September Content Update: Warlords of Calligia Pt 4

WARLORDS OF CALLIGIA PART 4

With a fundamental understanding of the disposition of the Calligian continent and the warlords which inhabit it now established, it becomes a mere matter of following these truths to their logical conclusion to understand the character of the Calligian lands and those men who would claim rulership over them: namely that it is naturally divided into interest groups based on matters of culture, history, and politickal identity. That the fact that multiple empires have risen and secured dominion over the preponderance or the whole of this mass must be something attributed not to the forces of geography or unity of character, but to fortune, to inertia, or to banecasting the likes of which Creation will never see again. Thus we can see likewise that the fragmentation of these empires - into ever more feeble state forms until they are finally sundered - is not a process of degeneration caused by motivated malignant actors within the courts or frontiers of these bodies, but due to the very contradiction within the heart of any single government which should seek dominion over all of Calligia.

Likewise, it might be just as easily inferred from these prior conclusions, the result of the endeavour of Lord P____ - who I am given to understand has ambitions upon the Princely title of the House of Noribirit - or any other would-be reformer, conqueror, or unifier. Namely that their efforts to unify and bring order to the whole of the Calligian continent are doomed to failure, either in the short term as they are overwhelmed by other contenders and those who would covet their freedom over any sense of greater unity, in the middle term upon their deaths as the coalitions which they held together through force of will and personality collapse, or in the long term through slow wasting as every other Calligian Empire has done in the past.

There may, perhaps, be some chance that such a scheme may persist or succeed in the smaller scale, with the creation of some power capable of securing hegemony over much, or even all of the Calligian continent without seeking its complete conquest - such as has been accomplished by our Varahdi allies. However, once again, history is likely to act against the success of such a goal. Three previous empires have set a precedent, and it seems almost certain that any ambitious contender will measure himself against those past glories, as hollow as we have established them to be. To ask a prince of Calligia to be content with only a fifth, a quarter, or a third of the continent is to prove that he is a lesser man than his ancestors. This may be acceptable to the vast majority of the lords of that land, but to those very few who look beyond their own immediate interests and petty squabbles, such limits on his ambition would be all-but unthinkable.

I must assure your excellency that I am well aware that it is often considered discourteous in some circles to criticise a course of action without offering an alternative. However, in this specific matter, I fear that I must be so bold as to risk offering such offense. Given the characteristics of the matter at hand, and the truths which I have already ennumerated, I can only recommend a course not only of complete inaction, but of a censure of any attempt to render aid to Lord P____ and his scheme independently by any of the young officers of the Court. Under normal circumstances, I would not hesitate in refusing to countenance such an action, but in this case, three reasons recommend themselves in a way which makes such a drastic decision the only rational one.

Firstly, there is the precedent that a permissive attitude would set amongst the young men of the Court. While it is laudable and virtuous for men of education and birth to set out into the frontiers in pursuit of accolades and experience in the realities of the wild, to allow them to do so in a place so far away and with customs so different from our own cannot be adviseable. Furthermore, even if an argument can be made that the particular cause of Lord P____ is worth support, accepting such an assertion will render it easier for future notables to make the same argument to allow themselves to lend themselves to less credible endeavours, which may serve to corrupt their morals, destroy their virtue, and perhaps even serve to cause them to pollute the Court with ideas better suited for other lands upon their return.

Secondly, by allowing so many promising young officers to depart, they will no longer be at the disposal of the Grand Staff should a crisis arise. If all of those officers suited for the field are away on disparate adventures in faraway lands in peacetime, then there may seem little harm, yet although it is the Grand Staff and the Emperor who draw the line between war and peace, it is the Great Enemy who chooses the instant to step over it. Should such an instant come, the Great Kian must be as prepared as possible to answer, so that we may restore peace and order under Heaven with the minimal necessary amount of bloodshed and disruption to the common operations of the populace. This cannot be done if many of those officers of lower or middle rank - so necessary for the proper function of the armies - are absent and unable to be recalled in a timely manner.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly of all, by allowing young men of the Court to arrive in foreign lands, and fight for foreign causes while still wearing the vestments of our homeland, while bearing the weapons customary to our own armies, and training foreigners in our ways of fighting, they make not only themselves, but the whole of the Great Kian odious to those who oppose their allies. I hope I have previously made it clear to your satisfaction why it is unlikely any individual magnate will be able to unify the whole of the Calligian continent under their absolute rule, and as a result, any force which our young officers assist will surely retain powerful enemies for many years to come. To make their enemies into our enemies, at a time when our state of contention with the Great Enemy is delicately balanced cannot be adviseable. Even if they win for themselves some glory in these distant lands, they will just as readily strengthen the enemy by making them seek the support of the Er-venne.

This last argument is one which has already been made, regarding the representations of his Excellency, the Count of L______ regarding intervention in other lands. It is of my opinion that this warning was not sufficiently heeded, and as a result, the enemies of those the Count has aligned himself with now treat openly with the envoys of the Great Enemy, and are now dangerously close to falling under their power. This is not a lesson we can afford to leave unlearned.

I hope with utmost sincerity that your Excellency looks upon this memorandum as a forthright and honest appraisal of the situation as it exists in Calligia and among those who hold power over it. Although it is not my intention to criticise your Excellency's potential intentions, I feel that my opinions on the matter based on my many years of expertise must be made clear. I present these conclusions only in the hopes they will be given serious consideration after being received in the spirit in which they were intended - for the sake of the future well-being and advancement of your Excellency's mandate, and for the continued perseverance of the Great Kian against the forces of the enemy.