Swarming Sovereignty

“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 become standard in places of learning in the time 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, Amelia, and Lia. Connie had declined because she was forbidden from helping in these matters, and Amelia 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 former 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 assume we’ll be reforming them into something 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 fundamentally 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 some 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. “Amelia, Lia, I know this is basic, but will one of you please tell me what the most major difference between us and “normal” people is?”

“It’s conversion, right?” Amelia 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 member of the swarm permanently and completely tame any monster is something 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 become, 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 some 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 some 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 some 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 same time, 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 attachments to our units, we need to think about the composition of those attachments. We obviously can’t have all those attachments be exactly the same, but we can more or less shape their roles. Nailah, you suggested this, do you have something 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 equipment, 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 recommendations but make it clear that, they are just recommendations and individual circumstances override them, that would be better.”

“Um…I have an idea.” Lia said timidly. “Is that okay?”

Rose beamed at her. “Of course!” She said. “If you or Amelia have something 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 some 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 something, they can make some more. And those monsters can also be used to level up new people who join us, or made into attachments 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 time comes 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 some 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 something 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 meeting 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? Some mix of the three?”

“Do you have an opinion?” Titania asked. “I appreciate you asking, but surely you have some 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 come 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 some 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 some thought to the preservation of these attachments. While are 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 time 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 some of our resources unexploited. Once we have a few more nations conquered, we can begin opening some 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” recommendation for monster attachments should be balanced, something in the realm of a strong front-line defense backed by ranged attackers and some healers. The size will have to be variable of course, but I think it would be best if monster attachments 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 somewhat difficult.”

“I’ll get to work designing some 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 some time. In the meantime, we can use healing potions, bandages, and general medical supplies as a stand-in.”

Ophelia nodded. “Right. Circling back around, how are we planning on getting these monsters? We’ve mentioned 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 some as part of our merger of the two armies.”

“Speaking of, Mistress, how would we like to do that?” Alisha asked. “We mentioned it briefly before, but sort of skimmed over it.”

“How opposed would your army be to a merger 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 merger, 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 mean?” Alisha said testily.

“It’s supposed to mean that your mind has been messed 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 extreme. 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 meeting.” She said. “We do not have time 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 some 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 something 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 endorsement should help.”

Rose gave her a nod, writing “official endorsement” on the board. “Anyone else have thoughts?” After a brief silence, Rose continued. “I take that as agreement.” She said. “I’m also in agreement, so let’s call another meeting tomorrow where we can draft concrete plans. That just leaves us with crafting research. Alisha?”

“Basically, the same stuff as magic research.” Alisha said. “Give some endorsements, point people towards production of weapons, armor, and other wartime 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 time, 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…”

Fighterman481 This chapter was a bit of a strange one for me. At times, it felt like it was going on longer than it needed to, and in others it felt like not enough was happening. These were both very vague feelings, though, so I didn't really bother too much and just sort of pushed through.

Um, that's all I really have to say, though. Next time is probably gonna be...well, to be honest, I'm not totally sure. The vague plan is some sort of larger-scale confrontation, but I suppose we'll see when we get there. So, um, look forward to it, I guess?

And, as always, thanks for reading!