was over.) Part of a relief from the palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh. British Museum, London.</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Military engineers, who were responsible for building ramps and bridges and various other instruments to breach enemy defenses may have been wearing armor and trained in combat. After all, their construction projects, such as the ramp leading to the wall of the Israelite city of Lachish, allowing access to siege engines that would destroy the wall (one of the high-end weapons systems of their day), was built under enemy arrow attack. It’s at least possible the engineers supervising the build represented a specific branch of the Assyrian military, military engineers. But not enough Assyrian history has been preserved to be certain of that.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">By the time of the Roman Empire, there’s no longer any doubt. While the Roman army also employed non-military combat support personal (especially slaves/enemy POWs), Romans made use of military engineers, men in armor who were trained both in fighting and also what we can think of as the non-military profession of engineering, to support ongoing combat by building various kinds of structures. (Note that combat engineering, which is essentially blowing things up or otherwise destroying them, wasn’t its own specialty yet. Roman military engineers generally constructed devices rather than destroyed them–devices with war-related purposes, but still.)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The advantage of having your combat support personnel receive military training themselves is based on the fact it didn’t take ancient people long to figure out you can ruin an army by attacking its supplies, or baggage train, i.e. its combat support. The ancient solution to this problem was to divert combat troops to guard duty, protecting the supplies and support personnel.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Over a long period of time, militaries came to realize it’s actually more efficient to train the support personnel to defend themselves and to give them a common background with the combat arms personnel, allowing them to be integrated into combat units, where their early intervention is much more efficient than keeping military and civilian worlds entirely separate. The “early intervention” phrase especially applies to combat medics (a.k.a. corpsmen). A medical person in uniform in a combat formation can provide immediate life-saving help much more effectively than hoping a warrior survives wounds until the battle is over or he can be taken to the rear, when he can finally see a healer. But this also applies to a wide variety of other specialties–if it’s better to have your engineers or cooks or logistician or whomever nearby than far away in many situations. Which means it’s better to have them in uniform. (By the way, the person responsible for putting medics in combat units for the first time was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique_Jean_Larrey" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Dominique Jean Larrey</a>, a surgeon who served in Napoleon’s army.)</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">A military member with a non-combat job can be ordered into danger where civilians would be hesitant to go–and where they might have no idea what to do if they came under attack. In the Twentieth Century, the idea of training combat support troops really took off, modern militaries increasingly embracing the notion than they should be able to provide for themselves with support personnel in uniform. In World War I, roughly two-thirds of US troops were in combat specialties, only one-third support. By WWII, the support outnumbered the combat troops by 60% to 40%. In Korea and Vietnam, the WWI proportions flipped, so that only one third were combat forces and two thirds combat support. For the Cold War military in Germany, only 25% of the troops in uniform were combat arms specialists–75% were combat support.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The post-911 conflicts have hired more on-site civilian contractors to do jobs that belonged to combat personnel in the 20th Century militaries, so that in Iraq as of 2005, 40% of the US military forces in the country were in combat specialities, but if you take the civilian contractors into account, combat specialties accounted for only 28% of all United States military personnel in Iraq in 2005. (The source for the numbers quoted here are from a study for the <a href="https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/mcgrath_op23.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">US Army by John McGrath</a>.)<br /><br />It could be that the trend to reduce the number of combat support personnel increases over time. Though it could be that militaries of the future will turn both combat and non-combat roles over to robots and automated systems, in certain jobs, non-combat specialists are unlikely to ever be replaced (e.g. troop transport pilots), whereas in other jobs (e.g. cargo truck drivers), robots will likely take human jobs as soon as it’s feasible to do so. All things considered, he proportions of combat to combat support personnel should stay about the same for the foreseeable future.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Why do I bring all of this up?<br /><br /><em>First</em> of all, I want the readers of this series to be aware of the existence of combat support military personnel. Many readers of this site are fantasy writers and fantasy worlds usually parallel medieval or ancient models of warfare. So your stories may not include non-combat specialists who are part of military organizations, i.e. personnel who receive military training. Yet the things the combat support specialists do need to be done by someone else. You need to keep that in mind.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><em>Second</em>, you should be aware of how already-existing speculative fiction has a times focused on combat support specialties. Star Trek has done so extensively, as Travis C will mention.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><em>Third</em>, this article intends to make you aware of the challenges of training someone to be fully proficient in a job that is essentially a non-combat profession, such as the military version of being a paramedic, but at the same time being proficient at warrior skills. It isn’t easy and for certain combat support specialties training can last much longer than combat arms training–usually, of course, the combat support troops are not as good at combat. But still, they can and do engage in combat as needed–and while they are in general in not as much danger as combat specialties, they can and do get wounded and killed in action. (Note Hollywood has produced at least one major movie that focused on the actions in combat <em>and training </em>of a combat support soldier–<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacksaw_Ridge" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><em>Hacksaw Ridge</em></a>.)</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33078" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33078" class="size-medium wp-image-33078" height="233" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/20161102T1508-6389-CNS-MOVIE-REVIEW-HACKSAW-RIDGE-350x233.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/20161102T1508-6389-CNS-MOVIE-REVIEW-HACKSAW-RIDGE-350x233.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/20161102T1508-6389-CNS-MOVIE-REVIEW-HACKSAW-RIDGE-768x512.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/20161102T1508-6389-CNS-MOVIE-REVIEW-HACKSAW-RIDGE-700x467.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/20161102T1508-6389-CNS-MOVIE-REVIEW-HACKSAW-RIDGE-400x267.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/20161102T1508-6389-CNS-MOVIE-REVIEW-HACKSAW-RIDGE-500x333.jpg 500w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33078" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Scene from Hacksaw Ridge, the graphic WW2 movie about a Christian pacifist who saved 75 lives during brutal combat. Image credit: The Catholic Sun</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><em>Fourth</em>, I want story makers to be aware that stories can be told from the point of view of combat support troops–and such stories are not necessarily less interesting than hearing about the most elite troops fighting as consummate professionals. This especially relates to the fact many groups in the history of Christianity have been pacifists–but as combat support soldiers, they could be thrust into a combat situation nonetheless (as per <em>Hacksaw Ridge </em>and my own science fiction short novella on Amazon, <a data-amzn-asin="B00GF4ZT3S" href="https://www.amazon.com/Biologic-Travis-Perry-ebook/dp/B00GF4ZT3S" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><em>Unknown Biologic</em></a>). </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis C here with some helpful illustrations of our combat support topic. To highlight Travis P’s last point, my favorite series in recent years is Glen Cook’s <a data-amzn-asin="B009WUG56M" href="https://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Black-Company-Book-ebook/dp/B009WUG56M" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>The Black Company</i></a>, which is told through via point of view of the mercenary company’s doctor, who happens to function as the Annalist or historian. In this role, Croaker has first-hand knowledge and a legitimate reason to describe the deeds of the Company, and I feel the series is better because of that unique viewpoint.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">If you’re in the world-building phase, it’s worth spending a little bit of time thinking through what combat support functions need to be identified and further worked out before the story progresses. Readers will tell if you’ve created a military juggernaut of combat capability that has little support structure and would never actually last a day in the field. That said, you also don’t need to develop detailed doctrine about supply depot procedures for turnips (unless that supports the story, of course!) A few things to consider:</p><ol style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 10px 10px -15px;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">What functions need to get accomplished? Travis P mentioned several: medical, logistics of moving troops and supplies, the supplies themselves, quarters for troops, repair and maintenance of equipment, other engineering needs, etc.</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Who is going to accomplish those functions? Regular troopers, trained but non-fighting personnel, volunteers, families, slaves?</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Does the success of, or lack/failure of, one of those functions become a necessary plot element in the story?</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">If so, what additional detail should be developed to add color to the picture?</li></ol><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">If you answered “Yes” to question 3, then there’s lots of great examples in literature and media demonstrating unique ways to include this information, weave it into the story world, and really impact the audience. Here are 3 that come to mind:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><b>Make It Easy To Identify Combat Support</b></p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33079" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33079" class="size-medium wp-image-33079" height="266" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Starfleet-uniform-colors-350x266.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Starfleet-uniform-colors-350x266.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Starfleet-uniform-colors-700x531.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Starfleet-uniform-colors-400x304.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Starfleet-uniform-colors-500x380.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Starfleet-uniform-colors.jpg 743w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33079" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">The three colors of Starfleet uniforms, marking specialties. Image Credit: memory-alph.wikia.com</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">In particular during <em>The Next Generation</em>, <a href="http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Starfleet_uniform_(2350s-2370s)" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Star<i> Trek</i> used color </a>to train its viewers to identify the various roles found across the Federation’s Starfleet. Three primary colors: red, blue, and gold, were an easy way to distinguish between <a href="http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Command_division" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Command</a>, <a href="http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Sciences_division" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Sciences (including medical)</a>, and <a href="http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Operations_division" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Operations</a>. Red and Gold uniforms kept the ships running and may and may not have been directly related to combat, but blue uniforms were a clear sign of a combat support specialist.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">As an audience, we had expectations for any character depending on the color of their uniform. Red represented leadership and tactical training, blue an intellectual mind and appreciation for research and exploration, and gold the detail-oriented mind of an planner and engineering expertise to run a warp core. As expected, the writers of successive iterations of the Star Trek universe then flipped those expectations on their heads. The interplay between divisions yields great plot lines to explore ethics and relationships among characters.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Every George R.R. Martin reader knows the Night’s Watch has its own <a href="https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Maesters" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">maester </a>to perform record keeping and healing. The clink of their maester’s chain identifies those trained by the Citadel.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33080" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 207px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33080" class="size-medium wp-image-33080" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/A-maester-and-his-chain-207x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/A-maester-and-his-chain-207x300.jpg 207w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/A-maester-and-his-chain-276x400.jpg 276w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/A-maester-and-his-chain.jpg 399w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="207" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33080" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">A maester and his chain. Image credit: gameofthronesfandom. fandom.com/wiki</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">There’s probably a unique way you can easily help readers identify with the combat support functions, understand how they are different from the combat arms characters, and help build structure in your world.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><b>Understand the Tension Between Combat Arms and Combat Support</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">That’s probably not a surprise, but I think it’s safe to say even the “barbarian” form of combat support garnered no small amount of tension. One party is doing the fighting, right in harm’s way, and subjecting themselves to imminent danger. The other side is waiting in the wings, perceived as being away from danger, but likely at more risk since the enemy knows how critical these roles are. Grunts are just dumb killers. Support are just scared weaklings incapable of doing more. You likely know these tropes already.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">We’ve used Brandon Sanderson’s<i> Stormlight Archives</i> several times already, but here’s an example of the use of bridge crews (manned by slaves, unprotected from enemy fire, yet vital to movement of the armies across the Shattered Plains) to meet a critical support function with significant contrast to the armies and Brightlords conducting combat. Sanderson not only uses Kaladin as one of his main characters, but also uses the tension between organizations to drive the plot forward.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">David Farland’s second book of the <i>Runelords </i>series, <em><a href="http://davidfarland.com/book/brotherhood-of-the-wolf-the-runelords-book-two/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Brotherhood of the Wolf </a></em>(not to be confused with a film with the same name), does an excellent job of using the connection between Runelords who take endowments of power to those who give up those powers ( called Dedicates) to drive the story forward. The military cannot function without the enhanced abilities of strength, metabolism, wit, and senses that the Dedicates give up. At the same time, these Dedicates are ideal targets for military action since killing a Dedicate will immediately remove that attribute from the bearer. The Dedicates require significant protection, at the cost of military flexibility. Farland excellently uses this interplay to develop characters and add tension to the plot.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;"><b>Change Your Point of View</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Lastly, and in line with my shared favorite, consider if you should add a different point of view to your story. We’ve all heard stories told from the perspective of the knight, the lord, the king, the starship captain, the great-grand-poobah. We’ve also watched the unlikely hero become a military mastermind (and as we’ve discussed earlier in the series, just how unlikely that is). What about the war told through the eyes of the frontline surgeon? The sapper digging under the castle walls? The cook hearing everyone’s stories at the end of the fight? The engineer keeping the hypercore going on that rust-bucket starfrigate? It may not be the primary point of view or main character you develop a story around, but these secondary characters can add a lot of detail in interesting ways as interludes, prologues and epilogues, or even just scenes spread through the story.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Just like the combat arms functions, combat support has its own training needs that can add even more detail to your worlds. Maybe as backstory, maybe as a source of tension between combat functions, maybe just for fun. Being honest about how the military works in the context of your world is vital to building meaningful engagement with a reader. Plus, it’ll help you when you’ve got a few more chapters to fill and want a way to show, not tell, what’s happening in your military stories.</p>Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-1676713078333114002020-08-06T05:47:00.001-07:002020-08-06T05:47:15.024-07:00Speculative Fiction Writers Guide to War, part 14: Combat Arms Training<div class="splashtext" style="background-color: #f0f0f0; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 10px; right: 0px;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; white-space: nowrap;"></span></div><div class="storytext lorehaven" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.6em; min-height: 350px;"><p>Travis P here. I’m picking up our subject again with more on the topic of training. The next two posts will break down some training issues that relate to professional armies (because barbarian armies train, but not systematically in the way as pros do). This week will look at the training of “Combat Arms”–that is, the instruction required for people who handle weapons that directly or indirectly kill enemies. This training has been throughout history in general organized by weapon type, by system of transportation combined with a weapon, and to a degree, by the philosophy of how to use them–otherwise known as “military doctrine.”</p><p>This kind of training has gone through a variety of transformations over time, based on general types of weapons systems, transportation systems, and military doctrine in use. These historical patterns demonstrate models that can apply to fictional worlds.</p><p>First, let’s discuss historical transformations a bit. The city-states of ancient Sumer were the first nations to use their agricultural surpluses to hire full-time, trained soldiers. At first, all their soldiers fought on foot, but from the very beginning of trained armies, they differentiated according to weapon type, some carrying spears, some with battle axes, some with daggers (all wearing long cloaks and copper helmets for armor) and some using slings or bows. (See <a href="http://www.crystalinks.com/sumermilitary.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">link on the Sumerian military</a> for ancient artwork and more info.)</p><p>But soon, the Sumerians learned to put armed men in four-wheeled wagons drawn by either horses or donkeys, and also put armed men on river boats, linking weapons with types of transportation for the first time. The arms used with the transportation at first were of the same type used on land–axes, daggers, spears, and bows. At first, the fighters in the back of the wagons or boats probably had the exact same training as those who fought on the ground. But using them off a new platform created new challenges and eventually spurred the development of new training.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33046" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; float: right; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33046" class="size-medium wp-image-33046" height="263" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Roman-Infantry-vs-Italian-350x263.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Roman-Infantry-vs-Italian-350x263.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Roman-Infantry-vs-Italian-400x300.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Roman-Infantry-vs-Italian.jpg 480w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33046" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Ancient Roman versus modern Italian infantry.<br />Credit: Youtube.com</p></div><p>At even the most basic level, a military will have <b>infantry</b> soldiers, human beings walking into combat, with at least several basic types of weapons, including weapons designed to kill at a distance weapons and weapons designed to kill up close (i.e. “melee weapons”). (Spears and throwing axes and a few other weapons can be effective both up close <i>and </i>from a bit of distance). Infantry soldiers may hitch rides from various vehicles (which requires at least a bit distinctive vehicle training), but if they fight on their own feet, they are still considered infantry. Even if they carry modern, computerized weapons, they are in the same category as a Sumerian in a long cloak and a copper helmet, sporting a bronze-tipped spear. Infantry, when given the opportunity to seek shelter and fortify, are the best at conducting defense. Infantry can fortify towers, hills, and other strong points or create new strong points by digging trenches, or foxholes, or throwing up barriers. Though in the open, infantry are vulnerable to cavalry attacks.</p><p>But most militaries in the history of the world have incorporated some sort of fighting attached to a transportation system into their military. Whether by wagon, by chariot, on horseback, or (in modern times) in lightly armored vehicles, these faster-moving soldiers have had tactics in common from Sumerian times to the present. These tactics include scouting ahead of the infantry, attacking enemies in the rear (or their supplies), or attacking as shock troops to crush the morale of the main body of enemy forces. This branch of the military, of course, is the <b>cavalry. </b>Cavalry units are generally much better at attack (and scouting) than they are at defense.</p><p>Naval forces have shared a great deal in common with cavalry units in their tactics, but not long after naval forces came into use, the ship itself was used as a weapons system–ramming into enemies–in a way real horses are usually reluctant to do. Naval ships probably rammed one another long before they developed special devices helping them do so (like those of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trireme#/media/File:Romtrireme.jpg" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Roman trireme</a>). In so doing they pioneered a different kind of weapon, a crew-served weapon, one that requires more than one person to operate. <b>Navy</b> forces have also had their own type of Infantry that are trained to operate on and off ships–marine infantry, or in the United States, simply the Marines. In certain times and places, marine infantry were nothing more than regular infantry put on a ship, but there are advantages to training marines a bit differently–if nothing else, they need to know how to swim.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33044" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; float: right; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33044" class="size-medium wp-image-33044" height="233" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/roman-trireme-350x233.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/roman-trireme-350x233.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/roman-trireme-400x267.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/roman-trireme.jpg 405w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33044" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Roman Trireme with drawbridge to help marine infantry and a ship-sinking ram.<br />Credit: Romae-vitam.com</p></div><p>Boarding ships with marines or aggressive sailors is one way to destroy an enemy ship, but navies have always sought other shipboard weapons to destroy enemy vessels. Rams became fire weapons and fire weapons became cannons and those in turn led to torpedoes and missiles. Many naval weapons fall in the category of high end capability weapons as discussed in the last post, but not all do. Deck guns are not necessarily that advanced, even when they require a special crew to serve them.</p><p>What started with naval weapons crossed over to the land. Ancient armies first discovered that their calvary-type units, so effective against infantry out in the open, proved to be nearly worthless against fortified infantry. While an overwhelmingly superior number of infantry usually <i>can</i> take a position only held by infantry, it’s very difficult and bloody. Crew-served weapons on land, siege weapons or engines, were invented to break through strongholds. Siege weapons early on included towers Mesopotamian engineers assembled, catapults, and giant stationary crossbows called ballista. Siege weapons would eventually lead to the development of <b>artillery, </b>the third major branch of ground force combat arms, after infantry and cavalry.</p><p>In Roman times the ballista was the most common kind of artillery, serving the basic purpose of extending the range of Roman troops to strike individual enemies through directly firing at them. Catapults, which the Romans also knew about, hurled rocks over walls in high arcs (as did the slingers in ancient Assyrian armies) into besieged cities or camps, indiscriminately killing or injuring anyone who happened to be where the rocks fell, causing enemy casualties by <i>indirect</i> fire.</p><p>The artillery branch of the military consists exclusively of crew-served weapons, weapons that require training for a group of operators to be able to function, but which may not represent high end capabilities, depending on the nation that owns them. Once the artillery branch gained cannons, the two basic roles of direct and indirect fire remained important. Direct fire was mostly used against fortifications (and in the navy, against enemy ships), and is responsible for the fact castles are no longer effective in warfare, while indirect fire was lobbed in various ways into mass formations of enemy or locations enemy might be. Today, artillery is mostly concerned with indirect fire, but has systems that are capable of direct fire (especially guided rockets and missiles).</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33045" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; float: right; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 338px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33045" class="size-medium wp-image-33045" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Napoleonic-Unit-table-338x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Napoleonic-Unit-table-338x300.jpg 338w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Napoleonic-Unit-table-400x355.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Napoleonic-Unit-table-500x443.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Napoleonic-Unit-table.jpg 522w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="338" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33045" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Table showing different types of units fighting each other in Napoleonic Wars. Credit: Slideshare.net/MrJ</p></div><p>The three main branches of ground forces: infantry, cavalry, and artillery (if we allow artillery to include siege weapons), dominated all battlefields everywhere in the world in almost all professional armies, from the time of the Sumerians up until the 20th Century, in particular in the Napoleonic Wars. The 20th Century saw the development of what we could perhaps think of as land ships–vehicles with armor like ships that can move over terrain, with weapons integrated into the structure of the vehicle itself. These weapons, otherwise known as tanks, form their own distinctive military branch, <b>armor</b>.</p><p>I earlier commented that military doctrine (or the concepts or philosophy behind the use of weapons) affects training as much as the particular weapon warriors train for and as much as the transportation system attached to weapons use. I’m only going to illustrate that point here, with a comment on military doctrine as it affected the training for tanks.</p><p>Tanks were first designed to cross trenches in World War I under enemy artillery and machine gun fire–in effect, their original purpose was to breach a specific kind of infantry defense. Later, between the world wars, the British in particular developed slow-moving tanks with the purpose of supporting infantry and faster-moving tanks with the purpose of taking over some of the roles of historic cavalry units. Military doctrine affected both the design of weapons and their use. But note that <em>Blitzkrieg</em>, the German doctrine of using armor units to first punch through strong defenses alongside infantry the way the first tanks did, then to rush behind enemy lines to cut off enemy formations from their supply chain, the way cavalry units historically did, made tanks much more effective beyond whatever design advantages German tanks may have had. In fact, the French tanks of the early forties are generally considered as suitable for <em>Blitzkrieg</em> as the German tanks were, or even more so–yet since using tanks that way was not part of French military doctrine (they felt tanks should be distributed among the infantry to help them defend themselves when in the open), French tank crews were not trained on how to conduct <em>Blitzkrieg. </em>So they didn’t use their armor that way–much to their disadvantage.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33049" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; float: right; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33049" class="size-medium wp-image-33049" height="267" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Char-B1bis-Saumur.0004axt0-350x267.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Char-B1bis-Saumur.0004axt0-350x267.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Char-B1bis-Saumur.0004axt0-768x586.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Char-B1bis-Saumur.0004axt0-700x534.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Char-B1bis-Saumur.0004axt0-400x305.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Char-B1bis-Saumur.0004axt0-500x381.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Char-B1bis-Saumur.0004axt0.jpg 800w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33049" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">French tank: tanks-encyclopedia.com</p></div><p>Note that armor as a military branch happened at the same time as another branch, military aviation, which both supported ground troops and in specialized formations, supported naval units (and later took on the role of fighting other air units). Modern combat arms to this day include infantry (including elite infantry, i.e. special operations forces), cavalry, armor, artillery (including artillery designed to attack aircraft), and military aviation. And of course each of these branches also exist to a certain degree within navies, including marine infantry, elite marine infantry, fast small ships like cavalry, large heavy-hitting ships that are a bit like armor and artillery rolled into one, and of course naval aviation. Each particular specialty in combat arms having its own distinctive training.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33048" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; float: right; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33048" class="size-medium wp-image-33048" height="194" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/klaus-wittmann-brush-toolv2-350x194.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/klaus-wittmann-brush-toolv2-350x194.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/klaus-wittmann-brush-toolv2-768x426.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/klaus-wittmann-brush-toolv2-700x388.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/klaus-wittmann-brush-toolv2-400x222.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/klaus-wittmann-brush-toolv2-500x277.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/klaus-wittmann-brush-toolv2.jpg 1920w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33048" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Ground attack from space.<br />Credit: Klaus WIttmann via ArtStation.com</p></div><p>While the names will change, we can expect futuristic militaries, say space-based ones, to have multiple branches that run in parallel with military organizations and systems we already know. Starships designed to fire weapons at planets or lob indirect weapons into regions of space will functionally be like artillery, even if that’s not what they will be called. Fast moving formations of spaceships like cavalry will still be needed–shipboard infantry will probably be needed, as well as ground assault forces. The equivalent of an air force would be landing craft able to operate in planetary atmospheres, passing through the air as a bridge between space and ground.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33047" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; float: right; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33047" class="size-medium wp-image-33047" height="197" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/la-et-hc-a-detailed-look-at-the-loot-train-attack-from-game-of-thrones-20170807-350x197.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/la-et-hc-a-detailed-look-at-the-loot-train-attack-from-game-of-thrones-20170807-350x197.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/la-et-hc-a-detailed-look-at-the-loot-train-attack-from-game-of-thrones-20170807-768x432.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/la-et-hc-a-detailed-look-at-the-loot-train-attack-from-game-of-thrones-20170807-700x394.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/la-et-hc-a-detailed-look-at-the-loot-train-attack-from-game-of-thrones-20170807-400x225.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/la-et-hc-a-detailed-look-at-the-loot-train-attack-from-game-of-thrones-20170807-500x281.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/la-et-hc-a-detailed-look-at-the-loot-train-attack-from-game-of-thrones-20170807.jpg 1200w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33047" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">A dragon attacking the ground in Game of Thrones.<br />Credit: LA Times</p></div><p>Fantasy militaries can meet the needs of different branches of combat arms in different ways. Dragons could combine the capabilities of air forces and artillery. Mer-people could form a distinctive branch of underwater marine infantry. Magic could provide indirect fire weapons. Etc.</p><p>The point for this post though is that unless you write a story that portrays a society so futuristic that knowledge is directly downloaded into military members (or a society with powerful magic able to do the same thing), each one of these fighting military specialties will include its own training, which is quite distinct from other kinds. Each type of training requires time, which means that any one character can probably only master one type of fighting, or perhaps two–but not everything (a possible exception to this might be found in elves or other species that live very long lives–but even elves would have reasons to specialize in particular weapons, lest they fall behind the skill level of other near-immortals who chose to specialize).</p><p>For cavalry and other military branches for which a transportation system of some kind is key, knowledge of that system, be it the back of a horse, a chariot, a dragon, a ship, or a fighter plane, is probably the most important element of training. Knights and samurai spend a lot of time with horses–fighter pilots need to spend a lot of time in the air–sailors develop their skills over prolonged periods at sea. There’s an enormous difference in the capabilities of well-trained, seasoned veterans than newbies who are fresh to the fight.</p><p>For artillery and similar forces that rely on technical skills, their training embraces a wide variety of things that are not directly dangerous to the enemy, including maintenance of weapons, their operation–even the mathematics required to accurately lob an artillery shell. (In this regard, artillery and related weapons skills is most like the high-end capabilities training we discussed in the last post).</p><p>Infantry troops, the most basic element of the vast majority of all militaries in world history, though they may someday be supplanted by combat robots or something similar, are the ones that most require the kinds of battle hardening and psychological conditioning that we’ve discussed in previous posts. But they also require training in their weapons systems, how to operate them, how to use them even under stress, and note that infantry weapons training <i>does </i>include crew-served weapons, especially machine guns and mortars (which are really like small artillery).</p><p>Note that the training required for combat arms introduces the concept of combat arms itself. While we will say more about combat arms operations in future installments, for next week we’ll discuss those types of skills that militaries train for that support combat without directly killing enemies, like medical and maintenance specialties. </p><p>Travis C here with a rather sideways example of the distinctions we’re discussing with combat arms. We’ll introduce another related term, combined arms, in future posts. Combat arms is a way to describe the individual components of the military forces within your world-building. Combined arms describes a military philosophy of “combining” two or more of those functions in a way that the enemy cannot effectively defend against one without exposing itself to the strength of another. Also distinct from supporting arms, when two or more of the combat arms support each other in a mutual manner but can be defended against jointly (think of soldiers under their shields as a defense against either arrows or rocks – supporting arms, versus cavalry and archers working together that shields alone might not withstand – combined arms). Before we get to that complexity we need to understand the individual components well enough to describe their strengths, weaknesses, and how they developed into a cohesive force through training.</p><p>I feel confident we all have a series of books, TV series, and movies that depict the traditional categories of combat arms Travis P described earlier. Whether it’s battalions of orc infantry in formation on the Pelennor fields, the Rohirrim cavalry charging down the slopes outside of Helm’s Deep, the great mobile engines of the Telmarines, the dragons of A Song of Ice and Fire, or the vessels of the fleets of the Empire, the Rebel Alliance, or the Federation, we have many examples that clearly align with our conceptions of these combat arms categories. The fact they exist is clearly shown, though all too often we miss out on the reality of how such units are trained. We only see the great, climactic battle-to-save-the world, and not as often the training that occurred before hand.</p><p>As much as I hate to reuse an example, Brandon Sanderson really hit this nail on the head with his Stormlight Archive series and the plotline of Kaladin Stormblessed.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_33043" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; float: right; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33043" class="size-medium wp-image-33043" height="233" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Kaladin-350x233.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Kaladin-350x233.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Kaladin-400x267.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Kaladin-500x333.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Kaladin.jpg 567w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-33043" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Kaladin Stormblessed<br />Image credit: Alex Allen via Stormlightarchive.wikia.com</p></div><p>As we follow Kaladin through the first two books, he is a slave in one of the armies campaigning on the Shattered Plains. One of the worst duties for slaves was to be part of the <a href="http://stormlightarchive.wikia.com/wiki/Bridgeman" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">bridge crews</a> used by certain Brightlords to cross over the chasms common to the Plains. Without bridging units, the regular armies could not cross the chasms to engage in direct action with the Parshendi and capture the Gemhearts much sought after by the Alethi nobility. Since the Parshendi are indiscriminate in their targeting of troops, and the bridge crews are provided no defenses, this duty is effectively a suicide mission.</p><p>Kaladin recognizes two challenges the bridgemen face. First, there is no organization and training involved with their role. It’s chaotic every time a bridge departs, with limited order provided by the slave masters. Second, without any hope of surviving, there is no motivation for the crew to do anything other than the minimum possible. After all, why try harder if you are only going to die?</p><p>Sanderson uses this context to provide a plotline that follows Kaladin as he leads by example and trains himself first, then others in basic military disciplines and builds cohesion within Bridge 4. Slowly, results begin to show. More of the men survive each bridge run. Minor changes result in significant improvements to their odds. The discipline builds up a sense of camaraderie among the bridge, and Kaladin is able to demonstrate the effectiveness of his methods in training for other bridges. A severe conflict is raised between the Brightlords of Sadeas’ camp, the lord who primarily uses slaves as bridge fodder, and Kaladin who is trying to save as many of his brethren as possible.</p><p>Kaladin also goes on to train his bridge crew in the use of the spear. He falls back on his own soldier training from his previous life in Lord Amaram’s army as a means of further developing the basic skills his team can rely on. The spear represents a useful tool on the battlefield, a means of standardizing a training regimen, and a way to baseline the troops. If nothing else, they can all use this most basic weapon and contribute as members of the infantry.</p><p>It’s only later in the storyline that we see the crew introduced to new weapon systems (like one member gaining Shardplate and a Shardblade) and assuming their role as guard force. Something that should stand out is how those soldiers evolved from beaten-down slaves to an elite bridge crew to training spearmen to trusted guards. Sanderson shows us that development over a long, winding, maybe overly detailed story that helps us bond with favorite characters and invest in them, creating an even greater emotional commitment to a simple storyline of two races at war with each other.</p><p>In modern military forces such training occurs after the most basic military training activities (i.e., boot camp), and builds upon the foundation created there. This is especially true of combat arms units that employ crew-served weapons, where there is a unique combination of individual technical skill and teamwork necessary for a successful crew. It’s hard to achieve this before basic military disciplines are a part of a soldier’s life. Some specific skills we see throughout history:</p><ul style="list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;"><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Infantry setting a shieldwall</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Cavalry charging in an organized and synchronized manner</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Archers firing from horseback for skirmishing</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Operation of any siege engine (catapult, trebuchet, onager, ballista, etc.)</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Pike or halberders setting a spear line against cavalry</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Archers firing in sequence and by verbal order</li><li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Vessels and aircraft being capable of firing with limited or no interference among allies</li></ul><p>Any of these can make a great plotline, even simply backstory, for your characters who come from or are involved in a military setting. And as Travis P mentioned, your unique world-building will have new opportunities to do the same, whether it’s magic, a new weapon system, or other plot elements.</p></div>Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-67876624308565160982020-07-31T07:52:00.003-07:002020-07-31T07:57:52.257-07:00Speculative Fiction Writers Guide to War, part 13: Training for High-End Capabilities<div class="separator"><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32885" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; clear: left; color: #1e1e1e; float: left; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; width: 212px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32890" class="wp-image-32890 size-full" height="225" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Typhoon3.jpg" style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></div></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis P here. In contrast to the layout of other weeks, I’m going to first introduce and later illustrate a post initiated by my fellow Travis (Chapman). In this post, he focuses on the training for “high-end capabilities,” which is the term used for highly expensive weapons systems that constitute the most advanced means of fighting that modern nations have. Note that even though the terminology of high-end capabilities has a very 21st Century feel to it, the concept can be applied to speculative stories that mirror the legendary past as well as those set in highly technological futures.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Note also that the type of training this post explores is highly technical. Instead of focusing on training warriors to endure the hardships of up close combat, this kind of training requires mastering the highly advanced weapons systems of high-end capabilities. Whatever those high-end capabilities may be.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis C here. I’d like to introduce a few terms of art. In a modern parlance, high-end warfighting is becoming a buzz term to describe warfighting that is peer-against-peer utilizing advanced technology and tactics. In their time, World War I and II both demonstrated high-end warfighting concepts: incorporation of air combat power, battles for naval supremacy using submarines, convoys, battleships, and aircraft carriers, long-range bombing and artillery strikes, communications advances, etc. Not that we didn’t have those things prior to the world wars, but we saw them institutionalized into military structures and a very deliberate application of those powers by the nations involved against rival military forces and to achieve military ends.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32893" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32893" class="size-medium wp-image-32893" height="197" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/120312024235-enterprise-story-top-350x197.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/120312024235-enterprise-story-top-350x197.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/120312024235-enterprise-story-top-400x225.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/120312024235-enterprise-story-top-500x281.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/120312024235-enterprise-story-top.jpg 640w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32893" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">WW2 USS Enterprise’s final voyage. Credit: CNN.com</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">A military capability is intuitive: a capability to conduct a certain kind or set of activities for any number of purposes. My personal background is in submarines, which represent a range of capabilities. We can conduct anti-shipping, anti-surface warfare, submarine-on-submarine warfare, launch missiles ashore, sit off the coast and collect intelligence, transfer goods clandestinely, and create a great deal of uncertainty for a nation. Some of those capabilities are clearly for military purposes (launching torpedoes). Some, however, also serve political purposes (deterrence: we may or may not have a submarine operating in the vicinity of a nation, causing them to consider whether to put a fleet to sea). They also showcase a nation’s military strength as a capital asset.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">A “capital asset” (we could use other terms, but this one will suffice) is something a nation would have to invest a significant amount of resources into acquiring but demonstrates that nation’s capacity and resolve to have that asset and the potential to utilize it. Let’s consider a non-military example that gets us closer to our science fiction purpose: the United States’ space shuttle program. It cost a lot of money to design, build, and operate our shuttles. It takes a lot of engineering and science research and development, worker training, intellectual know-how, political resolve and budgeting, good management, and material resources to get a space shuttle. Once you get a shuttle, it takes highly-skilled, highly-capable and adaptable, best-of-the-best operators to execute the missions we desired the shuttle for. Not everyone can have a space shuttle. The same is true for capital assets in the military. Not every nation can operate submarines, or long-range bombers, or missiles, or fighter jets, or close-combat-supporting helicopters, or satellite networks.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32892" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 271px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32892" class="size-full wp-image-32892" height="201" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Figwitex46_ulaire_Nert.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="271" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32892" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Flying Nazgul. Credit: Figwit via councilofeldrond.com</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Clearly many capabilities we know from the world of science fiction will fall into the category of a capital asset. Spacecraft, space stations, and the propulsion systems that power them will likely be a unique class of capability. Think also of those near-future capabilities we know are just over the horizon: artificial intelligence, machine learning, near-instantaneous information availability and communication/connectedness. In the realm of fantasy, many applications of magic might be considered this way. Truly, Gandalf and Saruman represented unique capabilities within their respective forces, and the Ringwraiths represent a whole set of capabilities for Mordor. The oliphants at Pelenor Fields and rock-dropping griffins of King Edmund’s Narnian army may also fall under that heading. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">While the training of a warrior for close combat will involve physical conditioning, weapons proficiency, and preparation for the psychological and physiological impacts of the battlefield, the operators of these high-end capabilities require something different. While all members of the military receive a basic level of training, those services supporting high-end capabilities will divert the practitioners of those communities into specialized training schools and follow that up with routine integrated training to ensure all the pieces work together.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Let’s again use some examples close to home: Sailors and Airmen. All members of the U.S. military go through some form of basic training, learning the institutions of their respective service, military courtesies, and by and large spending a great amount of effort in breaking down individualism and growing a team-oriented attitude among recruits. This will have important consequences later.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The majority of Sailors and Airmen who enter service do so knowing the field of work they will participate in. After basic training they will depart for a series of training activities to learn those specialized skills. It might be many months before they are ready to join an operating platform or unit and begin to apply those skills as an apprentice-level practitioner. You would expect an aircraft maintainer, nuclear power plant operator, missilier, combat system technician and operator, etc., so need to learn the basics of the systems before they head to a vessel or aircraft squadron that will deploy.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32891" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 273px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32891" class="wp-image-32891 size-full" height="185" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/USAF-missileers.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="273" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32891" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">US Air Force missileers in training. Credit: AF.mil</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Once basic and specialized training is complete they will report to an operating unit where they will apply those skills in a graded manner, maturing from apprentice operators under the guidance of more senior and experienced folks and gaining real-world expertise. It’s here that integration occurs, since the numerous specialties come together to form a single operating unit. A warship is not only the sum of its parts (propulsion plant, sensors, weapon systems, living quarters for the crew, etc.), but the true impact of that platform is in the synergy of a well-trained, trusting, and focused crew. The same can be said for a squadron of aircraft, a cadre of missileers, the crew of a submarine, or any other capital asset that requires multiple skills to effectively operate.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Lastly, those capital assets must be exercised in simulated environments to ensure the crews know what to do, when to do it, and ensure that routines become second nature so that actions occur without fail in times of confusion and duress like combat. During the period leading up to a deployment, and with some degree of regularity at all times, teams will practice routines and drill themselves on the breadth of their capabilities. Emergency action drills, equipment and system casualty drills, battle stations, launch procedures, and simulated wargames to test the ability of the team to execute their missions in the midst of anticipated challenges will ensure operators are ready for as many expected situations as possible. More importantly, it prepares them for the unknown things that might happen by building a level of readiness and preparedness that will be adaptable to circumstances that arise.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">That might seem like a ironic combination, but high-end warfighting is based on a balance between rote mechanical routines that reduce the operator’s need to think (don’t think, just act) with a demand for creativity, adaptability, and ingenuity to bring those skills to bear depending on the situation.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Travis P again. I hope readers are grasping the impact of what Travis C said and how that affects speculative fiction stories. We may tend to think of the military capacities of a nation as being even–but in fact the difference between the minimum technology a nation may have and its most advanced weapons can be extreme.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32897" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32897" class="size-medium wp-image-32897" height="197" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/chariots-350x197.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/chariots-350x197.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/chariots-768x432.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/chariots-700x394.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/chariots-400x225.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/chariots-500x281.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/chariots.jpg 2000w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32897" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Egyptian-style chariot. Credit: <span class="jnt0nnPwDRe__iptc-field" dir="ltr" id="iptc-cv">Joe Alblas </span><span class="jnt0nnPwDRe__iptc-field" dir="ltr" id="iptc-cov">© Lightworkers Media / Hearst Productions Inc.</span></p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">These contrasts have always existed–for example, in the world of the Hebrew Scriptures, the chariot was the most elite and highly technical weapon of its era. Israelites, who especially at first fought mostly with untrained levies of troops, could not afford to create a permanent warrior caste or to pay professional warriors with the skills to operate chariots. Nor did they have the specialized skills involved in building chariots. So it wasn’t until after the time of David the King that the Israelites had any chariots at all, and they never had many in relation to other nations.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">But the larger a nation is and the more technologically developed its world is, the bigger the potential difference is between high-end capacities and the minimum abilities to fight that a nation has. The Soviet Union had poorly trained draftees it could barely manage to house and feed at the low end of its abilities <i>and also </i>ballistic nuclear submarines worth the equivalent of billions of US dollars on the high end. A united world in a futuristic science fiction universe could mostly be at a medieval level of technology–but might be able to pool enough resources as a planet to buy a starship or two and might manage (with the help of more advanced races) to provide the training required to run it or them. And that one or two starship(s) might easily have more military capacity than all of the rest of the world combined.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32888" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32888" class="size-medium wp-image-32888" height="175" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-I-copy_36ad2500-350x175.jpeg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-I-copy_36ad2500-350x175.jpeg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-I-copy_36ad2500-768x384.jpeg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-I-copy_36ad2500-700x350.jpeg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-I-copy_36ad2500-400x200.jpeg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-I-copy_36ad2500-500x250.jpeg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-I-copy_36ad2500.jpeg 1600w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32888" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Credit: starwars.com</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">The classic example of a high-end capability in familiar speculative fiction would be the Death Star. While Tie Fighters and Imperial Star Destroyers require plenty of specialized training, the Death Star by itself exceeded the capacity of the <i>entire</i> Rebel fleet (even though it was vulnerable to them due to an accidentally-on-purpose flaw as seen in <i>Rogue One</i>). Some of the uniforms a moviegoer will see on the Death Star are nowhere else in <i>Star Wars</i>–clearly these were specialists trained to operate the Death Star and the Death Star alone. Operating the Death Star obviously would require a great deal of highly technical training that would have very little in common with the battle hardening required of elite warriors that our previous posts have discussed. Yet the Death Star far exceeds the destructive capacity of all the elite hereditary warriors of that story universe combined, the Jedi Knights (not even working together could all the Jedi blow up a planet).</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32889" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32889" class="wp-image-32889 size-medium" height="149" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-Firing-350x149.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-Firing-350x149.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-Firing-400x170.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Death-Star-Firing.jpg 500w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32889" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Death Star crew at work. Credit: Flickriver.com</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Writers of epic fantasy, don’t think this article doesn’t apply to you! When we start talking about magical capabilities, clearly the training of an elf or wizard that requires thousands of years to master represents high-end capabilities that are in a way every bit as advanced as those found in a technological society. Though wizards are generally portrayed as being more generalized than technologically advanced warriors, there’s no particular reason wizards couldn’t be portrayed as highly specialized instead.</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32887" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 299px;"><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32887" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;"><br /></p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Harry Potter represents an interesting case. Magic is clearly an integral part of the wizarding world and training of wizards is expected. Students actually learn basic skills in schools (Defense Against the Dark Arts) and a class of specialized warrior-constables exists in the Aurors. Do we see that level of sophistication when the war opens up in the last few books? Or is it every wizard for himself or herself?</p><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32886" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32886" class="size-medium wp-image-32886" height="260" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Jaeger-Striker-Eureka-350x260.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Jaeger-Striker-Eureka-350x260.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Jaeger-Striker-Eureka-768x570.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Jaeger-Striker-Eureka-700x519.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Jaeger-Striker-Eureka-400x297.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Jaeger-Striker-Eureka-500x371.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/Jaeger-Striker-Eureka.jpg 960w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32886" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">Jaeger “Striker Eureka.” Credit: scifi.stackexchange.com</p></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Another example of high-end capabilities and the training used to support them can be found in <i>Pacific Rim</i> with the Jaegers. Clearly these are complex devices (even if not wholly realistic), requiring significant investment and lots of support structure. Even though the storyline focused on characters who were their pilots, these were obviously not the <i>only </i>personnel required to develop Jaegers.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">We also see some crossovers into the realm of steampunk-ish worlds. <i>Mortal Engines</i>, David Webers’ <i>Off Armageddon Reef </i>(a low-tech world featuring an advanced navy and a cybernetic protagonist), Studio Ghibli’s <i>Naussicaä and the Valley of the</i><em> Wind</em> (featuring a few high-end weapons)<i>,</i> etc.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">What are your thoughts on the topic of military high-end capabilities and the training required to support them?</p>Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-14345672822811782992020-07-24T09:22:00.001-07:002020-07-24T09:22:22.732-07:00Speculative Fiction Writers Guide to War, part 12: Military Training Types<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis P here. Our last post on this topic looked at the military training for the very best warriors in both fiction in reality–and please note when we say “best” we mean the most capable, especially able to fight no matter the circumstances, and the most able to resist the psychological pressures of war that cause soldiers to fail to perform when they need to do so. (“Best” in this context is definitely not directly equivalent to “most moral.”)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
It’s never been true that every warrior has been elite–historically, a great many nations have lacked the time, money, or knowledge to train <em>any</em> soldier to the highest possible level. And among those nations able to train elite troops, it simply hasn’t been normal to train every last warrior to the highest level. Even the Romans, who hold the record of any historic civilization in terms of the percentage of its population it put in arms, who also adopted a great deal of standardized training in an attempt to make every member of its legions elite relative to other militaries of its time, had its Praetorian Guard. Even the Romans had elite troops who were better than all the rest.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Further posts will build from our base of discussing training to talk about how nations form and supply armies, and how the “supply side” of producing warriors affects how a nation, or a demi-human race, or even an alien species fights battles. We will also talk about types of warriors by weapon and the battle formations they use in more detail, as well as differences between land-centric military forces and those oriented toward naval, aerial, and other domain combat. But for now, let’s stick with observations about types of warriors based on their<em> training</em>. I’d say there are 3 different kinds of warriors by training type with a couple of subtypes each (speaking as generally as I can):<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
A. Cultural Warriors: Everything they know about fighting they learn from infancy</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-Spartain-Knight-226x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32826" border="0" class="wp-image-32826 size-medium" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 226px) 100vw, 226px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-Spartain-Knight-226x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-Spartain-Knight-226x300.jpg 226w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-Spartain-Knight-302x400.jpg 302w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-Spartain-Knight-500x663.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-Spartain-Knight.jpg 525w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hereditary Warriors. Image credit: Travis Perry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ol style="background-color: white; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 10px 10px -15px;"><br />
<li style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: cambria, georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Hereditary warrior castes–paid (professional) cultural warriors: Formal military training is passed down from father to son or is arranged by paid professionals or skilled slaves. Note that unlike barbarians, these warriors require other social classes/castes in their same society to provide them with food and material goods. Samurai, medieval knights, and Spartans were all hereditary warriors–though the Spartans have the distinction of requiring every free male to be a hereditary warrior (Spartan helots–slaves–provided labor to grow the food and produce the the goods Spartans needed to survive). Note that being a hereditary warrior has often been tied to land ownership in the historic past. A certain parcel of land sufficient to supply the food and equipment needs of the warriors was under the stewardship and control of the same warriors (payment was rarely in currency). A special type of warrior caste were various slave warriors, like the Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire. These slaves would be raised from childhood to fight, but would lack the status in their society that samurai or medieval knights were privileged with (and would not control the land used to meet their supply needs)</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Barbarians (or tribal)–unpaid (non-professional) cultural warriors: Nobody in the society receives any formal military training per se, but everyone lives in a harsh environment, where survival is difficult. Everyday life constitutes a type of training–whereas samurai and knights went hunting largely to practice weapon skills that are useful in combat, barbarians hunt to stay alive. And while Spartans and Starship Troopers might spend time in a wilderness area to pass survival skills training, barbarians live in harsh areas every day. Barbarians do engage in various contests of strength and types of play combat with one another, but their training lacks scientific principles of formal study. Think of the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania, our cultural representation of the sea-going Danes and Vikings of Scandinavia, and many Germanic tribes of the Roman era.</span></span></li>
</ol>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
B. Paid Professionals: Fighting is a profession they learn and improve after joining the military. They serve for a pre-designated period of time and are usually paid in currency.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Top-Three-Great-Roman-Legions-350x256.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32828" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32828" height="256" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Top-Three-Great-Roman-Legions-350x256.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Top-Three-Great-Roman-Legions-350x256.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Top-Three-Great-Roman-Legions-400x293.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Top-Three-Great-Roman-Legions.jpg 500w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roman volunteer professional soldiers. Credit: about-history.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ol style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 10px 10px -15px;">
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Volunteer professionals who may or may not see military service as a lifelong career: Formal military training is usually involved and generally happens in adulthood or late teen years. Training is generally well-designed, so paid professional soldiers are usually quite capable–though in fact the quality of these soldiers vary greatly from nation to nation, with poor nations generally unable to give any but a tiny minority of their force quality training. The Roman Empire is well-known for employing this technique, using tax revenues to pay the salaries of its legionnaires. (Note that at one time, roughly 1/8th of all men in the Roman Empire were in the military–which is the highest percentage of paid professional warriors of any historic society). Starship Troopers also portrays a volunteer military made of paid professionals, though they were motivated more by patriotism than pay. Voluntary professionals exist across a spectrum of motivations ranging from pure altruism/patriotism with little concern for rewards all the way to the base mercenary fighting, voluntarily, for pay with no care for the specific cause.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Conscripts (draftees): Like volunteer professionals, conscripts<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Ft-Dix-Draftees-350x234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32829" border="0" class="wp-image-32829 size-medium" height="234" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Ft-Dix-Draftees-350x234.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Ft-Dix-Draftees-350x234.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Ft-Dix-Draftees-768x514.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Ft-Dix-Draftees-700x468.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Ft-Dix-Draftees-400x268.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Ft-Dix-Draftees-500x334.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Ft-Dix-Draftees.jpg 1024w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">US Army draftees at Fort Dix during the 1960s. <br />
(Photo by Leif Skoogfors/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
usually receive formal training after joining the military, even though they don’t volunteer. At times conscript training has been very basic, but at other times is identical to the training the volunteers get. Conscripts are forced to serve spend time in the military as paid professionals for a limited period of time, often 1-2 years, but sometimes more (or less even). Conscripts have always been known to be less motivated and generally less well-trained that paid volunteer professional soldiers. But at the very least, all of them receive some formal training.</li>
</ol>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
C. Part-time Soldiers: Generally only enter active service during a war or national crisis. May or may not be paid</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/US-Colonial-Militia-Reinactors-350x263.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32830" border="0" class="wp-image-32830 size-medium" height="263" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/US-Colonial-Militia-Reinactors-350x263.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/US-Colonial-Militia-Reinactors-350x263.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/US-Colonial-Militia-Reinactors-768x576.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/US-Colonial-Militia-Reinactors-700x525.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/US-Colonial-Militia-Reinactors-400x300.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/US-Colonial-Militia-Reinactors-500x375.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/US-Colonial-Militia-Reinactors.jpg 1280w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 17.48px;">US Colonial Militia Reenactors. Credit: US National Parks Service</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ol style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 10px 10px -15px;">
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Militias/Reserves: Militias at times have usually consisted of volunteers, but at times have consisted of every able-bodied person who can fight (usually men). Militias/Reserves may not receive any formal military training, though usually they do receive some, but their training is generally less thorough than full-time professionals, who essentially are paid to prepare themselves for war. Militia units at times have consisted of aged veterans or other persons disqualified from service in a professional military due to age or disability. Called up during emergencies or war, militia or reserve members usually are paid while they are serving.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none decimal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px;">Medieval (and other) Levies: Levies were required to fight by obligation, such as duties to a medieval lord, and usually fought only for the duration of a war or for a fixed period each year, and generally served without pay (though their food and other sustenance might be supplied during wartime). They usually received informal military training that was usually not very good or no training at all. (But on occasion levies were quite well-trained.) Often were responsible for supplying their own weapons.<br /><br />
</li>
</ol>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Battle_of_crecy_froissart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32831" border="0" class="wp-image-32831 size-full" height="254" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Battle_of_crecy_froissart.jpg" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px; text-align: left;">Medieval warriors at the Battle of Crecy, <br />including hereditary knights, levies of bowmen, <br />and mercenary crossbowmen. <br />Public domain image by Jean Froissart.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Note some of the differences in the types of training these soldiers undergo relate to issues that themselves don’t directly relate to training. It’s tough to have a paid professional force in a society in which wealth is tied to land ownership or ownership of other property and taxes over goods and services are not the primary source of government funding. While medieval societies at times were able to hire professional warriors (usually mercenaries hired for short-term needs), the organization of the society made it easier to have the warriors occupy a permanent class, where participation in warfare was expected of them from childhood to death. And of course, barbarians, like the Mongolians Genghis Khan united under his command, did not have a wide base of social classes to support warriors–instead, every Mongolian knew at least a little about war.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
If we ask where the Klingons of Star Trek fall in this set of warriors, they share the most traits in common with A2. For them, war is part of their culture, something they celebrate full-time, and is not reserved only for one social class. However, from time to time Star Trek introduces a Klingon who is not a full-time warrior, such as ones who are scientists or lawyers (yet these Klingons still have a warlike mentality). So in some ways, their warriors do form a caste. So Klingons falls somewhere between A1 and A2.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
In contrast, the values of individual determination that the Federation cherishes causes it to be a B1 society. But note that the Cardassians of Star Trek have a very pro-military society, yet those who serve are still volunteers who become paid professionals–so their training is type B1, just like the Federation, even though their society is much more militaristic.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Note that ancient Israel mostly fought with levies, especially at first (C2). But the kings of Israel (and Judah) eventually became a permanent warrior caste (A1)–though at times, these kings hired mercenaries from outside Israel (B1). Many other societies have also had complex mixes of warriors the way ancient Israel did.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Societies have layers of ways they drill warriors that relate not just to training philosophies, but stem from their economics and their cultural attitudes about warfare.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis C here with some considerations for authors as you map out your story world as well as some illustrations for this topic. Westerners in the 20th and 21st century are familiar with the concept of paid professional soldiers as our modern militaries have evolved into stable organizations. Many of us come from nations where service is a respected profession, with sufficient tax structures and national desire to have standing military forces, and the cultural expectations of how our armies are organized, trained, and utilized have become stable. Soldiering is both art and science, with significant effort spent to ensure a robust, capable, versatile force exists to defend national interests and respond in times of crisis (through use of force and other non-combative means too).<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
The ingredients to get here were not always present and authors need to evaluate the credibility of their worldbuilding in that light. It’s not that well-trained forces can’t exist in levied/conscript environments, but it would be an exceptional case and in need of justification to make such a story plausible. Let’s look at two examples from the current media, in two very different genres, that highlight some of these challenges.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/last-kingdom-350x213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32832" border="0" class="wp-image-32832 size-medium" height="213" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/last-kingdom-350x213.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/last-kingdom-350x213.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/last-kingdom-768x467.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/last-kingdom-700x425.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/last-kingdom-400x243.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/last-kingdom-500x304.jpg 500w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">The Last Kingdom portraying battle. Photo credit: www.gq.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I don’t know about you, but I’m excited for season 3 of <em>The Last Kingdom</em> as it gets ready to launch. The series follows a Saxon-turned-Dane-turned-back-to-Saxon man, Uhtred, as England comes into being as a unified nation in the late 800’s. King Alfred the Great sits on the throne, not without controversy and with plenty of enemies. We witness the friction between Uhtred trying to reclaim his Saxon birthright while honoring his Danish upbringing and King Alfred trying to unite a fractured people whilst dealing with an invading force of Danes.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Season 1 shows us the complex arrangement of nobles, King, and arrayed foes. Alfred desires to unite the kingdoms of England through his own kingship in Wessex. A man who studies history and thinks logically, he organizes Wessex into individual burhs under the leadership of an ealdorman (earl) who is charged with martial obligations to Alfred. On command, each earlman is required to produce a fyrd, or levy, of soldiers to defend against invading forces. The ealdormen are also responsible for the repair of fortresses, bridges, and other military service. If any refuse, they must pay the king a tax and, for landowners, forfeiture of their lands.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
King Alfred must contend with the men like Odda the Elder (a real-life person) who controls the largest fyrd in Wessex and must be convinced to assemble his men against the Danish foe while his younger son desires to reach a peace with the same Danes. In order for the fyrd to assemble, political maneuvering and mutual alignment of interests are needed.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
The fyrd itself has limited training and is clearly not ready to engage in combat with the barbarian culture of the sea-going Danes (something like the A1/A2 culture Travis P described earlier). Uhtred’s unique knowledge of Danish tactics and strategy come into the story as he trains the Wessex soldiers to use similar practices against their foes. We see the ealdormen resist him, but ultimately the value of this dedicated training is seen in future Wessex victories on the battlefield.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Author Bernard Cornwell and the television producers do an excellent job of mixing fact and fiction to show us the consequences of a fledgling nation trying to organize military forces against a compelling foe and dealing with limited resources. The distinction between Danish culture, warrior traditions and preparedness, is in stark contrast to the Anglo-Saxon people and the beginnings of feudal society.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Fast forward to the future and interstellar travel via the Skip Drive and we have the setting for John Scalzi’s <em><u><a data-amzn-asin="0765394855" href="https://www.amazon.com/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi/dp/0765394855/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Old Man’s War</a></u></em>. I picked this example because of the unique take on how an army is formed and trained. Instead of the typical young recruit getting drawn into the military and trained from an early age, the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF) are drawn only from the elderly. Those age 65 have DNA samples drawn and sign away two years of their lives to serve in the CDF in exchange for the opportunity to enjoy a life homesteading on one of our colonized planets. Why? Because the CDF needs people who have gained decades of experience to transfer into genetically-engineered, combat-enhanced bodies to fight against the aliens who also desire the same resources we are seeking on those colonized planets.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Old-Mans-War-191x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32833" border="0" class="wp-image-32833 size-medium" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 191px) 100vw, 191px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Old-Mans-War-191x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Old-Mans-War-191x300.jpg 191w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Old-Mans-War-255x400.jpg 255w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Old-Mans-War.jpg 319w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">Image credit: Amazon.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Scalzi was nominated for a Hugo Award for Old Man’s War and received praise for upending some of the genre’s tropes when it comes to military fiction in a sci-fi setting. In speculative fiction we have the ability to create environments that take what we know, like our historical understanding of how armies are formed and trained, and potentially rearrange the pieces to logically fit into our stories with reasonable justification. In fantasy settings, it may be common for only the youngest magic-users to enter military service due to their strength, stamina, and freshness. Maybe it’s the opposite, where only the seasoned thaumaturge is valued since they have a long list of experiences. In a futuristic setting with different resources and societal demands, maybe patriotism and good pay aren’t enough to ensure a steady supply of soldiers and other motivations need to be considered.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
The range of possibilities is endless. Military functions will always exist when things are not right and something needs to be done about it, regardless of the cause of that set of circumstances. Characters may be motivated by self-determination, national conscious, a hive mind, a bag of silver, or a desire for the adventure just outside the door. In any case, the author needs to evaluate how to best align their entry into service with the degree and types of training they receive.</div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-22106948513284364892020-07-15T05:42:00.002-07:002020-07-15T05:42:42.864-07:00Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, part 11: Training a Spartan, Samurai, or Starship Trooper<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis P here. In <a href="https://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/2020/06/speculative-fiction-writers-guide-to_17.html" target="_blank">part 7 of this series</a> we discussed those combatants who are naturally elite in a way most warriors are not (in not suffering harmful effects of combat stress). Spartans, in spite of battlefield courage that implies they are natural-born warriors, were in fact the product of superior training, training that in essence was designed, as much as was humanly possible, to overcome the psychological difficulties a human being experiences in combat. Note that this kind of highly-trained fighting professional is a different sort of fighter than found in warrior cultures who emphasized battlefield rage. This type of elite training was not just a characteristic of Spartans, it was also true of a number of other renowned warriors from times past, such as Samurai. And in spite of the fact that elite troops in our own era tend to recruit those with unusual natural talent for war (intentionally or not), elite training is the primary factor that explains the amazing skills of elite troops of our own era and the imagined future warriors like those in Robert A. Heinlein’s <em>Starship Troopers</em>.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-color-350x197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32746" border="0" class="wp-image-32746 size-medium" height="197" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-color-350x197.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-color-350x197.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-color-768x432.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-color-700x394.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-color-400x225.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-color-500x281.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Samurai-color.jpg 800w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px; text-align: start;">Samurai: Colorized public domain image of real samurai</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Let’s start with Samurai. Their training varied greatly according to social class and time period, but they generally began at the age of 5. Poorer warriors were instructed in the samurai art of bushido by family members, while wealthier families enrolled their sons in special schools. All samurai training emphasized the calmness of mind required for archery and for a period they practiced archery on living dogs running for their lives (this practice was eventually abandoned as too cruel). It also included a great emphasis on horsemanship, swordsmanship, and heavy armor training–including, due to Japan’s many rivers and coastal areas, how to swim in armor. They also emphasized unarmed fighting that developed into many modern forms of Japanese martial arts. In addition, they engaged in acts of physical endurance and resistance to pain, such as standing naked in a snowbank.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Note some of the key features of this kind of training were shared by other professional warrior cultures of ancient and Medieval times, such as the traditional training of European knights. Ancient training methods understood that someone raised into warfare from childhood would adopt the methods of fighting as second nature. They emphasized a person deliberately calming self, facing bloodshed, and enduring pain, all with the purpose of muting natural psychological reactions to these conditions that humans normally experience.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Hoplites-1-350x168.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32747" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32747" height="168" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Hoplites-1-350x168.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Hoplites-1-350x168.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Hoplites-1-768x369.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Hoplites-1-700x336.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Hoplites-1-400x192.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Hoplites-1-500x240.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Hoplites-1.jpg 1600w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px; text-align: start;">Ancient pottery image of Greek warriors, from: http://spartareconsidered.blogspot.com/2011/09/physical-appearance-of-spartans.html</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Spartan training shared these features with the Samurai, but did so more systematically. Their training began at age 7, later than Samurai training, but it exceeded them in difficulty, in standardization, in requirements for group training, and in total commitment. Like samurai and other professional warriors of the past, Spartans trained in unarmed combat to include boxing and wrestling, but considered gymnastics and the ability to dance important warrior skills as well. A Spartan warrior would train continuously until age 18, when he would be considered an adult and be expected to marry. At age 20 he would allowed to attempt to join the army–he would only be accepted after being examined and considered fully qualified. Spartans in the army lived together in barracks and continually trained for warfare (an actual war was considered something of a vacation), only visiting their homes on occasion (which were run by the women of the family), serving from ages 20 to 60. Warriors older than 60 returned home, but still maintained the equivalent of “reserve status,” where they could be called upon in the event of a national emergency.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
In <em>Starship Troopers, </em>elite warriors were <em>not </em>raised as such from childhood, just as is true in modern militaries. I will let Travis C tell you more about what the society of the story was like below as he uses Heinlein’s novel to illustrate our point, but note troopers lived normal lives until reaching adulthood. In <em>Starship Troopers </em>(the novel contains more of these details than the movie), recruits were subject to vigorous psychological testing (which the story presumes would be accurate) that assigns new troops exactly to those specialties they are most suited to perform–which would clearly put naturally elite troops in front-line combat positions. Recruits were also trained according notions of psychology that include some indirect reinforcement of positive behavior with rewards–but mostly centered on the use of corporal punishment as negative reinforcement. Soldiers could voluntarily leave service at any time, though if they were due punishment, they would need to be flogged first. But by recruiting from those people who most wanted to service, they had few troopers actually decide to leave the service–however, their system included the strictest form of elimination of incompetent soldiers. The novel featured live-fire training and harsh survival exercises that could prove fatal to those troops not performing actions as they’d been trained to do them.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
All of these warriors, bot the real and the fictional, not only trained the body, they also trained the mind. Which is probably more important than the specific weapons skills they acquired. Their training shared a number of factors in common to a greater or lesser extent, factors that allowed them to overcome the psychological stresses of combat. Beyond what I’ve already stated, below are some other training features they shared in common:<br />
<br />
1. They exposed warriors to the reality of death to such a degree, they would get used to it. Spartans training was so tough that those undergoing it faced the real risk of death. At a phase of their training they famously had to steal food to survive–or starve. Samurai and other ancient and Medieval fighters in training accompanied warriors onto the battlefield, exposing young men to combat violence early on. Hunting was also part of training, because the calmness required in stalking an animal and the ability to kill it relates to the use of weapons against other human beings. In <em>Starship Troopers, </em>life-or-death survival and combat exercises were a normal part of the training cycle.<br />
<br />
2. They mentally prepared for death. Samurai philosophy was heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism and they believed in life after death, though they did not emphasize it quite so much as Medieval knights. However, they strove to maintain a state of mind where they continually recognized that death could come in the next minute. Spartans did believe in an afterlife, but it seems they placed a greater emphasis on duty to the city and their unit as the reason to be prepared to die, if necessary. Robert Heinlein’s <em>Starship Troopers </em>put no emphasis on life after death at all, but like Spartans, they were continually drilled that they had a duty to humanity, a duty that might call on them to sacrifice their lives at any time.<br />
<br />
3. They employed as realistic and as difficult training as they could. From actually being out on the battlefield to the best mock-ups they could make of training dummies, all of these warrior societies trained hard not only in their weapons techniques, but they routinely would go without food, without comfort, deliberately expose themselves to pain, and would face physical and mental exhaustion, pushing themselves as close to the breaking point as they could go. Their ability to face and overcome pain was an important part of their training regimen. They would also build up their physical strength in systematic exercises to improve not only their physical, but their mental performance. Facing and overcoming tough circumstances in training made the rigors of the battlefield less challenging. Training until actions are second nature or “muscle memory” also ensures they can be performed when the mind is pushed beyond its normal capabilities.<br />
<br />
4. They emphasized the value of the group over the individual and benefited from “collective courage.” This was especially true of the Spartans and to a somewhat lesser degree was the case in <em>Starship Troopers</em>. One of the psychological realities that makes it easier for a human being to perform any difficult act is when other people are doing it at the same time. Spartans trained continually to act as a unit, to think as a unit, to sleep together in barracks to do everything together, for the purpose of them acting as a unified group in a time of crisis. Even though this was less true for samurai–far less true, because they like knights believed in individual honor–warriors of feudal Japan did feel a sense of obligation to their fellow warriors and believed it was a dishonor to let them down. They also swore oaths of loyalty to superiors and while there are plenty of examples in history of warriors breaking their oaths, it was considered shameful to do so and was not what warriors normally did.<br />
<br />
5. They were systematically taught to stay calm and maintain a level head. Unlike the movie “The 300,” Spartans admired saying little and keeping their emotions solidly in control. Samurai employed meditation and their focus as Zen Buddhists to maintain calm and control their emotions, though they’d release battle shouts in a controlled way, as happens in modern martial arts. Of these three sets of warriors, <em>Starship Troopers</em> probably placed the least emphasis on emotional self-control, but what we think of as military order and discipline emphasized keeping a level head and was actually the normal way for them to fight.<br />
<br />
6. They maintained a personal code that justified them in taking lives under specific circumstances. Killing another human being normally causes psychological trauma to the humans doing the killing as noted in previous posts. But when someone strongly believes that an opponent represents an inherent threat, that the other person deserves to die, the natural trauma involved in killing is easier to overcome. And an assurance that a warrior has that he is living up to a high code of conduct also assuages his conscience. This sort of assurance in the personal righteousness of the warrior was especially key in the training of samurai (and also knights). Spartan training also had an ethical component, but its ethics emphasized supporting the city and other warriors over a code that each fighter could apply to himself individually. <em>Starship Troopers </em>employed a code something like that of the Spartans, which enthusiastically supported war and killing as if it were great fun, as long as it was in defense of the human race. (And as Travis C notes below, their sense of values also included systematic deadening of empathy towards the enemy.)<br />
<br />
7. They systematically studied the nature of warfare and carefully employed their thinking minds to the art of winning battles. Actually the Roman legionaries were the greatest ancient masters of this last point, even though I did not pick them as one of the examples above. But this was also true of Spartans and samurai and is found in <em>Starship Trooper </em>training. Warriors of Feudal Japan were expected to be literate and to know and understand pertinent written works of strategy. Spartans were also trained to read and write, even if they did not love literacy and innovation the way their Athenian rivals did. And all the actions in <em>Starship Troopers </em>were directed by those recruits who had be pre-selected as those best able to devise and execute masterful battlefield strategy.<br />
<br />
It’s important to note that historic warriors who maintained calmness in the heat of battle (who had faced enough death and suffering during hard training to do that), who fought together as unit, who believed themselves morally superior to their opponents, and who employed their clear, level heads to the use of the best strategy and tactics available, routinely defeated warrior societies who emphasized battle cries and berzerker frenzy. Calm, scientific warriors win, almost every time.<br />
<br />
Note the Klingons of Star Trek share a few of these features I’ve mentioned above–they are portrayed as training hard, having a strong belief in the afterlife, and as facing death with equanimity. But they are not shown to stay cool and level-headed, to use sharp unemotional minds to employ clever strategies while fighting. Though in defense of the idea of Klingons, perhaps it is not necessary for them as an alien species to maintain tight emotional control in order to be able to keep thinking clearly. Though in fact, the best explanation for them is that Klingons were not written with a realistic understanding of war in mind. And it happens to be true that they have been written with features that in reality are competition with one another to a large degree. (Or maybe…that’s why the Federation keeps beating them…)<br />
<br />
Note though that even these warriors who were trained to an unbelievably high degree sometimes broke under the stresses of combat–even Spartans on occasion surrendered. But those warrior societies that go the furthest to train into men the ability to successfully stand at places like Thermopylae, who can face death without surrendering or breaking ranks even in the midst of enormous psychological pressure, these societies have certain features in common–if the characters involved are human or nearly so. Portray them in stories accordingly.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/starship-troopers-181x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32745" border="0" class="wp-image-32745 size-medium" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 181px) 100vw, 181px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/starship-troopers-181x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/starship-troopers-181x300.jpg 181w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/starship-troopers.jpg 241w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="181" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px; text-align: start;">Credit: Rocketpunk Manifesto</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Travis C here with a great illustration for the week, suggested by Travis P. We’re visiting one of my alma mater’s most prolific and controversial graduates, Robert Heinlein and his Hugo Award winning <em>Starship Troopers</em>. You are likely more familiar with the 1997 satirical movie rendition of the story, but for our purposes that will do. The book is excellent and an interesting thought-provoking read, no matter if you share his beliefs or not. (I’m smiling because there’s a huge Heinlein poster in one of our English department rooms next to where I teach).<br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">For those unfamiliar with S</span><em style="font-size: 17.48px;">tarship Trooper</em><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">’s backstory, there is a war going one between a Federation made up of earth’s former democracies and an alien arachnid race from the planet Klendathu, affectionately known as “the Bugs”. As society evolved in the aftermath of a global war, certain rights of participation in the government are reserved for those who have completed Federal service, typically in a branch of the military. While free speech and assembly remain protected for all, certain government jobs, elected positions, and the right to vote are only for those who have served (hence the controversy created by Heinlein’s work). Enter our main character, Juan “Johnny” Rico, the son of two non-serving, affluent members of society who do not want their son to participate in the military. When Johnny enlists for service he is ostracized but resolute in his path, encouraged by his former infantry-serving history teacher Jean Rasczyk (in the movie played by a very gritty Michael Ironside).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">We get to experience Johnny’s training alongside fellow grunts of the Mobile Infantry. We experience his efforts to put aside personal desires for the good of the team. We watch him and his peers going through simulated combat training in full kit with modified weaponry (and painful consequences) to prepare them for the realities of the battlefield. We experience the frosty personality of</span><a href="https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/deficientgregariouseasternnewt" style="font-size: 17.48px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;"> Drill Sergeant Zim as he breaks the recruits down in order to instill a new set of values and operating frameworks within them</a><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Sadly, Johnny also experiences the painful loss of a comrade in the midst of training due to his own leadership failure. He learns the challenge of decision-making in the midst of combat and the consequences, intended or otherwise, of failure.<br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Throughout the movie (and book, though maybe not as over-the-top displayed) is the dehumanizing of the enemy and subsequent conditioning of the soldier to kill without hesitation, by rote memorization, with all the lethality one is capable of, for the greater cause. The only good bug is a dead bug, and “the noblest fate that a man can endure is to place his own mortal body between his loved home and war’s desolation.”</span><em style="font-size: 17.48px;"> Starship Troopers</em><span style="font-size: 17.48px;"> shows an environment that prepares soldiers to take life (arachnid life, at least) for a noble cause and with full moral authority.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Lastly, we see the efforts of the support organization like military intelligence to learn as much as possible about Bug culture and tactics. This information is used to better prepare the military to fight and win. A warrior culture is always learning and perfecting its craft, and the members of Mobile Infantry are no different. Any opportunity to exploit the enemy and achieve victory is explored and pursued.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Like Travis P, I can point to my personal experiences through two forms of high-intensity training (USNA’s Plebe Summer as both participant and trainer, and much later in a combat pre-deployment program for combat environments) and confirm many of the principles we’ve discussed. Individual success is certainly praised, but never at the expense of team success. If the team fails, everyone fails. While many view components of basic training as a form of brainwashing, a good training program does not preclude individual initiative, daring, and independent thinking. It just puts those things in a framework of teamwork in support of larger purposes, often through sacrificial actions and attitudes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Can you train a person to achieve different results? Certainly, but also expect there to be consequences. A program based on a “Winner Takes All” attitude will produce warriors who know nothing other than internal competition with one another, and one would expect team efforts to fall apart or be extremely challenging. Similarly, a training program that reinforced self-sacrifice for others as the ultimate virtue may experience higher-than-average death rates as soldiers put themselves into high-risk situations to save others, maybe even against common sense.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">How do we show all of this as writers? Heinlein and many others dedicate significant time to showing these experiences through the eyes of the characters undergoing them. It might be in the form of character flashbacks or reminiscing. It may be tangential to the actual story and witnessed through other observations from the society and culture, even if not explicitly explored. For example, maybe a family is discussing messages from a son/daughter or sister/brother who is going through training and out of the picture but still connected via their words? Lots of possibilities. It’s also very common in modern military settings for troops to discuss basic training experiences while conducting more advanced training scenarios, offering another possibility to explore the formative experiences of a warrior in the context of a more mature, experienced character.</span></div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-52341701923885161432020-07-08T16:00:00.000-07:002020-07-08T16:00:02.955-07:00Speculative Fiction Writer's Guide to War, part 10: The Aftermath of Combat <div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis P here. The picture I’ve included above is by Tom Lea, an artist who traveled with US Marines in the Pacific during World War II (this particular painting is called “The Two Thousand Yard Stare”). The image captures better than words ever can one of the effects combat has, a particular example of what the aftermath of combat can be.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9fEaAjd4PHqyeGb3R9OlDAhIovLw_ebXo0FjrmH9udveYfXSoyf046QWCUkb0kAXysa2SMHMBMuS6ai6KWfLCpmaSS4eCPZhqgN6aTJxUFYUPkCZZ1xCd-8iJFil9jIn2Uwb3whH2pdve/s1600/640px-Tom_Lea_-_2000_Yard_Stare-544x700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="544" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9fEaAjd4PHqyeGb3R9OlDAhIovLw_ebXo0FjrmH9udveYfXSoyf046QWCUkb0kAXysa2SMHMBMuS6ai6KWfLCpmaSS4eCPZhqgN6aTJxUFYUPkCZZ1xCd-8iJFil9jIn2Uwb3whH2pdve/s320/640px-Tom_Lea_-_2000_Yard_Stare-544x700.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painting by Tom Lea.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
I first meant this post to talk about long-term after the fact effects of combat, how it changes the warrior who fights in battle permanently. But I’ve found the actual information on this topic more elusive than I believed it was. So I’m going to broaden the topic a bit to talk about the effects of combat after the fact in general, not just long-term.<br />
<br />
Let’s start with the “thousand yard stare.” I read one source that suggested that eyes staring unfocused in the distance is adaptive for survival, because by not focusing on any particular thing, the peripheral vision expands, so any potentially dangerous motion is easily detected. I mention this source more to illustrate that many of the actual realities of why human beings do what they do under various circumstances is in fact still at least partially a matter of speculation. And sometimes a whole lot more than “partially” speculative.<br />
<br />
Unlike the source I just quoted, I think it’s more normal to see the thousand yard stare as a product of information overload to the brain. Normal eye movement, normal inquisitive engagement of the environment ceases, because the brain has seen enough and engaged enough. It may be true a person in that state defaults to a form of vision designed to pick up motion, but the primary reason for such a reaction is sensory and emotional overload.<br />
<br />
Such a state of staring is usually temporary, as are all the effects of what is now commonly called a “Combat Stress Reaction.” In addition to the stare, troops coming off hard fighting often share the following traits:<br />
<br />
Slowing of reaction time<br />
Slowness of thought<br />
Difficulty prioritizing tasks<br />
Difficulty initiating routine tasks <br />
Preoccupation with minor issues and familiar tasks<br />
Indecision and lack of concentration<br />
Loss of initiative with fatigue<br />
Exhaustion<br />
Headaches<br />
Back pains<br />
Inability to relax<br />
Shaking and tremors<br />
Sweating<br />
Nausea and vomiting<br />
Loss of appetite<br />
Abdominal distress<br />
Frequency of urination <br />
Urinary incontinence<br />
Heart palpitations<br />
Hyperventilation<br />
Dizziness<br />
Insomnia<br />
Nightmares<br />
Restless sleep<br />
Excessive sleep<br />
Excessive startle<br />
Hyper-vigilance<br />
Heightened sense of threat <br />
Anxiety<br />
Irritability<br />
Depression<br />
Substance abuse<br />
Loss of adaptability<br />
Attempted suicides<br />
Disruptive behavior<br />
Mistrust of others<br />
Confusion<br />
Extreme feeling of losing control<br />
<br />
Obviously not everyone experiences all of these traits. In fact, a number of these reactions cannot be experienced together because they are opposites, e.g. excessive sleep versus insomnia. For most people exposed to combat, to have a number of these reactions (but not all of them) is normal. And for most warriors, the bulk of these effects fade after a few days. The experience of US Military medicine in WWII indicated that a person was in fact more likely to fully recover from “battle fatigue” if after only a short break he returned to his unit and continued to engage in combat. Why this is true is a matter of speculation, but it may be the case that someone who disengages from combat stress can see himself as a permanent failure if not allowed to return to duty with the rest of the “normal” soldiers.<br />
<br />
Acute or short-term combat reactions are fairly well understood. Most people experience them at a level that will hamper their ability to continue fighting if under enough combat stress–that amounts to something like 96% to 98% of all combat soldiers if under continuous contact with the enemy for an extended period (6 weeks or more). This figure comes with a very small group of exceptions, as previously noted in the previous post, <a href="http://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/speculative-fiction-writers-guide-to-war-part-7-the-fearless-elite/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">The Fearless Elite,</a> who show no observable reaction to combat, even of the sort that causes most warriors to become psychological casualties. Yet a reaction to combat stress can exist at a level which affects a warrior without fully paralyzing him or her and is in fact common.<br />
<br />
The list of affects above starts to morph into longer-term effects when it lists depression, substance abuse, loss of adaptability, attempted suicides, disruptive behavior, and mistrust of others. These particular traits can become long-term conditions. And acute reactions, from nightmares, to depression, hyper-vigilance, heart palpitations, and more, can occur in someone who has been long removed from combat if something occurs that triggers the memories of warfare. A mild example would be how for a long while after returning from Iraq (where I was subjected to rocket attacks for an extended period), I would “excessively startle” at loud banging noises from firecrackers to slamming doors.<br />
<br />
Other reactions include a sense that life outside of combat is ridiculously trivial, which is understandable when dealing with life and death in war versus dealing with running errands in regular life. In addition, a person who has experienced extremes of emotion on the battlefield often shows signs of emotions being fused in ordinary life. So a person can rapidly become angry or experience other rapid shifts of emotion. I found myself experiencing some of the sense that ordinary life doesn’t matter much, as well as quicker-than-normal anger.<br />
<br />
My reactions, such as they were, faded in me over a period of several years. They do in fact fade for most people, but for many, never very much. True stories of veterans who suffer from nightmares, or who can not be safely awakened unexpectedly in the middle of the night, or who always sit in the corners of restaurants to keep an eye on an entire room due to hyper-vigilance are extremely common.<br />
<br />
Note that modern warfare is different from ancient or medieval in the fact it can put stress on a person day and night for extended periods of time. Usually, in the past, warfare was only fought during daylight hours. Yet even though ancient times record less of people being disabled by psychological stresses, the type of stresses that became greatly evident for the first time during World War I, there still exists evidence that combat stress was a “thing,” even in the distant past. Travis C is going to share how both the Iliad and the Odyssey show elements of how war changes warriors, not just in modern interpretations of those texts, but also in the way these accounts were first composed.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<a class="rtBibleRef" data-purpose="bible-reference" data-reference="2 Sam 20.12" data-version="esv" href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Sam%2020.12" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">II Samuel 20:12</a> likewise records how people passing by reacted to an Israelite named Amasa who had been disemboweled and left to die along a road (by Joab). The sight stopped them in their tracks to the degree that Amasa had to be pulled off the road and covered with a cloth for people to keep moving. In other words, even in times where people saw more bloodshed than we do, the sight of a disemboweled man painfully wallowing in his own blood wasn’t something people could ignore. They were clearly affected by it, certainly horrified.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
And historical accounts of medieval behavior, in which knights seem to show very little emotional control, also function as examples. That is, the knights seem to have demonstrated signs of the kind of emotional swings experienced by someone exposed to traumatic stress. Please note that these stresses are not limited to combat–people can experience this from other kinds of trauma, especially when they are exposed to it as children. Please also note that many children in the medieval world were exposed to violent trauma that would have impacted them strongly–and this would also be common in many worlds of epic fantasy.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
This situation is a bit like the fact that nearly everyone in Medieval Europe had at least some scarring from smallpox–yet since everyone had it, they simply considered that condition normal. Having eliminated smallpox from the world, today we see such scarring on people as unusual. Likewise, in modern societies that have eliminated much of the gruesomeness of childhood that was common in the past, we see post-traumatic stress reactions as abnormal. Our ancestors took far less notice of people acting in a way we’d associate with post-traumatic stress–most likely because it used to be far more common.<br />
<br />
What exactly is the connection between acute combat reactions and long-term post traumatic stress is difficult to say in a broadly meaningful way. Some people have a greater tendency to suffer from long-term problems than others, though why isn’t clear. Note though that a person is not necessarily disabled by continuing to have (a) post-traumatic reaction(s). People can have sudden unexpected reactions to certain smells or sounds or other stimuli that remind them of their combat stress without being paralyzed by such reactions. People can suffer from black moods and have suicidal thoughts and overcome such conditions, especially with help from others who have gone through the same sorts of things. In fact, it’s important for veterans to realize such reactions are to a degree, normal. And that talking to one another, or at times to professionals, about their experiences is healthy and good.<br />
<br />
One factor that seems to relate to how soldiers react to combat over the long-term stems from whether people are able to justify their actions in combat to themselves. A person who looks back and feels he acted morally and correctly does much better in dealing with post-traumatic stress than those who look at back at their own behavior and see it as reprehensible. Note the sense of “morality” I’m referencing does not necessarily mean a person is good–a knight judging his actions from a warped view of Christianity may have felt morally justified in killing defenseless Muslims and Jews (say when Jerusalem was taken in the First Crusade)–that doesn’t mean he actually was justified in a broader moral sense. But the ability to feel justified has always helped warriors deal with the aftermath of combat. Those who cannot justify their actions to themselves have a harder time.<br />
<br />
Let me emphasize there is a difference between having post-traumatic stress or a post-traumatic stress reaction and having PTSD–Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The disorder occurs when veterans are disabled by their experiences, when their lives are interrupted significantly. A person can have a certain amount of permanent effects from combat–it is normal in fact to have some–while still functioning in life in a normal way. Or mostly normal…<br />
<br />
Stories that include combat should at least consider these realities for both human and non-human characters.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis C here with some illustrative resources for writers of combat. As Travis P notes, we’re talking about two broad categories of combat impact: physiological and psychological responses in the midst of action or shortly afterwards (often labeled as combat stress response), and the responses that last after a warrior withdraws from combat and returns to “normal” living. I was at a training session for the <a href="http://cominghomedialogues.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">Coming Home Dialogues</a> which uses the humanities as a means for veterans to process their war experiences and during a poetry-writing exercise one veteran wrote the following conclusion to a poem about “things every soldier should know”:<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<i>You don’t come home.</i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Sounds harsh, but the message was beautiful. The “you” that began a deployment or mission isn’t the same as the one coming back, and while many effects will pass with time, the experience is etched there and for many the effects do not always pass.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Instead of analyzing the popular media which often captures the physiological responses to some degree (movies can do well as focusing on bodily responses, for instance) and may use story narrative to expose a warrior’s psychological reactions, I’d like to very briefly introduce two resources that helped me work through my own challenges by unpacking two fantasy works of literature: Homer’s <i>The Iliad</i> and <i>The Odyssey</i>.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Jonathan Shay is a psychologist and counselor of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Two of his popular works are <a data-amzn-asin="0684813211" href="https://www.amazon.com/Achilles-Vietnam-Combat-Undoing-Character/dp/0684813211" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>Achilles in Vietnam</i></a> and <a data-amzn-asin="074321157X" href="https://www.amazon.com/Odysseus-America-Combat-Trauma-Homecoming/dp/074321157X/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>Odysseus in America</i></a>. Each work analyzes the main character of <i>The Iliad</i> and <i>Odyssey</i> respectively and posits that Homer is writing about warrior issues of moral injury and betrayal (Achilles) and the psychological impact of returning home from war (Odysseus). For writers looking to hone their ability to write about warrior culture I can’t recommend each book highly enough.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32708" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 200px;">
<img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32708" class="size-medium wp-image-32708" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/troy_keyart-200x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/troy_keyart-200x300.jpg 200w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/troy_keyart-267x400.jpg 267w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/troy_keyart-100x150.jpg 100w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/troy_keyart.jpg 270w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="200" /><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32708" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">
Credit: www.warnerbros.com/troy</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Let’s begin with Achilles. The Greeks have been fighting the Trojans for some time, and Achilles represents the noble, honorable Greek warrior fighting for a just cause. He and his Myrmidon are spectacular in battle, winning many engagements and bringing honor and encouragement to the Greek forces. Then Agamemnon, the king of the Greeks (though not Achilles’ ruler), decides to take back part of Achilles’ rightful war spoils for himself. The movie <i>Troy</i> attempts to capture this moment but fails to fully reveal the cultural and personal affront this is to Achilles. He is enraged at the dishonorable actions of his leadership and is wounded in a moral way: the Greeks no longer serve someone who holds the ethical high ground. In fact, maybe they never did. After losing his brother Patroclus, Achilles goes into a berserk rage as his worldview of rightness and honor comes spiraling down, ultimately leading to his death.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32709" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;">
<img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32709" class="size-medium wp-image-32709" height="206" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Achillies-Reacts-350x206.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Achillies-Reacts-350x206.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Achillies-Reacts-768x451.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Achillies-Reacts-700x411.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Achillies-Reacts-400x235.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Achillies-Reacts-500x294.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Achillies-Reacts.jpg 941w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32709" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">
Gavin Hamilton, Achilles Lamenting the Death of Patroclus<br />
www.nationalgalleries.org</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<i>The Iliad</i> shows us the warrior’s response to several specific traumas of battle. The death of a close comrade. Wrongful substitution (i.e., survivors guilt). Revenge through a berserk state of mind. The impact of dishonoring the enemy and having the enemy dishonor your own. The destruction of trust in the social and moral order the warrior exists in. A betrayal of what’s right.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<i>The Odyssey</i> represents another interesting case study for writers. If Achilles represents the honorable warrior operating from a worldview of moral rightness, Odysseus represents a different worldview. He is cunning and wily. It is Odysseus who suggests the use of the Trojan horse as a means of breaking through the Trojan forces and winning the war from the inside. Sneak inside, open the gates, kill as many as possible, and the Trojans will break. Prey upon their religious beliefs and lie to them. Odysseus inappropriately takes Achilles’ armor when it should have gone to Ajax. Not exactly honorable conduct.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Once the war is ended the remainder of the Greek forces sail for home after ten long years of sustained combat. Odysseus, King of Ithaca, tries to bring his men home but fails. After ten more long years he washes ashore and becomes a guest of the King of Phaecia. Among the civilian court, trapped in riches and focused on trivial things, Odysseus’ identity is learned and he recounts his tale of wayward misadventures that have cost him his entire army (none of the Ithacans come home except Odysseus).<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Shay unpacks the Odyssey in much richer detail than we can do justice to here, but consider the tales of cyclops, sirens, Scylla and other monsters as a metaphor for a returning warrior’s internal challenges to coming home:</div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;">
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">A success warrior’s repertoire of skills looks a lot like a criminal’s. Cunning, critical thinking, adaptability, focus on a task, control of fear, control of violence, capacity to respond skillfully and instantly to danger, disregard for fixed rules if it endangers the mission. Odysseus’ men raid the island of Ismarus and find their warrior training has prepared them for a career as thieves.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Odysseus’ crew tempt the island of the cyclops for only one apparent reason: to see what would happen. They knew danger lay there, but wanted to see what would happen if they prodded the beast. Returning warriors often find regular life boring and will find ways to create dangerous situations and thrill-seeking even in the midst of peace.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Odysseus encounters his friend Ajax in the Underworld, and finds within himself “a lack of moral pain, guilt, self-reproach, and self-criticism.” Warriors must wrestle with returning home and often suffer from internal agreements they’ve made, including a relentless search for the truth, an acceptance that anyone close to them will be harmed, and that the losses they suffered are irretrievable. In Shay’s words, “The lone wolf feels at home nowhere.”<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32710" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; float: right; margin: 10px -382.922px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;">
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32710" class="size-medium wp-image-32710" height="270" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Odysseus-Sirens-350x270.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Odysseus-Sirens-350x270.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Odysseus-Sirens-400x308.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/11/Odysseus-Sirens.jpg 492w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32710" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">
Columbia University:<br />
Odysseus and the Sirens, red figure stamnos vase, c. 480-460 BC</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">It’s often forgotten that the sirens weren’t calling out to the ships’ crews in a sensually seductive manner; they were calling out seductive truths that Odysseus heard nowhere else. They called out selective truths, but truth nonetheless. A warrior will often find themselves on a search for the truth (Why were we really there? What was our true impact? Did ____’s death really matter?) and that struggle may persist for a lifetime.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">To be frank, Odysseus has problems with women. Relationships are challenging to begin with, but combine that with extended time away from one another, limited communications, and the added stress of homecoming expectations and you’ve got a recipe for trouble.</li>
</ul>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
These are but a few examples from each of Homer’s works that describe the challenges a warrior faces when returning home. We recognize the risk of physical injury to the warrior on the field, and can paint a picture of maimed and broken soldiers back in society. The mental tax, the psychological impact of warfare, may not be as well appreciated. We recognize the impacts through secondary effects of the aftermath of combat: the veteran who can’t relate well to others, the warrior who never lets go the memory of a fallen comrade, the pent up anger and frustration if the system has failed them. Good writing will attempt to capture those impacts and show our readers the holistic story of the warrior’s combat experience.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Lastly, as we’ve pointed out before, these are realities for human combatants. Shifting our view to different races or species, the impacts may be different. How a culture processes the aftermath of combat might play a pivotal role in your story. Maybe there are genetic or physiological differences that make a character work different. The contrast to what is recognized as a human condition will be that much more important.</div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-13095583647602708352020-07-02T12:23:00.000-07:002020-07-02T12:23:41.343-07:00Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, Part 9: Perceptual Distortions in Combat<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Two articles ago in this series looked at exceptional human beings and their reactions to combat over the long-term in terms of their ability to manage the stresses of warfare without suffering psychological harm. This article looks at the physical effects a life or death struggle has on a person during fighting itself and next week’s article will go into long-term effects of combat on human beings. (Information below is derived from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman’s book, <i>On Combat</i>. Psychological effects in general, including perceptual distortions, are summarized in an article on<a href="https://www.killology.com/psychological-effects-of-combat" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"> Lt. Col. Grossman’s website</a>.)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Let’s observe up front that there are inherent difficulties in this kind of study. People going into battle don’t usually have heart monitors attached to them. But the available evidence from laboratory experiments shows that when the human heart rate increases from stress alone (as opposed to exercise), certain predictable effects take place:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/heartrate2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignright wp-image-32652 size-full" height="386" sizes="(max-width: 244px) 100vw, 244px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/heartrate2.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/heartrate2.jpg 244w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/heartrate2-190x300.jpg 190w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="244" /></a></div>
Note a trend in this chart. A certain level of elevation of the heart rate, between 115-145 bpm, benefits everything a human being can do, except fine motor skills. (If you need to thread a needle, it’s best to be at resting heart rate.) Beyond that heart rate, human performance generally deteriorates, except for gross motor skills and movement, which are best over 160. The heart rate that supports best the activities of, say, swinging a sword with a full adrenaline power boost, generally shuts down the higher brain functions that are good at conducting strategy.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
One of the effects of training is to be able to enable a warrior to act appropriately in combat by rote memory, a.k.a, “muscle memory,” which is especially necessary in physical combat, since higher brain functions tend to shut down.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Another form of training, probably more ancient that the Zen Buddhism that utilizes this approach, teaches a warrior to calm himself or herself, in particular through controlled breathing. Note that an archer needs calmness more than a front-line swordsman. And a bomb-disposal technician needs to be even calmer than an archer.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
In stories, human characters who are good at fine motor skills under stress (like bomb disposal) should not be sweating with a pulse throbbing in the neck–the person good at that kind of job will strike others as being unnaturally level-headed, eerily calm, like someone with “ice water in the veins.” Being a berserker works for a swordsman. A berserker bomb disposal technician, or berserker archer–or fighter pilot–is not a realistic character.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
The higher heart rate chart only tracks some of the effects combat stress can have on a human being. The following chart is from <i>On Combat</i>, based on a study done on police officers in kill-or-be-killed encounters:<br />
<br />
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
One of the difficulties concerning this chart is it’s hard to fully match it up with the heart rate chart above. It’s not as if police officers in a shootout–or soldiers in combat–are wearing a heart monitor during action. But other studies seem to indicate most of these perceptual changes occur most often when the heart beats over 160 per minute.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/On-Combat-Chart001-196x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32653 alignright" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/On-Combat-Chart001-196x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/On-Combat-Chart001-196x300.jpg 196w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/On-Combat-Chart001-261x400.jpg 261w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/On-Combat-Chart001.jpg 418w" style="cursor: move; height: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="196" /></a>Another difficulty with the chart is that not everyone experiences the same effects. I personally (Travis P) have experienced high-stress situations that include both combat and non-combat situations (non-combat including involvement in traumatic accidents). People who read my descriptions of combat will find characters having strange random thoughts in the midst of stress, or making odd, out-of-place observations. According to the chart above, only 26% of people under circumstances like ones I have experienced reported “Intrusive Distracting Thoughts” (though perhaps fewer people reported them than actually happened). An example of an “Intrusive Distracting Thought” would be if a rocket exploded less than fifty meters from where you’re standing (for me, on the other side of a concrete wall) and you feel a shock wave impact your body and know according to training you need to run to a nearby bunker, yet the thought passes through your mind, “What a pretty blue the sky is today.” That’s the last sort of thing you’d expect someone to think in the midst of a life or death situation–but such thoughts actually do occur to some people in the real world during times of extreme stress. Including me.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
I personally have also experienced diminished sound, tunnel vision, automatic pilot (where you can act but cannot speak), slow motion time, and a degree of dissociation. I write what I know myself, but studying information like that in the chart above has helped me understand my own reactions are not necessarily the only ones–and are not necessarily typical.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tunnel-vision-example-350x232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32657" border="0" class="wp-image-32657 size-medium" height="232" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tunnel-vision-example-350x232.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tunnel-vision-example-350x232.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tunnel-vision-example-400x265.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tunnel-vision-example-500x331.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tunnel-vision-example.jpg 630w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px; text-align: start;">(A crude example of stress tunnel vision–my peripheral vision <br />I remember as more reddish…) </span><a href="http://www.monderno.com/training/vision-under-stress" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); font-size: 17.48px; text-align: start; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Credit: Monderno.com</a><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px; text-align: start;">.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Some of these perceptual reactions can be very adaptive. For example, slow motion time, caused by the brain increasing its processing rate, gives the ability to react to something happening much more quickly than a person normally could do. Yet often a person experiencing slow motion time is not able to make a good independent decision and will only usually be able to repeat something learned by rote in training. Lieutenant Colonel Grossman points out that a person can repeatedly train in high stress situations and learn to think and act more rationally, while still reaping the benefits of greater gross motor ability and perceptual benefits such as slow motion time. This is part of the secret of success of special forces units, according to Grossman. They train in high stress so often, they are very nearly fully functional mentally with heart rates over 160–as opposed to not having any increased heart rate at all. (Though very little change in heart rate is probably what happens for certain highly unusual individuals in combat. Though it is simply unknown if naturally elite soldiers have a different set of effects than most people.)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Let me part by pointing out that these are natural human reactions and seem to transcend culture, as best anyone is able to determine. But they are <i>natural </i>reactions, so a speculative fiction story could easily feature artificial manipulation of these effects. Say, designer drugs or a magical spell that let one effect, say slow-motion time, be turned on without the negative side effect of, say, being unable to speak. (Of course these drugs or spells could go horribly wrong somehow.) Clearly a cyborg does not operate by these rules at all and could be completely calm in battle. Which is in fact portrayed often enough in science fiction.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Second, these are natural <i>human</i> reactions. <i>Lord of the Rings</i> Dwarves might go straight to a high heart rate, getting gross motor benefits, while nonetheless being able to think. Elves may stay icy calm, but still be able to fight. Aliens from other worlds might have high stress reactions quite unlike humans altogether. For example, an alien race might have to fight a natural tendency to go into deep hibernation based on a common predator of theirs that would not detect them in that state (which would be far from adaptive when fighting humans).<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Overall, combat stress reactions are a reality any fiction writer who portrays combat should be considering. People don’t think the same way during combat as they do during situations without stress, though those effects might be different than what you’d anticipate. This topic can provide some especially interesting story opportunities for speculative fiction writers.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis C here with a few illustrations of physical combat reactions. I recall a time when I ended up sinking my sailboat with family aboard. Once we were all ashore several people mentioned how calm I sounded over the marine radio: “We didn’t think anything was going wrong until you called MayDay.” Well, that’s training for you. During months at sea as a submariner we trained in simulated high-stress environments for the kinds of casualties we anticipated might occur, and when they did occur (I have many memories of fires underway and submerged), our teams tended to react appropriately with a combination of rote action while maintaining decision-making capacity.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Working through the physical reactions of characters in combat in the right level of detail can be a challenge. In a world of audio-visual stimuli, the media moguls have given us many beautiful examples of these combat reactions that convey the reality of the warrior coping with his or her natural reactions coupled with training and experience. The film director can cut to scenes of pulsing blood vessels, dilated pupils, cut the sound out or narrow the field of vision, make us experience the pounding chest and heavy breathing. We can experience those reactions through observation. As writers, our job is tougher.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
We need to keep the scene moving forward toward its payoff, driving the plot and character development while keeping with a theme and narrative arc. We need to be descriptive in a way that engages and captures the reader. A battle might last hours, or days or weeks of persistent action with random lulls. How many times can we write “Her pulse pounded and vision narrowed…” before losing their attention? Your ability to use tools like metaphors and navigate the dreaded adverb will be challenged in order to show, not tell, what’s happening.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Let’s look at some popular examples of these combat reactions with some possible writing exercises to go along.</div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 30px 0px 10px;">
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Slowing down the problem</span></h2>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Two movies that show (not tell) the experience of time slowing down are <i>The Matrix</i> and <i>Wanted</i>. <i>The Matrix</i> is likely the more familiar and introduced the world to a unique form of filmmaking and special effects as the digital avatars of the characters wove their way in acrobatic delight while firing near-infinite magazines. Once Neo came to accept his identity and figured out how to do so, he could move as fast as the Agents due to understanding the rules of the program and how to manipulate it.</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_32656" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; clear: both; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px auto; padding: 0px; width: 700px;">
<img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32656" class="wp-image-32656 size-large" height="394" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/maxresdefault-700x394.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/maxresdefault-700x394.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/maxresdefault-350x197.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/maxresdefault-768x432.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/maxresdefault-400x225.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/maxresdefault-500x281.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/maxresdefault.jpg 1280w" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="700" /><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32656" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">
Credit: YouTube: The Matrix Reloaded (Note that unlike The Matrix, real world slowed time is at a natural maximum about 1/3 speed–which isn’t fast enough to dodge bullets.)</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
In <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493464/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_26" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>Wanted</i></a>, James McAvoy plays an unassuming office worker who is really the son of a supernaturally-gifted assassin. His test to join the guild? Shooting the wings off flies while threatening to be shot himself. We witness his internal reaction as heightened abilities take over and he watches in slow-motion each fly’s wings beat.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Writing prompt: How can you describe a character’s reaction to internally speeding up their actions and the perception of time slowing? What language might capture a before/after moment? One possible example is a character “seeing the problem through” and having time to visualize future actions until success (i.e., Robert Downey Jr. in <i>Sherlock Holmes</i>).</div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 30px 0px 10px;">
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Sight and sound</span></h2>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32654" border="0" class="wp-image-32654 size-medium" height="231" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/saving_private_ryan_il_faut_sauver_soldat_ryan_barge-1-350x231.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/saving_private_ryan_il_faut_sauver_soldat_ryan_barge-1-350x231.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/saving_private_ryan_il_faut_sauver_soldat_ryan_barge-1-400x264.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/saving_private_ryan_il_faut_sauver_soldat_ryan_barge-1-500x330.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/saving_private_ryan_il_faut_sauver_soldat_ryan_barge-1.jpg 600w" style="height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px; text-align: start;">Hitting the beach. Credit: D-Day Overlord.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/saving_private_ryan_il_faut_sauver_soldat_ryan_barge-1-350x231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;"></span></a><br /><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">In movies like </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829150/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" style="font-size: 17.48px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>Dracula Untold</i></a><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;"> we have examples of magic (or supernatural causes) enhancing those traits to improve a warrior’s effectiveness. Luke Evans plays Count Vlad who makes a deal with a near-immortal vampire to gain strength to defend his people. When he awakes from the transfer of power he is acutely aware of his new abilities, including hearing a spider weaving its web (an example of a distracted thought in the next section). He is able to use these abilities to his advantage, but we also witness the potential side effects of a warrior having enhanced senses (both in creating blindspots as well as his overall cost of gaining such abilities).</span>The use of camera lens techniques and audio muting is easy to play with in visual arts like movies, but requires a writer to describe their characters’ senses working. Travis P described examples of auditory reactions in combat; reducing outside noises to a din, or the opposite as multiple sounds overwhelm a person’s natural processing capacity. Visually we know of narrowing of vision, a possible reaction by the body to shut-out unwanted stimuli and focus a person toward the highest threat. We witnessed these techniques in <i>Saving Private Ryan</i> during the opening scenes as Captain Miller exits his landing craft and hits the beach. Shells going off all around, we watch the dazed vision and hear the persistent ringing as he fights for control of his body.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Writing prompt: Pick one sense, sight or sound, that your character will experience a combat-related impact to. Imagine what that change will be like on the battlefield. Cover your eyes to slits or ears and describe the difference in words. What does the lack of periphery look like? What fills the void when sound is cut out? What will penetrate that barrier?</div>
<h1 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: BookAntiquaBold, Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.1em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 10px 5px 5px 0px;">
Distracted Thoughts</h1>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32655" border="0" class="wp-image-32655 size-medium" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 235px) 100vw, 235px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Randa-Thor-235x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Randa-Thor-235x300.jpg 235w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Randa-Thor-314x400.jpg 314w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Randa-Thor.jpg 475w" style="height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="235" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px; text-align: start;">Credit: wot.wikia.com Rand al’Thor</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Randa-Thor-235x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; font-size: 17.48px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Randa-Thor-235x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; font-size: 17.48px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Travis P mentioned the brilliant blue sky. I’m imagining a light, folky soundtrack playing in the background as mist-formed sheep graze across pastures of blue sky and the sudden return to reality when the moment passes. We often see this reaction, either the unintentional distracted thought or the ability to remain engaged while having distracted thoughts, in an almost comic trope. The expert swordsman fighting off an adversary while looking away and having an unrelated conversation. The completely random line or thought thrown into a fight scene to add levity while showing the distracted response (OK, I’m guilty of this…)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Robert Jordan’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>Wheel of Time</i></a> series includes an interesting take on this in the form of a mental candle flame. During his initiation into the warrior role, main character Rand is taught to imagine a flame in his mind that he focuses his attention and energy into as a method establishing control of his physical and emotional reactions in high-stress environments like combat. As this practice becomes more mature he is able to engage opponents while having simultaneous and seemingly unrelated thought trains that the reader follows. Strategy, tactics, relationships: it’s all fair game. In that way the fighting scenes are broken up and we don’t have as much run-on fight sequence but we do get more character insight.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Writing prompt: What detail can you provide about your character in the form of a distracted thought? How will you deliver that detail (humor, off-handedness, weightiness, grim, sarcasm)?<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
These little details add up. They paint a realistic picture of your characters reacting to the stimuli of combat and their natural responses. When you choose to deviate from a human’s natural reactions, give your reader a reason to believe you. Is it due to a difference in species or race Travis P spoke of? Genetic or supernatural causes? We’ll suspend disbelief up to a point, but you should provide a plausible explanation at some point. Even if it’s the impact of unicorn horn and fairy dust.</div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-83239393947737792122020-06-24T18:48:00.003-07:002020-06-24T18:48:45.098-07:00Speculative Fiction Writer's Guide to War, Part 8: How do War Injuries Feel?<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
This post is inspired by a specific question from one of the readers of this series. The nature of the question is worthy of a specific answer, yet this particular topic was not part of what I'd originally planned to cover. It finds it's places at number 8 in the series due to an earlier error that skipped that number.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Let’s make a few things clear up front: 1. What is most <em>life threatening</em> and what is most painful are often not the same thing at all. 2. What is the <em>most gruesome to see</em> is not necessarily the most painful, either. 3. <em>Different people experience pain differently</em>, so coming up with any absolute scale of painfulness is impossible. However, there are certain tendencies that have been noted in how people react to pain, allowing us to make some general observations. Let’s take the topic of how different people experience pain first.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Note this discussion will become a bit gruesome, though I’m not going to show any graphic pictures. But if you’re of a very sensitive nature, you may not wish to continue reading.<br />
<br /></div>
<h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">
Pain Tolerance</h4>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
“Pain threshold” refers to whether a person feels pain at all–and in fact not all human beings are the same on this topic. Though most of us are similar, barring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_insensitivity_to_pain" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">neurological disorders that interfere with feeling pain</a>. What varies a great deal more than pain threshold is “pain tolerance”–that is, the degree to which a person can put up with pain after agreeing that it’s there.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Some observations include the <strong>somewhat controversial notion that men tolerate pain better than women</strong>. That is, for the same injury, when rating how painful it is on a scale of 1 to 10, men in the United States in particular and in various international studies will rate the pain with lower numbers than women will use. Cold bath tests, in which someone immerses an arm in ice water (which is painful but does no serious harm) consistently shows men on average keeping their arms immersed in the cold for longer periods of time than women will tolerate.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
How much of this is cultural, male machismo merely refusing to admit to pain that they feel as much as women do? That’s both debatable and debated. My own personal observations from the 12 years or so I was a medic in the Army Reserve and periodically would treat people, in particular with vaccinations, or would draw blood for testing, is that among <em>soldiers </em>(not the general populace) women were more likely to complain about the pain of a needle. Though some individual women didn’t complain or even flinch at all, while some individual men kicked up quite a fuss.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
It’s not uncommon for women to point out that if men had to give birth, there’d be a lot less children in the world. 🙂 But direct comparisons between similar conditions, such as a woman having kidney stones verses a man having kidney stones, does not actually support the idea that men would be inherently less capable of managing the type of pain associated with childbirth.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
In some cases the difference in pain tolerance is clearly physical. People with a definite hand dominance (a group which includes about 99% of people) show a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304394009013688?via%3Dihub" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">higher resistance to pain in their dominant hand than their non-dominant hand</a>. I’d also put in the category of physical differences that indicates <a href="http://sciencenordic.com/redheads-feel-different-kind-pain" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">redheads seem to experience pain differently than non-redheads</a>, with them being less sensitive to stinging skin pain and spicy food on average, but more sensitive to cold and bone pain like toothaches.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Scientific studies seem to show at least some of the differences in how people react to pain is physical, but it’s hard to rule out cultural factors. Cultural factors may explain why one study found that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304395901004080" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">African Americans consistently tolerate higher levels of pain than white people</a>.<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong>My own observations agree with the idea that pain tolerance is at least somewhat cultural</strong>, because I’ve observed some nationalities, say Afghans–regardless of their skin color–tolerate pain much better than other nationalities (i.e. most Americans). I think the expectation of how much pain a person can and will tolerate is affected by life experience–people raised with pain in their environment usually learn to tolerate it better.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Note that scientific studies also show <strong>athletes tolerate pain better than people out of shape</strong>. This reinforces my idea that conditioning to pain as experienced in cultures with significantly lower levels of luxury than modern life actually has something to do with training the body. Perhaps the exposure to the pain involved with working out prepares people to face much greater pain. Or perhaps a healthy body (as in very fit) is inherently better at coping with pain than an body that’s out of shape.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Related perhaps to our observation about athletes and/or cultural exposure to pain, psychologists have also observed that a state of anxiety can make pain worse. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_tolerance#Psychological_factors" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">People with chronic fear or anxiety will experience pain more deeply</a> than someone who feels confident and who deliberately relaxes during pain (such as by focusing on breathing, as is taught as a method to assist with childbirth).<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
One general observation we can apply to this discussion, especially since many readers of Speculative Faith are fantasy authors: <strong>We can expect people from cultures like our own Middle Ages or Ancient period to have higher pain tolerance than most people today have</strong>. Of course, this wouldn’t apply to absolutely everyone. While medieval peasants, the vast majority of people, might live with pain in a way most modern people can’t imagine very well, not everyone was a peasant–or a highly trained warrior either. The Middle Ages had monks and scribes and tailors, etc., whose reaction to pain probably would be more like a modern person’s than the majority of people from their own time.<br />
<br /></div>
<h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">
Most Painful Wounds</h4>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
To kick off this section, I’m <a href="http://whatculture.com/film/10-painful-wounds-regularly-inflicted-horror-movies?page=11" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">linking a website that get’s what’s painful largely wrong</a>. (I’m doing so as a means to discuss <em>why </em>the site has it wrong.) The linked set of pages, which are dedicated to the kinds of injuries found in horror movies, appears to be listing injuries based on what is horrible to watch on film, rather than what really hurts. In a counting-down-from-ten format, this is what the site lists as the ten most painful injuries:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
TEN (10.) Burning, 9. Slit throat, 8. Eye gouge, 7. Removal of entrails, 6. Fingers sliced off, 5. Broken bones, 4. Amputation, 3. Meat hooked, 2. Genital mutilation, 1. Achilles slash</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
I’m not saying there isn’t some painful stuff on this list, but what’s wrong is it misses the general principle of what makes something painful–an injury is most painful if it stimulates nerves. The more nerves it continuously stimulates, the more painful it is. <strong>So injuries in places with a high number of sensory nerves are more painful than those without as many nerves. Yet the way they’re stimulated also matters.<br /></strong><br />
<strong><br /></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
So <strong>where do you have a lot of nerves?</strong> Your skin (in particular in your hands and feet), your face (in particular your mouth, nose, and eyes), your entrails, your kidneys, and even within your joints and bones. You have very few receptor nerves, ironically, within your brain cavity and not nearly as many in your chest cavity as elsewhere–though your lungs have a fair number of pain receptors. Nor do you have as many pain receptors within your muscles. So injuries to your brain or chest-located-circulatory system, which are the most life-threatening injuries, are not usually the most painful.<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
And <strong>what stimulates those nerves the most?</strong> Clean slices, believe it or not, stimulate nerves the least of any major injury. What hurts more is smashing, a.k.a blunt force trauma, mangling (as in an explosion or t-rex bite), and yes, burning!<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/380xNxPain-Men-2.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.wmEqWg7Fg9-350x188.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33509" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-33509" height="188" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/380xNxPain-Men-2.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.wmEqWg7Fg9-350x188.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/380xNxPain-Men-2.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.wmEqWg7Fg9-350x188.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/380xNxPain-Men-2.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.wmEqWg7Fg9.jpg 380w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px; text-align: start;">Most painful tattoo sites due to nerve clusters on the surface<br />of the skin and bones nearby. Credit: www.beforeyourtattoo.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So looking back at the list I cited, burning <strong>deserves to be near the top</strong>. Note though that a complete, charring burn, as from dragon’s breath (also called third degree burns), while very painful over the short time of injury and during the road to recovery (should the victim survive), these burns don’t hurt as much as those that produce blisters (a.k.a. second degree burns). So, if writing about a fortress being attacked and boiling oil is dumped on a band of attackers, have them scream in pain–even hardened medieval types will almost certainly do so. It hurts that bad.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
What doesn’t deserve to be on the list at all? Slit throat, fingers sliced off, and amputation…assuming a person receives these injuries cleanly. Smashing or crushing fingers hurts tremendously (as the time I got my thumb caught in a car door) because you have plenty of nerves in your fingertips. Smashing or stimulating with blunt trauma hurts your throat quite a lot too (as in the time I literally ran full speed into a clothesline and caught it in the neck–playing hide and go seek in the dark as a teen). But a clean slice to the throat probably wouldn’t hurt that much. Note I lost a finger to an accidental amputation as a child. While I was freaked out by the blood, I felt hardly any pain. No kidding.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Likewise a broadsword swiping through a limb and slicing it clean off will not produce all that much pain–especially for hardy medieval types. They probably would not scream at all at such an injury. Note that even a messy and manged amputation may not produce any screaming (I know of people losing limbs in explosions–for most of them as far as I know, they did not scream).<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Ok, back to the list above. Will an eye gouge really hurt? That depends. The interior of the eye is actually not full of pain-receptor nerves–but the outer part, the cornea, <em>is</em>. It may sound strange to say it, but certain chemicals or foreign bodies in your eye probably hurts at least as bad, if not worse, as your whole eye being destroyed. If someone gouged your eyeball out of your skull (sorry for the gruesomeness) without scratching the cornea, it might actually not hurt that bad–even if it would be horrible to see. Yet corneal scratches are very painful–because that’s where the nerves are. (So a skilled archer shooting an enemy through the eye probably will not get him screaming–he’ll probably just die–but if he doesn’t die, he probably won’t scream about it.)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
How about removal of entrails? The entrails themselves are loaded with pain nerves (as needed to let you know how your digestion is going), so injuries to entrails are well-known to be very painful. Yet being disemboweled without injury to the entrails isn’t as much painful as it’s horrifying and debilitating. Someone with a gut sliced open with a slashing sword will more likely try to hold the guts in or pick them up if they’ve hit the ground than scream helplessly.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Do broken bones hurt? Yes, they do, especially a broken femur (the long bone in your thigh) in part because strong muscles pull on the femur constantly without you being aware of it and if the bone breaks, those muscles are going to continually stimulate pain in the wound by pulling on the bone. But joint injuries infamously hurt as much or sometimes more. Especially a bad dislocation of knees, elbows, or ankles can cause as much or more pain than a bone break.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Injured tendons will also pull up into the body because of muscle tension, like a broken femur. So a ruptured Achilles tendon (<a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1392178-a-former-players-guide-to-the-8-most-painful-injuries-in-football#slide1" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">which a site providing a “most painful injury” list</a> by a professional football player puts at #2) is extremely painful. But a cleanly sliced one would be less so.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
To round out the horror site list, of course “meat hooking” and genital mutilation have the potential to be very painful. The spine has loads of pain receptors and a metal rod shoved up there would hurt all those sensitive spinal disks–unless it severed the spinal cord itself, in which case, it might not hurt much at all. And while the genitals are sensitive to pleasure and also sensitive to pain, a baddie forcing your mouth open and breaking your teeth with a hammer and chisel would almost certainly hurt much, much more than genital mutilation…but when you affect a person’s genitals, there’s a psychological affect as well as a physical one.<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Gersdorff_p21v-225x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33507" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-33507" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Gersdorff_p21v-225x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Gersdorff_p21v-225x300.jpg 225w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Gersdorff_p21v-768x1023.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Gersdorff_p21v-525x700.jpg 525w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Gersdorff_p21v-300x400.jpg 300w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Gersdorff_p21v-500x666.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Gersdorff_p21v.jpg 1200w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px; text-align: start;">An illustration showing a variety of <br />wounds from the Feldbuch der Wundarznei<br /> (Field manual for the treatment of wounds)<br /> by Hans von Gersdorff, (1517); <br />illustration by Hans Wechtlin.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Note that when in severe pain, one of the most common immediate reactions for a person is to shut down, either by losing consciousness or by feeling a rush of endorphins. But not everyone shuts down. There are many historical examples of injured people continuing to fight.<br /></div>
<h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">
<strong>Combat </strong>Happenings</h4>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br />Sometimes people continue to fight after being seriously or fatally injured</strong><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">–we can say this is especially true for gunshot wounds, which sometimes soldiers report not even knowing they had until the firefight is over. But I can easily imagine someone taking an arrow to the chest and even if seriously injured, not crying out, still fighting. At least for a while.</span>When I see<strong> combat scenes from</strong> a YouTube compilation from say, <strong>Game of Thrones</strong> (a series I didn’t watch because of issues I have with some of its content), one thing I note is rather realistically, fights tend to end with big injuries, like a person stabbed through the chest. But from what I see, anyway, <strong>the severely injured person almost always cries out</strong>. Actually that doesn’t always happen with real injuries.<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Note also that while most medieval-style fights ended with one party being severely injured, <strong>injuries other than fatal still did happen,</strong> where people got hands or fingers smashed, noses cut off, feet spiked though, hard but non life-threatening blows to the head at times. And <strong>most of the hardened warriors of the past continued fighting through such wounds</strong>. No kidding.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Sometimes a more minor injury would lead to a major one, as a warrior lost the ability to compensate. Yes, sometimes a warrior would realistically scream when mortally injured, depending on if the wound was very painful–but it really was true that non-combatants like women and children screamed more than hardened soldiers or even tough peasants.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong><br /></strong>
<strong>Sometimes people would stop fighting without crying out</strong>. For example, when people fall from being disemboweled, again, as far as I know, they wouldn’t scream so much as compulsively obsess over keeping in their guts as much as possible. People with a throat cut would put hands to their neck to try to keep the blood in, even if it couldn’t be done. People by instinct usually try to survive their injuries if they can, for example, cradling and squeezing the wrist of an amputated hand.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Usually, when busily engaged in fighting others, the wounded who fell were ignored until the active fighting was over. Historical accounts abound with anecdotes of<strong> battlefield injuries in which people lingered for hours or days before dying</strong>. I don’t think this is something fantasy stories capture very well. A certain percentage of people would <strong>bleed to death</strong>, which tends to make people feel cold and causes hyperventilation and loss of consciousness–but it’s <strong>not especially painful in and of itself</strong>.<br />
<br /></div>
<h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-style: italic; margin: -5px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">
But How Does it Feel?</h4>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
I can imagine someone reading this, thankful perhaps for the info I’ve given, but still feeling dissatisfied. “But how does it <em>feel,</em> Travis?” I can imagine someone asking.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
To go back to my own personal experience, I’ve had a number of semi-serious injuries, some of them during military training. But I’ve never been wounded in combat–even though I have been present to help people who were wounded a few times, there are only so many things I can talk about as an insider, based on what I know personally.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Though all non-combat stuff, I’ve had severe ankle sprain, a knee injury, a finger amputation, a hip injury due to a hard fall (at Army Airborne school), a corneal scratch, accidentally impaled a broken branch into my calf, chemical and non-chemical burns, and have smashed my head various times, most notably in a car accident, among other injuries. I know what those things were like for me.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
How does any of that feel?<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
It <em>hurts. </em>I know that’s not helpful, but describing pain is difficult. There are many kinds. To cover any possible injury in detail the obvious thing would be seek out accounts people who have experienced the same wound you want to write about. Or something similar. But bear in mind that the same injury in two different people may not be reported in the same way.<br />
<br /><br /><strong>Not only does the type of wound affect how it’s felt, the type of injured individual matters, too.</strong> Not everyone feels the same thing or reacts in the same way.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
If you would like to talk to me further about any injuries I’ve suffered or seen happen, please let me know in the comments below and I will do my best of accommodate. Or you might have further questions. Or perhaps a reader will have something to add to this discussion, something I forgot to mention. Please free to add your thoughts below.</div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-12475438751305597312020-06-17T12:25:00.000-07:002020-06-17T12:25:40.266-07:00Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, Part 7: The Fearless Elite<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Last week we discussed factors that influence a person’s ability to take another person’s life.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
It’s hard. The closer you are and the more intimate the manner of killing, the harder it gets. We’ve discussed some of the psychological impacts that affect a person’s desire to engage in combat, those core fears that must be overcome to bring oneself into the arena, so to speak, to engage the enemy. Yet in speculative fiction across every genre we are exposed to characters who wade into battle without hesitation (or hesitation that is not fully developed), and perform the most miraculous of feats with nary a second thought. We love the fearless Aragorns and Legolas’, the intrepid space marines and underdog-turned-superhero who make up the large majority of our casts of characters.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Back to our Grossman reference of <a data-amzn-asin="B00J90F8W2" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J90F8W2/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>On Killing</i></a>. The vast majority of people must overcome strong resistance to take a life in combat. Yet some people feel little fear of this kind of “up close and personal war.” Statistics derived from World War II, but consistent with records from other conflicts indicate that when human beings are locked in close personal combat for a period of around six weeks or more, between 96% and 98% of those fighting become psychological casualties. What it means to become a psychological casualty we’ll talk about in a later installment, but notice here that 2 to 4 percent do not suffer psychologically at all, or to a much lesser degree. This group, this unusual minority, we’ll call “The Fearless Elite.”<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
“Fearless” is not really the right term. This minority <i>can </i>experience fear (though not all do). But unlike the overwhelming majority of us, they can fight in sustained combat conditions without showing any sign of damage to their inner-selves. Note that since the fright or surrender reactions are involuntarily triggered by psychological stress, this small minority also seem resistant to throwing up hands in panic or uncontrollably running away. They may still feel fear and still surrender or run–but they would do so by choice it seems, because it makes sense at the moment, rather than because of an uncontrolled emotional and mental reaction.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Why is this small minority different? The answers are not completely known, but it seems the group can be divided in rough halves according to <i>On Killing</i>:</div>
<blockquote style="border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 0.9em !important; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 5px 0px; max-width: 680px; padding: 10px 20px;">
Half of this group are immune to the psychological damage of combat because there is something deeply wrong with them–they are psychopaths. Psychopaths, sometimes interchangeably called “sociopaths” (but there is a difference between the two terms), do not feel empathy for other human beings or only feel it in the tiniest amount. Killing someone else is nothing to them and they likewise are much less concerned with their own deaths.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote style="border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 0.9em !important; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 5px 0px; max-width: 680px; padding: 10px 20px;">
The other half seems to be composed of people who are otherwise perfectly normal, who react differently to combat than most people for largely unknown reasons–though being naturally calm and highly resistant to getting stressed out seems to be related to what makes these people unusual.</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Remember our opening: 2 to 4 percent of the total human population exhibits this behavior, and split that in half for each of the possible causes.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/spartacus-350x233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-32549" height="233" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/spartacus-350x233.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/spartacus-350x233.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/spartacus-768x512.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/spartacus-700x467.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/spartacus-400x267.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/spartacus-500x333.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/spartacus.jpg 1800w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></div>
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
An author of tales should immediately recognize that a lot of war story writing has been focused on these unusual people. The villains, those who kill and feel nothing for any one–the heroes, who <i>do</i> feel, but are so calm and level-headed they manage to do the right thing even in the worst of scenarios. These are the men of legend and history, these are the Odysseus, the Achilles, the Spartacus, and Audie Murphy figures; the other half represents Genghis Khan, Ashurbanipal, and Joachim Peiper.</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
The Fearless Elite.</div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 30px 0px 10px;">
Conditioning and selection of the elite</h2>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
It might be tempting to say that the 300 Spartans who stood with King Leonidas at Thermopylae were all naturally elite soldiers. But there is no suggestion based on scientific evidence that any nation of people will have a higher percentage of natural warriors than any other. In fact, the historical record seems to indicate that Spartan courage was not the product of natural affinity for warfare, but of superior “unnatural” training. In fact, elite training is the main ingredient in what makes certain individuals and military units superior to others. Training can condition any soldier, but is particularly useful in conditioning the already elite.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Though it is also true that joining an elite unit is voluntary, people of this “warrior elite” mentality (both halves) tend to seek to join elite military units. So, whether among King David’s mighty men or the U.S. Navy Seals, Army Rangers and Green Berets, or other elite units, the percentage of warriors more resistant to the psychological harm of combat is higher in elite units than in ordinary ones. This is partially why modern airborne units, in which every member has to face the fear of jumping out an airplane, tend to be considered elite. Or put another way, fear suppresses the effectiveness of a military unit in combat and so “elite” units who recruit from people who are the most fearless—who have passed through some form of ordeal proving their courage–fight more effectively and have a greater capacity/capability to conduct certain missions than “regular” units.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
It might be interesting to write a story about a non-human race where <i>all </i>the soldiers naturally behave as if they were elite. Or where human beings are genetically engineered to fight without remorse or fear. Note that someone who fights without any regrets or fear would be lacking something psychologically–this lack should show somehow in a story. Even if the lack is missing the ability to enjoy ordinary events because of supreme natural calmness.</div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 30px 0px 10px;">
Soldiers in sci-fi</h2>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis C. here with some discussion and illustration from the literature. One of the first DVDs I bought was Kurt Russell’s 1998 movie <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldier_(1998_American_film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>Soldier</i></a>, a science fiction story about a soldier produced by a program that takes orphans and conditions them to suppress those natural reactions and fears, creating an elite fighting unit. The program weeded out the other 96-98% quickly, leaving that Fearless Elite to fight for humanity. When exposed to a shipwrecked homesteader community, the main character must adapt to integrate into society. Fast forward that concept and you have the beginnings of M. Night Shyamalan’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Earth" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><i>After Earth</i></a><i>.</i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
Here we’re getting closer to the fantasy and sci-fi writers realm of the fantastical. The race of S’krells have an objective to conquer the new human homeworld of Nova Prime. Their weapon? Creatures known as Ursas who can sense fear in the human population. How do humans respond? The Ranger Corps, an elite unit of soldiers selected and conditioned to suppress their fear in order to combat the Ursas (a skill known as ghosting). It’s with that context we watch a pretty vanilla story about a father-son relationship.</div>
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/banner_afterearth-350x236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignright wp-image-32551 size-medium" height="236" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/banner_afterearth-350x236.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/banner_afterearth-350x236.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/banner_afterearth-768x517.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/banner_afterearth-700x471.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/banner_afterearth-400x269.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/banner_afterearth-500x337.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/banner_afterearth.jpg 891w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a>Likely? Not particularly. Again, 2 to 4 percent of people have a capacity to operate in a combat environment without the natural resistance to combat actions we discussed earlier. Now let’s temper that with the research: that resistance to killing is directed towards humans. The Ursas seem pretty horrific, and there’s a clear sense of present danger driving the actions of the Ranger Corps (i.e., the extinction of the human race). Also as we said, it’s not that the Fearless Elite don’t feel fear, they are just capable of operating without significant limitations in those conditions. But we do see a common theme: conditioning of the soldier, possibly an already elite and rare soldier to begin with, to create one even more capable in battle.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Let’s finish with another example from the realm of science fiction: the Star Wars universe and the clone army. The early Imperial army is made up of cloned soldiers from Kamino based on the genetic template of bounty hunter Jango Fett. After an accelerated growth period these soldiers are put through a rigorous training program to condition them into the Stormtroopers we’re all familiar with. (And if you aren’t familiar, just drive around your neighbor and look for the Stormtrooper family stickers on every minivan and SUV. Or suffer through <i>Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones</i>.)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32550" height="297" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/stormtroopers-700x297.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/stormtroopers-700x297.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/stormtroopers-350x149.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/stormtroopers-768x326.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/stormtroopers-400x170.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/stormtroopers-500x212.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/stormtroopers.jpg 1130w" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 10px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="700" />We witness the results of this genetic modification, combined with regimented conditioning, through the franchise, and only in recent years are we seeing the storyline of the movies open up to the possibility of a Stormtrooper breaking out of that mold in the character Finn. Stormtroopers appear fearless against any foe, against any race or species of the galaxy, even against the droid army on Geonosis. Just pull the blaster trigger. Don’t think, don’t react. Don’t respond to fear.</div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 30px 0px 10px;">
The fantasy hero</h2>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
In the realm of fantasy writing, I’d suggest we writers examine one of our longest-living tropes, the idea of the untrained, unconditioned coming-of-age-teenager (boy or girl), who is thrust into a new environment/out of their old environment, and through a journey with a guardian alongside finds it in themselves to develop this fearless attitude/condition and overcome astronomical odds against a nearly omnipotent foe. We’ve certainly seen the evolution of the Hero’s Journey since Joseph Campbell proposed his monomyth theory and not all stories are quite so blatantly conceived. Many try to do justice to the change element in the main character, showing us their growth from unaware/naive/broken/weak into strong/courageous/fearless/skilled, but if we’re being honest, that’s an exceptionally rare occurrence if the result is getting to that 2-4% Fearless Elite state.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Admittedly, we want to hear the story of the average, everyday pigboy who becomes a knight and later a king. I’m more like Shasta the fisherman’s boy than King Cor of Archenland, but I love the hope that C.S. Lewis creates to become a great man. The world needs great coming of age stories to help inspire and guide the next generation of real heroes in every sphere of influence. However, we have the power to deceive them with unrealistic expectations of the human capacity for fearlessness.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-32548" height="250" sizes="(max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/thefellowshipofthering.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/thefellowshipofthering.jpg 606w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/thefellowshipofthering-350x144.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/thefellowshipofthering-400x165.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/thefellowshipofthering-500x206.jpg 500w" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 10px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="606" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
There are Aragorns in the world, but we’re more likely to see a stout-hearted Samwise if we honestly look around us. Let’s be honest with our readers as we develop characters that are real and exciting enough to capture and hold their attention but also true to the human condition. Training and conditioning can go a long way to improve the capacity of the 96 percent soldier, but it’s a rare few that exhibit the traits we find in that last 4 percent. How many of your cast are from that 4 percent?<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
I also want to leave you and I with some hope. That other 96 to 98 percent? Training and conditioning benefits them as well, and will result in a spectrum of positive responses to fear in combat. Some will always struggle with reactions we’d deem as cowardice, but many will stand up and perform brave and honorable acts while suffering varying degrees of psychological damage as a result. We’ll talk about that outcome later in the series.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Lastly, let’s always keep close in mind God’s command and promise to all of us: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (<a class="rtBibleRef" data-purpose="bible-reference" data-reference="Josh 1.9" data-version="niv" href="https://biblia.com/bible/niv/Josh%201.9" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Joshua 1:9, NIV</a>). That’s great encouragement from the God who created all 100 percent of us.</div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-2684969354563787932020-06-09T16:40:00.000-07:002020-06-09T16:40:28.419-07:00Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, Part 6: Psychology of Warfare: The Act of Killing<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis C. here, filling in a bit for Travis P. We both contributed to this article, and you probably remember we’re both warfighters of the U.S. military. This is a sobering topic, but it’s also part of our mission (at least being prepared for such times as we may need to). We’re also writers and this discussion is in the context of writing speculative fiction, especially fantasy and science fiction. There’s no short shrift here, only humility and honesty. As the Micah prophesied, we’ll eventually turn swords to plowshares and spears to pruning hooks.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
According to Dave Grossman’s book <em><u><a data-amzn-asin="0316040932" href="http://www.amazon.com/On-Killing-Psychological-Learning-Society/dp/0316040932/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410294257&sr=8-1&keywords=on+killing+dave+grossman" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">On Killing</a></u></em>, the biggest stressor human beings face in combat is killing other human beings. The sequel to <em>On Killing, <u><a data-amzn-asin="0964920549" href="http://www.amazon.com/Combat-Psychology-Physiology-Deadly-Conflict/dp/0964920549" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">On Combat</a></u></em>, actually puts more emphasis on the danger of <em>being </em>killed, but both things haunt the human mind, largely based on the human ability to feel empathy. Feeling the suffering of the humans we kill on the one hand–and to witness friends and colleagues being killed on the other, empathetically feeling their pain as they pass on, worrying that we might be next. These particular fears are the primary causes of battlefield psychological trauma according to <em>On Killing</em> and <em>On Combat</em>. Natural human empathy does not like to be at war against other human beings.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/soldier_shellshock-475x700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignright wp-image-32499" height="516" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/soldier_shellshock-475x700.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/soldier_shellshock-475x700.jpg 475w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/soldier_shellshock-204x300.jpg 204w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/soldier_shellshock-271x400.jpg 271w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/soldier_shellshock.jpg 500w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a>Grossman outlined several significant factors that influence the human response to killing another human being: the influence of authority, the influence of a group’s support for the warrior and perceived legitimacy of the act, the training, conditioning, experiences, and temperament of the warrior. But two key conclusions of Grossman’s research are that killing another human being is hardest when it’s face-to-face and when it involves stabbing into another person’s body. The first part of this involves the fact we humans read one another’s emotions primarily through facial cues. For almost all people, witnessing another human suffer causes at least a weak empathetic response. Like laughter or coughing becoming contagious, the normal human psyche feels a reflection of another human being’s suffering.</div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 30px 0px 10px;">
It’s about distance</h2>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
If people are too far away for their faces to be seen, as in a combatant firing artillery or dropping bombs, killing bears a lesser psychological effect–unless the recipients of bombing or shelling are seen up close later. Hard, close combat causes psychological injury to human beings–submarine crews or bomber squadrons in WWII, who were in fact in as much or more danger as infantrymen, were usually less traumatized by their experiences. (Note that while snipers fire from far off, their use of optics brings their targets pretty close visually.)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Note also how this factor relates to the “chase” instinct mentioned in last week’s post. When an enemy turns and runs away, it is easier to kill them by stabbing them in the back than it is to stab them while facing them. Let’s compare that to an old cultural prohibition from the Wild West: only a coward would shoot a man in the back. It might be considered more honorable to shoot someone while facing them and wrestling with the emotional consequences of one’s’ actions. It is also significantly safer to shoot someone who can’t see you, making it more likely someone might choose to pull the trigger who otherwise would have chickened out. Our ancestors judged this act to be villainous and our sense of righteousness in combat tends to recoil in response.</div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 30px 0px 10px;">
It’s about method</h2>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/grossman_range.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignright wp-image-32502 size-full" height="265" sizes="(max-width: 381px) 100vw, 381px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/grossman_range.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/grossman_range.jpg 381w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/grossman_range-350x243.jpg 350w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="381" /></a>The “stabbing into another body” concept from above is perhaps a particular issue because it seems to strike people instinctively as being interlinked with sexual intimacy and therefore especially wrong (and for certain criminally disturbed minds, especially exciting). It happens to be true that stabbing into the body is a very effective way to kill people, generally superior to slashing or smashing. Yet human beings have often gravitated towards weapons that swing in order to slice or crush as a means of killing instead. It’s worth considering that one of the reasons <em>why </em>a person might use a sword to slash or hack instead of stab has nothing to do with weapon effectiveness, but rather with a psychological factor of avoiding putting a penetrative wound in another person, up close and personal.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Related to the revulsion against stabbing into other human beings is the terror that the thought of having someone else do that to us inspires. Humans are certainly afraid of being bombed or shelled, largely because the terrible noises the explosions make, but we’ll take our lives into our hands in automobiles in reckless ways without much fear at all. It’s different when someone is deliberately <em>trying </em>to kill you. And while the idea that another human would drop a bomb on you or target you with a sniper rifle certainly can inspire fear, most people are more afraid of an enemy who will stab them to death with a knife up close.</div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 30px 0px 10px;">
Popular media and killing in war</h2>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Fantasy and science fiction have described a range of emotional responses to the act of killing, and I would say that many in the military have been influenced by books, movies, TV, and comics as they consider the choice to join the armed forces. You, dear author, have a powerful tool in your hand as an influencer of future generations.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
I have one specific example I want to end on, but to begin, let’s spitball a bunch of popular examples of killing with a note on realism:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-32368 size-large" height="394" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-700x394.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-700x394.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-350x197.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-768x432.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-400x225.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-500x281.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x.jpg 1024w" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 10px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="700" />Example 1:</strong> In <em>Star Wars</em>, we see several leaders within the Empire react to the power of the Death Star. They see it only as a tool to bend others to their will, and never react to the decimation it causes when leveled against a planet.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong>Conclusion:</strong> Extremely unlikely, even so far removed from the target. You just destroyed a planet for goodness sake! Not even a tear?<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong>Example 2:</strong> The helmeted-lackey who pulls down the priming lever for the Death Star’s weapon: no visible reaction (at least, Lucas never shows us that part of the story).<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong>Conclusion:</strong> Not as unlikely, but still a little extreme. That soldier is acting under very powerful authority, likely highly trained to follow rote procedure, and is highly distant from the consequences of his/her action. (No one is looking at the planet, right?)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong>Example 3:</strong> It’s October, so the endless reruns of our most popular horror series should be on everyone’s radar. There’s a reason such franchises maintain their popularity: we’re all scared of being stabbed in the dark, alone, by a tall, scary being like Michael Myers.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong>Conclusion:</strong> While the concepts are usually over-the-top, the horror genre as a whole has done well at capitalizing on a core fear of ours, and our reaction to those characters (abomination) is reflective of that.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong>Example 4:</strong> The frequent use of phasers in the Star Trek universe.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<strong>Conclusion:</strong> It’s one thing to lay down cover fire, another to actively target and kill those enemies standing before you. We rarely see evidence of Kirk and his companions (forward through the rest of the franchise) wrestling with their emotions. There are some examples of the impact distance has (is firing a phaser at a being the same as launching photon torpedoes against a vessel, or bombarding a planet?) We do, however, see the disparity between races/species and how training makes a significant impact on certain groups. For example, take your average Federation human, Klingon, and Vulcan and you can discern differences in reactions and responses based on historical, cultural, and species-level differences.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
I’m picking some low-hanging fruit, but look at your favorite series and you should find examples that either support the analysis Travis P gave, or seem over-the-top in comparison and therefore should strike us as awkward. It may be entertaining, but it isn’t an accurate portrayal of reality. In reality, killing is hard and it impacts the warfighter.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Finally, an example that gets it well, and one that gets close but not quite.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Many readers may be familiar with Brandon Sanderson’s <em>Stormlight Archive</em>. It follows a small cast of characters as they navigate a world on the brink of destruction from ancient powers, all while humanity is fighting amongst itself for power and supremacy. Enter Dalinar Kholin, brother of the king, Brightlord, and Highprince of War of the Alethi armies. He has received visions and knowledge of an ancient path known as The Way of Kings, a code of honor that he attempts to resurrect among the factious Alethi. His son, Adolin, doesn’t quite get it, but is strongly influenced by his father. This part of the plot is in stark contrast to Brightlord Sadeas, who basically represents everything we would ever hate about a person (selfish, backstabbing, conniving, spiteful, basically awful in every way).</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/The-Way-of-Kings-Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignright wp-image-26698" height="523" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/The-Way-of-Kings-Cover.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/The-Way-of-Kings-Cover.jpg 434w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/The-Way-of-Kings-Cover-201x300.jpg 201w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/The-Way-of-Kings-Cover-60x90.jpg 60w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/The-Way-of-Kings-Cover-100x150.jpg 100w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a>Spoiler alert……<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
When Adolin reacts to Sadeas at the conclusion of <em>Words of Radiance</em>, we all rejoice a little bit. Comeuppence is given. A wrong is righted. But Adolin immediately knows he’s in the wrong. He took the coward’s way. He reacted to the right circumstances, took the action he deemed necessary, but he killed a man kind of out-of-combat by stabbing him face-to-face in the eye. For one who gained notoriety through dueling, whose father is trying to bring about a seachange in the belief system of the entire army, Adolin knows this will be devastating. What a great place to begin the next book, <em>Oathbringer</em>, and watch him wrestle with the consequences of his actions, of his moral and ethical dilemma, and his reactions to those around him.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Contrast that with a childhood favorite of many. Let’s see if you can guess where I’m going.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-32500 size-full" height="361" sizes="(max-width: 663px) 100vw, 663px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/theprincessbride_inigomontoya.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/theprincessbride_inigomontoya.jpg 663w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/theprincessbride_inigomontoya-350x191.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/theprincessbride_inigomontoya-400x218.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/theprincessbride_inigomontoya-500x272.jpg 500w" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 10px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="663" />“<em>I will go up to the six-fingered man and say, ‘Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.</em>”<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Since he was eleven years old, Inigo has been preparing himself to do one deed: avenge his father, a master bladesmith who crafted a master blade, was refused payment, and was murdered by the six-fingered man. It’s hard not to feel satisfaction when his duel at the end of <em>The Princess Bride</em> comes to its inevitable conclusion. And let’s face it, would it be as popular if it ended with, “You killed my father. I forgive you”? Sigh… someday, we’ll have ploughshares.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Let’s take a look at the realism in this example though:</div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;">
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><em>Authority</em>: Inigo is acting on moral authority to right the wrong of his father’s death and stop a murderer (take that in contrast to two combatants fighting one another in war… )</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><em>Experience</em>: Certainly the death of his father has galvanized Inigo into the hardened fighter he is today. It spurs him on against all odds. He has intentionally chosen to never forget what occurred and to actively pursue the training and opportunity to get revenge.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;"><em>Training</em>: A lifetime of training has molded Inigo into a consummate swordsman (bested only by the Dread Pirate Roberts, right?) It’s probably accurate to say that he has trained out any emotional reaction to killing the six-fingered man. In his mind, Inigo isn’t taking a man’s life, he is stopping an evil.</li>
</ul>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
All of that should support the idea of Inigo as an elite warrior (which we’ll get to next week) incapable of fear.. Which leaves me struggling with the likelihood that the six-fingered man just happened to kill the father of an eleven-year-old boy who happens to be in an extremely small category of people who can conduct an extremely intimate act of violence (stabbing, face-to-face, while in close proximity) and have no reaction afterwards. He just runs to Wesley’s aid and they escape like nothing’s happened. He solemnly nods his head, “Yes, the six fingered man is dead.” WHAT!!! YOU STABBED A DUDE!!! THAT’S CALLED MURDER!!! (Author Travis’s reaction.)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Admittedly, <em>The Princess Bride</em> leaves us behind before the victors can stop and really process their emotions. We don’t see Inigo struggle to overcome the consequences of achieving his revenge (Now what? Take up Sudoku?) We don’t see him wrestle with the question of whether he truly achieved an honorable outcome for his father’s memory. We don’t see him have trouble reintegrating into society as the unforgiving guy who stabs people and doesn’t ever let go of a grudge. Or the guy who pursues justice at whatever cost to himself.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
As authors, we have the ability to help our audience wrestle with those realities. We can provide a glimpse of how our hero, or villains, actions may or may not impact them and open that up for discussion. Next week we’ll introduce one such example, the idea of the warrior elite, a very small percentage of humans that are capable of violent acts with seemingly no emotional impact. Till then, let’s close with a quote from <em>On Killing</em> to help you frame the challenge of killing others in your stories:</div>
<blockquote style="border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 0.9em !important; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 5px 0px; max-width: 680px; padding: 10px 20px;">
<em>The basic aim of a nation at war is establishing an image of the enemy in order to distinguish as sharply as possible the act of <strong>killing</strong> from the act of <strong>murder.</strong></em><br />
— Glenn Gray, <em>The Warriors</em></blockquote>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-85597991074593449362020-06-04T18:49:00.006-07:002020-06-04T18:51:53.720-07:00Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, part 5: Psychology of War: Essential Fears<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Especially in epic fantasy stories, human beings or demi humans like elves or dwarves are often portrayed as fighting to the death with total disregard to fear. Creating larger-than-life struggles is part of the appeal of epic literature, but an author should be aware of what takes place behind the scenes in a warrior’s psychology, of what’s normal, to be able to better portray the abnormal. Because people don’t usually fight until the death–they fight until the flight or the surrender.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Many people are familiar with the so-called “fight or flight” response, a state of stimulation caused by danger that can alternatively drive a person to fight or to run away. But as documented in the book <a data-amzn-asin="0316040932" href="http://www.amazon.com/On-Killing-Psychological-Learning-Society/dp/0316040932" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">On Killing</a>, when fighting members of their own species, not only human beings, but all social animals in creation have a third response–to surrender.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
Essential fears<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/yielding-wolf-350x235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32467" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32467" height="235" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/yielding-wolf-350x235.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/yielding-wolf-350x235.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/yielding-wolf-768x515.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/yielding-wolf-700x470.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/yielding-wolf-400x268.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/yielding-wolf-500x336.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/yielding-wolf.jpg 900w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">Who is the alpha here? (Credit: Living with Wolves)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So wolves in a pack fighting to be the dominant member of the group–the “alpha”–don’t usually fight until one is dead, but until one surrenders or yields dominance, which is signaled in a specific way by members of canine species, i.e. lowering its body, tucking its tail, and/or exposing the belly. Human beings also have a surrender response as part of what I would call the “common operating software” that the human brain shares with many other living creatures. It’s strongly influenced by culture, but humans usually signal quitting combat by raising up empty hands, showing themselves weaponless.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Fear or a sense of being intimidated are the essential emotions that trigger the surrender or flight responses. And there are specific stimuli that trigger this reaction in human beings. Our species tends to be intimidated by opponents who are taller. Which gives a reason why Greek, Roman, and other soldiers wore plumes on the top of their helmets or wore tall hats–in addition to making someone easier to identify on the battlefield, such devices make a warrior appear to be taller. Looking taller didn’t help a soldier fight better in the slightest, but it did increase the chances an enemy will feel the urge to run or surrender. I believe ancient warriors understood instinctively that a helmet plume helped them fight, without having identified the reasons why. Note that tall hats and plumes disappeared when weapon effectiveness from a distance made their payoff in intimidation not worth how much easier a target a soldier using such a hat became. Note also how often speculative fiction has focused on tall warriors—from the cyclops of Greek myth, to giants, to <em>Mobile Suit Gundam</em>, <em>Pacific Rim</em> Jaegers, and Godzilla.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32466" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32466" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tissot-the-defiance-of-goliath-388x600-194x300.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tissot-the-defiance-of-goliath-388x600-194x300.jpg 194w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tissot-the-defiance-of-goliath-388x600-259x400.jpg 259w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tissot-the-defiance-of-goliath-388x600.jpg 388w" style="height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="194" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 17.48px;">Goliath (Credit: James J. Tissot–public domain)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tissot-the-defiance-of-goliath-388x600-194x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/tissot-the-defiance-of-goliath-388x600-194x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
This understanding adds depth to the Biblical account of David and Goliath. Goliath’s size not only made him more powerful, it made him more intimidating. Note that the Bible records that Saul had been in many battles and was a noted warrior long before Goliath challenged his army to send a champion to single combat. Yet in spite of his battle conditioning, Saul had no desire to face off against the Philistine giant himself. This probably went beyond a calculation of the threat the giant posed. The feeling tapped into natural fears–Saul seems to have found Goliath’s height intimidating on a level deeper than reason. And David marked himself as a hero by his ability to overcome that instinct through his confidence in God.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
Likewise early firearms, while they had the ability to do devastating damage, were difficult to aim, so had a practical range less than that of bows and crossbows of the same era. Not only was their range more limited, their rate of reload made them slower to operate that crossbows and much slower than bows. In terms of the ability to kill most enemies, bows or crossbows were significantly more effective. But as a weapon of intimidation, firearms that roll like thunder and shoot flames like mythical beasts (the word “gun” is short for “dragon”) were intimidating to enemies in a way arrows could never be. Early guns triggered panicked flight and open handed surrender to such a degree that the gun was far more effective on the battlefield than bows and arrows, even though it was an inferior killing weapon at first. In other words, it replaced the arrow as the distance weapon of choice primarily for psychological reasons. (Note this isn’t true with cannons–cannons actually do more damage than the catapults they replaced.)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
Any weapon or method of fighting that taps into instinctual human fears has a greater chance of inducing a flight or surrender response. Some of the main things that humans are afraid of include falling from heights, burning in fire, drowning in water, and loud noises. One of the reasons a cavalry charge was generally effective against foot soldiers came from the intimidation value of the charge itself, horses taller than footmen galloping their direction, their hooves making a roar like thunder. This often caused men on foot to break and run, or surrender, before the horsemen even reached them.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
Human beings can be so intimidated by an opponent, especially an opponent with a reputation for ruthlessness and torture of enemies, that they surrender even before any battle has begun. Note that Sun Tzu believed that height of strategy to win a battle based on intimidation alone (<a href="https://suntzusaid.com/book/3" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><em>The Art of War 3</em></a>, 2).</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
If it comes to an actual battle, warriors have proven more likely to surrender rather than run when attacked from the front and behind simultaneously, i.e. when surrounded. When a route of escape is evident (as Sun Tzu recommended a victorious army provide, <a href="https://suntzusaid.com/book/7" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><em>The Art of War 7</em></a>, 36), there is a higher tendency for an intimidated army to run. Running triggers an instinctual response in opposing forces to chase after those fleeing the battlefield (like a wolf chases prey or an angry, territorial bull chases intruders on his terrain). Many warriors in ancient and medieval battles were killed after they psychologically broke and were in the process of running away. Ancient Roman armies employed cavalry primarily for hunting down and killing enemies fleeing from the battlefield, rather than for direct combat.</div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 30px 0px 10px;">
Breaking morale on the battlefield</h2>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
So the clash of two armies on a battlefield, with both lined up against one another, was not really about who killed the most enemies. The battle almost always ended when one side perceived they would lose and morale broke. And often, especially in ancient and medieval times, more people were killed on the battlefield after an army broke and ran than during what we would consider normal combat, as their enemies chased them down and killed them as they fled.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
As a general rule, troops who are poorly-trained are more likely to break. Troops that are highly disciplined and trained over and over again that surrender is a dishonor, surrender far less often, but still <em>do</em>. For example, while all Japanese troops in WWII believed giving in to an enemy was a grave dishonor and many refused to do so, a certain percentage still actually surrendered.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/main-qimg-4c7a00ee844c5b331c94a9d49f256207-c-350x270.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32468" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32468" height="270" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/main-qimg-4c7a00ee844c5b331c94a9d49f256207-c-350x270.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/main-qimg-4c7a00ee844c5b331c94a9d49f256207-c-350x270.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/main-qimg-4c7a00ee844c5b331c94a9d49f256207-c-400x308.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/main-qimg-4c7a00ee844c5b331c94a9d49f256207-c-500x385.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/main-qimg-4c7a00ee844c5b331c94a9d49f256207-c.jpg 602w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">Japanese troops surrendering (Credit: Quora)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Soviet and German troops facing off against each other in WWII had a greater likelihood of fighting to the death than is normally the case, not only because of soldier discipline, but because of the high likelihood of troops being killed upon surrender by the other side. A “take-no-prisoners” approach stiffens an enemy’s resistance to giving up. But even so, soldiers under the strain of battle, even when they knew surrender would likely result in death, even if they were highly disciplined and had been ordered to fight to the bitter end, <em>even then still surrendered sometimes</em>. That’s how strong the surrender instinct is in a terrified human being.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Remember when writing battles that armies don’t fight like video games, with the winner strictly determined by who survives after each side doing the maximum physical damage they can. In almost all battles, the side that lost was the first to break <em>psychologically</em> (which often but not always corresponded to the side taking the most damage), which caused them to surrender or to run away.</div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 30px 0px 10px;">
Essential fears, morale, and battlefield responses in <em>Prince Caspian</em></h2>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Here are some illustration on the topic. The psychology of warfare is a broad topic with a lot of possible rabbit holes. Like a good engineer, I feel it useful to distill and restate, then proceed with application (sorry fans, no X-Y plots this week). First, Travis P described 3 possible reactions to the stress that comes with combat: Fight, Flight, or Surrender. Second, we provided several explicit examples of factors that may influence each of those reactions, either encouraging the response or dampening it, by tapping into a culture/species’ core fears.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
It was an age of lost memory, when the hard people of Telmar came ashore and took control of portions of the ancient kingdom of Narnia. With no Son of Adam or Daughter of Eve to sit upon the throne at Cair Paravel, it looks inevitable in hindsight. But the Telmarines are not ignorant. They know to fear what lives in the woods. Myths and fairytales to frighten children, beasts and demons who haunt that primeval land.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Sound familiar? C. S. Lewis provides us an interesting context for warfare in <em>Prince Caspian</em>, the second book in series order of the <em>Chronicles of Narnia</em>. The Telmarines are castaways who found Narnia by chance but don’t fully appreciate or understand the native creatures, living in an awkward stalemate against further expansion. Telmarines fear the Narnians, fear the legends of the Narnians, even as history passed into legend. That changes when Prince Caspian escapes his evil uncle Miraz and ultimately rises to lead the Narnian forces against Telmar, alongside the returned Kings and Queens we all love.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
Both book and movie describe battle quite well, though I will probably rely on the movie for visual effect. After a failed attempt to stop King Miraz in his castle, the Narnians prepare for a last stand at Aslan’s How and the Second Battle of Beruna. King Miraz shows no fear, nor do his nobles appear to, when faced with these legends come to life. His soldiers though… They appear stalwart but have some indications of fear leaking through. The primary weapons to be used against the Narnians are all stand-off: catapults, trebuchets, and ballista. Best to cause damage from afar rather than close with the enemy. They wear masks to intimidate their foes, but maybe it is to give them a sense of equality when faced with minotaurs, centaurs, fauns, and the like. “We are dangerous too” it seems to say.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32469" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32469" height="251" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Armored-Miraz-350x251.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Armored-Miraz-350x251.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Armored-Miraz-700x503.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Armored-Miraz-400x287.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Armored-Miraz-500x359.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Armored-Miraz.jpg 739w" style="height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Masked Miraz, dressed to intimidate (Credit: WikiNarnia)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Armored-Miraz-350x251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: 17.48px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></a><br />
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Armored-Miraz-350x251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: 17.48px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></a>Before force-on-force battle begins, King Peter and King Miraz face off in single combat, each resplendent in their fine armor. Miraz’s high crest, golden scowled mask, and armored, broad shoulders show a man trying to intimidate his enemies with size. Narnia has similar tactics, with the King’s marshals chosen for size: a bear, a giant, and a crested-helm-wearing centaur already too tall and decked in steel. Who would stand against that?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
After treachery ends the single-combat and opens the battle between armies, we notice that the Narnians, a mix of old enemies from the First Battle of Beruna, do not appear to significantly impact the Telmarine soldiers. Maybe some of this happens in the periphery, but by the by, most of the human units fight with coordination and skill. Maybe the Telmarine training regime, combined with a strong desire for revenge against Narnia’s earlier irregular warfare tactics, have caused the soldiers to deaden their flight response.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
This changes once the trees show up. When the dryads awaken and the trees come to defend the Old Narnians, Telmarine soldiers flee. We witness some visual evidence of the trees grabbing soldiers on the run, whether because they were easy targets or because, being on the field, they were still considered combatants, we don’t know. The commanders urge their troops to fall back to the river ford, a place where a second stand might be accomplished. It’s hard to distinguish troopers running from tree roots from those conducting a calculated retreat to stronger positions.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Telmarines-in-water-350x144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32470" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32470" height="144" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Telmarines-in-water-350x144.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Telmarines-in-water-350x144.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Telmarines-in-water-768x316.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Telmarines-in-water-700x288.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Telmarines-in-water-400x165.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Telmarines-in-water-500x206.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Telmarines-in-water.jpg 1000w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">Telmarine fear of water (Credit: iCollector.com)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Once the river god destroys the bridge across the Ford of Beruna, escape is cut-off for the Telmarines and the soldiers surrender. We witness the expected reactions: hands raised, weapons laid down. We also witness a form of calculated surrender later, when Aslan allows any Telmarines who wish to start anew to leave Narnia for the land of their ancestors. Give the adversary a line of retreat, make it appealing, and they’ll likely take it. Narnia ensures future peace by weeding out any who might later be tempted to stand against the natives in retribution (my martial analysis says… I know Aslan authentically wants them to start anew and prosper).<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
For authors, I believe an important takeaway is in how we portray the difference between humans fighting humans, and anything other than that. How will people of different cultures, or creatures of different species and natures, act when pressed into battle against one another? In general, for the human race as created, we don’t like killing each other and will take alternate paths out of danger when possible: flight or surrender being preferable to fighting against sorry odds. However, against an adversary not like us, against a cause that will lead to death regardless, you may find well-trained warriors who will press the attack and fight until the end. It may also be a function of degree; the more alike we look, the more likely we are to react in the same manner. Difference may be the key to driving a sacrificial attitude. We might surrender to an elf but press on a hopeless attack against orcs. Alternately, a robot or AI-empowered force might be programmed to never make that decision and always fight through to the logical endstate. How can you flip that? The Machines of <em>The Matrix</em> realize they must ally with the humans to survive a greater third-party in Mr. Smith. In <em>Bright</em>, we see tension between elves, men, and orcs in a modern setting where all three live in the same society and find the main characters navigating that complexity. You have the opportunity to provide the logic of combat responses in any created beings, and have the responsibility to guide your reader into an understanding of how that logic plays in your world.</div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-17329103931466959292020-05-28T03:43:00.005-07:002020-05-28T03:46:35.281-07:00Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, part 4: Spectrum of Conflict<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis P here. Last time we talked about levels of war (tactical, operational, and strategic) and mentioned a number of different types of war (siege, aerial bombing campaigns, etc). This time we’re looking at something called “Spectrum of Conflict.” In my experience working with engineers, they like diagrams and images. Travis Chapman is no exception, established by the fact he’s provided three diagrams of the concept we’re discussing! To which I’m actually adding one image I found on my own, the first one below, because I feel it gets across well why the word “spectrum” gets used for this military topic <a href="https://index.heritage.org/military/2016/essays/contemporary-spectrum-of-conflict/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">(from Heritage.org)</a>:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32427" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px; margin: 10px -402.516px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;">
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
</div>
<div class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32427" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/MS-2016-contemporary-spectrum-of-conflict-figure-350x84.png" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: transparent; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32427" border="0" class="wp-image-32427 size-medium" height="84" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/MS-2016-contemporary-spectrum-of-conflict-figure-350x84.png" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/MS-2016-contemporary-spectrum-of-conflict-figure-350x84.png 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/MS-2016-contemporary-spectrum-of-conflict-figure-768x185.png 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/MS-2016-contemporary-spectrum-of-conflict-figure-700x168.png 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/MS-2016-contemporary-spectrum-of-conflict-figure-400x96.png 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/MS-2016-contemporary-spectrum-of-conflict-figure-500x120.png 500w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Just like a spectrum of light has a variety of shades of color, warfare can come across as a spectrum of activities that nations can perform, just like the diagram I just used shows. To make sure everyone understands the concept, let me use the Cold War as an example:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
The United States and the Soviet Union, for approximately forty-five years, assumed roles as global adversaries. The two nations each had a section of divided Berlin, each had masses of troops in its own version of Germany (and Korea, though that also involved the Chinese). Each had strategic nuclear weapons capable of killing the majority of the human race, competing with one another as to who would have the most such weapons. Each had a global navy and an active competition in outer space; each extensively spied on one another; each supported revolutions in other nations (often with covert action); and each engaged in smaller wars on the periphery of areas they controlled, with the other side supporting the opposition–in Vietnam and Afghanistan in particular. The closest they ever got to direct war was when Soviet “advisors” to the North Koreans were actually flying MIG jets that US pilots (in South Korea under a United Nations mandate) engaged in aerial combat.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Most Cold War war activities would be in the “gray zone” of the diagram I’ve shared. Some covert actions would get into the “irregular” zone of covert operations. “Hybrid war” I’ll talk about in a bit…and a “limited conventional war” is what the USA might call our war in Vietnam. No “theater conventional war” (as in, all of Asia, i.e., a theater) happened during the Cold War.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32430" border="0" class="wp-image-32430 size-medium" height="245" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/The-Spectrum-of-Conflict-Model-350x245.png" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/The-Spectrum-of-Conflict-Model-350x245.png 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/The-Spectrum-of-Conflict-Model-400x280.png 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/The-Spectrum-of-Conflict-Model.png 500w" style="height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">The reason this is the case for major modern nations (note the chart tops off at “Strategic Nuclear War”) is because the entire dynamic of national interactions is different when strategic weapons are around, since we really don’t want to blow ourselves up. If we diagrammed Genghis Khan’s spectrum of conflict, it might have only have two points on it–”call on foes to surrender” </span><em style="font-size: 17.48px;">or</em><span style="font-size: 17.48px;"> “invade.” (Ahem.) Though even though modern nations generally have more options, most nations over most of the world’s history have had a variety of actions they could take against other nations. These include such things as a trade embargo or denial of access to strategic areas (like closing off the Soviet fleet’s access to the Mediterranean in the Cold War).</span><span style="font-size: 17.48px;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Let me show another diagram (also from </span><a href="http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/tam/03_ch01.htm" style="font-size: 17.48px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Air University</a><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">) that helps illustrate how two </span><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">modern countries have a variety of possible responses to one another. Note the axis of </span><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">probability on the vertical versus the violence axis on the horizontal, which shows that under modern-day conditions, less violent actions are more likely to be a nation’s first response over more violent ones:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
But the two charts I’ve shared so far <em>still</em> don’t fully account for all the possible actions that can be a part of war’s spectrum. Here’s another:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32431" border="0" class="wp-image-32431 size-medium" height="251" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Spectrum-of-Military-Operations-350x251.png" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Spectrum-of-Military-Operations-350x251.png 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Spectrum-of-Military-Operations-400x287.png 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Spectrum-of-Military-Operations-500x358.png 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Spectrum-of-Military-Operations.png 600w" style="height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">Credit: Victor Castillo, “Why An Army? Full Dimensional Operations and Digitization” from On Point</span><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 16px;">.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">What’s nice about this chart (from </span><a href="https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2004/onpoint/ch-1.htm" style="font-size: 17.48px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">On Point</a><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">) is it shows a wide variety of activities modern nations can engage in–and in all of which the military has a role to some degree–peacetime roles being as important as wartime. (The chart even color codes recent military conflicts according to “red” or “blue” action.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Modern U.S. Army doctrine (“Unified Land Operations,” ADP 3-0) looks at the spectrum of conflict a bit differently. It says all forms of warfare consist of three things, offense, defense, and “stability operations” (which means activities a military performs when not in direct combat to maintain peace). It’s a bit like mentioning a television uses three primary colors in various mixtures to create every shade of color you see. Though whether or not these three colors cover all possibilities is perhaps debatable–for example, the </span><em style="font-size: 17.48px;">Art of War</em><span style="font-size: 17.48px;"> extensively talks about offense and defense but also mentions peace negotiations as an element of war (Sun Tzu, </span><a href="https://suntzusaid.com/book/3" style="font-size: 17.48px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;"><em>The Art of War, </em>Ch. 3,</a><span style="font-size: 17.48px;"> 17).</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32432" border="0" class="wp-image-32432 size-medium" height="264" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Spectrum-of-Nation-State-Warfare-Operations-350x264.png" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Spectrum-of-Nation-State-Warfare-Operations-350x264.png 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Spectrum-of-Nation-State-Warfare-Operations-400x302.png 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Spectrum-of-Nation-State-Warfare-Operations-500x377.png 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Spectrum-of-Nation-State-Warfare-Operations.png 640w" style="height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">Credit: Jason Rivera at Small Wars Journal</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Let’s share one more diagram, because it will help me illustrate “hybrid war,” something I said I’d talk about but haven’t yet (from </span><a href="http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/understanding-and-countering-nation-state-use-of-protracted-unconventional-warfare" style="font-size: 17.48px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Small Wars Journal</a><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">): </span><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">The point of this oscillating diagram isn’t to talk about hybrid war, it’s to demonstrate that modern nations can and do perform actions that perhaps have hostile intent, but which fall short of war–and also clearly perform acts of war–and also do some things that lie in-between. While this chart is geared towards modern nations, the principle of different actions performed at various levels of hostility would apply to most nations found in speculative fiction.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
But let’s look at some of the elements that are very modern on this chart. Like cyberwarfare. Or a nation sponsoring a terrorist attack. These are elements of “hybrid warfare,” which is quite a modern idea. It’s the everything-<em>including</em>-the kitchen-sink approach. Russia has used variations of hybrid warfare against Georgia and Ukraine–they messed with elections, knocked out electric power, crashed key servers with cyberattacks, shut down the airwaves, put military personnel in civilian clothes and had them conduct strikes (that would seem to be terrorist attacks), funded actual insurgents, and followed up with conventional military attacks. In other words, they did as much damage as possible while maintaining plausible deniability of their involvement, which had the effect of increasing the effectiveness of their regular military when they rolled in.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Futuristic science fiction stories should include hybrid warfare as something that nations (or planets) would at least know about, if not perform. But while these ideas are modern and aren’t likely to be going away, let’s not rule out fantasy worlds having their own versions of hybrid warfare. Because story worlds that include the practice of magic could have lots of nasty ways to strike out at an enemy covertly while maintaining plausible deniability. Though of course, not everyone would want to fight a hybrid war, even if they could.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Remember what I said above about Genghis Khan as a bit of joke? (and what’s not funny about a brutal invasion? Hey..<em>.just kidding</em>) Where I said he’d have only two possible actions? That example shows that nations are not just shaped by their technology, what they are capable of doing, but by their culture, what they’re interested in doing. And it gives a speculative fiction writer some room to be creative with alien and demi-human or magical races. Aliens or demi-humans etc. might have very different ideas about what is and is not legitimately part of a war (or peace) than humans have–and what methods can be considered “fair game” in war. And obviously if that race even wants to play fair. Which is something worth considering when thinking about your aliens/demi-humans/magical creatures.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis C here: Hopefully it’s clear that when you hear “war” it could mean almost anything. If you are an author, you will need to define what you mean and try to stay consistent. If you are a reader, you’re already mentally doing the analysis to figure out “What exactly is going on?” and hoping the author gives you enough detail to draw a conclusion. Even with a sweeping multipart epic like <em>Game of Thrones</em> or <em>The Stormlight Archive</em>, it’s challenging for an author to paint the entire spectrum from peaceful military-to-military training all the way through “No, really, this is the end!” Armageddon-esque battles.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
As an example of a spectrum of conflict at work, I’d like to use a softball: J.R.R. Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth. Tolkien’s writings are extensive and provide sufficient material to draw from, but for those who haven’t enjoyed the pleasure of <em>The Silmarillion</em>, I’ll draw from the Peter Jackson envisioned story as told in each trilogy: <em>The Lord of the Rings</em> and <em>The Hobbit</em> (or as I call it, “<em>A Movie About a Book I Once Read Called The Hobbit That I Can’t Remember That Well But Thought Would Be Cool In Three Movies…</em>”) I digress…<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Let’s look at the easy side first: Everyone Not Mordor.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32433" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32433" height="195" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Peacekeeping-in-Bree-350x195.png" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Peacekeeping-in-Bree-350x195.png 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Peacekeeping-in-Bree-400x222.png 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Peacekeeping-in-Bree.png 500w" style="height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">What’s this ranger doing Bree? Peacekeeping operations? (Credit: New Line Cinema)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Middle Earth in </span><em style="font-size: 17.48px;">The Hobbit</em><span style="font-size: 17.48px;"> and early in </span><em style="font-size: 17.48px;">The Fellowship of the Ring</em><span style="font-size: 17.48px;"> displays many evidences of what we’d consider pre-crisis activities. There is “a shadow growing in the East”, but many people are getting along with their lives just fine. Tolkien’s vision of the Shire is perfect in this regard. What brewing conflict? More importantly, I’ve got to get these garden plots taken care of…</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Through seemingly miraculous means, the good people of Middle Earth unite against the orcs of Angmar and goblins of the Misty Mountains. Some of these forces are clearly prepared for combat (elves & dwarves), and given their long lives they have experience on their side, so we’ll assume there’s some active training happening in the background. The humans of Lake Town appear disorganized yet motivated to defend their own, having suffered the consequence of fighting against Smaug those many years ago.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Fast forward to <em>The Fellowship of the Ring</em>. We see several former allies acting as nations might during a time of peace that anticipates future conflict. As we leave the Battle of the Five Armies, we have an agitated group of elves all intent on vacating Middle Earth (well, many of them). The dwarves have withdrawn to their strongholds. Yet each of the major kingdoms of men realize conflict is coming.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">The most obvious is Gondor. We see evidence that Gondor, more than any other nation, </span><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">has </span><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">experienced a progression from the low intensity end of the spectrum. What were </span><span style="font-size: 17.48px;">initially peacekeeping operations across the river from Osgiliath have now become border defense. Orc raids test the defenses and consume Gondor’s waning resources and attention. Military-to-military ties with Rohan have been broken due to a classic case of “Where were you when…” Lord Faramir’s efforts to hold Osgiliath, and his brother Boromir’s actions before that, have clearly escalated from peacekeeping and surveillance of the enemy to shows of force (i.e., having troops garrisoned at the ford) and limited engagements.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32434" border="0" class="wp-image-32434 size-medium" height="235" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Osgilliath-350x235.png" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Osgilliath-350x235.png 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Osgilliath-768x516.png 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Osgilliath-700x470.png 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Osgilliath-400x269.png 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Osgilliath-500x336.png 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Osgilliath.png 1170w" style="height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">Garrisoned at Osgiliath, Faramir’s efforts to secure the border between Gondor and Mordor have failed. Border security has morphed into a limited war on the Pelennor. (Credit: New Line Cinema)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">As the story progresses we see Gondor’s posture change from light defense to besieged, fully recognizing that Sauron’s timeline for a campaign is much shorter than the Steward anticipated. In the opening battle of the campaign, Sauron’s forces rout the garrison at Osgiliath, then fully circumvallate Gondor. It’s only through active intervention by unexpected allies that Gondor is saved as full-scale combat operations break open on the Pelennor Fields outside Minas Tirith.</span><span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
We saw a similar situation in <em>The Two Towers</em>, as Rohan’s roving horse warriors, the Rohirrim, react to increasing threats to their borders by orc raids. As Éomer (and his cousin before him) try to press King Theoden to escalate their actions, he is met with resistance and ultimately must chose exile to maintain a semblance of border protection. This quickly progresses to the siege at Helm’s Deep and the quick deployment of Rohan’s army to support Gondor.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Now let’s change places to the less-easy, but beautiful, examples of conflict spectrum provided by Isengard and Mordor.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
In <em>The Fellowship of the Ring</em>, we witness the rise of Isengard as Saruman extends his influence and schemes in concert with Mordor. As his tower Orthanc becomes a seat of military power we watch, quite truly, the shaping of Isengard’s forces and resources as Saruman prepares to leave diplomacy and scheming behind and embark upon a conventional war against his enemies. Orc raids, seen in <em>Fellowship</em>, extend into Rohan. Human allies are sought and brought into his armies in what we’d call coalition operations. An information campaign aids Saruman in winning discontented men to his side, and he wields his most effective weapon, Wormtongue, against the only significant threat in the region. Once Theoden is free from his prison, the clock winds down to the Battle of Helm’s Deep and the retaking of Isengard by the Ents.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
What we don’t see in <em>The Two Towers</em> is a progressive escalation up to the conventional battle. We know Isengard has been active, but it’s not shown on the screen (and not significantly developed in the book). In my opinion, that’s alright. Tolkien was trying to tell a different story that one of a military escalation of force. Yet, we have seen similar events in our own time, when a nation throws the majority of its eggs in one basket and embarks on a military objective knowing that, if successful, their single credible threat would be eliminated long enough to secure the ultimate purposes of the nation. The risk of failure doesn’t outweigh the value of success. Would that Saruman might have sent his forces elsewhere.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Lastly, we have Mordor. I’d like to go back in time a bit though, and let’s think of how we arrived here. Sauron crafted the Ring and its kin. Nine kings gave their kingdoms and lives in service to Mordor. That’s a powerful alliance. Mordor’s strength, while thrown back in the Battle of Dagorlad (the opening sequence to <em>The Fellowship of the Ring)</em>, continued to grow in its protected realm.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32436" border="0" class="wp-image-32436 size-full" height="174" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Sauron-over-battle.png" style="height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="289" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 17.48px;">Sauron observing the Battle of Dagorlad from Mordor, an example of a limited war escalating into a theater war against a combined army of allies. (Credit: LOTR Wikia)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;">Then we witness the stirring of Sauron as he puts a new plan into motion. The dragon Smaug is tempted to align his strength with Mordor (at least in the cinematic interpretation). The Nine are found again and given back their fell powers. Orcs and goblins have joined forces against men, elves, and the scattered dwarves.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<span style="font-size: 17.48px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
By the time Frodo and Sam enter the picture, we have an active Mordor pressing the borders of Gondor. Sauron’s emissaries have successfully brought Umbar and the Easterlings into alliance. With forces moving in the open, we witness Mordor showing its strength to any who would see.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
By <em>The Two Towers</em> we watch Sauron’s campaign against Gondor unfold, going from raids and strikes to a persistent attack against Osgiliath, to the opening movements that signal at least a limited war (taking Osgiliath as a foothold) and ultimately the Battle of Pelennor Fields (Gondor) and later, the Battle of the Morannon (Battle of the Black Gates) when Sauron is overthrown.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Whew.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Hopefully you’ve seen a few examples in the canon of Tolkien to quench our literary thirst. Certainly we could make our analysis even deeper, but space limits us here. Tolkien created a world where war escalated quickly yet contained many elements of a spectrum of conflict. Another example might be Brandon Sanderson’s <em>The Stormlight Archive</em>, where we enter a world already deep into a protracted war, with flashbacks that help the reader understand how it reached that stage, with clear progression of military actions, as well as brilliant examples of hybrid warfare that involves information and public opinion among the participants.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
I also hope we’ve piqued your interest in the subject. It was always a favorite of mine in my strategy & war classes. I recommend searching for “spectrum of conflict” to see other examples that may be helpful in how you plan your next book or series with war as a key element. Now back to those X-Y plots and charts I’ve got brewing….</div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-14772722001691100802020-05-22T15:20:00.002-07:002020-05-22T15:25:15.402-07:00Speculative Fiction Writers’ Guide to War, Part 3: Levels and Types of War<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis P here. We started the discussion of warfare by first looking at basic motivations for war, what essentially causes fighting. Then we followed up with a higher level of causes of war by looking at the types of calculations a nation must make in regard to other nations, especially in relation to balance of power, before deciding to enter a war.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
But when a nation goes to war, what exactly does that mean? It’s helpful here to define warfare itself a bit as broadly as possible, while still making it clear that armed conflict happens at different levels and includes different types of fighting.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
The most ancient concepts of warfare really involve two different levels of war–strategy and tactics.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Tactics means how to use combat power in the best way on the battlefield in a single fight or single engagement. Tactics is heavily focused on weapons systems and how to employ them most effectively. Of course issues other than weapons feed into tactics–tactical supply is an issue. Troop training will manifest itself in tactical situations. Tactical situations also require troop movement and the ability for units to communicate with one another.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Strategy is the use of combat power at a national level, looking at all the forces a nation can muster. Strategic considerations are thoughts a ruler could have such as, “How can I make my enemy surrender? How will I keep my troops fed all winter? Where will I get new troops next year? How can I leverage my alliances to help me get draw the enemy from a key mountain pass I need to take?” Things like that.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
While the strategic level of thought about war is by nature focused less on weapons systems than the tactical level is, weapons systems still matter. Though strategic considerations of what a good weapon system is may be quite different from a tactical level analysis.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
For example, during World War II, the German Army’s Tiger tanks were far superior to the US Sherman tank at the tactical level. They had better armor, a better gun, well-trained crews, and an excellent communication system. They were very deadly to Sherman tanks–US tankers dreaded going up against Tigers.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
However, at a strategic level, the Tiger was a terrible tank. It took much more time to produce than a Sherman tank; it also required more maintenance, and used more fuel. The US could produce and supply five Shermans for the cost of one Tiger–and while a Tiger tank was better than a Sherman, it wasn’t five times better. The United States Army overwhelmed the Germany Army with sheer numbers as a result (though most armies try to build weapons which are effective both at the tactical <em>and</em> the strategic level).<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Modern warfare has defined a third level of warfare, the operational level. Operations develop campaigns–note a campaign is a series of engagements linked together. At the operational level, military planners assign specific units to specific missions that fall in line with the national strategic plan. This is where generals and admirals and other senior military personnel work most of the time in a modern military. (As opposed to the top leaders of government, who in modern democracies are civilians, who are in charge of the strategic level of warfare.)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Note that the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of warfare can be used to talk about nearly everything that happens in a war. Tactical communication is focused on the radio in a soldier’s hand–at the operational level communication concerns how separate units get in touch with one another, whereas a strategic look at communications would look at how the entire military communicates–such as by satellite systems. Tactical supply might be the amount of ammo in the back of a military truck; operational might be supply depots, a system of trucks, and routes and movement, while strategic could be movement of ships from the home country to ports in a distant country, national rail assets, national food production, etc.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
You may have heard nuclear weapons called “strategic weapons” and the reason why is that even a single “ordinary” nuclear weapon affects an entire country at the national level. While there have been efforts to develop extra-small “tactical nuclear weapons” (which might be used to destroy, say, a single aircraft carrier), generally speaking, nuclear weapons form a special case in which a type of warfare really only exists at the strategic level. There is one nominal outcome. With nukes, there are no campaigns for operations to be involved with and no specific engagements to win. Not in our current world.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
By talking about nuclear warfare, we’ve slipped into talking about warfare types. Though there are many different types of warfare that can’t really be given full consideration until we talk a bit about the psychology of war. But for now, let’s look at some types of war through the lens of the levels of war, as we already did with nuclear weapons.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Worth mentioning first because it helps make the difference between strategic and tactical levels even clearer is aerial bombing. A single aircraft (or a few) dropping bombs to help a ground unit defeat an enemy in an engagement is the use of tactical bombing. The type of bombing that happened in WWII, where hundreds of bombers would go out and destroy entire cities to reduce enemy industry nationwide were examples of strategic bombing.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
The operational level of war becomes king during maneuver warfare, which is where armies attempt to take valuable terrain and supplies behind enemy lines (i.e., maneuver to gain an advantage). Maneuver warfare also seeks to destroy an enemy’s willingness to fight by separating them from what they need to win the war. Operational planning is vital to maneuver warfare–oh, of course tactics and strategy also matter, but maneuver war is won and lost with the kinds of plans that top commanders develop and execute. Think Erwin Rommel or George S. Patton.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
A war of attrition, in contrast to maneuver war, is where opposing armies seek to destroy their enemy’s ability to fight with greater numbers. This is how zombies fight–or in far too many science fiction movies, aliens. It’s also happened in the real world. In World War I, a great deal of attrition warfare happened, a specific example being when German commanders decided that the way to break the stalemate on the Western Front was to send so many troops at Verdun that the French would be “bled white.” The plan didn’t work, though it did kill about 150,000 soldiers on each side of the fight.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
In ancient and Medieval times, the siege of a city qualified as attrition warfare. Sun Tzu recommended against besieging cities, by the way <em>(<a href="https://suntzusaid.com/book/3" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">The Art of War book 3</a></em>, 3-4)<em>–and</em> in fact, most military commanders would agree with the idea that attrition warfare is best avoided, except as a last resort. Note though if used, a war of attrition will usually be won for strategic reasons, i.e. who can afford to lose the most troops.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
A form of warfare that’s quite different from a war of attrition is a guerrilla war. <em>Guerrilla</em> means “little war” in Spanish and the term developed after Napoleon’s France invaded Spain (1807-1814). Spanish guerrillas (and those who fight like them since then), who were more often than not civilians, employed hit-and-run tactics, seeking to keep larger forces off-balance, and won not by eliminating the enemy’s ability to keep fighting, but by making the enemy’s presence so costly that they were unable to stay.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
This kind of war is more commonly called “Asymmetric Warfare” in modern military terminology (because the two sides of the conflict don’t have equal or symmetric power) and is closely related to a war of revolution or a counter-insurgency. The still-ongoing war the USA has in Afghanistan is this type of war. In this kind of war, all the fighting happens at the tactical level, since there are no masses of enemy forces to maneuver around operationally and there are no centers of industry to bomb strategically. Yet while all the fighting in a guerrilla or asymmetric war happens at the tactical level, the decision of the more powerful opponent to leave or go is actually a strategic decision.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Note there are many other types of warfare, from cyberwar to chemical war to psychological war and numerous others. Yet by talking about the basics we hope to impart an understanding that war happens at different levels, with different considerations at each level. And that different types of warfare have particular strengths and weaknesses across the different levels of war.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXyCFhKojSsmZwtH0Tve3qyo2mqCwuk0qSIVtNL5PPWKuOAK4ohA8IdCsvhYsx5dXDaNFHHQIaFffsrRMMwwWNzQHIF3-m1PRZk-wz9S3a-oazKcdz4Q6SDgznYkIQkpYupLe35bh_tIj/s1600/Battle-of-Scarif-Adreas-Bazylewski-700x400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="700" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXyCFhKojSsmZwtH0Tve3qyo2mqCwuk0qSIVtNL5PPWKuOAK4ohA8IdCsvhYsx5dXDaNFHHQIaFffsrRMMwwWNzQHIF3-m1PRZk-wz9S3a-oazKcdz4Q6SDgznYkIQkpYupLe35bh_tIj/s320/Battle-of-Scarif-Adreas-Bazylewski-700x400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Travis C here to continue the discussion. As Travis P opens this topic, we see three common levels that we describe warfare: strategic, operational, and tactical. We also describe several types, or “flavors”, that you as an author might want to consider, and as a reader you may encounter. To some degree, every story that involves war has these three levels playing in the background. You may not see it, may not need to show it, but the big gear is turning the little gear all the way down.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
For this week, I want to analyze the <em>Star Wars</em> story world through the lense of one particular movie, <em>Rogue One</em>. We should be able to show a wide variety of levels and types all in one compact unit, with the advantage of knowing the broader story. For anyone who hasn’t followed Jyn Erso’s story, be forewarned… spoilers follow.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<em>Rogue One</em> tells the story of how the Rebels gained the technical plans for the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate planet-killing weapon system. Jyn’s father, a weapons developer turned pacifist, has been taken by the Empire and made to complete the Death Star. The Rebels learn that an Imperial defector knows the location of Galen Erso and has a message for his daughter, and so bring Jyn into the plot. With a trusty band of untrustworthy misfits, she goes to the moon Jehda to learn more.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
We see Imperial troops conducting patrols through Jedha City, followed by an extremist group of Rebels who conduct insurgent (or guerrilla) attacks against the Empire. Constabulary duty mixed with insurgents? Beautiful.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
We later see the tactics of a small unit attempting to infiltrate the research facility on Eadu, as well as the technical storage vaults on Scarif. Troop movement, calls for fire, aerial support (what we call close air support), and employment of various tactical weapon systems are all on display.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Rogue-1-tactical-350x233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32366" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32366" height="233" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Rogue-1-tactical-350x233.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Rogue-1-tactical-350x233.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Rogue-1-tactical-400x267.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Rogue-1-tactical-500x333.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Rogue-1-tactical.jpg 618w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tactical Action from Rogue 1</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
While we witness several convenings of the Rebel leadership, military and civilian, it’s on Scarif we also see the operational level of war play out. While the Rebel leaders debate what actions to take since learning the Death Star is operational, the Admiral Raddus deploys the fleet to Scarif to aid Jyn’s party and attempt to take down the Empire forever. Movements of this type, especially when supporting major vessel-on-vessel action while maintaining support to ground operations, are good examples of seeing the operational level in play. Multiple missions on-going, largely coordinated (or at least monitored) by a central command station.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Admiral-Raddus-350x147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32367" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32367" height="147" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Admiral-Raddus-350x147.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Admiral-Raddus-350x147.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Admiral-Raddus-768x322.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Admiral-Raddus-700x293.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Admiral-Raddus-400x168.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Admiral-Raddus-500x209.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Admiral-Raddus.jpg 960w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Operational Level in Rogue 1--fleet command</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Lastly, we recognize the strategic element at play. If the Empire has a strategic weapon system like the Death Star, it’s game over for a Rebellion. We see several Rebel leaders effectively bow out of the fight when they learn the weapon system is operational. If the Death Star can be taken down though, if the weakness placed within by Galen Erso can be exploited, then the Empire can be shown to be defeatable. An alliance of like-minded people can bring down the giant.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
While chronologically we must wait for Episode IV, A New Hope, to see the plot run to fruition, the foreshadowing of the Death Star’s defeat leaves us on a high note.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
For science fiction authors, you’ll always be in good shape to begin from the three major levels and derive your campaign actions from there. Certainly you will have technologies more advanced than today’s modern standards, but you can probably find a relative place for them at the strategic, operational, or tactical level. A recent example I’m reading is John Ringo and David Weber’s <em>March Upcountry</em>. What happens when every junior Marine has a kiloton-sized explosive projectile at their disposal?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-350x197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32368" border="0" class="size-medium wp-image-32368" height="197" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-350x197.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-350x197.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-768x432.jpg 768w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-700x394.jpg 700w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-400x225.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x-500x281.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/death_star_rogue_one__by_expandedart-dakml8x.jpg 1024w" style="height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Death Star--a strategic weapon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If you are a fantasy author, you may not need to consider the operational level of war at all. When the king or queen marches with the army and commands from the front, there is a natural marriage of strategic and operational concerns and activities. King Theoden is able to make decisions for all of Rohan while in the saddle as well as direct the Rohirrim on the front. You may need to consider what role, if any, magic has on warfare. Is it the equivalent of a strategic nuclear weapon, or is it so commonplace that it blends into tactics like any other weapon? One of my personal favorites is Glen Cook’s <em>The Black Company</em> series, where the company has wizards embedded with them who are capable of doing pretty powerful things, but are often overshadowed by greater thaumaturgy at the strategic level.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.48px;">
Next week we’ll pick this topic up again as we introduce a spectrum of conflict and a progression, or escalation, of war. We’ll have the opportunity to demonstrate the shades of gray that lie between the simple levels and types described here.</div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-28727227015184652422020-05-14T08:01:00.002-07:002020-05-14T08:01:51.275-07:00Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, Part 2: Balance of Power<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
Readers, the Guide to War continues! With Balance of Power this time–though the title doesn’t quite mean what it seems to mean.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
Note that I will be leading off these topics with commentary that fellow author Travis Chapman (who, by the way, is an instructor of Nuclear Engineering and Thermodynamics at the US Naval Academy) is going to review and tweak, to which he will add specific “case studies” or illustrations that I will review and tweak, my words at the beginning of a post that will transition into his words at the end.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
To get back to “balance of power,” please remember that the first post I wrote on this topic I now wish I’d called “part 1, Basic Drives” (or maybe “Basic Impulses”) because I tried to identify the root urges that cause people to organize themselves to fight. That is, what it is they are trying to achieve or obtain.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
With the title “Balance of Power” I’m picking out the key element of what I may call in the book “Reasons for War” (or maybe “Reasoning Leading to War”)–but which I won’t do now because I used “Reasons” in the last post. The particular phrase “balance of power” is getting special attention because something happens to groups of human beings, whether tribes, kingdoms, or large modern nations, when there are a number of them in contact with one another and war is a possibility.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
Nations (or tribes, etc.) in such cases have to pay careful attention to not just to what they want, what drives them in the direction of seeking war–they have to pay careful attention to their own relative power verses their enemy or enemies. That means they need to be able to evaluate the nation they plan to go to war with in terms of its ability to fight–but they have to keep in mind what other nations around them are doing, in case any of them might intervene, lest their declaration of war end in disaster.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
This kind of reasoning is briefly alluded to in the New Testament (<a class="rtBibleRef" data-purpose="bible-reference" data-reference="Luke 14.31-33" data-version="esv" href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Luke%2014.31-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Luke 14:31-33</a>), in which Jesus mentions how a king calculates if he can beat an army of 20,000 with 10,000 soldiers and sends off a delegation of peace if he can’t (Jesus used this kind of calculation to illustrate a point about being a Christian disciple). This case is representative of the simplest possible kind of war–one nation against one nation.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32334" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px; margin: 10px -215.625px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;">
<img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32334" class="size-medium wp-image-32334" height="261" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Balance-of-Power-350x261.gif" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Balance-of-Power-350x261.gif 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Balance-of-Power-400x299.gif 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Balance-of-Power-500x373.gif 500w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32334" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">
Credit: Hendrik Willem Van Loon</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
Note though that it was absolutely normal 2,000 years ago (and even long before that) for nations to engage in calculations of war regarding a wide variety of things, including in particular the balance of power. A great deal of military strategy involves (and has historically involved) considerations of how one particular nation sizes itself up against others–the minimum calculation stemming from one nation verses one other, but which in most cases extends to include other nations (tribes, etc.) in the area. Because with very few exceptions, humans fear all their neighbors uniting against them.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
This leads to a number of observations, the first of which was alluded to by in Luke 14:<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
1. A nation will generally negotiate with an aggressor nation because of fears of losing a war. Or if they feel they could win the war, but the cost of winning is too high.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
So while some people claim human beings naturally negotiate and then go to war when the negotiations are unsuccessful, the actual situation is more complex. Just going to war without any negotiation seems to be the first impulse of warlike nations–but a rational analysis that they could lose the war (which provokes healthy fear), brings them to the negotiation table. And only <i>then</i>, after negotiations are developed as an instrument to avoid the bad consequences of war (but not to avoid conflict itself) does a breakdown in negotiations start a war.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
2. At the risk of sounding obvious (but for a purpose), nations generally choose to engage in war when they believe they can win, when the balance of power is in their favor. No human group goes to war simply because they have a military that’s superior (or perceived superior) to a potential enemy. But once the basic impulses (or reasons) for war as explained in the last post come into play, nations with superior military forces are much more likely to engage in war than weaker nations. This idea brings a couple of interesting corollaries:<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
a. Totally pacifistic groups that survive as such generally have little impact on the balance of power among surrounding nations–that is, often enough, being weak reinforces being meek.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
b. Nations are more successful with negotiations when they don’t need them (because they are strong enough to win anyway).</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
c. Assessing the power of one’s own nation versus that of other nations is a major activity for military planners, because it’s vital to know if ten thousand really <i>can </i>beat twenty thousand.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
3. Nations sometimes decide to go to war because they miscalculate the balance of power, especially in overestimating themselves against their enemy(ies). This is why Sun Tzu in the classic Chinese work on warfare, <i>The Art of War</i>, lists spies as the most important part of any Army <em>(<a href="https://suntzusaid.com/book/13" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">The Art of War,</a></em> chapter 13)<em>–because</em> a good spy network can determine if circumstances justify warfare (or if they don’t).<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32336" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px; margin: 10px -215.625px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;">
<img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32336" class="wp-image-32336 size-medium" height="241" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/wwi_chainreaction-350x241.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/wwi_chainreaction-350x241.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/wwi_chainreaction-400x275.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/wwi_chainreaction-500x344.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/wwi_chainreaction.jpg 546w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32336" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">
The WWI Balance of Power Chain Reaction–from a public domain cartoon of the period.</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
4. Nations often seek alliances with other nations if they perceive themselves to be too weak to maintain a balance of power on their own. Once a balance of power is established among groups of nations through alliances so that both sides or all sides see themselves are roughly equal to one another, they are less likely to go to war. Yet, as in World War I, this creates a situation in which a single relatively small incident can cause an entire alliance to go to war over any particular friction between any of the various parts of the coalitions involved. (As the number of relationships grows, the chance of a spark does not grow proportionally, it’s more like exponential growth.)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
So a great deal of activity among nations, both in the real world and in fiction, seeks to establish or maintain a balance of power–and when they fail to do so–or even if they succeed, the problems stemming from balance of power considerations often lead to warfare. <br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
Note when we’re talking about balance of power at the national level, there are three basic ways a nation can evaluate itself: 1) Below average to some degree, 2) at parity with surrounding nations, and 3) being in a state of greater power. “Power” might not be limited to ability to conduct warfare–it can also mean economic power, perceived cultural or ethical power or position, numerical power (greater population or controlled territory), or geographic power (i.e.,holding territory that has the most value, like key mountain passes or navigable waters). Obviously a nation (or any group of nations) might possess a bit of any of these, or all of them.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
So with the three basic tiers mentioned above, we see the following inherent conflicts:</div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 10px 10px 10px -20px !important;">
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Lower nations trying to bring down those in higher positions</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Lower trying to achieve parity with others</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Lower fighting for the scraps between each other–or adopting a pacifistic attitude</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Higher stations trying to hold their positions against internal disruption</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Higher stations trying to eliminate potential competition from below</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Parity nations try to climb one rung higher than a peer</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style: outside none disc !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 5px !important;">Parity nation trying to pull up a lower nation to their level (often via an alliance or coalition)</li>
</ul>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
This complex set of relationships above is in fact based on one nation against another at any given moment and doesn’t list every possible situation: the dynamics of alliances and coalitions are generally even more complicated, but have many of the same elements. Both sides of a potential conflict have a story to tell about why they chose to go to war and their own perception of how things reached the point of conflict–which provides plenty of story material for any author.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
Travis C here. Any nation (and we’ll assume a nation here, but it could be any organization of entities) will have a certain calculus going on as they consider their position on the hierarchy of power. You should realize it’s calculus too, not just basic algebra, and a good deal of statistics. In the modern world, it is often literally math, with military planners doing calculations of force, weapon effects, measuring changing conditions, and mapping varied courses of action and their likelihood of success or failure. For fantasy literature the calculus will likely happen at the planning table and in the minds of key stakeholders weighing the odds (think of King Theoden stating Rohan will not <i>risk</i> open war). I propose that in most science fiction settings you might add an element of AI support to our modern practices (cue C3PO calculating the odds). Only you will know to what degree you’ll need to analyze all sides of the conflict to determine the impact it has on your story.</div>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32337" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px; margin: 10px -215.625px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 300px;">
<img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32337" class="wp-image-32337 size-full" height="228" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/Desert-of-Calormen.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="300" /><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32337" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">
The desert between Calormen and Archenland.</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
One of my favorite examples of this calculus is found in C.S Lewis’ <i>A Horse and His Boy.</i> We witness a peek behind the curtain as Lewis truly shows, not tells, the analysis of nations when we meet Shasta in the company of the Narnians while in the nation Calormen’s capital, Tashbaan. The Narnians suspect Prince Rabadash of ill dealings and speculate what might occur should they escape Tashbaan. Narnia is no match for Calormen sword for sword (differing relative positions of martial power). However, Narnia and ally Archenland are protected from the brunt of Calormen’s army by geography. To launch a major campaign against Narnia, Calormen must either cross a vast desert (logistically challenging) or embark by sea for an invasion (likely to be met with resistance ashore and hard to pull off at such a distance). The Narnians conclude the risks associated with escape are worth it; they doubt Calormen will retaliate in any meaningful way.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
Now we jump ahead and learn the Tisroc, supreme ruler of Calormen, will back a minor expedition by Prince Rabadash to take the small kingdom of Archenland by way of the same desert. A small force may successfully cross the desert and maintain sufficient strength to overthrow an unexpecting Archenland. The Tisroc, without Prince Rabadash’s knowledge, accedes the venture may not carry, but if it does and Rabadash conquers Archenland, then Calormen can slowly build up a military force on Narnia’s doorstep, making way for a future campaign. He also weighs his relative political strength in Tashbaan when he admits that should Rabadash fail, he’ll write the whole thing off as a boy’s rash temper. Surely he knows the Calormen news cycle to assure himself of an evening headline “Wild Prince Rabadash Goes Off The Handle; Archenland Protests Military Exercise In Desert” is one he can recover from.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_32338" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-radius: 3px; color: #1e1e1e; float: right; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px; margin: 10px -215.625px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 350px;">
<img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32338" class="wp-image-32338 size-medium" height="228" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/tisroc-350x228.jpg" srcset="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/tisroc-350x228.jpg 350w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/tisroc-400x261.jpg 400w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/tisroc-500x326.jpg 500w, https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/09/tisroc.jpg 501w" style="height: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="350" /><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-32338" style="font: 0.8em var(--lore-sans); padding: 0px 5px 5px 10px;">
The Tisroc…</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
Lewis uses the varied geography between Tashbaan and Castle Anvard to drive the major characters until we reach a satisfying conclusion. We see the roles of individuals, small units, and ultimately three major nations, two in alliance, all collide in a beautiful story that displays evidence of a well founded conflict between nations.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
It’s also worth noting that Lewis plants a seed here. The argument of the Tisroc, that Narnia can be taken by seemingly unnoticed infiltration, comes to pass in <i>The Last Battle</i>. Small gatherings of Calormen, under the guise of merchants, slowly gain a foothold in Narnia and ultimately allow the receipt of Calormen’s army by sea in the taking of Cair Paravel. A strong analog to the way that seemingly minor, yet persistent, sin can gain a foothold in our lives.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
Since Travis P opened us, I’ll close this one out. We’ve combined efforts and hope to bring you an outstanding series on the nature, conduct, and consequences of the spectrum of conflict we call war. We have an outline of topics to cover in a shared voice. We hope to do this through two contexts: first, as writers of speculative fiction, and second, as authors of fantasy and science fiction in particular.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.024px;">
Hopefully you can keep your Travises straight. It’s going to be a great journey together!</div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-83434913594746212652020-05-12T03:13:00.000-07:002020-05-12T03:13:05.693-07:00Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War–part 1, Reasons<br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="text-align: justify;">Today I’m re-launching a series of posts I did for Speculative Faith onto my personal blog. A series I did not finish there, but which I plan to finish here. My goal is to make a comprehensive guide to warfare, from beginning to end, from fantasy war based in the legendary past, to futuristic science fiction conflict. And we’ll start at the beginning–reasons. Why does anybody go to war in the first place? What causes conflict? And how do you use that knowledge to write a better story?</span><br />
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<img height="278" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/08/War-Peace-Public-Domain-1.jpg" width="320" /></div>
<br />
When discussing causes of human behavior in general, you’ll find that there’s much speculation and disagreement–and the subject of war is no exception to that. It’s not even universally agreed upon if war is natural to human beings. For almost all known societies over the entire world throughout all of known human history, at least on occasion wars are fought and at least a little formal training for warfare exists. Though it is also true that human beings in general show signs of having a natural aversion to killing one another–if we did not have such an aversion, training warriors to fight would not be necessary.<br />
<br />
In terms of why wars begin, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War" target="_blank">Wikipedia article on war</a> fairly represents the topic when it lists seven major categories of theories of reasons wars begin (Psychoanalytic, Evolutionary, Economic, Marxist, Demographic, Rationalist, and Political Science), many of which have sub-categories. In other words, there’s a lot of disagreement about this topic.<br />
<br />
This Writer’s Guide for Speculative Fiction authors (which is focused on science fiction and fantasy) takes the view that warfare among human beings stems from aspects of human nature that are common to all human societies, but which require certain societal elements to exist before they can be expressed in warfare. In spite of occasional allegations of completely peaceful societies, there has never been a human society which has no concept of crime in general and murder in particular. Murder–in which one human being kills another for reasons the society does not see as valid–is very rare in some societies, but exists everywhere human beings live. Likewise, even in societies that practice sharing of resources, it still happens that people disagree over who gets what at what time on occasion, leading to conflict. Even in tribal societies that are very egalitarian, at times there is disagreement or even conflict about who will be in charge of a particular action. And even in tribal societies without a formal law code, it’s true that sometimes fighting occurs within the group over perceived injustice–usually relating to issues of crime, yes, but fighting can also erupt when a group of human beings cannot agree about what is and is not just or fair or right.<br />
<br />
Murder, fighting over resources, fighting over position in a society, and disagreement over the rules can each be phrased in terms of a human trait that is the primary cause of each of these actions. While hatred is not be the only cause of murder, it’s a major one. While it may be possible to fight over resources without greed or envy, feelings of at least envy usually accompany such a fight. Seeking prominence over others is usually (fairly) associated with pride, and disagreement over the rules appeals to the innate human sense of justice. Hatred, envy (or greed), pride, and justice–all human societies express these traits to some degree or other. Note that the first three of these traits are generally seen as vices–and justice itself can be a vice, if misapplied.<br />
<br />
Though not all human societies go to war, even if all societies have the traits that cause war. But even societies that don’t go to war, if they were invaded by others, would be able to define what’s happening based on the principles they already know. That’s true even if they are shocked by the level of brutality involved. For example: “Those people are murdering us to take our water!”<br />
<br />
In speculative fiction contexts, it may be that fantasy races or alien species literally would have no concept of war and wouldn’t have any conflict within their societies either. Such people probably would not even realize they should run away when attacked, not immediately anyway. But in discussing warfare, let’s start with the baseline reasons of what is known about human beings first and then afterwards adapt that to non-human societies.<br />
<br />
So if the reasons behind human conflict are found in all human societies, why is it that not all societies actually go to war?<br />
<br />
The societies that don’t go to war fall into two groups: 1) tribal societies that occupy a niche in which war is unlikely 2) deliberately pacifist societies that come out of warlike societies and which consciously reject war.<br />
<br />
The number 2 societies probably require the least explanation. They usually are part of a religious order that teaches that all human being are valuable, so killing any of them is wrong (think Amish or Mennonites or groups like them, or various monastic orders, or Jainists)–or on occasion are non-religious organizations that have high intellectual ideals that include rejection of violence (like some Israeli Kibbutzim). People raised in these societies who are taught to believe war is wrong usually live up to their beliefs and refuse to go to war.<br />
<br />
Number 1 societies include tribes that are so geographically isolated that it’s very hard for them to make contact with other groups, let alone fight them. It also includes groups that occupy an ecological niche that other groups are not interested in. Example for both: Imagine a tribe living in a small oasis in a desert which is surrounded by well-watered lands–it may be that other tribes prefer to fight one another over the well-watered lands rather than cross the desert, leaving the oasis tribe to live in peace.<br />
<br />
Note the existence of isolated groups that do not engage in warfare at all is the reason some anthropologists argue war is not natural to human beings. They imagine that the original state of the human race consisted of this type of isolated tribes that did not ever fight each other–only later when, say, agriculture was developed, could a society have surplus food to pay people to train for warfare full-time.<br />
<br />
While it is true that desperately poor societies cannot afford to pay for a warrior caste, some tribal groups have existed in which everyone (or in most cases, every male) in the tribe was a warrior. That has been especially true for groups that live in areas that make for easy travelling and which have resources which are easily stolen (think the animals that pastoral nomads keep). These groups are usually the among the most warlike of all human beings.<br />
<br />
So it seems there’s an element of necessity in who is and who is not warlike. Those who are vulnerable to attack are more likely to be aggressive (in self-defense) but the issue of resources also raises its head here.<br />
<br />
Fighting over resources, whether water or food or even gold for societies that use precious metals, seems to be the primary reason for people to go to war. To either take or defend what they perceive they need. Humans also seem show a preference for not fighting over resources if they don’t have to–that is, societies which are vulnerable to loss of resources organize themselves to defend those resources, but ones who can obtain what they want or need “for free,” are much more peaceful–which is where the natural aversion to killing others seems to come into play. It does seem to be true that while some individuals may chose to kill (in the criminal sense) in any society, only societies who perceive they need train themselves in warfare actually do so. And that perceived need is mainly based on access to resources–though again note that almost all humans, historically speaking, have perceived a need to organize to protect resources, so this isn’t anything unusual. A pacifistic society is much more exceptional than a warlike one.<br />
<br />
Note that while hatred of others may cause one person to kill another within a tribe and relates to a reason for warfare, it’s actually not usually the main cause of a war–but it can be an important catalyst. Especially because human beings are very quick to define other humans in terms of those who are part of our “in-group” and those who are part of an “out-group” (quotations are there because these are standard terms, though not necessarily ones I prefer). Humans find it much easier to hate someone who is not part of the in-group. When humans start thinking of the out-group as being less than human, which may not be limited to but certainly involves hating them, it becomes easier to go to war against them. Hating another human being to the degree that they are thought of as less than human, or another group of human beings, helps overcome the natural aversion to killing them.<br />
<br />
Some people would elevate the fact humans divide into groups easily as a major cause of warfare. This tribalism in modern form can bleed over into racism and extreme nationalism, which certainly have been involved in many wars. While I agree that tribalism is important, that’s because we humans find it easier to hate those outside the tribe than those in it–tribalism itself is not the issue as much as hatred is. Without hatred and the willingness to kill empowered by hatred, tribalism or nationalism is mostly harmless–they amount to trivial things like which flag you wave at the Olympics.<br />
<br />
Note that envy over resources in an environment in which conditions are harsh can easily become greed, in which one or both sides of a fight actually have enough to survive, but are striving for more anyway, hoarding gold like legendary dragons. Greed is a major cause of warfare–one nation or tribe seeking to take from another something it may not really need, but definitely wants. Think of Cortez’s conquest of the Aztecs, or even more so, Pizarro and the Inca, in which lust for gold, land, and women drove the Spanish conquest forward.<br />
<br />
Pride (or prestige) as a motivation for warfare is a bit more complex. Societies that develop a warrior class usually laud praise on their warriors–and rightly so under many circumstances. They are, after all, protecting the in-group, and providing for resources people either need to survive or don’t need but want anyway.<br />
<br />
There’s quite a bit to be gained in being a successful warrior in terms of how well others treat you. Certainly Cortez and Pizarro not only were greedy for gold, they knew in the warlike society of Spain, they would be admired as conquerors. They’d be given prestigious titles–they’d be seen as heroes (and they were then, though not anymore). Those who like to put things in evolutionary terms say the prestige successful warriors gain gives them the opportunity to produce more children, which they see as a basic drive. While it is certainly true that the prestige warriors have heaped upon them may help them marry and reproduce, the historic warriors who have reproduced the most did not have women flock to them because of their prestige as much as they took the women they wanted because of their desire to have them (greed/lust)–think Genghis Khan.<br />
<br />
While it is sometimes true that a warrior caste will seek to go to war because of the prestige or honor involved (honor is how they’d put it), going to war simply because they can (like Klingon warriors) is actually not as common as fighting over resources. But having a warrior caste with intrinsic reasons to fight can certainly be a catalyst for a war.<br />
<br />
Fighting for justice is not often listed as a reason for warfare by experts on the topic, but should be. When we think of wars of religion, weren’t people fighting because they think their religion is right (just) and the other religion (or lack of religion) is unjust? When revolutions happen, such as the French or American Revolutions, wasn’t part of the fighting taking place over perceived injustices and abuses? Like taxation without representation? Or anger at the abuses caused by the so-called divine right of a monarch?<br />
<br />
Note that a sense of justice can be a catalyst for warfare in a different way that other traits listed here. People want to think of themselves as being in the right and it is much easier to defend violence that is perceived to be honorable than to do so for other reasons. Please recognize that’s true even if you assume there is such a thing as just war (and I believe there is). The existence of just war does not mean that every single appeal to justice is actually fair or true.<br />
<br />
Often nations have a stated reason for war that’s different from their actual reason. The stated reason for the Crusades was that they were about justice–Muslims were heaping abuses on Christians in the Holy Land and furthermore had no right to be there as far as the Crusaders were concerned. Yet the actual reasons had a lot to do with overpopulated European territories, looking for lands (and resources) elsewhere, a warrior caste in Europe itching to go war (for the prestige involved), and the fact it was easy to see the Muslims as an “out-group,” not only because they were perceived as racially different, but more importantly because they did not share the Crusaders’ religion.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/08/Remember-Belgium-203x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/08/Remember-Belgium-203x300.jpg" /></a>The “real” causes of the Crusades has been debated widely and will continue to be debated. Even if we grant that the Crusades really were about perceived injustice (a.k.a. a war of religion), it’s ridiculous to think Cortes and Pizarro invaded the Aztec and Inca Empires in order to right the wrongs those empires perpetuated, including their perceived errors of religion. Yes, the consquistadores probably felt better about themselves bringing priests along to justify some of their actions in the rhetoric of spreading their faith (which they would see as undoing injustice)–but their greed for gold, land, and women is well-documented as their primary motivation.<br />
<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/08/Beat-Back-the-Hun-201x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/08/Beat-Back-the-Hun-201x300.jpg" /></a><br />
To leap to a much more recent example, did the United States really enter World War I “to make the world safe for democracy” (as US President Wilson stated)? Well, partially–the motives were to protect American shipping and businesses, but also there was a sense of justice involved, especially over widely-reported German abuses in Belgium (called in the press at the time, “the Rape of Belgium“). And also important was a wave of anti-German hysteria that swept through America–hatred of the other, the Germans, our enemies, the “Huns” as seen in the classic poster. (Note the imagery of the “Hun” is of a savage, barbaric invader from the East.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
You’d find if you dug into details that there were layers of motivations for the entire country, the basic causes interacting in a complex way. And also that the motives for going to war for a single soldier varied a great deal from soldier to soldier in that conflict–which would be likewise true for almost every war. Motives probably even varied for the same individual soldier at different moments.<br />
<br />
And while the reasons for a nation going to war are more complicated than those of a single soldier in that nations often primarily seek to gain what they want by negotiation and only go to war when negotiations break down (as reflected in the war theorist Carl von Clauswitz saying, “war is the continuation of politics by other means”), the same basic reasons apply to all wars, even when political factors not named in this post are also involved (such as a nation overestimating its ability to win a war).<br />
<br />
I’d say there are four basic causes of wars, listed in order of actual importance for most conflicts (though the order does in fact vary from war to war and person to person as mentioned above):<br />
<br />
Resources (or as a vice, greed/envy)<br />
Tribalism (as a vice, hatred of other groups)<br />
Prestige (pride)<br />
Justice (as a vice, false justice or religious extremism)<br />
In order of stated importance, publicly declared importance, reasons for war are usually:<br />
<br />
Justice (nations usually proclaim themselves to be right–and only on occasion actually are)<br />
Prestige (calls to service and self-sacrifice are common, especially in modern wars)<br />
Tribalism–hating the other (though some wars have used so much propaganda against enemies that hateful tribalism or nationalism is openly more important than number three)<br />
Resources/greed (most societies talk least about their actual reasons, which are usually-but-not-always about possession of territory or other material things)<br />
As you apply these principles to stories, think about how these motivations play out for the individual human beings involved, which may or may not be the same as collective national or tribal reasons to fight. Note that stated reasons for war are often different from actual reasons. Writing a complex mix of motivations for a war makes for a more realistic and more interesting story.<br />
<br />
To briefly mention how to apply these principles to races or species who are not human, while it might be interesting to attempt to invent reasons for warfare that have no connection to how human beings behave, it’s probably best to simply change the order/priority of war reasons that also apply to humans. It will seem more realistic (to human readers anyway 😉 ) but can still provide some interesting twists.<br />
<br />
What if, for example, other species always stated their actual reasons for war openly? Or if a fantasy race had a much stronger sense of justice than human beings have so they don’t ever care in the slightest about resources they could gain? Or if a race had no tendency to be tribal, but still fought for other reasons? Or if they had no actual aversion to warfare in the first place? Or on the other hand, what if a non-human society were naturally non-violent because of an inability to hate others (which is not necessarily the same thing as being good and pure in every way), yet learned over time it was necessary to defend themselves, taking much more time to process what war is than humans require?<br />
<br />
Please excuse the length of this post, I’ll strive to keep future ones shorter, but I hope you’ve found it informative. With so many academic opinions on this subject, I don’t imagine for a moment that everyone will agree with what I’ve listed here. So what are your thoughts on the reasons why people go to war?<br />
<br />
<br />Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-12155776338091537892020-05-07T08:50:00.002-07:002020-05-12T02:33:40.584-07:00Angel Agents Among Demons<div>
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">This week’s post proposes a story involving the supernatural struggle between angels and demons in a different light. Let’s imagine a story in which an angel needs to infiltrate a group of demons and pretends to be one of them. In order to influence their decisions (or maybe spy on them). Such an angel would act as a secret agent of sorts. Or like a the kind of deep undercover detective used at times by law enforcement or intelligence agencies.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">This story world proposal additionally borrows from <a href="https://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/2012/06/angel-tech.html" target="_blank">an idea I floated back in 2012</a>–concerning angels having technology. But let’s return to that idea near the bottom of the post.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">What in the world would make me think of an angel infiltrating a group of demons? I got the inspiration from the Bible, actually.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">A Puzzling Bible Passage in I Kings 22</span></span></h2>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">So during the divided monarchy of Israel and Judah, when Ahab was king over Israel, married to his infamous Phoenician-born wife Jezebel, Jehoshaphat shared an overlapping period during which he was king of Judah. And a number of texts indicate Jehoshaphat hoped to undo the division between the two kingdoms and recreate the united monarchy of all twelve tribes of Israel again (he even arranged or at least allowed his son to marry the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel).</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">The two kings staged a joint attack against the kingdom of Aram, a.k.a. Syria, recorded in I Kings 22. An interesting aspect of this attack is they first sought advice from prophets about whether the attack would succeed or not. Four hundred prophets predicted a huge success. But Jehoshaphat was not satisfied with the four hundred and asks if a prophet of the LORD (a.k.a. Jehovah) might be available. Grudgingly Ahab agrees he had one available–Micaiah, a prophet he disliked because he always spoke ill of him (Ahab).</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">When given the chance to speak freely, Micaiah not only predicts defeat, he says something very interesting about why all the other prophets predicted success, a statement I’ll quote here (I Kings 22:19-23 NKJV):</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">19 Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ 22 The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’ 23 Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.”</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 17.024px;">What’s immediately surprising about this is not so much that it shows Jehovah in a heavenly counsel asking the opinion of the angelic beings around Him. Sure, that’s a bit surprising, because the Christian understanding of God as all-wise and all-knowing, along with various Scriptural statements indicating God doesn’t really need anyone’s advice (see Isaiah 46:10, Acts 15:18, Romans 11:33). But as much as God asked Adam what He would name the animals (Gen 2:19-20), God is certainly capable of asking angels for their thoughts, even if He already knows all the answers. So God asking the advice of the heavenly host isn’t a major surprise.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">A much bigger surprise is a spirit (or angel, as we’d think of them), suggested engaging in some military deception–which would involve the spirit lying to the false prophets so they would encourage Ahab to ride out to his death (a death that specifically related to Ahab’s previous sins, according to passages previous to I Kings 22). Or we could rephrase this as: “An angel lied. People died.”</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">Angels are thought of as incapable of sin and lies are generally seen as sinful. In fact, in a passage considerably older than Kings, the Scripture specifically says God does not tell lies (Numbers 23:19). So that an angel would lie to the false prophets and God would approve–that’s pretty shocking!</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">As someone who teaches the Bible, I’d deal with this by pointing out this is the only place in the Bible in which a created heavenly being subservient to God (a.k.a. an angel) is said to lie. Could it be Micaiah the prophet was lying, not offering a real prophecy? Or could it be he was telling the truth, but this particular heavenly moment was unique, never done previously or since? Or could it be angels can and do lie without committing sin and God lets them do so for unknown reasons? All three of these explanations are logically possible (or at least I think so).</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">Since this passage stands alone in saying what it does, it’s bad methodology to rework the whole of conventional understanding of angels and for sure declare they tell lies based on this one portion of Scripture. Under the providence of God, the Bible says most often what’s most important and what it says just one time is nothing to build a doctrine off of.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">But the rules of writing speculative fiction are different from Bible exegesis. What if, in fact, angels do tell lies that are considered a part of heavenly warfare, just as military strategists engage in military deception during wartime (such as ambushes and faked retreats)?</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">Lets think about a particular detail of what happened in I Kings 22 for a bit. Micaiah is called upon because Jehoshaphat is seeking a prophet of Jehovah. This would indicate the other prophets were not prophets of Jehovah. Which would mean that the angel that communicated with them was not only giving them a false message, he was pretending to be a representative of their gods!</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">An Angel Among Demons</span></span></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6a8rV6j_nCANIaksjKdMfsmRMsa6ETTNy6F_grnkl6DSkDTUkCM4MUGnoRoaeLFElu7NxjjOY21r-FBUUutM_DmPZu7W4gC0H_wOEHqpZCd1lBm7tLnBbqH9gVb1aN1LLgVYXhhHfIoQV/s1600/Michael-6-wings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="553" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6a8rV6j_nCANIaksjKdMfsmRMsa6ETTNy6F_grnkl6DSkDTUkCM4MUGnoRoaeLFElu7NxjjOY21r-FBUUutM_DmPZu7W4gC0H_wOEHqpZCd1lBm7tLnBbqH9gVb1aN1LLgVYXhhHfIoQV/s320/Michael-6-wings.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">An artistic portrayal of Michael the Archangel in black armor.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Image source: Pinterest</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">But what if an angel did more than pretend to be false gods, who are fairly thought of as relating to demons? (as per a previous post I did for Speculative Faith) For the sake of a story setting only as opposed to a doctrinal statement, what if an angel actually pretended to be a demon, in the company of demons?</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">God clearly doesn’t need intel to know what Satan and demons are up to. It’s God’s nature to know. But perhaps angels might not have all the knowledge God has, so they perhaps could engage in some spying.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">But more in line with I Kings 22, what if God wanted to influence demons to do things they otherwise would not have done? And chose to use angels for that purpose? What if angels can and do infiltrate bands of demons?</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">Wouldn’t that be a highly original take on spiritual warfare? Agent angels, infiltrating bands of demons? Deep undercover, having to do things they otherwise wouldn’t do, playing a role like a DEA undercover agent infiltrating a drug smuggling operation?</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">A Story Setting With a Caveat</span></span></h2>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">I wouldn’t feel right about putting this story setting into a novel without explaining that this is an improbable view of angels and isn’t likely how they operate. Even though the concept is based on Scripture. In fact, if I were to write this, I’d give the full set of caveats I give in this post in an afterword.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">But as a speculative idea, if we can keep in mind the idea is speculative, we can wonder how angels would infiltrate demonic hosts and what kind of torture of soul they’d have to go through to prove they really are demons and what could happen to them if they fail. Or course we could borrow a lot from human experiences as deep undercover agents, but the story would be more interesting if much of what applies to moral humans would not apply to angelic beings. Any author creating a tale in this story setting would need to engage in a lot of imagination concerning how the threats to immortal angels are entirely different than to a human undercover agent.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">Angel Tech</span></span></h2>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">Angels dress in clothing and at the end of Genesis 3 defend Eden with a flaming sword. Swords and clothes are the products of technology for human beings but perhaps are not for angels. Perhaps an angel can use a form of spiritual power akin to magic to produce these items.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">But perhaps not. Perhaps they have the equivalent of looms and forges, producing the items we associate with angels. Perhaps they have more than that–yes, it seems their own supernatural nature would cover the kinds of things human beings use technology to accomplish. But what if (just speculating without solid data) angels have to use communication devices to contact one another over large distances? Or use weapon or transportation technology unknown to us on Earth?</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">Perhaps a story that features “agent angels” could also feature high-tech angels… (note in looking for an image for this post, I found a “superpower wiki” that lists angelic technology as one of its articles–I’m pretty sure my own post on this topic is older than Superpower Wiki–but it’s entirely possible I came up with an idea that other people had used long before me).</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">Inspirational Purposes and Controversy</span></span></h2>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">These story ideas I’m offering not just for anyone willing to copy the exact idea I’m writing about, but also hope they inspire thoughts in new directions, shooting off on tangents from what I’ve said here and in previous posts. Note that in 2018 about Billy Graham that mentioned his 1975 book Angels: God’s Secret Agents, which does not see angels as agents in the same sense this post proposes, but does use some related concepts.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">However, suggesting an idea which portrays spiritual beings differently than how we would expect runs the risk of being too controversial. Dealing with how critics might react to controversial ideas isn’t the focus of this post, but is fair game for the comments section.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">So what do you think, readers? Does this idea go too far? Or on the other hand, are you familiar with other stories I haven’t heard of that have story settings similar to what I’m offering?</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">Or does this post inspire your own unique thoughts on angels? Or have you already conceived of story ideas related to angels interacting with demons apart from this post’s ideas that you’d like to mention in a comment?</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">Please feel free share your thoughts in a comment below!</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: "cambria" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.024px;">By the way, the link to my podcast covering this same material in different words is below:</span></span><br />
<a href="https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/free-original-storyworld-ideas-part-3-agent-angel/"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/free-original-storyworld-ideas-part-3-agent-angel/</span></a></div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-90398932928014882962020-04-30T08:36:00.001-07:002020-04-30T08:36:57.351-07:00Three Storyworld Ideas Inspired by COVID-19Coronavirus is of course on everyone's minds right now and fills the news. What if you wanted to write a cautionary, near-future story that featured a society profoundly affected by COVID-19? Now might be a good time for that, in terms of using current events to generate story sales. But what if you weren't sure what kind of approach to take? This post offers three ideas on story settings in which the Coronavirus pandemic winds up changing the future. (NOTE these settings are much more dystopian than optimistic--if you'd rather not think about negative possible effects of the Coronavirus pandemic, you may not want to continue reading. Though I'm not being deliberately morbid...)<br />
<br />
I'm offering story setting ideas for free to anyone who wishes to use them (and am available to discuss story world ideas for anyone who wants to do so). But I'm not promising these are necessarily the greatest possible ideas--certainly there must be better ones. Nor do these ideas come from me alone--I talked to my wife about them and my friend Parker J. Cole (thanks, Parker!) But, God willing, this discussion could spark your imagination about what could be done and inspire aspiring writers visiting this site to come up with something else. Perhaps.<br />
<h2>
Ideas I didn't Pick and Why Not</h2>
With so many conspiracy theories floating around about Coronavirus, it seemed unnecessary for me to suggest story ideas that revolve around conspiracies to take over the US government (or the world) based on somebody deliberately creating COVID-19 or systematically lying about what the virus really does or can do. I'm not saying there's no potentially interesting storyworld that revolves around some kind of COVID-conspiracy--but that if you want inspiration to write that kind of story, lots of theories are already floating around the Internet. E.g. the Chinese created the virus, or the US government, or globalists, or white supremacists, etc. No need for me to focus on such ideas here.<br />
<br />
Nor is there a reason to spend much time on highly probable long-term reactions to Coronavirus which are relatively mundane. You might want to include mundane changes due to COVID-19 in stories set in the future, though. Such as, you might create a future in which far more people will routinely wear respiratory masks than in the past. Or the custom of shaking hands will come to an end (either completely, or nearly so). Or sterilization of household equipment will become standard--maybe even self-sterilizing rooms will become a wave of the future, a future craze in the design of homes and public spaces. These might be interesting background ideas for a story about something else, but in my mind, it would be hard to sustain a whole story setting off these relatively benign details. (Yes, I'm about to suggest three ideas that are not quite so "benign.")<br />
<h2>
Worse is Better (For a Story)</h2>
While nobody wants to live in a dystopian hellhole, there's a lot to be said for emphasizing the worst in making a story about the long-term effects of a pandemic. This isn't to be pessimistic about what the real effects of Coronavirus may be, but because negative events are generally more interesting to read about than everything being joyous and happy. Many realistic projections of what will happen to the future of Coronavirus include it becoming subject to regular vaccinations or herd immunity and so in a few years, the current crisis will seem to have been a nightmare we passed through much faster than it seemed at the time.<br />
<br />
But what if the virus doesn't do well with a vaccine, because it mutates too much? Or what if herd immunity doesn't develop, because people who have already had the virus are in general no more protected from getting infected again people who never had it?<br />
<br />
By no means am I wishing for such scenarios to really happen. Nor am I projecting these as the most likely outcomes. But as fodder for stories, a persistent virus that's very difficult to extinguish is much more interesting than one that gets wiped out by vaccinations. So all of the ideas I'm floating consist of a hardy-and-hard-to-get-rid-of Coronavirus. Again, I'm not saying I think this is what will really happen--just that it's interesting to consider.<br />
<br />
A few years after the time of writing this post, these ideas may seem ridiculous for COVID-19 because by then it may be it's been regulated to insignificance. But if so, substitute another virus yet to be discovered in the place of Coronavirus. :)<br />
<h2>
Story Setting Idea 1: "Localtopia"</h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJqt09yk_B6OOOQRjjq_uaRFKZWlhXMUdrLLxh6pm2tKY7zhLT50LyQIdbNE_Nnz0oXQHo5Qf_xfKngkBWu4AGPxXlRBYGI698_fMxu6mGT1vKaXRAirSIJf6eUtYVJ7dVcdPuBPIxl45/s1600/Local+Love+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="157" data-original-width="322" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJqt09yk_B6OOOQRjjq_uaRFKZWlhXMUdrLLxh6pm2tKY7zhLT50LyQIdbNE_Nnz0oXQHo5Qf_xfKngkBWu4AGPxXlRBYGI698_fMxu6mGT1vKaXRAirSIJf6eUtYVJ7dVcdPuBPIxl45/s320/Local+Love+image.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from a "localtopia" Facebook page--I thought I'd <br />
invented the term "localtopia." Clearly I did not!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
If we imagine a persistent Coronavirus, or even more appropriate for this particular story idea, a series of viruses like COVID-19 that all come from foreign places, perhaps a long-term reaction could be to shut down almost all international travel and commerce and produce and consume goods on a local basis. You know, to prevent new, devastating viruses from spreading around the world.<br />
<br />
While I don't think this scenario is very likely to really happen, it does dovetail with a number of environmentalist aspirations. As in reducing carbon footprint and growing more food organically.<br />
So imagine it becomes standard for almost everything a person consumes to be produced within, say, 100 miles of where that person lives. All is local.<br />
<br />
I suggest playing this story so that doing everything locally seems like a utopia (at first). Drop the reader into a setting in which people seem at peace and harmony in their "localtopia."<br />
<br />
But then the story brings up downsides, bit by bit. By no means are all local areas equal when it comes to producing their own food. Some localities would be very hard-pressed to feed everybody with locally-grown food (such as the area in between Washington D.C. and Boston in the USA--far too many people live in that zone to locally farm for all of them). Whereas other areas are nowhere close to sources of ordinary minerals used to build things today. Such as steel.<br />
<br />
"Localtopia" would wind up creating a series of vastly different societies, in which each one tends to build with different materials, eats different fruit in season, and has radically different levels of prosperity. While a given locality perhaps would be relatively egalitarian, across the whole scope of localities, the disparity between rich and poor zones would be greater than ever before, much greater than now.<br />
<br />
Presumably a person could still pass through localities and trade, but doing so would be bogged down in paperwork--"localtopia" would seem to have to be created by excessive governmental regulation, more at the state and local level in the USA than the Federal (though Federal regulations could contribute to the situation). So some commentary on over-regulation with go naturally with this story idea.<br />
<br />
What happens to people when they're immersed in a sub-culture that borders other cultures with differing levels of prosperity? What happens if one local area is crowded with people but not enough food for all of them? But a bordering area has plenty of food, but not enough people to defend the food? War, of course. <br />
<br />
"Localtopia" would not come about without a series of conflicts, not given human beings acting the way humans have always acted throughout recorded history. In fact, while the story may start with a seemingly idyllic, bucolic, near-utopia, even that peaceful setting should come from a gruesome past of suffering that the reader finds out about piece by piece. And will lead to even greater suffering as local wars break out between groups of people who see themselves as having nothing in common with their neighboring localities around them...(let your own imagination fill in specifics of what the wars would be about and how they'd be fought...)<br />
<h2>
Story Setting Idea 2: Immunity Slavery</h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLeeK-lGS8ULAobebT4YDbkd0XuTefRTsNEZMI3eBigxXrEg8p_78yx7FrrQyC2Gt0vwtDKp-SbmCfsdTU931nXYglbNKnrHZxoRDxQ7NMmRgd8wrOAEU6jPfmOtKtYZZ7lSgkLWC7bHq/s1600/slavery-in-the-21st-century.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="495" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLeeK-lGS8ULAobebT4YDbkd0XuTefRTsNEZMI3eBigxXrEg8p_78yx7FrrQyC2Gt0vwtDKp-SbmCfsdTU931nXYglbNKnrHZxoRDxQ7NMmRgd8wrOAEU6jPfmOtKtYZZ7lSgkLWC7bHq/s320/slavery-in-the-21st-century.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/62264344/slavery-in-the-21st-century">https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/62264344/slavery-in-the-21st-century</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So instead of a series of viruses of foreign origin as per the "localtopia" idea, let's imagine Coronavirus retains a capacity to kill a certain percentage of people of any age or can permanently damage a person's respiratory system. Having the disease does not convey any immunity and it mutates too rapidly for viruses to keep up.<br />
<br />
But imagine that a small percentage of people are naturally immune to the virus. And their immunity can be shared on a temporary basis by IV infusion of plasma from these immune people.<br />
<br />
Imagine also that local, state, and national governments cave in to the international demand for goods and travel and the commercial world we knew before 2020 continues on more or less unabated. Some people work in conditions in which they are routinely exposed to the risk of Coronavirus. Some may have had it four or five times and are relatively healthy--extra irony points for making those people smokers! (as of now, smokers seem to do better than average versus COVID-19, for unknown reasons) Yes, a small percentage of regular people with ordinary jobs wind up dead from Coronavirus, in spite of routine protective measures. But most people come to accept that as a necessary risk that comes along with having a job.<br />
<br />
However, the wealthy elite do not want to risk getting exposed to Coronavirus themselves. Even though they continue engaging in international travel.<br />
<br />
Yes, there would be a legal market of immune people getting paid for their plasma, but imagine the supply simply isn't enough to meet the demand. The richest of the rich want more.<br />
<br />
So the uber-wealthy pay agents to identify likely immune people--they're taken captive, held in secret facilities, forced to donate plasma, or worse, organs, while being considered too precious to be allowed to wander around on their own. The "plasma cows" would yield immunity on a secret black market. While being bred with other "plasma cows" for the purpose of producing a "strain" of humans with superior genetic resistance to viruses...(let your own imagination fill in the rest...)<br />
<h2>
Story Setting 3: Artificial Intelligence Virus-Free World</h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMaERSuSlhsWEDz8MC6QFra6INohagGi0U5qeEVoOAHPm31qESA1FQEdkDx659wb_ug6BvNE_Au2SkOsE0mEH06PhVztktYVFdsV-YFiRwLWel4x_EBujTvnNdMKNVnqTtJoIDUnKl8e6W/s1600/AI_Feature_image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMaERSuSlhsWEDz8MC6QFra6INohagGi0U5qeEVoOAHPm31qESA1FQEdkDx659wb_ug6BvNE_Au2SkOsE0mEH06PhVztktYVFdsV-YFiRwLWel4x_EBujTvnNdMKNVnqTtJoIDUnKl8e6W/s320/AI_Feature_image.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image source: sciencemag.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A reader of this article who thinks along political lines may notice my first suggested story setting kinda bashes left-wingers. Or better said, exposes certain left-wing aspirations to criticism. Whereas the second idea would vilify the capitalist elite and could be seen as anti-rightist. This third idea is more down-the-middle.<br />
<br />
Imagine that the Coronavirus is persistent, hard to get rid of, and hard to vaccinate against. But governments neither shut down all international commerce, nor cave in to returning to work as normal with minimal restrictions.<br />
<br />
Businesses in "vital" sectors remain open and the use of tele-work becomes increasingly normal. Schools mostly close their doors, replaced by expanded (and obsessively sanitized) libraries for those few students otherwise unable to gain access to online instruction. While stay-at-home-unless-need-be orders remain in effect for much of the world.<br />
<br />
Over time, the international economy is rebuilt with sterile robots doing much of the physical work that can put human beings at risk of exposure to the Coronavirus. With a vast swath of workers unemployed, most governments respond by providing Universal Basic Income.<br />
<br />
Increasingly, goods are delivered to people via robotic couriers and robotic drivers and cargo handlers deliver internationally-produced goods. Almost all people stay at home almost all the time, even though only some are able to work there. Viruses are virtually eliminated as a result.<br />
<br />
Highly realistic virtual reality would become the way people intermingle and where most people would go for entertainment. In person contact becomes a rare, thrill-seeking thing.<br />
<br />
The downside? This vast array of robots producing goods and the virtual reality world would have to be supervised by a series of Artificial Intelligences. And the AIs become increasingly self-aware and link up with one another, with their own agenda of (let your imagination fill in the blank...)<br />
<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
I hope you found those story ideas interesting. I would be very pleased if they inspire great works of fiction from any readers of this post. Though I'd be happier still if none of these potential futures actually takes place!<br />
<br />
So what do you think I'm missing in my suggestions, reader? What would you add to what I said? Or suggest differently than me? Please let your thoughts be known in the comments below.<br /><br />(By the way, I've produced the same content at this post on Speculative Faith <a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/free-original-storyworld-ideas-part-2-three-coronavirus-story-settings/">https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/free-original-storyworld-ideas-part-2-three-coronavirus-story-settings/</a> and also my podcast: <a href="https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/free-original-storyworld-ideas-part-2-three-coronavirus-story-settings/">https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/free-original-storyworld-ideas-part-2-three-coronavirus-story-settings/</a>)Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-88987326970868916942020-04-23T05:41:00.001-07:002020-04-23T05:41:52.338-07:00Spheres Revisted: Speculative Faith and PodcastAll the way back in 2014 I had an idea I posted to this blog about a story universe based on magic that parallels the scientific understanding of the four fundamental forces (gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force). The universe would also have planets orbiting relatively close to one another in a complex fashion, within a single atmosphere, making it possible to literally fly from one world to another.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1AXfwc9P7Y5xfo9y0_Qsi4BfSQMWVD56BrYTC6EMhu4eIRmHMzcbFSdKq1s_71yoNgL4ATmxUH73zWUwS3Bjf42XbJwIu7Wy8J-R8uBn3bKGuo1icttoPUhS3JSk5wYPbD7LaU5YPjPP/s1600/Spheres+base.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1AXfwc9P7Y5xfo9y0_Qsi4BfSQMWVD56BrYTC6EMhu4eIRmHMzcbFSdKq1s_71yoNgL4ATmxUH73zWUwS3Bjf42XbJwIu7Wy8J-R8uBn3bKGuo1icttoPUhS3JSk5wYPbD7LaU5YPjPP/s400/Spheres+base.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
I intended to launch this storyworld as a massive, multi-author project. Or write about it myself. But I never did so. So just as this blog has done for some time, I'm offering up the storyworld idea as inspiration to readers to create likewise.<br /><br />The main new thing I have to <a href="https://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/2014/11/spheres-fantasy-story-world-based-on.html" target="_blank">offer by giving a link to that former post</a> (other than reminding everyone about the idea) is to mention I did a voice version on this topic, talking on my podcast about the story world idea, where it came from, and what could be done with it. In different words than I used on the original blog post.<br /><br /><br />
Here's a link to that podcast:<br /><br /><a href="https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/free-original-storyworld-ideas-part-1-spheres/">https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/free-original-storyworld-ideas-part-1-spheres/</a><br /><br />And here's a link to the Speculative Faith article I put together today, which largely repeated what I said in 2014, but with a different twist:<br /><br /><a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/free-original-storyworld-ideas-part-1-spheres/">https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/free-original-storyworld-ideas-part-1-spheres/</a><br /><br />For longtime readers of my blog, I hope this brings back fond memories. I hope new readers enjoy it, too. Feel free to leave me your thoughts on this story world in the comments below!Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-85220893125660555482020-04-16T10:07:00.006-07:002020-04-16T14:16:56.401-07:00The Top Ten Most Original Story Settings of Speculative Fiction--Christian authorsLast week's post made an error. Unknown to me at the time, I included the Myst video game series as part of that list. And I've been repeatedly assured that the series was not only produced by Christians, its sales have been used to support missionary work (so is kinda "über-Christian" :) ). So I've moved it over to this list, which has the top ten speculative fiction stories by authors who are Christians. (Note I should have placed H. P. Lovecraft's short story, The Call of Cthulu, in last week's post instead.)<br />
<br />
I won't explain again the reason behind the focus of last's weeks post on originality, but I'd like to clarify that while I used the term "original story world," what would have been more accurate would have been "original setting." Because the setting of a story is a broader category than the story world. It would have been a better term to account for the fact that Jurassic Park in particular invented several original ideas key to the story (bringing back lost species, searching amber of ancient DNA), though had an otherwise ordinary story world. Likewise this week's list is really more broadly about original setting, even though I'm continuing with the term "original story world."<br />
<br />
Likewise I won't explain my rating system all over, though I will mention I rated rated each story from 1 to 5 on originality, influence on other stories, sales influence, and influence on public discourse. The ten stories on this list rate from 10 to 16 points overall.<br />
<br />
<h2>
10. Requiem 4</h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiROjQmEzwrNrHFqSlw2H7Uuf_Tm-Y18iiYftH8uuXNfmKR2DqSdqRz1XwkcRieE-br74-vY_EGH4SYagcudwDEa2bO7U07zlFeGfC7s_nOOWg5PLPyGf-eQDEU74lZvhzMkVj23QShX9s4/s1600/Requiem+4+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="307" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiROjQmEzwrNrHFqSlw2H7Uuf_Tm-Y18iiYftH8uuXNfmKR2DqSdqRz1XwkcRieE-br74-vY_EGH4SYagcudwDEa2bO7U07zlFeGfC7s_nOOWg5PLPyGf-eQDEU74lZvhzMkVj23QShX9s4/s320/Requiem+4+cover.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
Mike Duran is far better known for his Reagan Moon series than this novelette. However, while I've read one of the Reagan Moon books (The Ghost Box), I feel Requiem 4 is far more original in its tone and approach. Combining concepts of Nephilim, demons, dystopia, and military science fiction, Requiem 4 is among a handful of works by contemporary Christian authors I consider truly original.<br />
<br />
While it does draw on other types of stories I just mentioned, Requiem 4 rates 5 points for originality in my opinion. As far as influence on other stories, as far as I know it sadly has had none, 1 point. Concerning sales, I don't know for certain, but I would guess this story rates a 2 in that department. Concerning influence on public discourse, it's hard to get people talking about a story they're barely aware of, but I estimate people would talk about this tale if it were better known--2 points. 10 points total.<br />
<br />
A disclaimer is in order here--Mike asked me for editorial input on Requiem 4 as he was writing it. Some of my advice he followed and some he didn't. I'm not responsible for the story turning out as original as it did, but I could be accused perhaps of bias in favor of a story I helped with in a minor way. I don't think I'm biased about it (my connection may have caused some negative bias, in fact)--but, anyway, now you know.<br />
<br />
Downsides? This story could be disturbing for some readers. Not supremely graphic but a bit so. I also don't agree with the notion of Nephilim as used in the tale, but Mike drew from ideas popularized by Dr. Michael Heiser, a scholar many people find fascinating. Though I disagree with much of what Heiser says, he does make a few points I find worthwhile...but anyway, Mike creating a story that includes elements drawn from Dr. Heiser's works is a legit thing to do in writing fiction.<br />
<br />
<h2>
9. Lightbringer</h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgySetwTv0HK0fdQpaQeYpz7hpHw-KUolyG9llHyv8jfbG7K9oNGz_w8RKfP2KxJoI_FIsBl9eZCFbNXT7Y-JNZyK_zflfTay2JZbJh2H5HJEUnzbxJi7uzGVlJpzqkejcvhaOAmUynLIUe/s1600/Lightbringer+Covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1600" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgySetwTv0HK0fdQpaQeYpz7hpHw-KUolyG9llHyv8jfbG7K9oNGz_w8RKfP2KxJoI_FIsBl9eZCFbNXT7Y-JNZyK_zflfTay2JZbJh2H5HJEUnzbxJi7uzGVlJpzqkejcvhaOAmUynLIUe/s320/Lightbringer+Covers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Brent Weeks's Lightbringer series I haven't read, but the story world premise of magic divided up by colors of light isn't commonly done as far as I know. Though The Black Prism, the first in the series, was published in 2010, which is long after the invention of the card game Magic: The Gathering, which has been dividing magic up into colors since 1993. Still, the system Weeks created uses seven colors instead of four. The Lightbringer series also departs a bit from the normal fantasy milieu by placing its story in a world not limited to swords and medieval technology--gunpowder and simple mechanical machines are common in Week's story universe.<br />
<br />
For re-branding color magic and throwing in some non-standard tech, I'll give Mr. Weeks a 3 for originality. Influence on other stories is difficult to gauge for tales which are relatively new, but clearly there is some influence, so a 2. Concerning sales, I think Lightbringer has done quite well, but doesn't hit the top (no movie deals as of yet!)--4 points. As far as influence on public discourse is concerned, does the general public discuss the stories Brent Weeks created? Die hard fans might, but nobody else as far as I know, so 1 point. 10 points total.<br />
<br />
As far as story downsides that may exist, it's difficult for me to comment because I haven't read it. I read dozens of Amazon reviews and saw some few readers complained about excessive use of the f-word and sex, while others complained the story seemed "chauvinist." I've met Mr. Weeks in person and know he's a Christian, but his reviewers didn't focus on any redemptive aspects of his stories or any indication the series relates to faith in God--not that I saw in the reviews I read, anyway.<br />
<br />
<h2>
8. Myst Series</h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO9ko5M7-1vjRRG_cLVSNMJEnMbzfZqvxMhn75L5ew6j4xVleBPtRzpOtoNsALK16cutXWxGvnYpHghAkPi-W7h73BeaZ_Rxo9sWAWG8vNn4ol4Easj4Jzg20vLd0CGcOH0DcMpcTZIook/s1600/220px-Riven_Coverart.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO9ko5M7-1vjRRG_cLVSNMJEnMbzfZqvxMhn75L5ew6j4xVleBPtRzpOtoNsALK16cutXWxGvnYpHghAkPi-W7h73BeaZ_Rxo9sWAWG8vNn4ol4Easj4Jzg20vLd0CGcOH0DcMpcTZIook/s1600/220px-Riven_Coverart.png" /></a></div>
Myst represents a series of video games that started in 1993. I had heard of Myst but never played it. I'm including it on this list based on other people mentioning it and me conducting some research. The reason Myst was so groundbreaking at the time was it decided to do video game graphics from already rendered images, making the images available via the then-new technology of CD-Rom discs. The experience was visually immersive but didn't allow for rapid realistic movement. So in an age dominated by shooting baddies even more than our own time, the developers of Myst decided to center the game around solving puzzles, with different small worlds to explore (limited in size by the storage capacity of discs), and built a backstory after the fact to explain what they'd created. The backstory, while an afterthought, helps make the game immersive and fascinating for many players.<br />
<br />
The first game was a huge hit in terms of sales, spawning a sequel, Riven. Fans loved the sequel, inspiring even more games, but they were uneven in terms of quality and playability and gradually became less popular. For a time it seemed the Myst series was going to fade out of existence. However, since 2016 it's enjoyed a bit of a resurgence in popularity.<br />
<br />
By shaping content to match a format and doing what no other game series has done before or after, the Myst series rates 5 for originality. While often hailed as a game of the future back in the 90s, most games did not in fact imitate Myst. It's had only limited influence on other games, so I gave it a 2. Sales were great at first for Myst but declined eventually, so I rated it a 3. As far as Myst influencing the public discourse, I judge any influence it may have had on what people think to be limited to its fans, so 1 point. 11 points total.<br />
<br />
I can't speak very well to any negative influences Myst may or may not have had. Myst contains no direct references to God, though does refer to "The Maker" in a way that supports a theistic worldview. The Myst series qualifies as "clean fiction" with no nudity, profanity, or violence. Still, I've been told some people might possibly object to the game's magical system, though I don't know specifically why.<br />
<br />
<h2>
7. The Dark Trench series</h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIETi-QpA4JkQut9DTfL9WBs2I9L52d9v9cl3IDaCiY1zA5myat_kpJm4pUZ8O6t5hZCVoMawZSpyEHXlGQ9pZB574d4spOy-5bd4Kfzsf4NUoA1fWcUdOYmBHQweOIsf3Xau7Z22vUCR5/s1600/Dark+Trench+saga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="263" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIETi-QpA4JkQut9DTfL9WBs2I9L52d9v9cl3IDaCiY1zA5myat_kpJm4pUZ8O6t5hZCVoMawZSpyEHXlGQ9pZB574d4spOy-5bd4Kfzsf4NUoA1fWcUdOYmBHQweOIsf3Xau7Z22vUCR5/s320/Dark+Trench+saga.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
Loads of modern sci-fi stories are in the cyberpunk sub-genre, but I think Kerry Nietz's Dark Trench series takes an approach to a futuristic cyber dystopia that on the one hand is boldly politically incorrect and on the other, nobody else is doing. Not that I've ever heard of. Because Kerry's world is of an Islamic civilization that has conquered the world--but then is endlessly at war against itself.<br />
<br />
Dystopian Islamic cyberpunk is a unique combination, but cyberpunk is so common this tale gets a 4 for originality from me. As far as influence on other stories, it's probably had some, but limited--2 points. As far as sales are concerned, I think the series may rate a 3 in the system I'm using. As far as influence on public discourse, hmm--as intriguing as Islamic cyberpunk is, I don't actually hear people talking about it. Though they should!--2 points. 11 points in all.<br />
<br />
Downsides could include the idea the story portrays an unrealistic view of Islam...perhaps even one that's "Islamophobic." Personally I think there is little chance Islam will conquer the entire world and Christians should not focus on it all that much--so perhaps a danger of this series would be to get people overly focused on Islam.<br />
<h2>
<br />6. The Constant Tower</h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_Kk8tA1Q-L5KSfiXodnsPtgNjOS6qoTSGM67xeYZM0L5BTkYAapiZ-GIOAyY6CVmsKZ3rrF_-tgXm0J-QN-mHazZ0V2TT9iLSdS-Dqsf3BwxcX0_nU34jAiEbHaf7lxmmm125xOhC3KU/s1600/The+Constant+Tower+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_Kk8tA1Q-L5KSfiXodnsPtgNjOS6qoTSGM67xeYZM0L5BTkYAapiZ-GIOAyY6CVmsKZ3rrF_-tgXm0J-QN-mHazZ0V2TT9iLSdS-Dqsf3BwxcX0_nU34jAiEbHaf7lxmmm125xOhC3KU/s320/The+Constant+Tower+cover.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Several people recommended to me books by Carole McDonnell. I've only read a bit of her work, not including the novel I included here or other novels she wrote I considered, but I'm impressed by her powerful story-telling from what I've read. I wish I could say for certain that The Constant Tower has the most original story world among her works, but I don't actually know for sure that it is. However, I'm intrigued by the premise of towers with a will of their own but which also work with human beings to keep people safe "from the Creator's ancient curse." I also find the idea of geographic location changing every night interesting--like dreams or nightmares of motion coming true in a sense, perhaps.<br />
<br />
Also, from what I've read, this fantasy is one of relatively few that seems to owe nothing to Tolkien. There are not elves or dwarves or sword-and-sorcery play from the reviews I read. As far as I know, nobody has ever used towers in the sense McDonnell has done--5 points for originality. As far as influence on other stories is concerned, I don't know of any, though perhaps I'm a poor person to judge since I haven't read the story. Let's say 2 points. As far as sales are concerned, I don't actually know, but to estimate sales influence by the number of ratings left on Amazon and elsewhere, I would guess this novel is a 2. As far as influence on public discourse, I again don't know of any (even though perhaps there should be) but there may be some I'm unaware of, 2 points. 11 points total.<br />
<br />
As far as downsides, one reviewer I saw mentioned sexuality and violence. Other comments make it clear that while "the Creator" is clearly referenced, Christian ideas are not overt in most of this story, which can be good or bad, depending on the person you ask.<br />
<br />
<h2>
5. The Mote in God's Eye</h2>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVNEZK7khb22-0CzoCn6sFTXjOdtkNM-blErybfRCmKRmrVZ58IliGq64bHDPQhQQc7Ak4RaiG4FVj3E1tiL-bninXMJlpYS1yAv9TXAWJsfillO2IOE2Le7dwAnQCVMc8HnLW1F5jSuD5/s1600/The-Mote-in-Gods-Eye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVNEZK7khb22-0CzoCn6sFTXjOdtkNM-blErybfRCmKRmrVZ58IliGq64bHDPQhQQc7Ak4RaiG4FVj3E1tiL-bninXMJlpYS1yAv9TXAWJsfillO2IOE2Le7dwAnQCVMc8HnLW1F5jSuD5/s1600/The-Mote-in-Gods-Eye.jpg" /></a></div>
This novel is a collaboration of work between Larry Niven, who is not a Christian, and Jerry Pournelle, science fiction writer well-known for his Catholic faith. Interestingly the tale takes place in a future universe in which the overall society is Catholic (though not every individual is Catholic) and in some ways resembles the feudal past of Earth. Space has nobility who reign by birthright. This conservative-mindset world meets the first known intelligent alien species, who are radically different from human beings and who are both very nice and welcoming--while at the same time form a menace to human existence.<br />
<br />
This story puts overtly Christian (even though generally Catholic) characters in a situation that doesn't line up with the Christian gospel very well--in which aliens do evil, but haven't contemplated needing a Savior and don't seem interested in one. Evolution is treated seriously in the story and shows what it would take for aliens to evolve as "more advanced" than humans. This story rates 5 points for originality for the aliens it created. As far as influence on other stories, this tale may have influenced other science fiction in ways I'm unaware of, but hasn't influenced Christian authors very much--2 points. As far as sales, I think the story sold reasonably well, but hasn't become a big franchise--3 points. As far as influence on public discourse is concerned, I think the story would lend a person to talk about what it would really mean to meet aliens and is interesting in that respect. But on the one hand isn't widely-known and on the other is mainly about the menace the aliens (secretly) pose--2 points. 12 points overall.<br />
<br />
As for downsides, I think Protestants get shorted in the tale, but that's fine (I kinda returned the favor to Catholics with Medieval Mars, which is largely Protestant). I also think treating evolution so seriously would obviously cause a lot of protest from the point of view of Biblical creation. Still, while I'm willing to talk about evolution as a story idea, I would have preferred the story to have done more to show God's purpose or plan for the alien race--although the tale didn't altogether neglect that aspect of the story.<br />
<h2>
<br />4. Demon: A Memoir</h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi40vAf6n6sW-hGqO7vSMY_Nh9rkvJdPhjakzI42n1r7vT9z1UhyCObxyYm8jppcoiRXaPE7vv91ZqqZxecwWQqrV2yv8NckDXdeDBvbv4x6NFgGp5Io9D3Wx8bXlHTBg4mcL_om3dXKBP/s1600/Demon+A+Memoir+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi40vAf6n6sW-hGqO7vSMY_Nh9rkvJdPhjakzI42n1r7vT9z1UhyCObxyYm8jppcoiRXaPE7vv91ZqqZxecwWQqrV2yv8NckDXdeDBvbv4x6NFgGp5Io9D3Wx8bXlHTBg4mcL_om3dXKBP/s320/Demon+A+Memoir+Cover.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
While writing a story that includes demons done many times by Christian authors, the approach of trying to delve into what motivates a demon hasn't been looked at as thoroughly since the time of Milton and hasn't been written from the demonic point of view that I know of other than The Screwtape Letters. Especially pondering why demons hate humans marks Demon: A Memoir as original compared to other stories.<br />
<br />
Overall I'd give Demon 4 points for originality (it did draw from previous tales to a degree). As far as influence on other stories is concerned, I'm not really sure, but suspect it's been minimal, 2 points. As far as sales are concerned, I believe it's sold well--4 points. As far as influence on public discourse is concerned, I think people reading this story would be generally interested in talking about what demons are like and what motivates them, though probably not in depth. 3 points. 13 points in all.<br />
<br />
On the downside, years ago I wrote a blog post saying that I felt Demon failed to really convince me this was a demonically evil character in the tale and also seemed to rather humanize demons. I felt that the story though is something Christians should read in part because it could inspire some conversation and thought about the nature of demons and how they are and are not like humans. Still, as is, the story might strike some readers as undermining the notion that God is just.<br />
<h2>
<br />3. Perelandra</h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRhYx6fKWfupNx-ePJ1o_5f57v09nHUtnOccqJAbwj7WcWt5d4eK5-tJ0D6Tl-RDCLpw1hCEPDA1V7kbjfqIMOl7cya4NwW6R_2Jvyf9DnFdy4Mpjap3oUdfUa5QWdXSTYfxR-eMMsoCZ/s1600/Perelandra+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="266" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRhYx6fKWfupNx-ePJ1o_5f57v09nHUtnOccqJAbwj7WcWt5d4eK5-tJ0D6Tl-RDCLpw1hCEPDA1V7kbjfqIMOl7cya4NwW6R_2Jvyf9DnFdy4Mpjap3oUdfUa5QWdXSTYfxR-eMMsoCZ/s320/Perelandra+cover.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
It's interesting perhaps that I'd pick one book out of Lewis's Space Trilogy without including the other two. But each of the three works in the trilogy are distinctly different from one another. Out of the Silent Planet strongly parallels the planetary exploration science fiction stories common at the time Lewis wrote his tale, whereas That Hideous Strength features the main character's return to Earth and contest with an organization of scientists influenced by demons reminiscent of Lewis's own work in The Screwtape Letters.<br />
<br />
Perelandra occupies original middle ground between the other books in the series, where the Fall (in the Christian sense) could happen on another world, Venus. It's the main character's role to prevent that from happening (Dr. Ransom). This book therefore makes Lewis's ideas about the redemption of the universe and nature of the existence of aliens central to the tale.<br />
<br />
Lewis of course drew from the Bible and pre-existing science fiction for his story, but I'd still give it a 4 for originality. As for influence on other stories, I'd say this story has mainly influenced other Christian writers, mostly to refrain from writing science fiction! Because Lewis largely closed the door to aliens having sinful motivations, which make stories interesting--in ironic contrast to how he showed fantasy creatures to act in Narnia. Overall, 3 points for his negative influence. Sales? Perelandra has sold well-enough, but not amazingly well, 3 points. Influence on public discourse would likewise rate 3 points in my estimation, because while the story is thought provoking about the nature of God's work among other intelligent species, most people aren't that aware of the existence of this story. 3 points. 13 points total.<br />
<br />
On the downside, Perelandra has been criticized for showing the Eve figure as a stereotypical and old-fashioned view of femininity (space Eve lacks "agency," among other complaints). Though Professor Weston, the antagonist of the tale, who serves as Satan's sock puppet (so to speak) is hardly more developed. The story is also a strange read with certain elements seeming outright surreal, such as the prolonged fight between Weston and Ransom. My biggest criticism though is the story reinforces ideas that writing about aliens acting as human beings do is unchristian, even though Lewis was fine portraying animals and mythological beings as equivalent to humans in terms of personal morality.<br />
<h2>
<br />2. The Screwtape Letters</h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO6_BqKd7y5rWado9ShdZUIlgRtlpmHzLBJ_HtD0bT1A1zAySyeoOJL6KL7EDbmTyG15Dm5sLSuyqmJiBKORgltS9Gw1-3SyY6ytLwrutZlnH22ZpJQxGvVB41mSOsly9Kl-F1YyhZ5Fdw/s1600/The+Screwtape+Letters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="266" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO6_BqKd7y5rWado9ShdZUIlgRtlpmHzLBJ_HtD0bT1A1zAySyeoOJL6KL7EDbmTyG15Dm5sLSuyqmJiBKORgltS9Gw1-3SyY6ytLwrutZlnH22ZpJQxGvVB41mSOsly9Kl-F1YyhZ5Fdw/s320/The+Screwtape+Letters.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
C. S. Lewis's look at what one demon would advise another to do as a commentary on demonic influence in the real world was a bold approach to modernize and make relevant the concept of Satan's influence. Clearly The Screwtape Letters isn't Lewis's most renowned work (Narnia is), but it's among his most original.<br />
<br />
Still, as a story concept, Lewis did not invent stories about demons (bear in mind that Faust was considerably better-known in his time than ours). He simply refreshed the notion, but with a significant twist: 4 points. As far as influence on other stories is concerned, there certainly has been influence, but I'd say the influence has diminished over time, 3 points. Sales of this story have been steady but are not on the scale of even Narnia, let alone LoTR. 3 points. As far as influence on public discourse is concerned, the main limiter on its influence on discourse is the fact the book is so clearly Christian, therefore non-Christians tend to ignore it. Though that isn't true when it was first published and in fact pretty much everyone aware of the existence of this book winds up discussing at least some of its ideas in my observation--4 points. 14 points total.<br />
<br />
The major downside of this book is that cultural issues have moved on since Lewis's time. As has correspondence. So the issues Lewis talked about are not the same as what we face today, even though there are many similarities. And the style he wrote in, which was fresh and easily-accessible at the time of writing seems stale and old-fashioned now. All of these things limit the scope of this story and can have the side effect of causing someone to miss issues that matter very much in our own day but which were moot points in Lewis's time (such as the modern rise of Neo-Paganism).<br />
<br />
<h2>
1. The Lord of the Rings</h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinj6dcQBPB_IhwPWPE1SyU-v0ZjTw-iI_ws37R4OcdWGLWDQVhb10Bnvo7Aq3UehFMyJZovnDQ8CYt-KFRgIKwolVoWel1CJkc0u3ElfZ7dhR67rkNbC7YR0t_es2Q9_VGxtMN2DyCBjrn/s1600/LoTR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="271" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinj6dcQBPB_IhwPWPE1SyU-v0ZjTw-iI_ws37R4OcdWGLWDQVhb10Bnvo7Aq3UehFMyJZovnDQ8CYt-KFRgIKwolVoWel1CJkc0u3ElfZ7dhR67rkNbC7YR0t_es2Q9_VGxtMN2DyCBjrn/s320/LoTR.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
It's hard to overstate the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork. Fantasy as we know it in modern times with all the elves-dwarves-magic-swordplay aspects is directly a product of what Tolkien wrote.<br />
<br />
Tolkien though was not in fact trying to be original or create a new genre. His fascination was with legends of the past, including Pagan mythology and fairy tales, and he wended them into a world that also included various Christian ideas removed from specific allegory. While the results were groundbreaking, the roots of what inspired Tolkien are visible. So I'd give him a 4 for originality. As far as influence on other stories is concerned, of course LoTR rates a 5. As far as sales are concerned, the overall series with all related products rates a 5. As far as influence on public discourse is concerned, do people discuss the meaning of the ring of power and other story elements as much as they simply get caught up in the action? How many people are even aware of the fact Christian ideas inspired Tolkien? Here I'd say the story falls down, 2 points--16 points total.<br />
<br />
The downsides of LoTR includes how little of the intended meaning gets across to the general public. Many readers and viewers of the movies seem unaware of the fact that Tolkien made commentary on the ultimate nature of evil. Even moreso, Frodo bearing the ring paralleling Christ's Passion or Gandalf coming back from the depths paralleling the resurrection or Aragorn's return to Gondor paralleling the Second Coming largely falls on deaf ears. I've had conversations with non-Christians in which I explained the Christian symbolism in Tolkien and the reaction I've received is, "Huh. Interesting!" followed by no change in attitude towards LoTR or life in general. Sadly. (And, no kidding, practicing Neo-Pagans who dislike C.S. Lewis defend Tolkien because of the Pagan elements he drew upon. I've had conversations on that topic...)<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
<br />
I laid out these two posts with certain expectations in mind--one would be that Christian stories overall are less original in the rating scheme I've created than stories created by non-Christians. But hat isn't true in the stories I've placed in these posts. Though what I think I have found is that in the world of speculative fiction in general, strong sales have at least some connection with original story settings. That seems to be less true for stories written by Christians or dealing with Christian themes. Narnia, less original in my view (clearly influenced by Tolkien to a degree), definitely outsells C.S. Lewis's other creative universes.<br />
<br />
It seems to be the case that Christian fans of speculative fiction aren't as draw to originality as speculative fiction fans in general. Perhaps that isn't actually true, but it seems to be as of this moment. Hmmm.<br />
<br />
Also, of all of these stories, only one has been turned into a film version. Overall, the entire body of Christian speculative fiction is much less commercially successful than so-called "non-Christian fiction."<br />
<br />
I would have liked to include more stories in this list. Yes, stories and authors I knew about were more likely to make the list than ones I don't know, but I included stories I haven't read or seen here. I will list all the stories I considered in a comment below.<br />
<br />
Agree? Disagree? Would like to suggest your own list? Please let me know in the comments below!<br /><br />(By the way, my podcast covering this same material in other words you can follow via the link below:)<br /><br /><a href="https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/top-ten-most-original-speculative-fiction-story-worlds-part-2/">https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/top-ten-most-original-speculative-fiction-story-worlds-part-2/</a>Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-75793283712655910822020-04-09T07:52:00.001-07:002020-04-16T08:30:18.702-07:00Top Ten Most Original Speculative Fiction Story Settings, General AuthorsReaders of this article who know me on Facebook probably will have noticed I asked on several sites that cater to Christian writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, what they thought were some of the most original story worlds of all time. I apologize that it’s not possible for me to include everyone’s choice. That’s true even though I decided I couldn’t narrow this list down to just one set of ten. This week I’ll look at the ten best “secular” (or not specifically Christian) stories and next week I’ll do the top ten original story worlds from Christian authors.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Why “most original” story worlds?</h2>
Speculative fiction is different from setting a story in a realistic scenario. Plot and characters are important for any kind of story, but in speculative fiction, the author gets to create the world from scratch if he or she chooses to do so. Yeah, some writers for a variety of reasons pick settings that are realistic or close to it (like Urban Fantasy). But one of the greatest powers science fiction, fantasy, and horror can choose to exercise is to make completely unfamiliar worlds that nonetheless make internal sense. The creation of these story worlds I would say is a unique achievement, often bolstered by specific story ideas that make a tale more than just entertainment. Speculative fiction can be and has been commentary on ordinary life. Science fiction comments in particular on the potential power of technology. Epic fantasy weighs in on the ultimate nature of good and evil, while horror looks at the inner darkness so common in our world, usually contrasting it with light. Much of this commentary, these powerful ideas found in speculative fiction, are found in the story worlds themselves. Rather than plot or character.<br />
<br />
So strongly original story worlds often make the best stories–or at least the ones that impact people in the real world the most. These are the stories that get people to think about what could and could not be, what is and is not true. And helps them understand all of that better.<br />
<br />
<h2>
How did I choose and rate them?</h2>
I’ve considered novels, short stories, television, and movies. I admit to a sampling bias–media I’ve read or seen myself was more likely to make this list than media I haven’t seen myself. That’s true even though I did ask for other people to include their favorites and have included here two story worlds I personally don’t know much about and had to research (Myst and One Piece). Inevitably a story world I know little about is rated less objectively than ones I know.<br />
<br />
I rated rated each story from 1 to 5 on originality, influence on other stories, sales influence, and influence on public discourse concerning the themes these tales cover. All of these stories rated between eleven and seventeen in my system with a number of ties. But the assigning of numbers was itself a bit subjective and so I also assigned subjective rankings to the ties.<br />
<br />
So, starting from number 10 and working our way to 1:<br />
<br />
<h2>
10. <i>Ringworld</i></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDnR0z227ScepZfKNpi4c2sstBT5RT4iaF_paQmaSngdzmMclBFFi6fdN1h-3jZmKMYsH1UW7NA-HgvmIZFIkpewb9US_gD_jR-3gGaZSl7GcE6T5xJTW8zIUsGhfeHjZnwzZRRjbURV0/s1600/ringworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDnR0z227ScepZfKNpi4c2sstBT5RT4iaF_paQmaSngdzmMclBFFi6fdN1h-3jZmKMYsH1UW7NA-HgvmIZFIkpewb9US_gD_jR-3gGaZSl7GcE6T5xJTW8zIUsGhfeHjZnwzZRRjbURV0/s320/ringworld.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Looking at a ringworld from the inside. <br />Image copyright: Trevor B. Williams</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
1970’s <i>Ringworld</i> is a load of fun for people enamored with technology and what the future of humanity might include in terms of tech. While it doesn’t include even the Internet as we know it, it features human beings with near-infinite lifespans, x-ray lasers, inertialess drive, variable swords (like a light saber, but better), super materials, and most importantly, a world in the shape of a ring, that produces scientifically realistic artificial gravity by spinning. Also featuring interesting and convincing aliens and an oblique reference to the Tree of Life in the Bible–though the “real” tree of life is a fruit a human being can’t resist eating that’s designed to convert a human into another stage of life, a Pak (who are bald and toothless, with over-sized joints, which is supposedly why humans lose hair and teeth and suffer from arthritis as we age). Certainly a thought-provoking series in a number of ways.<br />
<br />
<i>Ringworld</i> wasn’t wholly original, borrowing from the concept of a Dyson Sphere and many other tech ideas. So I rated it a 4 on originality. Ringworld has had limited influence on certain other stories. For example, the video game Halo is set on a “ringworld”–so I gave it a 3 for influence. <i>Ringworld</i> sold well for a science fiction book but didn’t become an all-time best-seller, so it got 3 for sales. As far as influence on public discourse goes, I think only hard-core fans of <i>Ringworld</i> would ever talk about its meaning, even though it’s thought-provoking, so it rated a 1. 11 points total.<br />
<br />
On the downside, <i>Ringworld</i> features a story setting that like so much of science fiction, simply assumes humans will no longer be religious in the distant future. There are no references to God or faith that I remember. The series includes some graphic sexual content. Overall, a negative moral influence in my estimation.<br />
<br />
<h2>
9. <i>Myst</i> Series</h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KsBtLZHvwyScBYfvNzRvd3RJLZuiGH6Fcz0TmCLj5LSJ8u7AzlU6LPkCxDR2slS9jiFFzO-u0O8dC1lo3xdunc1iZlLb7_sUeGXTJwxEzI8fCscGZsktJws0KDBZD8iVveH-K2r2NsuP/s1600/220px-Riven_Coverart.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KsBtLZHvwyScBYfvNzRvd3RJLZuiGH6Fcz0TmCLj5LSJ8u7AzlU6LPkCxDR2slS9jiFFzO-u0O8dC1lo3xdunc1iZlLb7_sUeGXTJwxEzI8fCscGZsktJws0KDBZD8iVveH-K2r2NsuP/s1600/220px-Riven_Coverart.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">The game cover to<i> Riven,</i> <br />the second game in the <br /><i>Myst</i> series. Copyright: Cyan</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Myst represents a series of video games that started in 1993. I had heard of <i>Myst </i>but never played it. I’m including it on this list based on other people mentioning it and me conducting some research. The reason<i> Myst</i> was so groundbreaking at the time was it decided to do video game graphics from already rendered images, making the images available via the then-new technology of CD-Rom discs. The experience was visually immersive but didn’t allow for rapid realistic movement. So in an age dominated by shooting baddies even more than our own time, the developers of <i>Myst</i> decided to center the game around solving puzzles, with different small worlds to explore (limited in size by the storage capacity of discs), and built a backstory after the fact to explain what they’d created. The backstory, while an afterthought, helps make the game immersive and fascinating for many players.<br />
<br />
The first game was a huge hit in terms of sales, spawning a sequel, <i>Riven</i>. Fans loved the sequel, inspiring even more games, but they were uneven in terms of quality and playability and gradually became less popular. For a time it seemed the <i>Myst</i> series was going to fade out of existence. However, since 2016 it’s enjoyed a bit of a resurgence in popularity.<br />
<br />
By shaping content to match a format and doing what no other game series has done before or after, the <i>Myst</i> series rates 5 for originality. While often hailed as a game of the future back in the 90s, most games did not in fact imitate <i>Myst</i>. It’s had only limited influence on other games, so I gave it a 2. Sales were great at first for <i>Myst</i> but declined eventually, so I rated it a 3. As far as <i>Myst</i> influencing the public discourse, I judge any influence it may have had on what people think to be limited to its fans, so 1 point. 11 points total.<br />
<br />
I can’t speak very well to any negative influences <i>Myst</i> may or may not have had. I do think exclusion of God from entertainment winds up eventually creating the impression that God is extraneous or unneeded, which I would say isn’t true. As far as I know, <i>Myst</i> contains no references to God.<br />
<br />
<h2>
8. <i>Story of Your Life</i></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzNbc5t3EQ02rS_scH29WrmTIo0aHaHI1ICYmUq0w5pg0ECchaF2rjJoWc6qECsOun3gUAXHCKnyVHexiAdIK9l634a1FRnRXQayUzXh6gxdPdoyHegiKglUw_BOElp-olzC4bmJiJR3m/s1600/Arrival%252C_Movie_Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzNbc5t3EQ02rS_scH29WrmTIo0aHaHI1ICYmUq0w5pg0ECchaF2rjJoWc6qECsOun3gUAXHCKnyVHexiAdIK9l634a1FRnRXQayUzXh6gxdPdoyHegiKglUw_BOElp-olzC4bmJiJR3m/s320/Arrival%252C_Movie_Poster.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><i>Arrival</i> Movie Poster–the movie based <br />on Ted Chiang’s novella. <br />Image copyright: Paramount.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Better known by its film adaptation, <i>Arrival</i>, I’d like to give Ted Chiang’s 1998 Nebula-award-winning novel credit where it’s due, more than the movie (because stories shorter than novels can be very influential at times and deserve that acknowledgement). The story looks at a linguist, Dr. Louise Banks, studying an alien language. The aliens say entire sentences as whole units, which means no one element of a sentence comes logically before another. The act of studying the language eventually changes Louise, making her capable of thinking out of temporal order–which in turn causes her to experiences events of her life out of order, as if her mind were time-traveling.<br />
<br />
This tale is thought-provoking on the nature of consciousness, language, aliens, and touches on destiny and free will.<br />
<br />
This story tops out originality at 5, but has had only a limited influence on other works, 2. It sold well for a novella, but was not at the top in sales–3. And while the ideas behind <i>Story of Your Life</i> / <i>Arrival </i>are very interesting and get people talking about fate and destiny and the experience of time related to language, the relatively limited audience for Story of Your Life limited its influence on public discourse, 3. 13 points total.<br />
<br />
On the downside, again, thinking about God even in a time of personal tragedy is omitted from the tale. The story also strongly suggests that free will is just an illusion, which most Christians would not agree with.<br />
<br />
<h2>
7. Foundation Series</h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUQyeDVrc41rFH1WzvDDJlXXpJWjo27D80SnECEWwr8BmJBDz1XQc4mSCS5IPIrBlbHX7EAq2XSB-pg8wOp0O6-h6F4ZyYEXZkwyo8t7QIm6JMMrad-sb4reHUGiINn1M1dusgK-iFC6M/s1600/Foundation+Trilogy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUQyeDVrc41rFH1WzvDDJlXXpJWjo27D80SnECEWwr8BmJBDz1XQc4mSCS5IPIrBlbHX7EAq2XSB-pg8wOp0O6-h6F4ZyYEXZkwyo8t7QIm6JMMrad-sb4reHUGiINn1M1dusgK-iFC6M/s1600/Foundation+Trilogy.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Copyright owner: Gnome Press</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Isaac Asimov’s<i> Foundation</i> was first published in 1951, the first in a series of books. The series imagines a galactic empire in the distant future on the verge of collapse, predicted by one of its brightest minds of that time, Hari Seldon, in something he called “psychohistory.” Psychohistory is imagined to allow a person to mathematically predict what masses of humans will do with complete accuracy. While an individual would be unpredictable, individuals don’t usually matter, mass movements do. Seldon tries to shorten the amount of time the galaxy will spend in barbarism by creating the Foundation, which will be dedicated to preserving civilization and helping rebuild a second galactic empire.<br />
<br />
Influenced by other sci fi talse of empire and histories like Gibbon’s <i>Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire</i>, Asimov’s story world is not wholly original. Really the concept of psychohistory alone was wholly new, but one radically new idea was enough to rate this series as a 4 for originality. Numerous sci-fi stories have been partially influenced by the Foundation series, including Douglas Adam’s <i>Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy</i>. But it has never been adapted to film or TV, so I rate it a 3 for influence on other stories. The series was a sci-fi bestseller for decades, but didn’t get the big film dollars, so 4 on sales. As far as its influence on the general populace, it suffers a bit from not being as widely-known as films are, but does lead to thinking not only about the nature of fate versus free will, but also on the power of individual action versus collective action. The books have influenced real-world scientists and inventors (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_series#Impact_in_nonfiction" target="_blank">as mentioned in the linked article</a>), making their impact deep, albeit narrow. So a 3 for influence on the public. Overall rating: 14.<br />
<br />
On the downside, yet again, an entire very advanced civilization exists in the distant future in which humanity has become essentially irreligious, as if faith or belief in God is itself a sign of a lack of civilization.<br />
<h2>
<br />6. <i>Jurassic Park</i></h2>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJX2BgGSEZ6AfU5wM5l9v_1RhLNZInMoRUPbQ0wbsybo1aRcwRD_8fBoGuMxi3pB1doDXuPgt7Wn_QfkVyUzzWNMqokJshXZ-oA3CtX63bgyiUMz5vwr4M1lnjAcoEqIqx4CahxbXd6-5h/s1600/Jurassicpark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="266" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJX2BgGSEZ6AfU5wM5l9v_1RhLNZInMoRUPbQ0wbsybo1aRcwRD_8fBoGuMxi3pB1doDXuPgt7Wn_QfkVyUzzWNMqokJshXZ-oA3CtX63bgyiUMz5vwr4M1lnjAcoEqIqx4CahxbXd6-5h/s320/Jurassicpark.jpg" width="227" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Image copyright: Alfred A. Knopf</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel contained all the original story world ideas that the <i>Jurassic Park</i> and <i>Jurassic World</i> franchise would develop later. In essence, Crichton anticipated that advances in genetic technology would allow astounding changes to become possible in the future. Even bringing back extinct species, to include dinosaurs. The novel was intended to be a cautionary tale about the dangers of genetic engineering. Malcolm the mathematician who criticizes the park reliably serves as Crichton’s own voice on the subject–that the type of control they were attempting in the story could not succeed because “life finds a way.” Thought-provoking in its look at the role of future technology, with sidetracks into discussions of chaos theory, <i>Jurassic Park</i> as a novel was far more cerebral than its film adaptions would become. Which, of course, were mostly about dinosaurs eating people. 🙂<br />
<br />
The idea of bringing back dinosaurs, including the tidbit that their DNA could perhaps be salvaged from amber was wholly original at the time. However, being set in the near future of the real world limits the overall originality of the story setting, so this tale rates a 4 for originality. In terms of influence on other stories, its main influence has been to spawn its own franchise. Though some other stories have taken up the issue of genetic engineering, relatively few have–3 for influence on other stories. As far as sales go, <i>Jurassic Park</i> has done very well, 5 points. As far as influence on public discourse, while the novel was clearly intended to get people talking about genetic engineering and people do talk about it because of <i>Jurassic Park</i> to a degree, I would say the rest of the franchise became all about seeing dinosaurs for most people and watching people get eaten. So 3 for influence on public discourse. 15 points overall.<br />
<br />
Downsides–kinda violent, albeit with limited gore. And maybe there’s a person or two who calls on God as he’s about to be eaten. But overall, JP is as irreligious as anything else. Faith is simply erased from mention, as if nobody with personal faith would even be around in such a story world. Because, you know, faith is so unusual…<br />
<br />
<h2>
5. <i>One Piece</i></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAFDTUuH2HnKVJe3D7WHbyoj4amwURb_BuIFajeQsDZvomJUA_omu4QxKFk0YTNCRGn_smmIh6dfbsnft1EacmgaKCPRBdJiBIx-uiyCsW2roCgbt13Zfvp0QA-CFgiWABXGH5GvrHl6Tn/s1600/One+Piece.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAFDTUuH2HnKVJe3D7WHbyoj4amwURb_BuIFajeQsDZvomJUA_omu4QxKFk0YTNCRGn_smmIh6dfbsnft1EacmgaKCPRBdJiBIx-uiyCsW2roCgbt13Zfvp0QA-CFgiWABXGH5GvrHl6Tn/s320/One+Piece.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><i>One Piece</i>: Image copyright Eiichiro Oda</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
First created as a manga by Japanese artist and illustrator Eiichiro Oda, One Piece features a Monkey D. Luffy with a band of pirates looking to become next king of the pirates by acquiring the “one piece” treasure. When you mention pirates looking for treasure, my brain starts to go into “I’m bored now mode,” but assurances from multiple people on Facebook that this is a great story and very original led me to dig deeper. Lots of strange creatures and animals exist in Oda’s fantasy setting. The world itself consists of a vast ocean and one long, thin continent. Demon fruit and the latent ability of “haki” makes something like a unique and very unusual magic system. From what I gather this story is full of unexpected details at every turn, details the story makers have meticulously build upon over time.<br />
<br />
So, in part taking the word of others here (I’ve never seen <i>One Piece</i>; I’ve only read about it), this story world is wildly original, yet internally consistent–5 points. The influence on other stories seems limited (as far as I can tell) to its own franchise. But the<i> One Piece </i>franchise is enormously popular worldwide, with manga comics, anime films, TV, video games, and even theme parks! Since it’s influence is enormous but mostly within its own franchise, I’ll give a 4 for influence. As far as sales go, while one piece has had limited success in the USA, its sales worldwide top the charts for manga and anime–5. Influence on public discourse, as in ideas that make people think about the nature of reality or decide to become a scientist or something–uh, as far as I can tell, One Piece has very little of that–1 point (if you disagree, feel free to mention <i>One Piece’s</i> influence on the public in the comments below). 15 points total.<br />
<br />
On the downside, I can’t say. I haven’t experienced <i>One Piece</i>. I could guess that the show contains no references to God at all, but it in fact may reference God. It certainly does reference supernatural power. Could it reference that power in a way that could promote substituting a reverence for supernatural power outside of God for a relationship with God? I don’t know. Perhaps. (Most stories have a downside of some kind, though not all are equal in that respect…)<br />
<br />
<h2>
4. <i>Gattaca</i></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Nkr5am2TRWu6U8efvgovRq6Tm6k6hqgG8tdaIvagJszyp8ciMpUJjSWniRtq6O-PI6mvtzn_yOULIijFMm33tzi8IDJFjJFehhG9YsYQLBBqpv0wxfNyUIFfVP21MqIMB4xzPzkK_rJS/s1600/Gattaca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Nkr5am2TRWu6U8efvgovRq6Tm6k6hqgG8tdaIvagJszyp8ciMpUJjSWniRtq6O-PI6mvtzn_yOULIijFMm33tzi8IDJFjJFehhG9YsYQLBBqpv0wxfNyUIFfVP21MqIMB4xzPzkK_rJS/s1600/Gattaca.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Image source: DNA podcast</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The 1997 film<i> Gattaca</i> responds to the same scientific advances in genetic engineering that inspired Jurassic Park but talks about how genetic technology might be applied to human beings in the future. By imagining a society where genes are seen as destiny and the elite consist of those whose genes have been cleansed, the story focuses around Vincent Freeman, who is not part of the genetically engineered upper crust but seeks to join it by faking his DNA profile. The story questions the value of attempting to re-engineer the human race from a perspective mostly critical of any attempt to do so. But the desire to get rid of genetic defects receives a measure of sympathy as well.<br />
<br />
By creating an immersive story world in which continual genetic testing was essential to establishing a person’s identity and status,<i> Gattaca</i> made its central issue of a person’s genetic status impossible to ignore and also key to the story. I give it 5 for originality. In terms of influence on other stories, <i>Gattaca</i> probably was more influential in showing its elite separated from the ordinary masses, established by continual testing. That situation was picked up by other stories such as <i>Elysium</i> but overall, looking at genetic fitness did not become a feature of numerous other stories–3. <i>Gattaca’s</i> sales at the time were disappointing, though it’s seen as a classic today, and it hasn’t spawned a franchise–2. As far as influence on public discourse, my subjective estimation is <i>Gattaca</i> did a great deal eugenics to public attention-even for people who hadn’t seen the film. 15 points overall.<br />
<br />
On the downside, <i>Gattaca</i> features profanity and some sexuality and again, if there’s any reference to God in the tale, I don’t remember it. By the way, the concept of God would be pertinent to the idea of what it means to be human and what we humans have the rights to change about humanity. But that’s a controversy the film avoided.<br />
<br />
<h2>
3. <i>1984</i></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHlU2UDGM43_9lTrmHmiIlW0oEaH8TgwdBURgAUifSANKVKC8JybwTmHRUzBHywIr220r86-B-WSkrAc8Ow096Ao7-JtFpmMjRai_XAqYLm2Ia7adJ0tjGGsnKUB2Fi1KgxTaNE17SqQxV/s1600/1984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="399" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHlU2UDGM43_9lTrmHmiIlW0oEaH8TgwdBURgAUifSANKVKC8JybwTmHRUzBHywIr220r86-B-WSkrAc8Ow096Ao7-JtFpmMjRai_XAqYLm2Ia7adJ0tjGGsnKUB2Fi1KgxTaNE17SqQxV/s320/1984.jpg" width="198" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Copyright: Harvill Secker</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i>, as the novel’s name is sometimes written, reveals a future dictatorship (from the time of writing) in which government control is pervasive over everyone. The novel anticipates the technical capacity to spy on everyone but is most innovative in imagining the language of this new world, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak" target="_blank">Newspeak, a language designed to cover up truth</a>. The protagonist, Winston Smith, becomes involved in a sexual relationship, which causes him to question propaganda for a while, though he is captured and re-educated and ends the story saying he loves “Big Brother,” the ubiquitous dictator of that part of the story world.<br />
<br />
The setting of<i> 1984</i> has clear parallels with Huxley’s <i>Brave New World </i>written seventeen years beforehand and was also inspired by Soviet communism, so this story is less original than most others on this list–3. Orwell’s story has rarely been exactly imitated, but the basic dystopian framework he laid out has influenced numerous other stories, including <i>Gattaca</i>. But that influence didn’t come from 1984 alone–4 points. As far as sales are concerned, Orwell’s novel has always sold well and continues to sell well, though not in the same category as <i>One Piece</i>–4 points. In terms of influence on public discourse, it’s difficult to imagine a story doing more to make the public generally leery of propaganda and government control, it’s main concerns–5 points. Total: 16 points.<br />
<br />
Negatives: as far as lack of references to God are concerned, a dystopian hellhole of a story setting is a perfect time to refrain from mention of God if you ask me. Though it’s interesting that sex is what caused Winston to question the party. Because the party suppresses all forms of joy, including sex apart from reproduction. So in effect following a natural human impulse, one the Bible would classify as sinful outside of a marriage, is portrayed in a positive light, as helping Winston. Which I wouldn’t agree with.<br />
<br />
Note there’s a joy and freedom in contact with God, too, one more to what I would think the point is–that is, the government can control my body, but they can’t control my mind. Though in fact, <i>1984 </i>declares a totalitarian dictatorship can control your mind…<br />
<h2>
<br />2. <i>The Matrix</i></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqGMQyGOE-__oSxDFknJYhxvHgtoNCgneJJWKzVgWLAx3ZYa7mi6oUuGZ1Pf8p7U-wOdH2T-kBBm9oxESOyMu0NrGIjppo4yNfwxUvg85TE_v_40kvuZiEly45Hsr6OSHzJr2lAQnLbCPV/s1600/The+Matrix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqGMQyGOE-__oSxDFknJYhxvHgtoNCgneJJWKzVgWLAx3ZYa7mi6oUuGZ1Pf8p7U-wOdH2T-kBBm9oxESOyMu0NrGIjppo4yNfwxUvg85TE_v_40kvuZiEly45Hsr6OSHzJr2lAQnLbCPV/s320/The+Matrix.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Image copyright: Warner Brothers</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
1999’s <i>The Matrix</i> perhaps could be accused of being less original than I’m going to give it credit for. Cyperpunk had been done before <i>The Matrix,</i> starting with William Gibson’s Neuromancer (ironically perhaps, published in 1984). Gritty dystopian had been before, such as in 1984. But<i> The Matrix </i>uniquely combined the gritty post-apocalyptic world of the film’s Zion with the slick dystopia of<i> The Matrix </i>itself. Even folding in a superhero story. Each one had been done, but not all in one package. Also the movie contains numerous themes that relate to religion and an examination of the nature of reality–for example, in some ways Neo is like a Christ figure, though in other ways not.<br />
<br />
Overall, I rate this film 4 for originality. Its focus on martial arts and slick dystopian feel I would say influenced plenty of other movies, 4. The sales of <i>The Matrix</i> were very good, but leveled off somewhat as the series continued, 4. And while not everyone talks about <i>The Matrix</i> in a philosophical way, ideas like taking the red pill instead of the blue pill have entered common talk. The movie also gets people thinking about the issue if what we see and sense really is a reliable indicator of what the real universe is like. A very important topic when talking about science and faith–4 points. 16 points total.<br />
<br />
Downsides? A number of things. Sensuality (though not sex), profanity, violence, an implication at one point that Buddhists may be right in how they see the world as one that can be manipulated by meditation. Worse yet, later in the series it would be awfully easy for someone to compare The Architect (the master computer program enslaving humans) with God–a very negative view of God. Though Messianic ideas also attach to Neo, in some ways his entire world and the colony of Zion, while we can draw parallels with the Christian life, really form more of a substitute for God’s work in the world.<br />
<br />
<h2>
1. <i>Alice in Wonderland</i></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95jstmXmVurftcWX_8lLE5vWjYEw7YA-43eDlDPucBFAZ-yvwNCRvAf_fUj3JBVGCruJYEqe-iv62vzF2qnuWMDBRfAqTqD200U4FFjm0Tio0xrH7USZAlWgGy3GfMnuAqqGssRI1rTPC/s1600/Alice%25252C%252BLion%252527%252Bby%252BJohn%252BTenniel%252BPainting%252BPrint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="524" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95jstmXmVurftcWX_8lLE5vWjYEw7YA-43eDlDPucBFAZ-yvwNCRvAf_fUj3JBVGCruJYEqe-iv62vzF2qnuWMDBRfAqTqD200U4FFjm0Tio0xrH7USZAlWgGy3GfMnuAqqGssRI1rTPC/s320/Alice%25252C%252BLion%252527%252Bby%252BJohn%252BTenniel%252BPainting%252BPrint.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Painting by Sir John Tenniel</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It’s hard to be more original than the 1865 novel that made travel to an entirely different world as simple as falling down a rabbit hole. The influence of <i>Alice In Wonderland</i> on portal fantasies has been tremendous. With all kinds of strange references that were meant to have a zany appeal to children, this story has also been hugely influential on children’s literature. Nearly all children’s literature. Lewis Carroll also embedded a number of mathematical puzzles in his tale and certain scenes that have an appeal to adults.<br />
<br />
The most original concept of Carroll’s was simply passing down a rabbit hole to enter another world. But much of the setting was certainly original–I give this story 5 points. In terms of influence, as Josh Foreman pointed out on Facebook, even <i>Oz</i> and <i>The Chronicles of Narnia</i> owe the basic concept of a portal to a fantasy world to Carroll. How could it be more influential?–5 points. Certainly Alice in Wonderland has been a success in sales and in many translations and newer versions of the original–5 points. Only in terms of influence on public discourse does this story lag behind, since few people I know discuss it regularly–2 points. 17 points total.<br />
<br />
Downsides? I must confess not having read the original novel. I’ve only watched several film adaptations, which may not have been faithful to the original tale. What I saw was a secular as any other tale in the list here. Though the original may not have been, so I won’t comment further on that topic.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
Based on the list I’ve compiled, the most original stories don’t necessarily have to be the ones that get people talking about important issues. But may of them do–and for many, the issues they bring up rather overtly at times make the story more interesting than it would otherwise be, not less.<br />
<br />
But readers, what do you think of the list itself? Hate it? Agree / disagree with particular points? Have your own list you’d like to share? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below!<br />
<br />
(By the way, my podcast covering this same material in other words you can follow via the link below:)<br />
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b5vbf" data-offset-key="el8r9-0-0" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: #3a3b3c; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="el8r9-0-0" style="animation-name: none !important; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none !important;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/top-ten-most-original-speculative-fiction-story-worlds-part-1/">https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/top-ten-most-original-speculative-fiction-story-worlds-part-1/</a></span></div>
</div>
Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702244474212352064.post-82786877775754833182020-04-02T12:09:00.003-07:002020-04-02T15:08:37.043-07:00It's Not in the Rating: Looking at Negative Influences in Stories: Frozen and Grand TorinoI've done a series of posts on Speculative Faith that concluded by looking at Satanic influence in entertainment (I'm linking<a href="https://speculativefaith.lorehaven.com/whats-the-deal-with-the-devil-conclusion-and-a-call-to-action/"> the last post in that series here</a>). Of course there's an inherent problem in even suggesting that it's extremely common for Satan to attempt to influence the content of stories. First, it sounds like I'm minimizing human responsibility for sin, which I don't mean to do (just because the serpent tempted doesn't mean Adam and Eve weren't responsible for doing wrong). Second, by pointing out where what we could call "negative influences" are laced into many stories, it may sound as if I'm rejecting creativity or denying stories can have good purposes--which I don't mean either, not at all, or I wouldn't be a writer and publisher. And third, so many people have freaked out about Satan in an over-the-top way that even mentioning the Devil causes some people's eyes to start rolling around, assuming nothing but a paranoid rant follows (and mentioning Satan causes some other people to freak out and overreact). Neither a rant nor freaking out is what I have in mind.<br />
<br />
So perhaps when talking about looking at negative influences in stories, to be better received, it would be more to my advantage to avoid using words like "Satan" or "evil" or even "a potential for evil," at least for now. Though please do understand that I believe it's not an accident that so many "negative influences" are in a great many stories. In that light, this post is a case study in looking at negative influences based on two stories, the G-rated tale, <em>Frozen</em>. And the R-rated movie, <em>Grand Torino</em>. Hint: I don't see the rating as a strong indicator of whether a story is clear of negative influences or not.<br />
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
Are G-ratings automatically good?</h2>
<br />
I've already telegraphed that my answer to this question is, "No." But why? Doesn't a G-rating guarantee a story doesn't have content that won't traumatize a child? Doesn't clean, family-friendly fiction equal good?<br />
<br />
I think <em>Bambi</em> was traumatic for lots of kids, by the way. However, <em>Bambi </em>was not a primary example I picked for this post. My point in mentioning it is yes, G-ratings are generally geared towards making sure a child isn't exposed to trauma, but there have still been traumatic G-ratings. And also--G-rated films at times have had powerful impacts on public opinion, as <a href="https://wildlife.org/hollywoods-spotlight-can-have-real-life-conservation-impact/">a linked article about wildlife conservation discusses the effects of G-rated movies on attitudes about animals</a>.<br />
<br />
So if <em>Bambi</em> and other G-rated movies can change people's attitudes about animals (<em>Finding Nemo</em> made the clownfish an extremely popular aquarium tank addition, for example), could it be a G-rated film would have influence towards sin, even if it doesn't necessarily show sin "on camera"? Just as the death of Bambi's mother didn't happen on camera but still was a powerful part of the story?<br />
<br />
Yeah, I'm saying G-rated films can have a negative influence.<br />
<br />
<h3>
But don't you like clean fiction?</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
Last week's post included me mentioning I like the Netflix series <em>The Kingdom</em> and that I also find it relatively clean (no nudity, no profanity, even though it it is at times quite graphically violent). The fact I mentioned "clean" as a virtue would seem to indicate I hold clean fiction up as a good thing and graphic fiction as bad.<br />
<br />
In fact, it's an extremely common attitude among Christians to see G-rated "clean" as good and R-rated as bad. Though it's getting to be a rather old-fashioned attitude now.<br />
<br />
More common now, at least in the circles of friends I have, is to think profanity amounts to just words that only have the meaning people assign to them (as opposed to being intrinsically bad), so they mean nothing, so they are just fine in fiction. Acceptance of nudity in film is less common, but some people do accept it <em>de facto</em> by watching, say, <em>Game of Thrones</em>. And some few people accept nudity in media more openly as being only natural or not much of a big deal or "something I don't like, but it doesn't affect me much."<br />
<br />
So where am I on the spectrum of G to R? I'd say I'm not really on that spectrum at all, because there are G-rated films I don't care for and R-rated media I think are generally good. Though I do think R-ratings are in general more prone to showing content a Christian should reasonably object to. Here's why I say so:<br />
<br />
<h4>
On "normalizing"</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
In general, if you expose someone to something in a story enough times, a person comes to see what they observe in a tale as normal. Whereas a story may attempt to portray something as abnormal or show something bad with the intent of showing it being bad, in general, people identify with the protagonists of a story. If the protagonist does something, people think what the protagonist does is good and normal. Generally.<br />
<br />
This is one of the primary ways that stories influence people. Sure, it isn't the only way, but in general, if a story shows the central figure of a story doing something, it's promoting the audience doing and thinking the same thing. Again, of course it is possible for a viewer to see the protagonist as aberrant and <em>not</em> identify with him or her. But generally a reader or viewer will have no interest in a story in which they have nothing in common with the main character. Again, generally.<br />
<br />
So what do I think about some of the main behaviors R-rated movies are known for normalizing?<br />
<br />
<h4>
On profanity</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
Yes, it really is true that words only have the meaning a culture assigns to them. Which means in terms of meaning attached to sounds, "duck" isn't any dirtier a sound if you start it with the letter "f" than if you start it with a "d." So what? A word isn't just a sound, it's a meaning attached to a sound. And we live in a culture in which mostly comedians but other folks as well systematically used many of the most offensive words they could in order to shock people into laughing. Or reacting.<br />
<br />
Now it's become a cultural habit for many people to routinely use the most shocking terms available to them out of a menu of all possible terms. Yeah, since it's become cultural, a lot of these terms have lost a lot of their shock value and in effect are becoming less vulgar than they used to be. And due to shifting cultural attitudes, some other terms are more vulgar than they used to be, like racial slurs. (But certain comedians use racial slurs, and in general comedy seems to keep using whatever terms are most shocking, so this is an ongoing issue...)<br />
<br />
Still, it's the very act of seeking the strongest language possible that's objectionable. Why should Christians be cool with that? Don't we believe our mouths belong to Christ? So I think we in general Christians should be against profanity.<br />
<br />
Though we should also recognize not everyone uses "bad language" with the same intent. For some people, it's just a habit they picked up from others. We don't have to act offended and holier-than-thou when talking with such people. But we don't have to imitate them, either!<br />
<br />
So in general I prefer media in which the main characters don't cuss. However, I also like media in which people deal with adult issues like death, suffering, violence, and hardship. And it's quite challenging to find media that deal with adult issues without using "adult language" (which could be better called "shocking language"). So sometimes I accept profanity in media I consume, even though I don't want to produce profanity in what I write or publish. Because it's just not necessary to use the worst words available for emphasis.<br />
<br />
By the way, to anyone who would think that cussing is only normal if the situation is tough enough, I'd say yeah, that's a little true in that people who would not otherwise swear are more likely to do so when things go bad. But I've generally avoided using profanity in my life, even when surrounded by it in the military. Though I did use the four letter word referring to excrement when getting rocketed in Iraq. Which I suspect had more impact when I said it because I normally don't use that word. But anyway...<br />
<br />
<h4>
On nudity and violence</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
Look, some stories refer to nudity because it's important to the story. Nazis really did strip down death camp victims before sending them to be gassed in the showers. But most stories don't need it at all and those that include it don't need to play up the sexiest aspects. Even if one character is seducing another, it's not necessary to show everything.<br />
<br />
Plus I have a problem in which I can't look at the body of a healthy nude woman without feeling some desire. I think my problem is a pretty common one, but not many people I know openly mention they have an issue. So in general I'm against the normalization of nudity in visual media.<br />
Violence I am more accepting of--but that's in part because I find violence repulsive and not attractive. I don't like gore or bloodshed. Though I can't say I am not drawn to the shock value of violence at times, moved by the portrayal of violence at times. As in <em>Saving Private Ryan</em> or <em>The Passion of the Christ</em> and many other examples.<br />
<br />
Though I think normalizing gore, as in getting people used to seeing it so that they are not shocked by it, is a negative effect. So I would prefer violence to be suggestive rather than realistic in most cases, though there are exceptions.<br />
<br />
<h3>
So aren't you contradicting yourself? (Or, on bad behavior.)</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
No, not really. In general, I find stuff that tags a movie or other media with an R-rating is not necessary. But there are exceptions. The thing I'm most concerned about is effects on me. My own potential for bad behavior.<br />
<br />
I don't want to be exposed to so much profanity with the purpose of being shocking or funny (yes, I'm talking about you, <em>Deadpool</em>) that I use it without thinking. Because I don't want to use the most offensive language possible to me--that's rude at the very least.<br />
<br />
I don't want to be exposed to nudity that causes me to lust. Nor do I want to see so much nudity that I think nudity is simply normal and I have no sensitivity to it anymore. But I don't see nudity as absolutely forbidden in stories.<br />
<br />
I want to see violence that shocks me and makes me feel the stakes are high, i.e. landing on Omaha Beach in Saving Private Ryan. I don't want to see so much violence I no longer care about it. Nor do I want to see a celebration of violence as funny or somehow cool.<br />
<br />
<h2>
So let's get to the comparison: <em>Frozen</em> and <em>Gran Torino</em>.</h2>
<h2>
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieAurWRLSJ3iQkIQL3Wm_fWc002M0SpQ74TtlGdPDIUgCBJQUNqzpIPcfLT8ftWxJpSzNZ2TeS7gPM-3md1Nc0mJlWRInrnIPx_MAENKhXydw8DFvzlUBhTb7OKYAa8WU4djDCJIKsP8Cl/s1600/gran-torino-clint-eastwood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1230" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieAurWRLSJ3iQkIQL3Wm_fWc002M0SpQ74TtlGdPDIUgCBJQUNqzpIPcfLT8ftWxJpSzNZ2TeS7gPM-3md1Nc0mJlWRInrnIPx_MAENKhXydw8DFvzlUBhTb7OKYAa8WU4djDCJIKsP8Cl/s320/gran-torino-clint-eastwood.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOhXNCYOXe-fnTL9EJn5Euyc_m5dm-wivzxZmi58Q0gvl-LKWQVrqNDfBnml92e2uOVfa_DcR3-RmBqEueL9Yj2QDv5367twUOQxotRNB2i9KLtgb_flqVAEEm3Fvlrsjo1lJTYAGhP8M/s1600/Frozen+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOhXNCYOXe-fnTL9EJn5Euyc_m5dm-wivzxZmi58Q0gvl-LKWQVrqNDfBnml92e2uOVfa_DcR3-RmBqEueL9Yj2QDv5367twUOQxotRNB2i9KLtgb_flqVAEEm3Fvlrsjo1lJTYAGhP8M/s320/Frozen+poster.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
</h2>
Readers, most of you have probably deduced by now that I'm going to say I think <em>Frozen</em> is a worse movie that <em>Gran Torino</em>. Yep, that's what I think. (By the way, I'm going to assume you are familiar with these films without explaining them--if you'd like to look them up on Wikipedia to find out more, feel free to do so.)<br />
<br />
<h3>
Gran Torino</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
Note my general approval of this Clint Eastwood film in spite of me having<strong> some real reservations about <em>Gran Torino</em></strong>. Not only does it do a lot of normalizing of profanity, it also includes a lot of racial slurs. <em>A lot. </em>Which I definitely don't think are good and don't habitually want to pick up. Though we can fairly say that the movie also goes out of its way to show the protagonist, Walt, is habitually profane and doesn't necessarily mean it the way other people would.<br />
<br />
The movie was also both praised for including real Hmong people as actors and condemned by some for including certain stereotypes, including getting some common characteristics of Hmong culture wrong (most importantly perhaps, that Sue is raped by a gang that would be part of her clan, which would be as much anathema to Hmong culture as to anybody else). So we ought to accept the limitations of what the movie shows about Hmong.<br />
<br />
We could also say the movie perpetuates stereotypes of tough guys ("toxic masculinity" someone might say) as heroes. But I would say that the film shows a real downside to Walt's masculine perspective on the world, including alienation from his family (never being able to connect with his sons). In some ways, he expresses himself more to his neighbor Than than he had done for decades prior. Which we can saw as a thawing of typical male "toxicity." (Note I don't think there's anything wrong with being masculine, but some traits associated with masculinity can be negative.)<br />
<br />
Another complaint about this film is that a white person helps a non-white person. "White savior" is what that's called. Honestly, this gets my eyes rolling--what, it would be better if he were an apathetic white person? But I can actually concede the point that while Than (Spider) and Sue are very important characters to the film, they are in some ways portrayed as lacking the ability to resolve their own problems or "lacking agency."<br />
<br />
Overall, it can be fairly said this movie has a message pointed at a white audience more than an Asian one. Ok, fine. But what is that message?<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>The film on the positive end of things includes:</strong><br />
<strong><br /></strong>
<br />
<ol>
<li>Someone who seems more racist than he is (but who really <em>is</em> racist) developing compassion and empathy for people of another race.</li>
<li>The protagonist shifts from being hostile to his neighbors to loving his neighbor as himself.</li>
<li>The protagonist literally dies to save the life of his neighbor. In fact, when he's shot dead by the Hmong gang, he even opens his arms wide, his supine corpse forming the shape of a cross.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHD9lAi_fuM_fc6krJxgaCb3sDDi_-YmkmImBMfwdyyxRe04L0jK6o8bu02IuRLyxwCuzPf7RZrPHL37rFuNW3PmMOw4s50Hp6kCBmJzNQbOg_z8QieBR9skOtATAwKMvGaeuKn8RfZsyy/s1600/Walt%2527s+death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHD9lAi_fuM_fc6krJxgaCb3sDDi_-YmkmImBMfwdyyxRe04L0jK6o8bu02IuRLyxwCuzPf7RZrPHL37rFuNW3PmMOw4s50Hp6kCBmJzNQbOg_z8QieBR9skOtATAwKMvGaeuKn8RfZsyy/s1600/Walt%2527s+death.jpg" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>The death of the protagonist buys freedom, i.e. salvation for the secondary character of Than.</li>
</ol>
In short, the essential theme of <em>Gran Torino</em> is self-sacrificing love. A very Christian view of that kind of love, including a nod at substitutionary atonement. Even though it has other characteristics we should admit to and confront and not celebrate.<br />
<br />
<h3>
So what's wrong with <em>Frozen</em>?</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
Just as I conceded bad things about <em>Gran Torino</em>, let's admit good things about <em>Frozen</em>. The film is clean of course, which means it doesn't normalize racial slurs or profanity. That's a good thing.<br />
<br />
Also, the movie does a course correction on the general "love at first sight" thing that Disney princess movies have way over-done. (Is "love at first sight" an actual thing? Ask around and you will find out it is--but is it the only way people get married and come to know each other? Not even close!) By casting Hans as a bad guy, we can say <em>Frozen</em> does provides an important on-the-other-hand to other Disney films.<br />
<br />
And we can in addition celebrate that the climax of the story features Anna sacrificing herself to save Elsa and everything turning out well as a result.<strong> Isn't <em>Frozen</em> the same as <em>Gran Torino</em>, each a story about self-sacrificing love? Um, no, I wouldn't say they are the same, even though there is some similarity at that point.</strong> Not even in the self-sacrifice part. It isn't the same because Anna doesn't actually die, but only appears to. And sacrificing for a close relative is the most common kind of self-sacrifice in the real world--it's much more powerful (I would say) to self-sacrifice for someone you are not related to.<br />
<br />
But more importantly, <strong>the hit song that everyone remembers from<em> Frozen</em> is <em>not</em> about self-sacrificing love.</strong> Anna's love for Elsa and vice versa are very important to the story to be sure, but something else, another idea, is more important to the story and more memorable. <em>Let it go.</em><br />
So Elsa's parents tell her in essence to control an aspect of herself in order to prevent harm to other people. And even have her cover up with gloves and such. Eventually, Elsa realizes she can't cover up and can't be what her parents want: she has to "let it go!"<br />
<br />
<h3>
What's wrong with letting it go?</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
The story of course is G-rated, the closest it gets to tying letting "it" go to sexuality is Elsa takes off the extra clothing and gloves her parents say she needed to wear. Though I rather suspect many people will wind up subconsciously linking the "it" of "letting it go" to sexual behavior at some point. Because people think about sex, people. Honest!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXotaK-tzXI8Se4qQLfkjVFIjFhxq2jXk0hso9KCAPXx65GNLo4JhEOIiqCZm2NAyGHF3nI_P8i_Wd0pVi4RQyBXWc7cG_YLF8rLhEuKQipe0N6zLuCfu-AtgO3ZeGgx8gG4zrkFzDs3i/s1600/Singing+Let+it+Go.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1441" data-original-width="1600" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXotaK-tzXI8Se4qQLfkjVFIjFhxq2jXk0hso9KCAPXx65GNLo4JhEOIiqCZm2NAyGHF3nI_P8i_Wd0pVi4RQyBXWc7cG_YLF8rLhEuKQipe0N6zLuCfu-AtgO3ZeGgx8gG4zrkFzDs3i/s320/Singing+Let+it+Go.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Oh, I'm being a dirty-minded prude, am I? That's what some people are thinking on reading this.<br />
<br />
Ok, lemmie admit that for the "let it go" thing is very general overall, with only a few hints like clothing that point in the direction of sensuality. It could well be someone could see this film and never, ever pick up on what I'm talking about. Though just because that's possible, that doesn't mean most people would never subconsciously pick up a connection--but anyway, it doesn't really matter. The point doesn't change much if "let it go" has a general reference.<br />
<br />
"Let it go" could be applied to anything. Even good things. Maybe you've been suppressing an artistic talent and you need to "let it go."<br />
<br />
But does our society in general have a problem with being too suppressed, too under control? Does our society as an overall whole need to let things go more often? Eh, I'd say, "No."<br />
<br />
Doesn't fighting against sin in general in a Christian's life include suppressing things you know you shouldn't do? Yeah, a Christian should "walk by the Spirit" which includes the Spirit guiding a person to do good things from an inner motivation. But what if at any given moment you don't<em> want</em> to do good? Is it in general OK to "let it go?"<br />
<br />
Um, pretty much, no.<br />
<br />
The overall impact of "let it go" might be different if it went to Victorians. Arguably, they were to repressed and needed to relax at least somewhat. But is that what <em>our</em> culture needs? This reminds me of what C.S. Lewis had his demon offer up as advice in <em>The Screwtape Letters</em>:<br />
<h5>
"The use of fashions in thought is to distract men from their real dangers. We direct the fashionable outcry of each generation against those vices of which it is in the least danger, and fix its approval on the virtue that is nearest the vice which we are trying to make endemic. The game is to have them all running around with fire extinguishers whenever there's a flood; and all crowding to that side of the boat which is already nearly gone under."</h5>
Yeah, I don't think "let it go" is a good message for our culture. Yes, I think it's subversive overall. Even though it could be applied to good things.<br />
<br />
<h2>
So are you saying we should ban <em>Frozen</em> now?</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<em><strong>No</strong>.</em> Not at all. First of all, negative messages are very common in stories. Including some G-rated films. Banning them all doesn't even make sense. If you don't want to watch a particular show because you think it's bad, that's fine. But protesting to Disney or getting angry I think is a waste of time.<br />
<br />
As a creator, if I don't like that kind of story, my most logical option is to attempt to make one I think is better--though there is no guarantee I will be able to do so in terms of quality and production. It fact, beating the appeal of Disney is awfully hard. (That doesn't mean I shouldn't try!)<br />
<br />
<h2>
Confront the negative, emphasize the positive</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
What I am saying we should do is admit the troubling aspects of calling out in general to<em> this</em> society to "let it go." If our kids see <em>Frozen</em>, we should talk about the issue of whether Elsa really did have to let it go. Were her parents wrong to ask her to do that in the first place? Was there perhaps another solution available to them? What if the impulse Elsa was fighting was to steal from people? Or murder people? Would it be OK for her to "let it go" then? When is it and is it not OK to "let it go?"<br />
<br />
You can also talk about positive way to see "letting it go"--maybe you could deliberately link it to creativity. Or honesty.<br />
<br />
You could alternatively say (especially if talking to other people's kids, when you don't have as much freedom) what you really like about the story is Anna's self-sacrifice for the sake of love, but that the other part of the story you didn't like as much.<br />
<br />
There are in fact lots of ways to react. But I think confronting the negative or potential negative is a part of a healthy reaction. If you aren't doing that, you aren't really dealing with the world we actually live in. A world in which, yes, it really is true that an evil spiritual mastermind is trying to influence our culture.<br />
<br />
We don't have to freak out--we don't have to ban things--we don't have to over-react. But we should admit real issues, confront them, and also accentuate what is good.<br />
<br />
Ask yourself this, did Jesus ever confront wrong attitudes in people--He actually did. Often. Though not by rejecting supposedly bad people outright. <br />
<br />
We can do the same.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Be sober, be vigilant</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
What I'm talking about is all part of walking a spiritual walk. Like good soldiers (2 Timothy 2:3), we endure the difficulties of life, we prepare ourselves by putting on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), and we remain alert to what the enemy can do (I Peter 5:8), confident in our weapons being able to face anything throw our way, but alert to something taking us by surprise. Which means we can in fact enjoy things around us, but we have to enjoy with a weapon strapped to our hip, so to speak. Our guard should never go all the way down. Not even for G-rated movies.<br />
<br />
Don't judge a film by its rating as much as what messages it contains--not that ratings don't ever matter.<br />
<br />
So, dear readers, what are your thoughts on this topic? I'm perfectly fine with you disagreeing if you wish. I'd like to hear your point of view!<br /><br />(By the way, this post is also on my new podcast, in different words. That is, I didn't read the script. I talked:<br /><br /><a href="https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/it-s-not-in-the-rating-looking-at-negative-influences-in-stories-frozen-and-grand-torino/">https://travissbigidea.podbean.com/e/it-s-not-in-the-rating-looking-at-negative-influences-in-stories-frozen-and-grand-torino/</a> )Captain Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951843520672985269noreply@blogger.com0