“We need to start thinking about organization.” Rose said, pacing back and forth in the conference room. She had greatly reduced the size of the desk and set a “blackboard” into the wall, a handy invention that allowed for a reusable writing surface. It had apparently beco standard in places of learning in the ti after Rose’s death, and she was thankful for it now; it made making illustrations much more convenient.
“In what regard?” Nailah asked. She was leaning on one of the walls, an intrigued expression on her face.
Rose had called for an impromptu war council, sending invitations to Nailah, Titania, Ophelia, Alisha, Connie, Alia, and Lia. Connie had declined because she was forbidden from helping in these matters, and Alia and Lia were taking notes with the intent to learn more before they made any decisions, so really it was more like Rose, Ophelia, and the forr rulers were the only ones in attendance.
“Our armies.” Rose said. “We have two of them, and we not only need to determine how they and future armies will be integrated, but we need to reorganize them from the ground-up to account for the new possibilities provided by the swarm.”
“I assu we’ll be reforming them into sothing more resembling your old army, Mistress?” Alisha asked.
“I was tempted to do that, but no.” Rose said. “For one thing, I’m sure my old tactics are very well-known, and though I feel confident that most of my tactics are sound and would perform well with proper execution, we can do better. The paradigm of war has shifted for us; we approach it at a fundantally different level than our enemies do, and we would be fools not to adjust everything because of it. So, I thought we could get together and brainstorm so ideas, nothing super concrete yet, just broad plans.”
Rose pulled a piece of chalk out of the little holder below the blackboard, and wrote a “1” on the board. “Alia, Lia, I know this is basic, but will one of you please tell what the most major difference between us and “normal” people is?”
“It’s conversion, right?” Alia said. “It has to be.”
“Correct.” Rose said, writing “conversion” on the blackboard. “Lia, why is this so important?”
“Because…because we can make our enemies into our allies?” Lia ventured.
“That’s a very important part of it, yes.” Rose said. “But its utility doesn’t end there. Ophelia?”
“Monsters, right?” Ophelia said. “Being able to have any mber of the swarm permanently and completely ta any monster is sothing no one else can do.”
Rose nodded. “That’s almost everything.” She said. “But there’s still one last thing I’m looking for. Does anyone know?”
There was a long silence before Titania finally spoke up. “Conversion lets us change what a person is capable of.” She said slowly. “So we can tailor our army to our needs far more than anyone else?”
“Exactly.” Rose said, smiling proudly. “Any one of these three things would make such a profound difference in war that they would call for a change of strategy, and that we have all three makes it all the more imperative that we do this now.
“That being said, there is one more thing that deserves discussion, and it sort of ties into part of what we talked about with conversion.” Rose said, writing a “2” on the blackboard before writing “options” next to it. “Not only can we pick what people beco, our options for the initial conversion and how they develop afterwards are much broader than what the current system allows. To that end, I have a few ideas, but I’d like to hear everyone else’s first.”
“I would like it if we made a point of having monsters attached to every unit.” Nailah said. “We can replace monsters, but we can’t replace people. If monsters can take the brunt of the damage for us, that would be ideal.”
Rose nodded, writing “monster shields” on the board. “Anyone else?”
“We should build so teams optimized for capturing monster, and we can use those monsters to replenish our troops or level new recruits as needed.” Ophelia suggested. “Everyone we convert is sent back to level one, and even if they’re as strong or stronger than they used to be, that’s no excuse to not get them those quick early levels.”
Rose gave another nod, and wrote “monster capture & level boosting” on the board. “Good, good.”
“I think we should assign so scholars to research magic.” Titania said. “Magic works very differently for us now, and while we can still use the old system, we should figure out exactly how the new stuff works. It would be really bad if we lost troops because of so quirk of the new system that we just didn’t know about.”
“An excellent point.” Rose said, writing “magic research” on the board. “Alisha?”
Alisha shrugged. “Perhaps we could take another look into weapon and armor making techniques? We can do a lot more with…just about everything than we could before.”
“Another good point.” Rose said, writing “crafting research” on the board. “So, let’s go down the list here, starting with the first two, which we’ll talk about at the sa ti, since I think they’re pretty connected.”
She drew a line connecting the two terms, then quickly sketched out an area below them. “So, if we’re thinking about enforcing having monster attachnts to our units, we need to think about the composition of those attachnts. We obviously can’t have all those attachnts be exactly the sa, but we can more or less shape their roles. Nailah, you suggested this, do you have sothing in mind?”
Nailah shook her head. “No.” She said. “I was just thinking we would put together whatever monsters were around so we could make a line of disposables between actual people and the enemy.”
Rose nodded. “That works, but I think we can make it better.” She said. “If we provide guidelines for how they are to be converted, and how they are to be used in combat, we can make them more effective. For example, if we wanted their purpose to simply be disposable troops designed to protect the main unit, we could instruct most of those monsters to be converted with defensive equipnt, and a couple with healing items, to provide both shields and healing for their main unit.”
“I think providing just one guideline and applying it to every unit is squandering potential.” Ophelia said. “I think they should be much more flexible, so that each unit has a set of monsters tailored to their circumstances. If we provide recomndations but make it clear that, they are just recomndations and individual circumstances override them, that would be better.”
“Um…I have an idea.” Lia said timidly. “Is that okay?”
Rose bead at her. “Of course!” She said. “If you or Alia have sothing you feel is good, you don’t need to stay quiet just because you’re learning. Students often have fresh ideas, and we would be fools to make them think exactly like we do.”
“Well…most of our units are going to belong to so larger force, right?” Lia asked.
Rose nodded. “That is generally how we operate, though exceptions exist.”
“So…if they have a base camp to return to, why not…keep a bunch of cocooned monsters on hand?” Lia proposed. “Then, if they lose their monsters in battle or if they need a specific type or sothing, they can make so more. And those monsters can also be used to level up new people who join us, or made into attachnts for units made from people who we just converted.”
“I like it.” Rose said. “But…what happens when they need to move? Any sizable number of cocooned monsters will take a fairly large space, and when ti cos to pack up and move to the next location, all those monsters will need to be moved with them.”
Lia frowned, mulling that over. “If the thing with converting ships works out, can we just…design so monsters to be living vehicles for them? We don’t need to worry about their comfort, and making a monster like that would eliminate the need for extra wagons. In a pinch, those monsters can even defend themselves. If that doesn’t work, we can just tell them to bring the most powerful ones in cocoons and convert the rest into stuff, like…extra drones or foot soldiers.”
“But we’ll need to make the vehicles that we convert with those monsters.” Rose pressed. “And if one of those is killed, we lose mobility for them.”
“That shouldn’t be a huge issue, right?” Lia said. “If we make the blueprints, we can have drones mass produce them; the bigger hurdle would be getting the resources for that, and if we’re combining these things with monsters, we don’t even need sothing that sturdy or fancy, the monsters will fill that gap. And if our tree farming works out, we’ll have plenty of wood.”
“Good.” Rose said. “I’m glad you thought it through.”
“I didn’t, really.” Lia admitted. “I just…thought of responses when you asked the questions.”
“That’s fine too.” Rose said. “Part of the reason we’re having this eting in the first place is to run our ideas by other people. Furthermore, you didn’t really have a way of knowing the important questions to ask, so as long as you consider those sorts of things in the future, this is still a net positive.”
Lia gave a shy nod, and Rose had to resist the urge to go over and pat her head. “That aside, we should probably still make a general-use guideline for people, if they’re not sure what to put with their unit. In that case, what should the focus be? Attack? Defense? Support? So mix of the three?”
“Do you have an opinion?” Titania asked. “I appreciate you asking, but surely you have so ideas for this, right?”
Rose paused. “I’m worried my opinions will influence yours.” She said. “I want completely honest feedback.”
“Yes, but you are still considered the most proficient commander the world has ever seen.” Titania pointed out. “I think it’s okay to have our opinions be influenced by yours.”
Rose shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.” She said. “I only got to where I was because I listened to my generals and took their ideas into account. I find that, when the opinions of the group are heard and everyone works together to co to an answer, the result will usually end up better than if everyone had just blindly followed the leader.”
“I suppose.” Titania said. “I think, generally speaking, we should have so mix of attack and defense. If the idea is to soften up our enemies before the main force reaches them, then just having pure defense will be pointless.”
“I’m inclined to agree.” Ophelia said. “But we do need to give so thought to the preservation of these attachnts. While they are significantly less important than people, we don’t have an infinite number of monsters, not while an army is actively out on a campaign. If we get half of them killed every battle, we will run out in short order.”
“I think the most sustainable source of monsters will be dungeons, right?” Nailah asked. “How many of those are we going to appropriate for the purpose of becoming monster farms, and how many are we going to keep to allow the public to explore and level in?”
“For the ti being, I think that we should have all dungeons we have easy access to be focused on monster farming.” Titania said. “This is the most difficult period of the war for us, and we cannot afford to leave so of our resources unexploited. Once we have a few more nations conquered, we can begin opening so of the lower-value dungeons to the public.”
“I agree on both counts.” Rose said. “I am also of the opinion that our “general purpose” recomndation for monster attachnts should be balanced, sothing in the realm of a strong front-line defense backed by ranged attackers and so healers. The size will have to be variable of course, but I think it would be best if monster attachnts were no less than half the size of the unit they’re attached to.”
“How will we mass-produce that many healers?” Ophelia asked. “That seems sowhat difficult.”
“I’ll get to work designing so plants with healing properties.” Rose said, writing out a quick summary of their plan on the board. “I’m still exploring the limits of my primal magic, though, so it might take so ti. In the anti, we can use healing potions, bandages, and general dical supplies as a stand-in.”
Ophelia nodded. “Right. Circling back around, how are we planning on getting these monsters? We’ve ntioned dungeons, but I still think it’d be good to have a few units dedicated to locating monsters and capturing them with every large force we send out.”
“I think that’s sensible.” Rose said. “We’ll make so as part of our rger of the two armies.”
“Speaking of, Mistress, how would we like to do that?” Alisha asked. “We ntioned it briefly before, but sort of skimd over it.”
“How opposed would your army be to a rger with the army of the Glens? We would likely appoint a general above them, but I was thinking they would otherwise be kept as separate units.”
“I feel they would have no issue with a deeper rger, even.” Alisha said. “National boundaries seem…unimportant, at least in my opinion, and I was far more particular about that than most of my people.”
“For a more…neutral opinion on the matter, I think she’s right.” Ophelia said. “I know I wouldn’t mind it, and I certainly would have minded it before. So, it’s probably not just a result of Alisha being…Alisha.”
“What’s that supposed to an?” Alisha said testily.
“It’s supposed to an that your mind has been ssed with far more than everyone else and that your opinion is not representative of the average person’s.” Ophelia said levelly. “Surely you understand that.”
“Of course I understand that, I’d be an idiot not to.” Alisha huffed. “But my opinions are not invalid just because my conditioning is more extre. This was my army, if you recall, and I know it best.”
“And I was just ensuring that your opinions would be taken seriously.” Ophelia replied. “I was affirming your position.”
Alisha opened her mouth to speak again, but Rose cut her off. “Alisha, if you wish to discuss this further, do it after our eting.” She said. “We do not have ti for bickering. If your army will have no qualms with integration, I’ll get in contact with the leaders of both your army and the army of the Glens, and conduct so interviews to determine which people are most suited for upper leadership. Moving along, magic research. I think this is rather straightforward, but did you have sothing particular in mind?”
“I think we just need to provide funding and support to the academics who are almost certainly already doing this.” Titania said. “I think it’s important to get results as fast as possible, and an official endorsent should help.”
Rose gave her a nod, writing “official endorsent” on the board. “Anyone else have thoughts?” After a brief silence, Rose continued. “I take that as agreent.” She said. “I’m also in agreent, so let’s call another eting tomorrow where we can draft concrete plans. That just leaves us with crafting research. Alisha?”
“Basically, the sa stuff as magic research.” Alisha said. “Give so endorsents, point people towards production of weapons, armor, and other warti goods, and then call it good for now.”
“Anyone else?” Yet again, there were no other thoughts, so Rose spoke up. “Very well. For the rest of this ti, I was hoping we could get a rundown on how the armies of the Glens and Aura are organized, common unit compositions, and the like. Nailah, if you would?”
Nailah nodded. “Broadly speaking, most armies nowadays follow the pattern you set. Given that, most alterations are made on a country-to-country basis, adapting for the country’s unique specialties and circumstances. The Glens, for instance, focuses more on defense, and this has served us well as a nation that borders the Spine. To that end, we have two different defensive classifications…”
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